Character Analysis: Luo, The Narrator And The LCS

- Luo, the Narrator and the LCS

From the beginning, Dai emphasises only the traits that will play the biggest role in the plot. In the first scene, Luo’s creative lie foreshadows his impressive story-telling abilities. Likewise, the flashback in which Luo punches the narrator in the face subtly establishes that the narrator is the submissive partner in the friendship. This dynamic will become more apparent later in the novel, when both boys fall in love with the Seamstress, but Luo makes the first move to become her boyfriend.

During the book, the narrator and Luo’s friendship was tested many times. The most prominent time was with the little seamstress. Though Luo ended up being her “boyfriend”, the narrator was also very much in love with her. This

This posed another intriguing question. I wondered if Luo really knew how much the Narrator loved the seamstress. The Narrator loved her as much, if not more than Luo. Chunks of the chapters were devoted to what he thought of her and how he felt. It was incredibly obvious, at least I believed so. But I now come to believe that the narrator hid it rather well, because, after all, the story was told from the narrator’s point of view. But still, did Luo know? I think he did, and that he decided not to say anything because that’s what friends do. Maybe he decided to not say anything so he could keep the friendship;

Clearly stated, the theme is “Friends are more important that anything” If Luo would have “unfriended” the narrator for the little seamstress, he would have ended up alone and sad when she left in the end of the novel. But he kept his friends, his best friend, the closest friend he had because he knew that was the thing that mattered most.

- Luo and the