In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Sijie uses movies to symbolize a sense of hope and purpose for our main characters. It serves as an escape from the dismal life that the villagers are forced to live in. “He was able to electrify an audience by means of a perfectly timed voice-over; even when overcome by a violent bout of malaria" (40). Luo seemed to be on his deathbed, however, because movies gave Luo purpose and a sense of enjoyment, the retelling of the movie reignited his hope. His hope pushed him to fight through the sickness, and when he came back to health, that hope stayed with him. “Next month,’ the village headman announced with an imperious smile, ‘I shall send you to another film. You will be paid the same as if you had worked in the fields. At first we thought it would just be a welcome change…”(20). Now Luo and the narrator have a sense of purpose in the village where they no longer have to constantly work in the fields. Not only do they enjoy watching movies and telling stories to the other villagers, but it gives them hope for the future because they no longer worried about the detrimental effects of being re-educated.
Why do movies motivate him? How is a movie enough to give him a will to live?
ReplyDeleteThis connects to hope because Luo is hopeful that his situation will get better because he can watch movies.
Do you think that movies can also represent coming of age because the older they get, the more things they'll understand in the movie?
ReplyDeleteGood post, Luo does use the movies as a source of hope to overcome his malaria. The movies were the deciding factor between life and death for him.
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