What are some evidence in the text that shows that the boys hope to escape re-education?
Similarly, is there any evidence that The Little Seamstress has hoped for a better future outside of the village before the ending?
Anything would be greatly appreciated :))
Thanks,
Jessie
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress revolves around the narrator and Luo's 're-education, their forced sojourn to the mountain to internalize proletarian values. However, the novel also features other types of re-education. The narrator and Luo's reading qualifies as a type of education; for instance, the values the narrator picks up from Romain Rolland's Jean-Christophe seem to replace the nascent Communist values that he had previously been taught. Luo's attempts to 'civilize' the Little Seamstress are another type of re-education. Just as the Communist authorities are trying to indoctrinate the narrator and Luo into a particular lifestyle and set of beliefs, Luo is trying to change the Seamstress's values and behavior to make her more like women from the city. Of course, his strategy is too successful - the Seamstress does everything Luo tells her to, completing her transformation by abandoning him. Overall, the novel suggests that humans are constantly learning about themselves, changing their lives and outlooks as they embody new perspectives.
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