Welcome Back!

This summer, as a Pingry sophomore, you were required to read

Balzac and The Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie.

Discussion Questions...

1.  Conflict is the impetus for all plot, storytelling, and progress.  Without conflict, literally, nothing would happen.  So, what are some of the major conflicts/tensions in BLCS?  To identify the conflict/tensions, you can begin by brainstorming opposites (----vs.----).  What are some of the opposites you see in the novel?  How do these opposites create a feeling of conflict/tension?  Is that tension resolved?  If so, how?

2.  In many ways BLCS is a story about stories - what are the various stories in this novel?  How/when do they come up?  How does storytelling affect people?  If BLCS is a novel about stories, what is its commentary?

3.  What is re-education?  What was its purpose?  How did Mao implement re-education?  How does it come up in the novel?

4.  BLCS is a harshly realistic novel, in which the two main characters are forced to work in a coal mine and to carry buckets of excrement up and down a mountain, but also it has a fairy-tale quality.  What makes the book read like a fable?  How has Dai Sigie managed to merge these two narrative traditions?

5.  What do you know about the Chinese Cultural Revolution (1965-1975)?  What does BLCS reveal about the nature and purpose of China's Cultural Revolution and the suffering it caused?  In what ways does the novel offer a more intimate portrait of what life was like under Chairman Mao than a strictly historical account?

6.  In what ways do you see a tension between ancient and modern ways of life?  According to BLCS can they ultimately co-exist? 

7.  What does the setting of a period of turmoil contribute to the plot of the novel? 

8. What function does memory serve in this novel?  What is the affect of memory on past events in our lives?