Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Questions(8)

P.158-184
50. What news does the Little Seamstress tell the narrator? What are the conflicts that arise with this news for her and Luo? What does the narrator offer to do? Analyze the law and the cultural mores that cause the situation to be unresolvable.
The Little Seamstress tells to the narrator that she had missed two periods. So her father would kill Luo when he finds out this problem because he is responsible for it. The narrator offers to find that if she can get help from the gynecology department at the hospital in Yong Jing and the narrator goes there. There were laws that they could not go ahead and have the child before marrying, and the law prohibited abortion. So, these laws make the Little Seamstress’s problem not to be solved.
51. What does the narrator state would be his parents’ opinion of the situation with the Little Seamstress? Why is this a crime that transcends the Cultural Revolution?
The narrator states that his parents would throw them at once without giving him a chance to explain the situation. It is a crime that transcends the Cultural Revolution because the situation like this is not acceptable at that time and people could not understand it.
52. Why does the narrator think that the preacher who banned from his faith would be a good accomplice in trying to help the Little Seamstress? How does the preacher stick to his beliefs even at his dying words?
The narrator might think that the preacher could understand the situation. The preacher sticks to his beliefs even at his dying words by saying his final prayer in Latin.53. How does the narrator convince the doctor to perform the abortion for the Little Seamstress?
He promises to the doctor that he would give him a book by Balzac. And he shows the doctor his sheepskin jacket which the scripts from Balzac were written when the doctor could not believe him since the narrator lied once.
54. In the final chapter, the narrator recounts the warning signs that the Little Seamstress exhibited before leaving the mountain. List her physical changes. Also, what does Luo think about her physical transformation and his role in this?
The little Seamstress made herself a brassiere. Luo thought that she is to be like a city girl. And she reformed the jacket which the narrator wore once when he went to the old miller. She had taken the seams in and shorten it to make it look more like a woman’s garment, but had kept the four pockets and little stand-up color. Also, she asked her father to buy her a pair of white tennis shoes at the store in Yong Jing. Luo was delighted with her transformation, although he was as surprised as the narrator.
55. Why does the narrator suggest that he is upset by the Little Seamstress’ leaving? Why else could he be upset?
The narrator was upset by the Little Seamstress’ leaving because he liked her a lot. Besides, I think that he was upset because of the fact that he was merely an onlooker.
56. The book ends with the statement by Luo that the Little Seamstress “wants’ go to the city…she said she had learnt one thing from Balzac: that a woman’s beauty is a treasure beyond price”(184). What does she mean by this statement? How does the Little Seamstress’ reeducation by the boys backfire?
I think she means that she had learnt such a great thing and she wanted to find the treasure of woman in the city. The Little Seamstress was reeducated by the boys. She learns about western society and culture through the western literature. And this kind of learning leads her to leave the village to go to the city. She has a desire to see the world widely and deeply.
57. Look back to the beginning of the last chapter and the actions being performed by Luo and the narrator. Why are they burning the books and lamenting through the narrator’s music? What is this a purging of for the boys?
The boys burn the books because the books lead the Little Seamstress to leave influencing her strongly. So they might not want to read those books anymore. Also, they used to read books to her so they do not want to keep the books because they would remind her when they read the books. And they want to erase their memories about the Little Seamstress by burning books.
58. Did Luo and the narrator become reeducated? Did the goals of the Cultural Revolution works?
I think they are reeducated because they learned a lot of things through reeducation. They at least learned the life in the village and became to know how to work at the village. By these points, I think the goals of the Cultural Revolution worked.