Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress Summary

Freedom of thoughts “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie, and “At the Center of the Storm” by Rae Yang describe one of the difficult time in Chinese population, during the China’s Cultural Revolution time. The Cultural Revolution had a great impact on the people especially young student’s education, and their freedom of thoughts. These characters attitude towards the Cultural Revolution was based on how the Cultural Revolution affected their freedom. For Yang the Cultural Revolution gave her more freedom and empowerment, while for the boys the Cultural Revolution made them scary and hopeless, because it took their freedom. In the beginning of the novel, Luo and the narrator were taken from their homes in order to be sent to the re-education because everyone that was considered as an "intellectual" (anyone who attended high school) must go through the re-education process. They lived in the Phoenix of the Sky and they had to carry basket full of humans and animals excrements (Sijie 14). In contrast, Yang participated in Red Guard, because she was inspired by Mao’s words to change their lives. She says,
They still feel scared and hopeless, because they were separated from their parents. Rae Yang at the end of the story was confused. After so many changes that she went through, she didn’t know what to do. For example, when Mao forbade to use nannies, her family had nanny whose name was Aunty, even she loved her, she didn’t know how to help her .Yang was afraid to help her, because she was a member in Red Guards (Yang 385). Another example, is that Red Guard cut every woman’s long hair on the street, because it was bourgeois’ and rich people’s foundations. She didn’t have any choice and cut her long braid, “to save face and avoid trouble” (383).After so many changes in her life she understood that she was like a puppet controlled by the