Symbol: Four-Eyes' suitcase full of forbidden books
"When Luo switched on his torch we momentarily forgot all our carefully laid plans and stared in awe, for right there, on top of the stack of luggage, was the soft leather suitcase, glowing in the dark as though clamoring to reveal its contents." (98)
"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.
'It reminds me of a scene in a film,' said Luo. 'You know, when a stolen suitcase turns out to be stuffed with money...'
'So, are you weeping tears of joy?' I said.
'No. All I feel is loathing.'
'Me too. Loathing for everyone who kept these books from us.'" (99)
“But Jean-Christophe, with his fierce individualism utterly untainted by malice, was a salutary revelation. Without him I would never have understood the splendor 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)
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| The suitcase of books |
| The representation of how books can help shape your brain and ideas |
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| The narrator reading a forbidden book |
Dai Sijie applies the symbol of the suitcase in Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress to emphasize and illustrate the impact of intellect and knowledge on the boys. To the boys, the suitcase represents everything that has been hidden from them, the whole wide world that they have never heard from or seen. The cultural revolution has taken so much information and knowledge from them. The suitcase is intellectual liberty, freedom to learn about everything instead of being fed propaganda and never knowing anything else. It gives them new ideas, ideas of "fierce individualism" and "taking free and independent action as an individual," which is very different from the classless communist dream of Mao.
From the knowledge the boys gained through acquiring the books in the suitcase, they gained a new perspective on their roles in society, and the cultural norms that they grew up with. Though the entire nation supports Mao and maoist ideals, including his views on books, the boys find themselves loathing him, and “everyone who kept these books from us”. This attitude was a dangerous one to maintain, but it was truly how the boys grew to feel. To them, the suitcase represented a symbol of the education that they were denied, and the modicum of knowledge they gained was so impacting that they adopted a completely new perspective and opinion on the society they had cherished for so long.
By Rachael Shaver, Sydney Enthoven, Avery Biczek, Lily Szalay, and Kirsten Andrews
I like the connection between the opening the suitcase and the new perspective and intellectual liberty the narrator and Luo gained.
ReplyDeleteDo you think this new knowledge will affect the intellectual liberty of the Seamstress? Will she start creating her own ideas?
DeleteI like that you used the suitcase as a symbol of knowledge because it must be hidden.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think the symbolism is in the Narrator and Luo forcefully opening and unlocking the suitcase?
ReplyDeleteYour connections have a lot to do with the one's my group came up with. Both the suitcase and the books represent intellectual liberty and in the two boys actively seeking out and obtaining this new information they're forming their own beliefs and ideas and obtaining knowledge previously not allowed to them.
I like how you used the suitcase to describe the Cultural Revolution and compare it intellectual freedom.
ReplyDeleteI love the connection of intellectual liberty and Mao in this explanation.
ReplyDeleteI like how you talked about the suitcase and its meaning to the both the boys and in the larger context of the Cultural Revolution.
ReplyDeleteDo you think the suitcase represents something different than the books inside?
This quote relates to intellectual liberty.
DeleteI like the connection made to the effects of the cultural revolution and hatred that sparked in the characters against it. Does this loathing continue throughout the book? Is it an underlying motive for the narrator's sadistic episode with the headman?
ReplyDeleteI liked how it was mentioned that the books represent everything that was taken from them, and how it's their intellectual liberty, their way out of the blindness of their realities. Do you think they could use this knowledge these books to change the perspective of the peasants or those in support of the Cultural Revolution?
ReplyDeleteHow do you think their lives would have been different without knowing about the suitcase, just the books?
ReplyDeleteHow does the suitcase help the boys mature (encourage their coming of age)?
ReplyDeleteIs it the suitcase that represents the intellectual liberty that they were denied or was it the act of locking away the books that would be interpreted as the lack of intellectual liberty?
ReplyDeleteI liked the idea that you included about the suitcase being a symbol for everything that was hidden from them during Mao's regime. I think this connects to the topic of loss, since their knowledge was taken away through the banning of books.
ReplyDeleteHow can the boys use their new knowledge to improve their society, and help others rediscover the wonders of literature?
I like the quotes you chose and I think you did a really good job of connecting them to your theme of intellectual liberty.
ReplyDeleteIn this blog, the suitcase also resembles hope with new ideas. As stated above, "It gives them new ideas, ideas of "fierce individualism" and "taking free and independent action as an individual," which is very different from the classless communist dream of Mao." The suitcase brings them hope including the books, which give them new perspectives of the world that Mao tried hard to get rid of.
ReplyDelete