Literature has the great power to educate and inspire people to change their lives and often gives them the ability to undermine authority and stand up for their beliefs. In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sije‚ the main character is living in a re-education camp during the cultural revolution in China‚ when he stumbles upon a suitcase of forbidden Western novels. He shares these stories with his two friends and they are greatly influenced by the revolutionary tales and are exposed
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Title: Balzac and the Little Chinese seamstress author: Dai SijieOriginally published in France by Gallimard‚ 2000English translation publisher: Alfred A. KnopfCopyright: September 11‚ 2001Hardcover: 208 pagesA novelBalzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a cogent novel that depicts the impact of the Chinese Cultural Revolution‚ proves the magic of storytelling‚ compares ancient and modern‚ and tells a romantic love story between a mountain girl and two city youths. Two boys are sent to a mountain
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Relationship In the novel Balzac and the little Chinese seamstress by Dai Sijie‚ I can relate my relationship with Diego‚ and Lou and the little seamstress’s relationship because we have numerous things in common. We both try and keep our sexual relationship a secret. Both of our relationships are open because Diego and I express our feeling’s with people we associate with‚ we are also open by letting other people see our body language. There relationship is intense whereas my relationship if not
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In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress‚ Sijie symbolizes the repression of unique ideas and culture in The Cultural Revolution through Four Eyes’ manipulation of the millers’ songs. In his desperation to escape reeducation‚ Four Eyes strips the traditional ballads of their substance in favor of government propaganda. When the character of Four Eyes is first introduced‚ he is written as being‚ while not particularly benevolent‚ meek and appeasing. The narrator describes him as “liv[ing] in perpetual
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turning points and events which act as pivotal moments that shape the future. This idea of a pivotal moment is reflected in the novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie‚ which follows the journey of three youths during the repressive chinese cultural revolution. In particular‚ the main love interest and major character‚ the Little Chinese Seamstress‚ faces a pivotal moment in the very last chapter of the book when she decides to run away to the city in order to live a more modern
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more valuable to the people than the nationalist regime. However‚ in the novel‚ this concept is as prominent as it can possibly be in the little seamstress. Although she is not necessarily the main character‚ her actions and transformation reflect the power of ideas more than any other character in the book‚ hence giving it the name Balzac and the Little Seamstress. Through her actions‚ she tells the reader that it was thought that provokes such drastic change. The government was not foolish enough
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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
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The purpose of almost all novels is to convey a message to the reader‚ to me the novel “Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress” was extraordinarily successful at this. The main character’s name doesn’t appear‚ however‚ I assume it’s the author as it refers to himself by the use of “me”‚ “my” and “I”. Through the two main characters‚ Luo and the author‚ I was able to apprehend their strong connection and how their friendship displayed the strongest loyalty which I felt was extremely significant
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In both the stories “Balzac and the little Chinese Seamstress” by Dai Sijie and the “Colors of the Mountain” by Da Chen reveal‚ that the china’s cultural revolution had a great impact on a lot of people especially young students education. This happened in early 1971‚ it was Mao’s and his communist government who created this Cultural Revolution so that they could control over people. They stopped young student’s education‚ most of them were students who had educated family or owned lands were treated
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Re-education Rewinds Thought In Dai Sijie’s novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress‚ re-education remains a prominent theme throughout the course of the story. Children from the city are sent to nearby villages to live life like the common people reverting back to the ways of early civilizations. Very rarely are these kids ever able to return home; if they are lucky and not enemies of the state‚ only then do they have a slight chance. This whole concept represents the sense of communism
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