Balzac and The Little Chinese Seamstress is a book that brings up many riveting issues. I found it interesting how working professionals, such as Doctors and Dentists, were considered the enemy by the current government in that time period.
One scene that stood out was where the narrator shed tears over the public humiliation of the doctor and got socked for his sympathy. Why would Lou punch him for that emotion? Is it a sign of weakness or does it just amplify the doctors humiliation, Lou's father?
The violin is criticized and analyzed by the villagers yet when the narrator starts playing it, it fascinates them and they don't burn the instrument as planned. The idea of burning brings me back to Fahrenheit 451 but with an additional stretch, the burning of anything literary or remotely different.
The irony is that the head village is delighted by their Western trappings and even send them to the movies to watch the latest shows. Ultimately, the power of narration that Lou uses saves the comrades from their tedious existence and they even get a sense of a weird sense of control in their dire circumstances.
What really confused me is that the actual facts was that the teenagers never finished Junior High School! This was because of the constant political turmoil.
The boys are bedded down next to a pigsty. They are also made to carry animal feces on their backs and all of this is to reeducate them. Manual labor is a form of education.
The sense of time is also very keen and the use of the alarm clock helps to not only seize the imagination of the villagers but also gives the characters another form of control. Time is constantly forwarded or reversed to ease the grueling tasks of reeducation. At one point the realization dawns on the boys that they don't even know what the really time is anymore. Their true sense of time has been forever forsaken.
