Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress Analysis

The novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie shows the lives of two boys during the time of reeducation in China and their relationships with literature and the Little Seamstress. While in reeducation, the narrator and his best friend Luo meet the beautiful daughter of a tailor, the Little Seamstress, who lives in a nearby village. They also meet a man named Four-Eyes who has a suitcase full of non-government sanctioned books (western books) and develop a deep connection with the power of knowledge in\ which drives their behaviors and actions. Through Four-Eyes’ books, Luo and the narrator learn more about the world around them and they begin to realize how big of an influence reading has on the world and how literature can change people’s lives for the better or for worse.

The first encounter the boys have with literature is when Luo and the narrator see their friend, Four-Eyes’, suitcase and speculate that there are western books – which are not allowed – in it. When Four-Eyes is sick Luo tells him, “…we’ll help you carry your hod to the rice station, and when we get back you can give us some of the books you’ve got
The narrator puts the safety of the books above his own, Luo tries to reeducate the Little Seamstress through stories and the Little Seamstress changes who she is to try to be like the characters in the books that Luo read to her. The books in Four-Eyes’ suitcase allow the narrator and Luo to see the influence of literature on the world through the changes that happen to not only them but to those around them. Though literature is most of the time thought of as a positive thing, the narrator and Luo learned that even though knowledge is power, sometimes that power is too much to handle and can cause repercussions that could be considered as negative or