Sydney Aaron
Janie Dent
Marvin Lin
Carolyn Yih
Michaela Yip
Locked Away
“‘The way you keep yours suitcase locked up and hidden away is enough to betray your secret: you’ve got a stash of forbidden books’” (49).
“But Jean-Cristophe, with his fierce individualism utterly untainted by malice, was a salutary revelation. Without him I would have never have understood the splendour of taking free and independent action as an individual. Up until this stolen encounter with Romain Rolland’s hero, my poor educated and re-educated brains had been incapable of grasping the notion of one man standing up against the whole world” (110).
In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, Dai Sijie uses the suitcase in two forms: to illustrate Mao’s actions to confine and restrict knowledge in China, as well as the ability of books to enhance our lives and freedoms.
The suitcase that locks the books is similar to Mao locking in the people of China to prevent outside contamination of individualism, leading to loss of new ideas and freedom. He attempts to rid the country of Western sources, such as books, and anyone caught with them will suffer serious consequences. This is parallel to how Four Eye’s suitcase keeps Luo and the narrator locked out, and both ideas restrain the accessibility to intellectual freedom. The suitcase being “locked up and hidden away” symbolizes the information in the books being confined from the rest of China.
On the other hand, once the suitcase is open, the narrator is able to think in a way that was unimaginable for his past self and the peasants in the village. He is exposed to a new perspective that allows him to understand the rights of the individual.
The suitcase demonstrates a loss of the great knowledge the Chinese once had access to in their lives before, but also impacted aspects in their lives, such as their relationships. Once they discover the suitcase, Luo and the narrator noticed some distrust in their friendship with Four-Eyes. He becomes angry and distant when they speak of the suitcase.
I see a connection here for intellectual liberty, which relates to how Mao withheld information from the people. I wonder how this could relate more directly to the actual Maoist doctrines and how they selfishly intended to removing power from the people and place it into their own government by withholding this education.
ReplyDeleteI see a connection to hope in this passage when the narrator opens the suitcase and is able to think of the possibility of having all of the books for himself. Does this hope stem more from him wanting a different life or because he loves literature?
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting way to relate the suitcase to the ways of Mao, I like the connection.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that some of the feelings of distrust and anger was a result of reading the western literature? This also connects to hope because the books spark new thoughts in the narrator about taking action and the power he has.
ReplyDeleteI really like the way you connected how the books show a new perspective and show them the rights of the individual. Why do you think four-eyes didn't want to share the suitcase with Luo and the narrator?
ReplyDeleteThe connections you made between access to knowledge and the symbol of the suitcase were very interesting and well thought out.
ReplyDeleteThe parallel between the locked suitcase and the "locked up" China Mao has created merits the question; why do people not want to share? Mao has freedom and happiness, he has the power to create that, but he keeps it locked away. Likewise, Four-Eyes has happiness in his books, but he doesn't want to share them with anyone.
ReplyDeleteI like that you guys used the idea of the suitcase to show how Mao locks OUT Western influence to prevent spreading their ideals, and locks In the people of China, so that they cannot access or have intellectual liberty.
ReplyDeleteYou guys did a great job of clearly synthesizing the symbolic importance of the suitcase, and using it as a metaphor to describe intellectual liberty during the cultural revolution! Do you think that the effect of suitcase on the narrator, as well as a number of other characters in the story could elude to the way the young intellectuals were changed by the cultural revolution, and loss of hope?
ReplyDelete