ipl-logo

Little Chinese Seamstress Essay

544 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Diversity in literature

Usually, in a healthy relationship, partners don't objectify one another and treat each other as objects instead of human beings which is why Luo’s and the Seamstress’s relationship in the book Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sigie is interesting. From pages 149-152, Luo and the Seamstress are swimming near a waterfall, and Luo has decided to throw his key in the water that belonged to his home. The Seamstress dives in after the key, while Luo keeps throwing it back in the water. In this passage, even though the Seamstress cares for Luo, Luo’s minimization of her ability and sexualization of her shows his lack of respect which is a factor in an unhealthy relationship. Throughout the book, Luo downgrades the Seamstress quite frequently, and it helps explain how he views her poorly. For instance, Luo articulated in the first couple lines of his story, “She used to swim the way peasants do.” Peasants are usually described as low-class, unsophisticated, and ignorant people. Luo criticizes her swimming, compares her to a …show more content…

For example, Luo says he was “stunned by the grace of her sinuous body and her long hair rippling in the water.” She went to go get the key for Luo and all he could do was concentrate on was her body, instead of the Seamstress doing a gracious act for him. The detail of “playing the key ring game” exercises the control that he has on her, and objectifies her. He keeps throwing the key ring back in the water just so he can watch her do it. He then says, “it gave me the opportunity to admire her sensual body gliding through the water naked.” First, he doesn't care that he is making her keep going back to get the key, and then he proceeds to comment on her body while doing it. Luo continually focuses on her body instead of her personality and the things she does to help him. This implies he sees her more for her body then the good inside of

Show More
Related
909 Words | 4 Pages

Throughout the story she places judgement, she lies and manipulates her family, and she proves to only care for herself. She does all of this while claiming to be a lady, and holding herself is higher regard than everyone else around her. She continually shows that she is not lady, and she is also doing the things that she looks down upon other for, This is an example of a true hypocrite. Another shining example of her hypocrisy is shown when she brings up religion when speaking to The Misfit. “Do you ever pray?(258).”

Read More
1203 Words | 5 Pages

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, written by Dai Sijie, is set in 1971 during the China’s Cultural Revolution. The book starts with two boys, unnamed narrator and his friend Luo being sent from their hometown Chengdu to a small village in Phoenix Mountain to be “re-educated”. The book continues with them skillfully living through the harsh village life with their talent of storytelling and their western knowledge gained from books. Throughout the novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie illustrates different types of literature and how it transforms the character’s life, action and their personalities in both good and bad way. This book is one unique novel about two boys and one little girl’s transformation by the magical

Read More
926 Words | 4 Pages

In Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston acknowledges the idea of sexism when she addresses that Janie Starks, the protagonist, never got to fulfill her dreams. Janie’s grandmother, Nanny, wanted the best for her granddaughter so she married her off to a man named Logan Killicks, a man who had a small farm and good wealth “Janie and Logan got married in Nanny’s parlor of a Saturday evening with three cakes and big platters of fried rabbit and chicken,” (Hurston 3). Years has passed within the marriage and Janie never found love for Logan. Logan comparing her to his ex-wife, discriminated Janie’s place of position, “Mah fust wife never bothered me ‘bout choppin’ no wood nohow. She’d grab dat ax and sling chips lak

Read More
706 Words | 3 Pages

The Mingo were a highly developed culture and though displaced by Europeans, they have retained many of their customs and beliefs. This Native American tribe continues to show many aspects of its ancestry through daily practices and its religious and social structures even with European influence and displacement to reservations. A part of everyday life for Mingo Indians was the clothes that they wore. The men of the tribe wore breechcloths with leggings, and the women of the tribe usually wore kilts, wore wraparound skirts, short leggings, and overdresses.

Read More
786 Words | 4 Pages

Fantastical Realization Fantasy and fiction flood most of our childhood but, the older a child gets, the quicker fiction turns to fact as slowly but surely, the rug of fantastical imagination is pulled out beneath them. This is exactly the case in Li-Young Lee’s short poem A Story. A Story is about a father who struggles to tell stories to his son, but as the boy grows older, his coming of age begins to make their relationship complex. Even though the complexity of the relationship is never directly stated, Lee shows this idea through point of view and literary devices. found in the poem.

Read More
664 Words | 3 Pages

Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo [Dee] is a fascinating character in “Everyday Use” written by Alice Walker. The story is over an African American mother and her two daughters. The story focuses on one daughter, Dee that is coming home to visit her family. She grew up wanting to become a different a person, and she hated how she lived when she was with her mom and sister. Dee is spoiled, tenacious, and ignorant in this short story.

Read More
883 Words | 4 Pages

Stories are the foundation of relationships. They represent the shared lessons, the memories, and the feelings between people. But often times, those stories are mistakenly left unspoken; often times, the weight of the impending future mutes the stories, and what remains is nothing more than self-destructive questions and emotions that “add up to silence” (Lee. 23). In “A Story” by Li-Young Lee, Lee uses economic imagery of the transient present and the inevitable and fear-igniting future, a third person omniscient point of view that shifts between the father’s and son’s perspective and between the present and future, and emotional diction to depict the undying love between a father and a son shadowed by the fear of change and to illuminate the damage caused by silence and the differences between childhood and adulthood perception. “A Story” is essentially a pencil sketch of the juxtaposition between the father’s biggest fear and the beautiful present he is unable to enjoy.

Read More
1079 Words | 5 Pages

“Money can’t buy happiness.” “Money isn’t everything, its just paper.” Anyone who has ever grown up without money and lamented about it has heard these kinds of phrases many times. In looking around our culture and society today it would be hard to say those statements are true. While everyone has problems, rich and poor alike, having money gives you access to more solutions to those problems.

Read More
728 Words | 3 Pages

The novel ‘Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress’ explores the transformative power of literature as a central theme. The power of literature is most evident in the character, the little Chinese seamstress. In the first part of the novel, the seamstress hasn’t been exposed to any books in her life. Therefore, her actions and appearances are not influenced by literature.

Read More
908 Words | 4 Pages

The novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress is a novel by Dai Sijie set during the Cultural Revolution in China which lasted from 1966 until 1976. Even though the author’s main focus is not opposing Mao’s rule, acts of oppression and the strict control practiced by the government can often be observed in the book. The author focuses on the process of re-education which includes sending urban youth to rural areas. Sijie depicts the mental and physical development of two boys who are being re-educated on the Phoenix Mountain of the Sky. The novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress challenges the concept of re-education and the aspects of the Chinese government by contrasting the Communist ideology to the dynamic character of the narrator, by using symbolism to complement the transformation of the major characters and by including the picaresque story of the Little Seamstress narrated by herself.

Read More
911 Words | 4 Pages

“The Dressmaker” has many similar elements and features to spaghetti westerns. How has the director used the style to engage a modern audience? The Dressmaker, directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse, is loved by many but disliked by an equal number for its quirky and unusual plot, acting and setting. It is set in the 1950’s and closely follows the style of spaghetti westerns which gained popularity in the same period of time.

Read More
824 Words | 4 Pages

He sees her as perfect as she already is. He sort of symbolizes how we should view others and find perfection in people's

Read More
829 Words | 4 Pages

Double standards exist everywhere you go. In society, women and men are held to different standards. Whether it comes to strength, leadership, or appearance, they affect everything and everyone. These contrasting principles also apply to sexual fidelity. Often, men are praised and looked up to to having many sexual relationships.

Read More
964 Words | 4 Pages

In Louisa May Alcotts novel “An Old Fashioned Girl” the main character, Polly Milton, finds herself struggling against a man versus society conflict, as she confronts the rich first class society that surrounds her. The fourteen year old country girl who ventures into the city to visit her good friend, is constantly being told she is old fashioned, poor, and too simple for the city. The basis of the conflict is that all the people Polly encounters during her time in the city, expect her to look and behave like the rest. When Polly cannot do this, people begin to tease and mock her all because she has no wealth.

Read More
1468 Words | 6 Pages

Meaning she is not the type of girl an average man would go for but she is perfect for him. What Hozier is doing here is he is building his lovers ethos and attempting to reveal his argument. Hozier also is building the credibility of religion but completely destroys it, almost like he is attacking it, in the video and lyrics of the

Read More

More about Little Chinese Seamstress Essay

Related Topics

Open Document