The Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a marvelous novel, written by Dai Sijie, which himself was re-educated between 1971 and 1974 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution. In Dai Sijie’s Balzac and the Little Seamstress three separate accounts are given of an incident in which Luo and the Little Seamstress make love in an isolated mountain pool. Two of these perspectives are given by the participants while the third is provided by the old miller who observes their love making from a distance. Of all the accounts, I found the count of this incident of Little Seamstress most appealing as she is able to present at an imaginative description of this setting and allow the readers to understand her thoughts and feelings. In contrast the account of the Old Miller is more detached and is more focused about the physical beauty of the Little Seamstress, while Luo’s story to me is more focused on his own concerns and is desire to escape the remote mountain village which he has been sent.

The Old Miller’s perspective conveys the sense that he is both transfixed by what he sees, but he feel shamed for being unable to take his eyes off the lovers. Their acrobatic movements in the water make him feel his age in the fact that he realizes he can never again enjoy such pleasures. What he focuses on is their nudity and their coupling. This is captured in the image of “their bodies entwined, whirling round and round in the water.” Feeling “rooted to the spot” he notices “the limpid water glittering in the sun exaggerated and distorted their obscene movements.” The miller’s account makes the reader feel like a voyeur and imagine the old man with his face “reddened.” He is overcome by the beauty of the Little Seamstress “her naked belly and un...

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...h an injury on the Little Seamstress’s finger. A turning point comes up when they get back to the village and finds out that his mother’s been rushed to the hospital, which than he has to visit her for a month.

Out of the three stories told by Luo, the Old Miller and the Chinese Seamstress, I find the Little Chinese Seamstress’s story more appealing than others. From my view, it shows a variety of meanings because overall, the Little Seamstress was not educated, but from this story I could tell that she gained knowledge and was able to use what she was capable of doing and you would not expect to gain feedback from a woman who just had relationship with a man. Luo’s story is also very appealing but it shows only concerns for himself and is own feelings. Whereas the Chinese Seamstress was more appealing and showed improvement of her ability to think independently.