Balzac Essay

alzac essayMatthew Freeman
Expository Essay
11-09-11 Period 3
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Essay
Prompt: Compare and Contrast two characters whose lives change in the two years covered in the novel. Focus on words, story, and literature in affecting the change. Draw conclusions about the universality of the power of story and literature. The book Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie explores how two main characters, Luo and the narrator, changes through the novel. Both Luo and the narrator, under the age of twenty, are sent to a cultural re-education camp, where they grow from being young boys to men. These two best friends have a lot of love and trust for each other throughout the novel, since they shared so many experiences growing up. Four-Eye’s is the boys’ only friend in the village, and the Little Seamstress ends up being Luo’s girlfriend. Luo and the narrator transit from boyhood to manhood from the influence of the books, their relationships, and their responsibilities.
The books that Luo and the narrator stole from Four-Eyes were a part of their new lives, because of the knowledge that was hidden from the two. After reading the first book Four-eyes lent to them, the two became addicted and had the need to read more. “Picture if you will, a boy of nineteen,…falling into a story of awakening desire, passion, impulsive action, love, of all subjects that had, until then, been hidden from me” (Sijie, 57). This lack of knowledge was one of the barriers in the way of the boys’ turning point into maturity, and by obtaining the knowledge in the books they were a step closer. The book Balzac also helped the narrator convince a doctor to help give the Little Seamstress the abortion she wanted, which influenced the narrator’s opinion in life. Since Luo read Balzac to the Little Seamstress their relationship flourished, giving them both an experience that made them feel free and strengthened. The relationships that formed in the story represent how Luo and the narrator change from boyhood to manhood. The relationship that occurs between Luo and the Little Seamstress is the primary influencer of Luo becoming a man. He seemed like, “a knight errant, though lacking steed, he vanished into the morning mist shrouding the path to the Little Seamstress’s village” (Sijie, 112). The dangerous position like the mountain path, that Luo puts himself in for her cosigns how he transformed into a man. Also Luo and the narrators loving and trust-filled relationship exposes how the two are truly young men instead of boys. He explains he is to, “prevent any contenders from insinuating themselves into her private life, from sneaking into a domain to which only Luo, my beloved commander, was rightfully entitled” (Sijie, 147). The narrator’s loyalty for Luo created by their relationship justifies his manliness, as does their responsibilities.
Also the responsibilities that the boys have toward the end of the story help change Luo and the narrator from boys to men. “The village headman, no doubt mellowed by the success of his dental treatment, has given me permission to spend a month at my mother’s sickbed” (Sijie, 142). Luo took it upon himself to make his sick mother his responsibility, doing this showed the reader how he has changed into a man. The narrator’s responsibility of helping the Little Seamstress get an abortion is a clear sign of how he is a man. The books, their relationships, and their responsibilities influenced how Luo and the narrator transited into manhood from boyhood. Each one having its own effect on how the two changed, the re-education camp was their destiny. The books expanding their freedom, the relationships increasing their loyalty and their responsibilities giving them mature experiences. These things easily helped the two that were already on the verge of manhood quicken the process.