Transcript Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Balzac and the Little
Chinese Seamstress
Context
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"Better Red than Expert" – slogan of Maoist years
The Chinese Communist leader Mao Tse-tung (1893-1976) greatly believed in the revolutionary
potential of the peasantry. The Cultural Revolution (1966-1969) which he promoted essentially
taught the Chinese masses that it was 'right to revolt' against those in posts of authority and to
play an active role in making decisions. In a bid to ensure fidelity to Chairman Mao's ideology,
all government officials, politicians and those generally seen as a threat were subjected to
'revolutionary self-criticism and struggle sessions'. These could take any form, such as large
public humiliation trials (like Luo's father in the novel), Red Guard interrogations, imprisonment,
exile or death beatings (in some cases individuals committed suicide to avoid these). In
addition, in the early years following 1968, an estimated 12 million urban youths were relocated
to the countryside to be 're-educated' by the peasants. In contrast to the propaganda posters
depicting exquisite rural scenes where the youths enjoyed their experiences and flourished
under the peasants' guidance, many young intellectuals found it hard to cope with the harsh
reality of life in the mountains and some died. Furthermore, the peasants often resented their
presence, viewing them as a threat to their own existence. Dai Sijie was himself 're-educated'
between 1971 and 1974.
Structure
 Part I: 3-38 – L&M discover shit (peasant life/ CR), talents & LCS
 Part II: 41-98 – ‘BA-ER-ZAR-KE’, “love” “like horses” vs.
“revolutionary blather” (53), possibility of transformation (94)
allowed by closing “successful burglary”
 Part III: 101-172 – “we were seduced, overwhelmed, spellbound
by the mystery of the outside world, especially the world of
women, love and sex as revealed to us by these Western writers
day after day, page after page, book after book.” (101), “once you
had read it, neither your own life nor the world you lived in would
ever look the same.” (103); “pulled out a good tooth and left the
bad one”; impact on tailor’s design; “a sadist”; “depths of despair”
(‘Who will ever release me from this mountain?’); LCS leaves for
the city
 Nb stories & “the ending” – 3 months after abortion
Plot Summary (Edexcel)
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When the two lively main characters, the narrator (17) and his childhood
friend Luo (18), are sent to the remote Phoenix Mountain to be 'reeducated', life is undoubtedly grim. Not only are living conditions
extremely basic, but they are sometimes given disgusting jobs to do, such
as carrying buckets of animal/human excrement on their backs up the
high mountain paths. Thankfully their acquaintance with 'The Little
Seamstress' brightens up both their lives. Luo begins a relationship with
her and sets about trying to educate her since in his opinion she is not as
cultured as he would like. It is their acquisition of a forbidden novel by
Balzac (and later their theft of a whole suitcase of similar books) that also
makes life endurable and in Luo's hands becomes the perfect tool to
transform the Little Seamstress. Whilst Luo is given one month's leave to
spend at his mother's sickbed, the Little Seamstress discovers she is
pregnant and decides on an abortion, arranged by the narrator who
traded his beloved Balzac novel for her operation. Clearly transformed by
the whole experience and having been inspired by the French novelist in
her own way, the Little Seamstress decides to leave the mountain (and
therefore Luo and the narrator) for a new life in the city.
“Con-man Luo” (65), “the
teller of films” (31)
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“Luo’s father, a famous dentist… REACTIONARY” (8/9)
“ ‘Mozart…’ I muttered… ‘Mozart is Thinking of Chairman Mao,’ Luo broke in. The audacity!” (5)
“We were surprised to see how the alarm clock seized the imagination of the peasants. It became an object of veneration, almost.”
(14)
“The only thing Luo was really good at was telling stories.” (18)
“She hooted with laughter. Luo was a born impersonator.” (23)
“She’s not civilised, at least not enough for me!” (25)
“At the end of the sixth week Luo fell ill. It was malaria… icy water… They thought the shock would cure him… started whipping his
bare back… ‘Harder!’ cried the others… ‘If you don’t hit hard you won’t drive out the sickness’… The blows left livid weals on Luo’s
flesh… ‘I’ve had this idea stuck in my head: that I’m going to die in this mine… I’m shivering and I’m cold, like an old man at death’s
door.’ ” (30)
Luo makes sorceresses “weep” when Ma can’t: “How great Luo’s talent was! He was able to electrify an audience by means of a
perfectly timed voice-over, even when overcome by a violent bout of malaria… The sorceresses wept profusely, their tears mingling
with the phlegm running from their nostrils, and their snuffling continued until deep into the night.” (38) [final words of Part I: power of
literature]
“… We made love there, against the trunk. Standing. She was a virgin and her blood dripped onto the leaves scattered
underneath…’Yes, like horses. Perhaps that’s why she laughed afterwards, a laugh so piercing, so wild, and echoing so far and wide
that even the birds took wing in fright.’ “
“It was a mystery to me why Luo, who seemed so daring in all things, should have such a dread of heights” (104)
Story: “Sure, she swims like a dolphin now. She used to swim the way peasants do, using only her arms, not her legs… What she has
discovered all on her own is how to dive from dangerous heights. I have never dared do it…” (129)
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“ ‘Who will ever release me from this mountain?...depths of despair… I envied the tortoise its freedom.” (131)
“She must have been the only person in the world who still had faith in my ultimate release from re-education, who was convinced that I
would need my keys again some day. From then on we played the key ring game… I loved it, not because I had any illusions about my
future, but simply because it gave me the opportunity to admire her sensual body gliding through the water naked but for the fragile leaves
of her loincloth.” (131)  news can spend month with mother (132)
Luo II
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“Luo the arsonist, the son of the famous dentist, the romantic lover who had crawled to his beloved on all fours,
the admirer of Balzac – Luo was drunk… He was crying and laughing by turns…” (165) [L burning books; M
playing violin]
 “TLS had gone, never to return. Her departure, as dramatic as it was sudden, had taken us completely by
surprise. We spent a long time searching our traumatised memories for any hints she may have given of
the calamity that was to befall us. In the end we came up with several tell-tale signs, which were for the
most part connected with her wardrobe… made herself a brassiere… ‘Her latest obsession… is to be like
a city girl… blue Mao jacket… white tennis shoes”
 “Luo was delighted with her transformation, although he was as surprised as I was… made her look
unfamiliarly stylish and sensual. The lovely, unsophisticated mountain girl had vanished without a trace.
Studying her new look, Luo was filled with the happiness of an artist contemplating his finished
creation.” (168)
Ma
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“my violin… it was the sole item that exuded an air of foreignness, of civilisation, and therefore aroused suspicion… Things were not
looking good” (3/4)
“I launched into an accompaniment on my violin. It was a Tibetan song, which the Chinese had reworded so as to turn it into a
glorification of Chairman Mao. But the adaptatin of the lyrics had not done too much damage: the song was still uplifting.” (17)
Intro to “the little coal mine” begins: “When the light suddenly appeared, it hovered in the air like the eye of some nightmarish animal
whose body had been swallowed up by the darkness. It was Luo…He was naked except for a harness with leather straps that cut
deep into his flesh. This horrible contraption enabled him to drag a huge basket laden with chunks of anthracite behind him…” (26)
“To tell the truth, we accepted this infernal ordeal, because we were determined to stay in the race at all costs, even though our
chances of returning to the city were no more than the infinitesimal three in a thousand. We were not to know that our stint in the coal
mine would mark us for the rest of our lives, physically and mentally. Even today the fearful phrase ‘the little coal mine’ sends shivers
down my spine… I’m going to die in this mine… cold sweat… infected… I shared his terror of not leaving the place alive...” (27/8)
“The most trivial occurrence, someone’s offhand remark… became, in my eyes, a bad omen, a foreboding death. I had visions…” (28)
“So I embarked on the strangest performance of my lift… I sat.. And related the North Korean film for the benefit of a pretty girl and
four ancient sorceresses.” (37)
“I stayed in bed until nightfall, without food, completely wrapped up in the French story of love and miracles. Picture, if you will, a boy
of nineteen, still slumbering in the limbo of adolescence, having heard nothing but revolutionary blather about patriotism, Communism,
ideology and propaganda all his life, falling headlong into a story of awakening desire, passion, impulsive action, love, of all the
subjects that had, until then, been hidden from view.” (53)
“Ursule’s story rang as true as if it had been about my neighbours.” (53)
“Suddenly I felt a stab of jealousy, a bitter wrenching emotion I had never felt before.” (54)
“Once again, I watched the LS’s face with fascination. She was breathtaking, as she had been the night before at the open-air cinema.
But now that she was laughing I was so utterly captivated that I wanted to marry her there and then, regardless of her being Luo’s
girlfriend. In her peals of laughter I caught the musky fragrance of wild orchids, stronger than the scent of flowers lying at her feet.”
(83)
“I fell in love with one author after another” (102)
Dreams of LCS “vivacious, full of fun, shapely in a tight white T-shirt and black trousers.” (108)
“I would most certainly have opted for the story of a Chinese or North Korean film… had I not tasted the forbidden fruit of 4-Eyes’s
secret suitcase. As it was, the stark proletarian realism of those stories, which had represented the sum total of my cultural education
until a short while ago, struck me as being so far removed from human desires and true emotions, in short from real life, that there
seemed little point in bothering with them at this late hour. Suddenly th enovel I had just finished reading flashed across my mind. I
was confident that Luo had not yet read it:: he was still completely wrapped up in Balzac” (115) [Alexandre Dumas)  “It is 1815, and
we are in Marseilles…”
“The artistry of the great Dumas was so compelling that I forgot all about our guest, and the words poured from me. My sentences
became more precise, more concrete, more compact as I went along. I succeeded, with some effort, in sustaining the spare tone of
the opening sentence. It was not an easy undertaking, but I was pleasantly surprised, in the course of telling the story, to see the
narrative mechanism laid bare before my eyes… I lost all sense of time. How long had I been talking? An hour? Two?... ‘Right now,’
Luo whispered to me, ‘you’re doing better than me. You should have been a writer.’ “ (116)
Ma II
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“It was the longest story I had ever told, for it took me nine whole nights to reach the end.” (117)
“L, my beloved commander” away for a month so M to “guard” her for him. (137)
 “How blindly Luo trusted me!”
 “I pictured myself at the head of a routed army…” (138)
 “I assumed the role of undercover agent… Never had a secret agent carried out his mission with more
dedication.” (138/40)
“I couldn’t help noticing that she enjoyed listening to me. She even seemed to appreciate my way of reading
the story more than my predecessor’s… I would start by reading a couple of pages… I would ask her what she
thought would happen next… I would tell her what it said in the book… I couldn’t resist taking slight liberties,
adding bits here and there by way of a personal touch to make the story more interesting to her…” (140)
“I took great pleasure in these humble tasks… The voluntary domestication on my part not only softened my
temperament but also gave me more intimate access to the female realm.” (141)
“I longed to ask if I might kiss her red nails when I returned the next day… I reminded myself of the prohibitions
arising from my gallant commitment to my friend and commander.” (142)
Mocked by “15 yokels” including “ultimate insult”, “flaccid private parts” & “obscene grin”
 Wet dream with rescue my LCS as climax: “She allowed me to take her fingers in my mouth and to lick
them lovingly… red-hot lava sliding over my tongue, overflowing my lips… he abandoned himself in the
dark to a betrayal that left his pants sticky.” (146)
“reconnaissance trip” by M to see hospital & gynaecologist (150)  “I’ll give you a book by Balzac” (160) –
weeps when hears name of translator: “It is hard to imagine a more moving tribute to the gift bestowed by an
intellectual on mankind.” (161)  “The medical intervention was a success” (161)  “ ‘It was a girl, if you’re
interested,’ the doctor whispered.” (162)  gives not only Ursule Mirouet but “book I treasured most of all –
Jean-Christophe, which had been translated by the same Fu Lei.” (162)  “offering” & visit to Buddhist temple:
“But the building was boarded up and locked, and we had already spent the last of our money.” (163)
“Secretly, and for the first time ever, I was angry with the Little Seamsress. Although I was fully aware of my
role as spectator, I felt just as betrayed as Luo, not by her decision to leave the mountain, but by the fact that
she had not thought to tell me about it...” (171)
“ ‘Wait,’ I shouted, waving the sweet potato. ‘Come and have some of these! I made them especially for you!”
 LCS runs off
The Little Chinese Seamstress
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“THE PRINCESS of Phoenix mountain wore pale pink canvass shoes which were both sturdy
and supple… There was nothing out of the ordinary about the cheap, home-made shoes, and
yet, in a place where nearly everyone went barefoot, they caught the eye, seemed delicate and
sophisticated…” (20)
“untamed quality about her eyes… wild girls… Her eyes had the gleam of uncut gems, of
unpolished metal... sensual beauty, which aroused in us an irresistible desire to stay and watch
her work…” (23/4)
“I enjoy talking to people who can read and write – the young people from the city for instance.
Didn’t you notice that my dog didn’t bark when you came in? He knows my tastes.” (24)
Bet – “If I lose, I’ll lengthen your trousers for free… Her foot, more timid than she but no less
sensual for that… A small foot, tanned, translucent, veined with blue, with toenails that
gleamed… their second toes were longer than the others.” (25)
“Now you can come to our village to tell us a film… P.S. I just remembered something funny I
wanted to tell you: since your visit I’ve come across several people whose second toes are
longer than their big does, just like our own. I’m disappointed, but that’s life.” (32)
“ ‘What’s a dentist?’… You mean to say that they can kill the worms that get into your teeth and
make them ache?“ (35)
“Of all the girls in the audience, and there were at least 2000, she was certainly the prettiest…
‘It’s so much better when it’s you telling the story.’ ” (77)
LCS II
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Story: “The books Luo read to me always made me want to dive into the cool water of the mountain
torrent. Why? It was a gut reaction…I know what you’re getting at – you think I’m like a silly dog that
keeps running to fetch the stick thrown by its master. I’m not like those young French girls Balzac
talks about. I’m a mountain girl. I just love pleasing Luo, that’s all there is to it.” (134)
 “It was a totally new experience for me… Luo told me I’d make a good actress.” (135)
 “I touched a snake” but still goes back in: “Fifty years from now the ugly scar will still be there,
on my middle finger. Go on, feel it.” (136)
“ ‘I’m in trouble’ … Her distress was infectious, and soon I too was shedding tears…
 “not the slightest chance of her being allowed to keep the child anyway… marriage under the
age of 25 was illegal. The situation was hopeless. There was nowhere for them to go, for there
was no conceivable place where a Romeo and his pregnant Juliet might elude the long arm of
the law… Every nook and cranny of the land came under the all-seeing eye of the dictatorship
of the proletariat, which had cast its gigantic, fine-meshed net over the whole of China.” (149)
“She said she hadn’t told you, and that she’d write to you as soon as she got settled somewhere.”
(168)
 M follows L when he chases LCS but asks lots of questions as to why  “I couldn’t decide
which” (169)  catch sight of her after 2-3 hours of running – M stays at a distance
“ ‘She wants to go to the city,’ he said. ‘She mentioned Balzac… ‘She said she had learnt one thing
from Balzac: that a woman’s beauty is a treasure beyond price.’ “ (172)
The village headman…
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“... A man of about fifty, sat cross-legged in the centre of the room…” (3)
“… the headman’s menacing look softened. He crinkled up his eyes in a wide, beatific smile.”
(5)
“a bourgeois toy… A toy from the city… go on, burn it!” (4)
“The effect had been as grandiose as that of the screen version. The whole audience wept,
even the village headman who, for all his harshness, couldn’t hold back the tears pouring hotly
from his left eye, marked as ever by three spots of blood.” (33)
Away at start of Part III then reports on revolutionary doctor at district hospital: “ ‘Son of a bitch,
idiot barefoot doctor, pulled out a good tooth and left the bad one, which was next to it.’ He was
particularly furious that the haemorrhage following the extraction of the unoffending molar had
prevented him from expressing his outrage, reduced as he was to garbling in a barely
intelligible manner.” (110)
“ ‘If you, son of a great dentist, can cure my tooth, I’ll leave your friend here alone. If not, I’ll
march him straight to the Security Office and report him for spreading reactionary filth.’ ” (121)
“The headman’s teeth resembled a jagged mountain range. Three incisors protruded from
blackened inflamed gums like flakes of prehistoric basalt, while his tobacco-stained canines
were like snaggled rocks of diluvian travertine… must have suffered a bout of syphilis. The
headman averted his face, without contradicting the diagnosis.” (122)
“I was flabbergasted. How could this tyrant, this political and economic despot, this police chief,
ever resign himself to being restrained in this way, which was not only humiliating but also
made him look utterly ridiculous? What the devil had got into him? I had no time to ponder the
question then, and even today it confounds me…” (124)
The tailor
(“the great traveller”)
 “The tailor lived like a king.” (21)
 “our tailor is the most widely travelled man of all” (22)
 “ ‘Wy-o-lin! He bellowed, in an imitation of the English word. His
voice was like a clap of thunder and made me jump, at which he
roared with laughter. He was the very image of the capricious
overord… ‘Wy-o-lin!’… ‘Wy-o-lin!’…they fell about laughing…” (23)
 “transformation of our house…witness to scenes of feminine
intimacy such as we had never seen before… It would evidently
take more than a political regime, more than dire poverty to stop a
woman from wanting to be well dressed: it was a desire as old as
the world, as old as the desire for children.” (113)
 “Inevitably, some of the details he picked up from the French story
started to have a discreet influence on the clothes he was making
for the villagers…sailor tops with square collars… blue sailor
trousers…fluttering bell-bottoms… tiny anchors…” (117/8)
Cultural Revolution
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“The universities were closed and all the ‘young intellectuals’, meaning boys and girls who had graduated from high school, were sent
to the countryside to be ‘re-educated by the poor peasants’ (6)
“We decided that it all came down to Mao’s hatred of intellectuals” (7)
“We were not the first guinea pigs to be used in this grand human experiment, no would we be the last… Millions of young people had
gone before us, and millions would follow. But there was a certain irony about our situation, as neither Luo nor I were high school
graduates.” (7)
“All other books were forbidden.” (8)
“Phoenix of the Sky. The name was a poetic way of suggesting its terrifying altitude… mighty, mythical and profoundly solitary.” (11)
“But our village, perched on the summit and the poorest of them all, could only afford two: Luo and me.” (12)
“… the human body represented the sole means of transport.” (14)
“What we dreaded most of all was having to carry buckets of shit on our backs.” (14)
“former opium growers who, now that they had been converted into ‘poor peasants’ by the Communist regime, were in charge of our
re-education” (15)
“It rained often on Phoenix mountain. It rained almost two days out of three… steady, insidious drizzle that seemed to go on for ever…
depressed us…” (15)
“ ‘Three in a thousand’, flashed across my mind.” (17)
“the terrible three in a thousand… lived in almost perpetual fear” (41)
“in the 3 in a 1000 category because we were sons of bourgeois parents, like 4-Eyes, or sons of class enemies, like Luo and me.” (78)
“Right now, ignorance is in fashion, but one day the need for good doctors will be recognised once more.” (81)
“Suddenly, I felt the stirrings of an uncontrollably sadistic impulse, like a volcano about to erupt. I thought about all the miseries of reeducation, and slowed down the pace of the treadle. Luo shot me a glance of complicity… I put on an air of innocent, calm
deliberation to disguise the hatred smouldering in my eyes… I had turned into a sadist – an out –and-out sadist.” (125)
Four-Eyes
 “one split second of inattention was enough for Four-Eyes to
receive a blow to the face from the buffalo’s tail, which sent his
spectacles hurtling through the air… The blank expression in his
eyes was disconcerting.” (43)
 “He lived in constant terror of the peasants’ opinion, for it would be
up to them one day to decide whether he had been properly
educated…” (48)
 “ ‘Bloody hell! All you’ve got here is a load of smutty rhymes!’ he
barked… ‘You said you wanted authentic mountain songs,’ Luo
reminded him tensely.’ ‘Ye gods! So I did, and I also told you I
wanted uplifting lyrics with an undertone of romantic realism.’ ”
(71/2)  ‘lunged at him’ (74)
Books
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“But it was not a shoe, it was a suitcase. A ray of light bounced off the glossy lid. It was an
elegant suitcase, a little worn but made of fine leather, and it gave off a whiff of civilisation.” (44)
“ ‘ What happened to her books?’ ‘They went up in smoke… burnt them in public…” (47)
For their help “Four-Eyes gave us a book – a thin, worn volume. The author’s name was
Balzac.” (51)
“We bitterly regretted having returned the book. ‘We should never have given it back,’ Luo said
repeatedly. ‘I could have read it out, page by page, to the Little Seamstress. That would have
made her more refined, more cultured, I’m quite sure.’ ” (57)
“We were beside ourselves. My head reeled, as if I’d had too much to drink. I took the novels
out of the suitcase one by one, opened them, studied the portraits of the authors, and passed
them to L. Brushing them with the tips of my fingers made me feel as if my pale hands were in
touch with human lives.” (93)
“ ‘With these books I shall transform the Little Seamstress. She’ll never be a simple mountain
girl again.” (94)
“we were seduced, overwhelmed, spellbound by the mystery of the outside world, especially
the world of women, love and sex as revealed to us by these Western writers day after day,
page after page, book after book.” (101)
“Without him I would never have understood the splendour of taking free and independent
action as an individual…The flirtation turned into a grand passion.” (102)
“once you had read it, neither your own life nor the world you lived in would ever look the
same.” (103)
Old Miller
 “armies of lice” (67)
 “Being so thin, he didn’t actually have a
stomach at all.” (69)
 Story describes two figures “coupling under
water…” in great and sensuous detail (127)
 Story: “It was lucky for him, your make-believe
interpreter, that it was I who saw him, for I am
not easily shocked, and have never denounced
anyone to the Public Security Ofice. If it had
been anyone else he would have been in deep
trouble, believe me.” (128)
Some Themes (Edexcel)
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The Transformative Power of Literature: The power of Balzac's words profoundly enriches
the lives of the three main characters as the narrator so aptly reveals 'falling headlong into a
story of awakening desire, passion, impulsive action, love'. The discovery of Western Literature
enables them to be uplifted from the monotony of their everyday existence and the narrator
even feels intoxicated in its presence 'My head reeled, as if I'd had too much to drink'. Luo's
metaphor concerning Balzac has unfortunate consequences on the future of his relationship
with the Little Seamstress 'He touched the head of this mountain girl with an invisible finger,
and she was transformed, carried away in a dream'. Desperate to change her, he succeeds,
but the direction of that transformation is ironically beyond his control. Hence his physical
destruction of the books by fire is really an attempt to annihilate the characters and their lives
which inspired the Little Seamstress' departure.
Emotional and Physical Effects of Re-education: With their 0.3% chance of being allowed
home, both Luo and the narrator feel understandably pessimistic about life on Phoenix
Mountain and effectively communicate the physical and emotional strain
'dispiriting...depressed...doomed...dejection...insomnia'.
Cultural Beliefs: Chinese traditions permeate the novel, such as the diversity of cures for
Luo's malaria (his colleagues whipping him with a peach tree branch and willow branch; the
Little Seamstress' herbal remedy and invitation to the four 'sorceresses' to keep watch at his
bedside).
Friendship: The close relationship between Luo and the narrator is extremely dedicated and is
based on loyalty and trust, compared to the unpredictable one they have with Four-Eyes.
Storytelling: The telling of tales is a significant aspect of the novel, since the Chinese oral
tradition has a long history, emerging particularly strongly from those areas with low literacy
levels.
Author’s Craft I (Edexcel)
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Humour: comical scenes are in abundance, enabling Sijie to soften the harsh realities of re-education. At times
we laugh at characters, whilst at others we laugh with them. The amusing anachronism 'Mozart is Thinking of
Chairman Mao' that Luo promptly invents to avert accusations of bourgeois tendencies is amusing since it
highlights (rather cruelly) the ignorance of the peasants, as Mozart obviously died over a century before Mao's
birth! The boys' adventures are often threaded with humour, such as their hilarious meeting 'in role' with the
poor miller in a bid to acquire some authentic folk songs.
Structure: Presented in three parts, the author carefully divides events so as to control the pace of the
narrative. Part I successfully sets the scene and introduces the major characters, culminating in the suggestion
that the Little Seamstress has fallen in love with Luo. Part II is then ready to relate the crux of the story: the
discovery of the Balzac and the major effect it has on the lives of the main three youths, making clear the
relationship between Luo and the Little Seamstress is now sexual. The final part witnesses their awakening to
the rest of the suitcase's contents and temporarily switches the narration to include three different
interpretations of the same event. Unfortunately the lovers' encounters have resulted in an unwanted outcome
which builds towards the novel's denouement and clearly affects the decision the Little Seamstress takes at the
very end.
Irony: Luo's desire to re-educate the Little Seamstress is greatly ironic, since his own experiences of reeducation have been negative. Likewise, the boys' discovery of Western Literature during their re-education is
ironic in the context of re-educating them away from 'bourgeois' ideas, as it actually steers them towards them.
Elements of Fairy-Tale
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Symbolism: The presence of the black raven (representative of the Little Seamstress in the narrator's dream) forebodes
danger, highlighted by the narrator's own negative concerns 'I felt apprehensive about how his adventure with Balzac and the
Little Seamstress would turn out'. The keys Luo symbolically throws into the pool signify his lack of hope of ever being set free.
Folk-Tale Scenes: Specific episodes are reminiscent of folk-tale, such as Four-Eyes' failed attempt to glean the information he
needs from the old miller which is then rectified by Luo and the narrator. Even the sorceress' words remind us of folklore and
legend 'My bow is from Tibet, and my arrow is tipped with silver'.
Author’s Craft II (Edexcel)
Narrative Style
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The narrator's opinions of events concerning the Cultural Revolution are delivered in a subtle tongue-in-cheek, often
ironic manner. In his description of re-education, his understatement that the country was 'profoundly altered' speaks
volumes. When referring to Luo's father's misdemeanour of mentioning to his dentist students that he had mended Mao's
teeth, he ironically states 'it was beyond belief, an unpardonable, insane crime'.
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The first person narrative delivery allows a more direct reader participation, as the narrator frequently personally
addresses us to make us feel more involved and to maintain the storytelling mode 'Dear reader, I will spare you the
details...' He is also able to offer a more intimate portrait of life under Mao than that of a strictly historical account.
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Intrigue and suspense are built on several occasions as the narrator arouses our curiosity (especially at the close of a
chapter) 'our lives...were about to be completely shaken up'.
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The brief inclusions of the stories of The Old Miller, Luo and the Little Seamstress widen the narrative by offering
different voices, both old and young. Luo's story allows us an insight into his personal lack of faith in ever leaving the
mountain, whilst the Little Seamstress' recounting of her role in the drama they re-enacted foreshadows the ending of
both their relationship and the novel. The Old Miller's tale focuses more crudely on their underwater love-making and
appears to address the narrator directly, communicating his shock at what he witnessed.
Language
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Scenes are powerfully evoked by rich description, such as the active verbs used to describe the episode where the
peasants are fascinated by the narrator's violin 'swarmed inside the cramped room, clung to the windows, jostled each
other', portraying their desperate, frantic attempts to witness this exciting event.
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Alliteration enhances the humour of the village headman's colloquialisms 'you lazy louts, you spawn of bullocks' balls'.
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The narrator's language is often blunt and frank, employing mild profanities which reflect the crude and harsh nature of
their environment, such as 'buckets of shit'.
Imagery:
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Sijie uses an abundance of similes to intensify the scenes the narrator depicts 'like parched earth under a shower'. The
Phoenix of the Sky communicates the metaphoric 'rebirth' of the youths via their re-education, rising out of the ashes of
their previous 'intellectualism' like the mythological Egyptian bird. The extended military metaphor employed to reflect the
lice-infested room of the old miller appropriately mirrors Mao's use of the army and Red Guards to enforce his regime.
Significantly, once exposed to the wealth of romantic novels in Four-Eyes' suitcase, the narrator's metaphor reflects his
newly discovered fascination with love and desire 'I had intended only a brief flirtation, a skim read...The flirtation turned
into a grand passion'.
About the Author
 Dai Sijie was born in the Fujian province of China in
1954. As both his parents were doctors, he was sent
for 're-education' during the early 1970s, at the height
of the Cultural Revolution.
 In 1984 he won a scholarship from the University of
Arts to study abroad. He left China for France, where
he still lives, and began making films. Although Balzac
and the Little Chinese Seamstress was his first novel, it
was an overnight success in France, winning five
literary prizes and became a bestseller across Europe
and America. His film adaptation of the novel, released
in 2002, was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.
Author Interview
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"It's nothing but a love story… There was a real love story," Dai said of the autobiographical
aspects of the story, "but not as romantic. The stealing books part is true and the experience of
reading stories to farmers is also true."
From the 1960s to 1970s, during Dai's teenage days, "all the books were banned, even science
books. ... So at that time almost everybody stole books and hid them," he said.
"I wanted to show how much impact culture could have on an isolated mountain village, and
especially for [the seamstress]. It was a revelation of freedom, of self-consciousness. The little
seamstress had seen more in Balzac ... learned that men could flirt with women, that it is
natural. ... This is what she had never learned during her days of being indoctrinated ... that life
could be filled with many nice things," he said.
For Dai, this lack of freedom and individualism is the essence of his generation.
As to how a young woman could suddenly be changed through foreign literature -- the part of
the story most criticized by Chinese authorities and the main reason the story was not released
in China -- Dai has an apolitical answer. "The influence of literature is universal. [The story] was
not only an ode to the literature we had read, but also simply to show that in a difficult situation,
we, at that young age, had a yearning to learn, to see new things and nice things."
Taken from the Taipei Times, 20th May, 2002 (taipeitimes.com)
BBC Film Review
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"Revolutionary peasants will never be corrupted by a filthy bourgeois chicken!" declares a local Communist
party leader near the beginning of "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress", tossing a cookbook into the fire.
As opening scenes go, it's one that sums up everything that writer-director Dai Sijie's film is fighting against.
Arriving in the Phoenix Mountains for "re-education" during the Cultural Revolution, bourgeois city
boys Ma (Ye Lui) and Luo (Kun Chen) discover a world dominated by petty rivalries and blinkered
ignorance.
It's a community in which even their violin comes under suspicion - at least until they convince the local radicals
that a Mozart sonata is a political mountain song ("Mozart is Thinking of Chairman Mao").
After months of toiling the fields, the boys discover a cache of foreign books and try to do some re-education of
their own. They read the novels of Flaubert, Gogol, and Balzac to the local seamstress (Xun Zhou),
whose thirst for uncensored knowledge makes her willing to risk her life for art.
A French-Chinese production (rather appropriate, given the subject matter), Dai Sijie's film - based on his own
best-selling autobiographical novel of the same name - presents an overly simplistic vision of art as
salvation that threatens to turn its three leads into ciphers rather than characters.
Yet, building on its carefully constructed scenes between Ma, Luo, and the little seamstress who they both fall
in love with, this is a beautiful paean to a time long past.
Reliving his youth, Dai Sijie finds both joy and sadness in the upheaval of the Cultural Revolution - sadness in
the misery of those years of strict indoctrination, but uplifting joy in the realisation that change can bring
freedom.
As the film's awkward, closing coda proves, though, sometimes love means letting go.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/films/reviews/a_f/balzac.shtml