Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

“This cry, raised by two thousand voices, was like the rumble of thunder breaking over our heads.

‘I started it…’ Luo’s father confessed.

‘Go on! The details!’

‘But as soon as I touched her, I fell…into mist and clouds.’”

The threat of the simile associating the crowd with thunder reflects the use of mob violence during the Cultural Revolution (See: Background). The contrast between the harsh insistence of the mob—shown by the short, sharp imperatives and use of exclamation marks—and the dentist’s obvious reluctance and strain through the repeated use of ellipses emphasizes the stress of denunciation for supposed “counterrevolutionaries” persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.

“‘The district of Yong Jing is not lacking in interest,’ the Jesuit commented in his notebook. ‘One of the mountains, locally known as “the Phoenix of the Sky” is especially noteworthy. Famed for its copper, employed by the ancients for minting coins, the mountain is said to have been offered by an emperor of the Han dynasty as a gift to his favorite, who was one of the chief eunuchs in his palace.’”

Setting plays an important role in the novel. The fact that only one Westerner ever saw the mountain emphasizes its remoteness and isolation, as does its name, which associates it not with the everyday world but with legend and the distant sky. This isolated, rural setting is where Luo and the Narrator’s re-education takes place.

“When the light suddenly reappeared, it hovered in the air like the eye of some nightmarish animal whose body had been swallowed up by the darkness. It was Luo, wearing an oil lamp secured to his forehead, at work in what was known as ‘the little coal mine.’”

Dai captures the horror of the little coal mine through the simile comparing Luo’s lamp to the eye of an unseen monster. Underground, even the comfort of company and light creates a frightening impression. Luo and the Narrator’s toil in the mines reflects the harsh nature of their re-education program.

“‘D’you believe in that sort of thing?’ the Little Seamstress asked me in a hesitant voice.

‘What sort of thing?’

‘Things you can’t explain naturally.’

‘Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.’

‘You sound as if you think I’ll denounce you.’

‘Not at all.’

‘Well?’

‘In my opinion you can’t believe in them totally, but you can’t deny them totally either.’

She seemed to approve of my answer.”

The quick back-and-forth of this dialogue shows the growing closeness and understanding between the Narrator and the Little Seamstress, invoking Loyalty and Trust in Love and Friendship. The Narrator shows trust in her by revealing his true opinion, making it clear that he does not fear she will “denounce” him to the authorities.

“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 Narrator praises Luo for his ability to entertain the villagers, with the contrast between Luo’s weakened physical state and the impact of his words revealing his power as a storyteller. The passage also speaks to The Power of Art and Knowledge, as such storytelling prowess enables Luo and the Narrator to sometimes ease the hardships of their situation.

“He was so enraged that he didn’t hear our jovial shouts of greeting. He was very short-sighted and was unable to distinguish us from the jeering peasants in the neighboring paddy fields.”

This introduction to Four-Eyes’s character shows his hostile attitude and violent temper. “Short sighted” here is a play on words: Four-Eyes’s eyesight is literally too bad for him to discern their figures, but he is also too short-sighted figuratively, as he is so focused on his own short-term sufferings and ambitions that he is unable to distinguish between friends and enemies.

“‘BA-ER-ZAR-KE.’ Translated into Chinese, the name of the French author comprised four ideograms. The magic of translation! The ponderousness of the two syllables as well as the belligerent, somewhat old-fashioned ring of the name were quite gone, now that the four characters—very elegant, each composed of just a few strokes—banded together to create an unusual beauty, redolent with an exotic fragrance as sensual as the perfume wreathing a wine stored for centuries in a cellar.”

In this quote, the author explores the beauty of language and The Transformative Influence of Literature. Dai’s native language is Chinese, but he was writing the novel in French: His intimate understanding of the way ideas and impressions are altered and refined through translation is made particularly visceral by the use of an exclamation mark, as well as the contrast between the ungainly personification of the original French name and the sensuous sense-metaphor of perfume linked with the translation.

“‘This fellow Balzac is a wizard,’ he went on. ‘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.’”

The visceral impact that Balzac’s work has on the Little Seamstress shows The Transformative Influence of Literature. Luo associates its effects with magic and wizardry, as though the change wrought by Balzac’s influence is almost supernatural.

“‘Where’s Beijing?’

We were taken aback by his question, but when we realized he was speaking in earnest we couldn’t help laughing. For a moment I almost envied him his complete ignorance of the outside world.

‘Peiping, does that ring a bell?’ Luo asked.

‘Bai Ping?’ the old man said. ‘Certainly, it’s the big city in the north!’

‘They changed the name twenty years ago, little father,’ Luo explained. ‘And this gentleman here, he speaks the official language of Bai Ping, as you call it.’”

This quote shows the rapid change that Chinese society underwent during the years following the ascension of the Chinese Communist Party to power. The linguistic disconnect between the boys and the Old Miller shows the rupture between generations caused by the Cultural Revolution (See: Background), as well as the isolation and lack of formal education in rural communities neglected by the centralized bureaucracy.

“Tell me:

Little bourgeois lice

What do they fear?

They fear the boiling wave of the proletariat.”

Four-Eyes’s adaptation of the Old Miller’s song recycles the structure and rhythm of the original, as well as the format of hypophora and answer, but swaps out the joyful levity of the cheeky lyrics with blatant and threatening propaganda.

“[N]ow 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 the flowers lying at her feet.”

The Narrator conveys the Little Seamstress’s beauty and appeal through the sensory imagery of her alluring floral scent, described with a romanticism and drama that captures the power of youthful love, which even momentarily overwhelms the Narrator’s loyalty to Luo.

“‘So, are you weeping tears of joy?’ I said.

‘No. All I feel is loathing.’

‘Me too. Loathing for everyone who kept these books from us.’”

This quote shows that the victory of accessing Four-Eyes’s suitcase is bittersweet for Luo and the Narrator. While the literature brings them joy, it also grants them an awareness of the injustice of their prior deprivation. This is the beginning of The Transformative Influence of Literature in their own lives.

“It was all such a long time ago, but one particular image from our stint of re-education is still etched in my memory with extraordinary precision: a red-beaked raven keeping watch as Luo crawled along a narrow track with a yawning chasm on either side.”

The Narrator acknowledges that the period of his re-education took place a long time ago, which highlights the similarities between the fictional Narrator’s voice, and the author’s perspective recounting a fictionalized version of his own experience through the Narrator. The passage also invokes the motif of the red-beaked raven (See: Symbols & Motifs), which symbolizes the impending separation between Luo and the Little Seamstress.

“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 […] The tailor asked us to draw a five-pointed anchor, and for several years it became the most popular decorative feature in female fashion on Phoenix mountain.”

The Transformative Influence of Literature appears in the impact of the Narrator’s tale on the tailor’s work, and consequently on the fashion of the whole mountain. In this way, even some of the villagers begin to benefit from the boys’ access to forbidden literary works.

“I had to fight back my tears as I spoke. The look in Luo’s eyes told me that he had understood what I was trying to tell him: to keep the books well hidden in case I broke down under torture. I wasn’t sure I would withstand the beatings and floggings that were said to be standard procedure during interrogations at the Security Office […] the shameful trembling of my legs had given me away.”

Dai describes the Narrator’s body language to emphasize the depth of his fear, emphasizing the Narrator’s youth and helplessness. The description of interrogation tactics and use of violent vocabulary such as “torture” and “beatings” creates tension by emphasizing the high stakes of the current situation. Luo’s willingness to accompany the Narrator even under such circumstances thus also invokes Loyalty and Trust in Love and Friendship.

“I pedaled even more slowly, this time to punish him for threatening to take me into custody […] It became a chisel, cutting into a ghastly prehistoric rock face and releasing little puffs of greasy yellow dust. I had turned into a sadist—an out-and-out sadist.”

The Narrator lashes out while performing dental work on the Headman, reveling in the ability to cause pain for his former tormentor much as Four-Eyes enjoyed getting revenge on the buffalo. The Narrator’s self-recrimination and disgust at his baser impulses are emphasized through the gory imagery of the Headman’s tooth, and the repetition of the word “sadist.”

“Yes, they were ravens with red beaks—how did you guess? There must have been a dozen in all. One of them—perhaps it was more aggressive than the others, or more incensed at the disturbance—swooped down toward me, brushing my face with the tip of its wing. I can still remember the stench of it.”

The re-emergence of the motif of the red-beaked raven (See: Symbols & Motifs) creates an ominous link between the Little Seamstress’s growing freedom—both in literature and in diving—which is associated with birds in flight, and the negative symbolism of the red-beaked raven at the narrow pass. The negative characteristics of the bird, its aggression and “stench,” further add to the foreboding mood which foreshadows the coming loss of her departure from the mountain.

“In the days before his detention, my father used to say that dancing was not something that could be taught, and he was right. The same is true of diving and writing poetry, for the best divers and poets are self-taught. Some people can spend their lives having lessons and still resemble stones when they hurtle through the air. They never achieve the lightness of dropping fruit.”

Luo’s narration is characterized by evocative similes and metaphors, showing his skill as a storyteller and The Transformative Influence of Literature. The Little Seamstress is likened to “dropping fruit” to illustrate the lightness of her form, and her innate talents are praised through association with the skills of poets.

“What’s that you’re saying? Why I enjoyed diving down to retrieve his key ring? 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.”

Through the use of the second person “you,” and her repeated questions, the Little Seamstress’s narration is presented as a contemporaneous dialogue addressing the Narrator. This contrasts with the Narrator’s style, which is that of a man recalling his experiences years after the fact. The Little Seamstress insists upon her independence, rejecting the idea that she is behaving like a “dog” and instead emphasizing that she is motivated by her own desires and feelings. Her assertion of independence foreshadows her bid for freedom at the end of the novel.

“It was a totally new experience for me. Before, I had no idea that you could take on the role of a completely different person, actually become that person—a rich lady, for example—and still be your own self. Luo told me I’d make a good actress.”

Through Luo and the literature he shares with her, the Little Seamstress discovers and develops her own talents and skills. Through acting, the Little Seamstress is liberated from the constraints of her own life while still retaining her identity. This foray into acting foreshadows her eventual creation of an entirely new “city girl” persona for herself.

“At the time my sole preoccupation was to honor the faith he had in me. I pictured myself at the head of a routed army, charged with escorting the young wife of my bosom friend, the commander-in-chief, across a vast, bleak desert. Armed with pistol and machine gun I’d stand guard every night over the tent in which the gracious lady slept, and I’d ward off the horrible savages lusting after her flesh while their eyes, burning with desire, flashed in the dark.”

The Narrator’s fantasy illustrates the importance of Loyalty and Trust in Love and Friendship. He faces the difficulties of his present situation with courage and enthusiasm by creating a fictionalized version of himself, much as the author is able to process his own past through the proxy of the fictionalized version of himself that is the Narrator.

“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, nor indeed where they might live the life of Robinson Crusoe attended by a secret agent turned Man Friday. 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.”

The influence that literature has over the Narrator appears in his frequent references to different literary works. Through the Narrator’s references, Dai also draws parallels between the relationships depicted in works of classic literature and those in his own novel. The metaphor of the net encompassing China emphasizes the perceived hopelessness of the situation and the omnipotence of the CCP.

“It was not the Little Seamstress’s predicament that was making me weep, I think, nor was it relief at having come this far in my efforts to save her. It was hearing the name of Fu Lei, Balzac’s translator—someone I had never even met. It is hard to imagine a more moving tribute to the gift bestowed by an intellectual on mankind.”

The Narrator’s visceral emotional reaction to the gynecologist’s recognition of the translator emphasizes The Power of Art and Knowledge to move and connect people, as well as the importance of the work done by writers and translators. Literature creates deep and meaningful connections between strangers of all kinds, and here it helps the Narrator secure the doctor’s help.

“We did make one vow, though—that one day, in an imagined future when religions would no longer be prohibited and we ourselves would have plenty of money, we’d come back to erect a handsome, colorful monument to his memory, complete with a carved portrait of a man with silver hair and a crown of thorns like the one Jesus wore. But he wouldn’t have nails in the palms of his hands—he’d be holding a long-handled broom.”

The Narrator and the Little Seamstress wish to honor the old priest with an elaborate grave marker, a traditional way of showing respect and reverence for the dead in Chinese culture. The symbolism of the envisaged portrait, incorporating Christian imagery and acknowledging the old priest’s slow martyrdom, also shows their respect for his beliefs and their defiance of the regime that oppressed him.