Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress Summary

In his book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Sijie Dai introduces us to the lives of two young boys who were transported to the village side in order to be “re-educated”. The boys immediately fall in love with the Little Chinese Seamstress, however they state that she is too “uncivilized”. We see through the following passage, “This fellow Balzac is a wizard. He touched the head of this mountain girl with an invisible finger, and she was transformed, carried away in a dream. It took a while for her to come down to earth. She ended up putting your wretched coat on (which looked very good on her, I must say). She said having Balzac’s words next to her skin made her feel good, and also more intelligent” (62), the creation of the social
His reference in the passage to "this fellow Balzac" showcases the casual addressing of another which implies that Luo considers Balzac as an equal or worse (62). This apparent attitude embodies the idea of Luo portraying himself superior to the laymen villagers. The phrase “carried away in a dream” suggests that Luo downplays the Seamstress’s admiration of Balzac and implies that the Little Seamstress is incapable of thoroughly deciphering the deeper meaning of the book but rather is wholly concerned with the just the excitement of the story (62). When Luo says, “(which looked very good on her, I must say)”, it signifies a shift because he changes his focus towards her beauty and emphasizes her beauty rather than her intelligence (62). The line following that phrase continues to reflect the shift and is said as if Luo was scoffing at the Little Seamstress’s remarks saying that “having Balzac’s words next to her made her feel good, and also more intelligent” (62). Luo clearly undermines the actions of the Little Seamstress and the purpose behind his patronizing actions backfire when she epitomizes his lessons and decides to start a new life in the