Balzac Character Analysis

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While Luo and the narrator were being re-educated on Phoenix Mountain, they met a mountain girl, known as the Little Chinese Seamstress. The Seamstress ends up falling deeply in love with Luo however, he claims she is not civilized enough for him. Through out the novel, Luo teaches the Seamstress concepts and duties that will ‘civilize’ her. In Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, “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 claimed to have Balzac’s words next to her skin made her …show more content…

Phrases such as, “fellow Balzac is a wizard” and “she was transformed, carried away in a dream”, shows Luo praising Balzac for changing the Seamstress into a more enlightened and educated person. He says it is a miracle that Balzac’s writing is able affect a simple mind. Just as the majority of women during that time, the Seamstress is seen solely for her beauty and not for her intelligence. This passage foreshadows the upcoming transformation the Seamstress takes on through out the novel. She realizes she wants to be seen as more than just the charming daughter of the tailor; she wants people to acknowledge her intelligence and respect her for it. Dai proves that she realized who she wanted to be through Balzac’s literature when he writes, “having Balzac’s words next to her skin made her feel good, and also more intelligent.” Phrases like, “carried away in a dream”, exemplifies that the Seamstress is physically and emotional effected by this which indicates her forthcoming change. This was the Seamstress’s first in counter with Balzac’s writing, and since it had such great impact on her, the new literature she is presented with will create a greater

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