The Ray of Hope
A. “But it was not a shoe, it was a suitcase. A ray of light bounced off the glossy lid. It was an elegant suitcase, a little worn but made of fine leather, and it gave off a whiff of civilization” (48-49).
B. “We were beside ourselves. My head reeled, as if I’d had too much to drink. I took the novels out of the suitcase one by one, opened them, studied the portraits of the authors, and passed them on to Luo. Brushing them with the tips of my fingers made me feel as if my pale hands were in touch with human lives” (99).
Sijie uses Four-Eyes’s suitcase to represent the gateway to intellectual liberty for the two re-educated boys. The suitcase, which the narrator accidentally stumbles upon in Four-Eyes’s room, is an object of mystery and wonder throughout much of the book. Ironically, the suitcase itself is never described in much detail; it’s what’s inside that the narrator and Luo really care about. The suitcase with its trove of Western literature gives the two boys hope that there is more to their situation as they’re now enabled to explore new and foreign ideas which they were never exposed to. Furthermore, the suitcase embodies the narrator and Luo’s hope for the freedom to think as independent entities, separate from the ideals of the Communist Party. Once Luo and the narrator read Ursule Mirouet by Balzac, they are unable to resist the intellectual liberty brought by the literature and therefore steal the suitcase. The suitcase, being a symbol of their aspiration for intellectual liberty shines a ray of hope into the well of their reeducation.
How do you think the books have changed Luo and the narrator? The suitcase can also connect to the topic of jealousy, seeing as Luo and the narrator became jealous of Four-Eyes and his stash of books while Luo and the narrator were kept in the dark. This caused them to steal the books from Luo, which in turn gave them more intellectual liberty from reading books from different authors.
ReplyDeleteThe suitcase represents a gateway to intellectual freedom for Luo and the narrator.
ReplyDeleteDoes the suitcase equally represent hope and intellectual freedom?
Would you say that this represents more hope or more intellectual liberty? And do they steal the suitcase because they can't resist having more intellectual liberty, or because they want to expand the intellectual liberty they have now?
ReplyDeleteThe suitcase can also represent what the narrator and Luo had lost. They had lost the accessibility to anything from the West.
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ReplyDeleteDo you think the books have had a positive or negative impact on Luo, the narrator, and the little seamstress? I think that this relates to intellectual liberty and hope. With the suitcase and books, the boys are able to gain their intellectual liberty. Also, throughout the book, the books serve as a ray of hope for their future.
ReplyDeleteDoes the suitcase connect more to intellectual liberty? The suitcase connects to hope because it gives them happiness and a sense of freedom while they are stuck in re-education.
ReplyDelete