Sijie utilizes the symbol of the narrator’s sheep coat to illustrates the importance of literature by demonstrating how it’s used to help expand intellectual liberty. A gift from the villagers from the boys’ arrival, the sheep coat is highly valued like any other clothing the tailor makes. The coat is small and can fit a limited amount of passages. It had a wide range of textures and consisted of a rawhide interior. The narrator replicated his favorite passage of Balzac’s Ursule Mirouët. As he copies down the chapter where Ursule somnambulates, he states that “I longed to be like her: to be where Ursule somnambulates. I longed to be like her: to be able, while I lay asleep on my bed, to see what my mother was doing in our apartment five hundred kilometers away, to watch my parents having supper, to observe their gestures, the dishes on the table, the colour of the crockery, to sniff the aroma of their food, to hear their conversation... Better still, like Ursule, I would visit, in my dreams, places I had never set eyes on before…” (58-59). He becomes hopeful to fulfill his unquenchable desire for learning and experiencing the western literature. The narrator fills that literature and his newfound intellectual liberty will only be exacerbated by future encounters with Western literature, as he keeps it close to him on the sheepskin coat.
The next morning, Luo borrows the narrator’s sheep coat on a trip to see the Little Seamstress. When Luo returns, he briefs the Narrator on the Little Seamstress reaction to his writing. She was overwhelmed with knowledge, as “[his] coat was resting on her hands, the way a sacred object lies in the palms of the pious”(62) in silence. The Little Seamstress’s reaction reinforces the narrator’s sense of enthusiasm towards the transformative literature. The analogy comparing the coat to “a sacred objects” shows that it is delicate and inspiring to those who are fortunate enough to read western literature. The word “pious” indicates that the narrator and the Little seamstress were believers in the limited liberal arts hidden from them as the result of the cultural revolution.
Do you think that the coat also symbolizes hope for the boys? Or do you think that it serves as a constant reminder of having to hide the literature and their love for it? Is it a symbol of hope for the future or loss of the past?
ReplyDeleteWould you say the books are more of a opportunity or a detriment towards the hope of the main characters? In addition to intellectual liberty, I also observed how this connects to hope in the sense that books expand the imagination and dreams of the reader.
ReplyDeleteDo you think the book gave the boys hope?
ReplyDeleteIf so what about the book gave them the hope was it the conflict going on or was it the characteristics of each character. What give the boys Hope?
Do you think the boys were motivated or inspired in any way by the book?
ReplyDeleteIf this is true, how does hope tie into it, as thr boys are feeling hopeful about what is to come.
Do you think this was a reaction to the story itself or simply because it was the first book the narrator had read in awhile? This connects to intellectual liberty because both characters described feelings of enlightenment after gaining the freedom to read.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the books were a symbol of hope for the narrator and Luo, or were they a representation of the lack of intellectual liberty and the cautions that they had to take in order to read books?
ReplyDeleteI noticed that the symbol of the books connects to intellectual liberty and shows how many books were strictly forbidden.
Do you think that the lack of books caused a greater want for knowledge? This connects to the topic of intellectual liberty, showing how when people realize that they don't know a lot about the rest of the world, their want for more knowledge becomes greater.
ReplyDeleteWhat does writing quotes from the book show about the narrators hope for the future? I think that this symbol best represents loss, as the quote the narrator chose reminded him of how much he missed the simple aspects of his previous life.
ReplyDeleteDo you think the sheep coat can represent character's appreciation of education or knowledge? This connects to intellectual liberty because many times in the book people with education was drown to this sheep coat.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the author uses symbolism in this part of the book to give the readers a deeper meaning?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the boys lost more than the seamstress did? If so, which moments throughout the book prove this?
ReplyDeleteI also see a connection to coming of age. When you mentioned the boys showing the coat to the seamstress and described her response I imagined them being proud of what they accomplished with educating the little seamstress. I think this free exchange of knowledge is something that comes with maturing, as they know the value of the knowledge they are sharing.
ReplyDeleteI think that the item of the sheep coat could represent loss or hope, depending on how you look at it. It can represent hope because the narrator dreams of seeing his family but it could also mean loss for the same thing. The narrator lost the ability to see his family because of re-education, making him think about what they'd be doing now. He's lost his previous life and his parents, and he's reflecting on that.
ReplyDeleteHow did the hope shown through the coat affect the narrator and Luo's actions later on in the book. Were they inspired to take action because of it, or did it symbolize them hiding their newfound knowledge? I think the coat represents the hidden world of Western ideals that the characters were being exposed to, but they were still forced to hide their knowledge because of the Cultural Revolution.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that copying the passage was a way to represent rebellion, or for the narrator to always remember the lesson he learned from the passage? I can see how copying the passage can represent loss, since the narrator contemplates on how he misses his home, and how he wished that he could return to his past life again.
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