"The match spluttered, was almost snuffed out in its own black smoke, then flared up again as it approached Pére Goriot...A violin struck up a mournful tune, and at the same instant a sudden gust of wind assailed the bonfire of books...Luo the arsonist, the son of the famous dentist, the romantic lover who had crawled to his beloved on all fours, the admirer of Balzac-Luo was drunk. He sat hunched over the fire, mesmerized by the flames consuming all the stories and characters we had grown to love so dearly. He was crying and laughing by turns."
This scene, probably the most shocking scene in the entire book, is a confusing one. The two characters spent much of their time attempting to get their hands on the books, stealing them, and finally absorbing their knowledge. Then, in the end, they set the books on fire. At first the match seems to put out itself, almost as if it doesn't want to do what Luo wants; to destroy such meaningful objects. However, the match catches, and so do the books, which are quickly alight with flames. The flames mesmerize Luo just as the books themselves did. The narrator plays his violin, his one true talent, while the books he loved are being consumed by the fire. All their efforts have been for nothing, as Luo's love for the Little Seamstress means more than the knowledge and love of the suitcase full of novels.
Thursday, April 15, 2010
A Simple Mountain Girl
"He shut the suitcase again and, resting one hand on the lid like a Christian taking a solemn oath, he declared: "With these books I shall transform the Little Seamstress. She'll never be a simple mountain girl again."
"In combination with her new hairstyle and her immaculate tennis shoes, the nifty jacket with its mannish details made her look unfamiliarly stylish and sensual. The lovely, unsophisticated mountain girl had vanished without a trace."
"She said she had learned one thing from Balzac: that a woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price."
Just as the narrator and Luo fall in love with the hidden suitcase full of books, the Little Seamstress does so also. And just as Luo says he will do, he changes her. He changes her completely. She goes from being a "simple mountain girl" to a sophisticated city woman. However, her changes stem from those of the narrator and Luo. As they begin reading the books and absorbing that new information, they change themselves. They are no longer uneducated, simple working people; they are thinking constantly and imagining things all the time. One could say that, in the end, it was Luo's own fault that the Seamstress grew up and moved on. He introduced her to the new, incredible lives of the characters in the stories he read her. The narrator and Luo learned from the novels, but so did the Little Seamstress: "a woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price." She outgrew the Mountain at the Phoenix in the Sky along with the two boys who gave her that opportunity.
"In combination with her new hairstyle and her immaculate tennis shoes, the nifty jacket with its mannish details made her look unfamiliarly stylish and sensual. The lovely, unsophisticated mountain girl had vanished without a trace."
"She said she had learned one thing from Balzac: that a woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price."
Just as the narrator and Luo fall in love with the hidden suitcase full of books, the Little Seamstress does so also. And just as Luo says he will do, he changes her. He changes her completely. She goes from being a "simple mountain girl" to a sophisticated city woman. However, her changes stem from those of the narrator and Luo. As they begin reading the books and absorbing that new information, they change themselves. They are no longer uneducated, simple working people; they are thinking constantly and imagining things all the time. One could say that, in the end, it was Luo's own fault that the Seamstress grew up and moved on. He introduced her to the new, incredible lives of the characters in the stories he read her. The narrator and Luo learned from the novels, but so did the Little Seamstress: "a woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price." She outgrew the Mountain at the Phoenix in the Sky along with the two boys who gave her that opportunity.
The Ultimate Book
"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 to Luo. Brushing them with the tips of my fingers made me feel as if my pale hands were in touch with human lives."
"I was carried away, swept along by the mighty stream of words pouring from the hundreds of pages. To me it was the ultimate book: once you had read it, neither your own life nor the world you lived in would ever look the same."
The narrator seems to feel as if he is not as "human" as the characters in the books. These forbidden objects are much more than simply words on a page to him; they are lives, better lives than his and Luo's. He touches the books with just "the tips of [his] fingers" because he doesn't want to ruin such a good thing. His life is anything but the dramatic, meaningful lives of the characters in the books. The narrator's life pales in comparison. Every detail is important to him: everything from the actual words and stories to the "portraits of the authors." He explored the books, not just looked over them; the same as when he and Luo read. They took in each and every word, every piece of the every new life they read about. Reading these banned books was not only a way for them to rebel and escape from their strict lives, but to dream about other people's lives.
"I was carried away, swept along by the mighty stream of words pouring from the hundreds of pages. To me it was the ultimate book: once you had read it, neither your own life nor the world you lived in would ever look the same."
The narrator seems to feel as if he is not as "human" as the characters in the books. These forbidden objects are much more than simply words on a page to him; they are lives, better lives than his and Luo's. He touches the books with just "the tips of [his] fingers" because he doesn't want to ruin such a good thing. His life is anything but the dramatic, meaningful lives of the characters in the books. The narrator's life pales in comparison. Every detail is important to him: everything from the actual words and stories to the "portraits of the authors." He explored the books, not just looked over them; the same as when he and Luo read. They took in each and every word, every piece of the every new life they read about. Reading these banned books was not only a way for them to rebel and escape from their strict lives, but to dream about other people's lives.
A Marginal Talent
"The only thing Luo was really good at was telling stories. A pleasing talent to be sure, but a marginal one, with little future in it. Modern man has moved beyond the age of the Thousand-and-One-Nights, and modern societies everywhere, whether socialist or capitalist, have done away with the old storytellers-more's the pity."
This passage is an ironic and important one to the story because storytelling is what gives Luo so much success in his life. His ability to retell a story in such vivid detail and with so much emotion is the cause of the narrator's jealousy. The narrator believes that his musical talent will benefit him more than Luo's knack for recounting movies and books to audiences. In the end, however, the narrator finds that Luo's talent is much more appreciated than he first thought. The entire town immensly enjoys listening to Luo tell his stories, and they even allow the two boys the chance to go into town to watch movies and then relay the entire storyline. Luo gives both himself and the narrator a chance at a more pleasant life than the ones they are living and working at the Mountain of the Phoenix of the Sky. Even more ironic is the fact that his capabilities get Luo the girl in the novel. The seamstress, like the rest of the town, is taken by Luo's stories and the two almost immediately are taken with one another. This relationship causes much jealousy on the narrator's part and makes him rethink his earlier statement about Luo's "marginal" talent.
This passage is an ironic and important one to the story because storytelling is what gives Luo so much success in his life. His ability to retell a story in such vivid detail and with so much emotion is the cause of the narrator's jealousy. The narrator believes that his musical talent will benefit him more than Luo's knack for recounting movies and books to audiences. In the end, however, the narrator finds that Luo's talent is much more appreciated than he first thought. The entire town immensly enjoys listening to Luo tell his stories, and they even allow the two boys the chance to go into town to watch movies and then relay the entire storyline. Luo gives both himself and the narrator a chance at a more pleasant life than the ones they are living and working at the Mountain of the Phoenix of the Sky. Even more ironic is the fact that his capabilities get Luo the girl in the novel. The seamstress, like the rest of the town, is taken by Luo's stories and the two almost immediately are taken with one another. This relationship causes much jealousy on the narrator's part and makes him rethink his earlier statement about Luo's "marginal" talent.
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