50. She tells him that she is pregnant. They are not allowed to have a child before they marry, but they are not allowed to marry before they are 25 and they're only 18. The narrator offers to find someone to help her at the hospital.
51. They would immediately throw the narrator out without giving him a chance to explain that he was not the father. This is because even the middle class and upper class are just as morally strict.
52. He would have advice on what they should do since he is a wise man and also because he understands what it is like to be an enemy of the people. He sticks to his beliefs by reciting his last words, which was probably a verse from the Bible, in Latin.
53. He offers to give him a book by Balzac if he agrees to help the Little Seamstress with her abortion.
54. She started wearing clothes that city women would wear, asked for a pair of white tennis shoes, adopted the city accent, and wore her hair in a more modern style. Luo was proud that she had changed into a more sophisticated women and thought that his reading the western novels to her was successful.
55. He is upset because the Little Seamstress did not tell him about her leaving, and possibly because he likes her, but he is treated only as the friend of a friend.
56. Maybe she means that she wants to go see the world and do what she wants to do in her life rather than stay here in the mountains just because Luo loves her for her beauty. This is because Luo educated her so that she would be sophisticated enough for him, but now he has made her curious about the rest of the world and she is leaving, defeating the purpose of educating her so that she could be his girlfriend in the first place.
57. They are doing this as a means of revenging because the books were what had caused the Little Seamstress to want to leave. This might be a purging of the fantastic ideas presented by the books.
58. Yes, they did, in a way, become reeducated, because they had now burned their books and they were part of the working class, working every day in the fields with the rest of the villagers. The goals of the Cultural Revolution did appear to work at the end of the novel.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Monday, November 17, 2008
Balzac Movie vs. Book
I think that the movie had a very different ending than that of the book. Ma and Luo end up becoming what they had wanted to be all along instead of being doomed to reeducation for the rest of their lives. Ma became a dentist, while Luo became a violinist and even creates a quartet in France. Both are quite well-off. The movie also gives us an idea of how the people felt when the Yantze was dammed up to create electricity for China. The book, on the other hand leaves us with Ma and Luo being drunk which is similar to the movie in the aspect that they were drinking, but in the book, they were not watching a documentary that Ma had made of the Phoenix Mountain, but rather burning all their books. Both the movie and the book, however, ended with the same scene, with the two boys running after the Little Seamstress. Also, they both ended with the same quote from the Little Seamstress, about the value of a woman's beauty. Then there was a short clip at the end which was of Ma playing the violin while Luo read to the Little Seamstress, but they were underwater. This might be suggesting that the flooding of the mountain, had erased all the traces of their reeducation, except for in their minds, where the memories and emotions would always remain.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
pg.131-157
46. He says this because he enjoyed causing pain for the headman while he tooth was being fixed. I think this label isn't correct, because it was only temporarily while he was venting his anger about the reeducation on the headman. There were better ways to do it, but no, he wasn't really a sadist.
47. The miller focused a lot on the scene that he saw as they were swimming and when the Little Seamstress was diving. He also realized that the young man was his 'interpreter' and would've been denounced had he been seen by someone else. Luo focused on the skills of the Little Seamstress and watching her swim. The Little Seamstress however, focused on the drama and the book, which shows the influence that Luo's reading had on her. Luo does not foresee any consequences of the too of them swimming in the lake together and did not think that anyone would see them and denounce him.
48. The narrator believes that he is a secret agent for Luo, but a part of him also wishes to become the Little Seamstress' boyfriend. He constantly returns to comparing scenes he had read from books with his current situation, such as him with a pistol and machine gun watching over her and bringing her across a desert to Luo.
49. The narrator is a cook, reader, laundry-doer, and manicurist of the Little Seamstress. He is tormented by the city youth who are jealous, and he dreams about it re-occurring when he is alone. In his dream, he is saved by the Little Seamstress who arrives, weeping.
47. The miller focused a lot on the scene that he saw as they were swimming and when the Little Seamstress was diving. He also realized that the young man was his 'interpreter' and would've been denounced had he been seen by someone else. Luo focused on the skills of the Little Seamstress and watching her swim. The Little Seamstress however, focused on the drama and the book, which shows the influence that Luo's reading had on her. Luo does not foresee any consequences of the too of them swimming in the lake together and did not think that anyone would see them and denounce him.
48. The narrator believes that he is a secret agent for Luo, but a part of him also wishes to become the Little Seamstress' boyfriend. He constantly returns to comparing scenes he had read from books with his current situation, such as him with a pistol and machine gun watching over her and bringing her across a desert to Luo.
49. The narrator is a cook, reader, laundry-doer, and manicurist of the Little Seamstress. He is tormented by the city youth who are jealous, and he dreams about it re-occurring when he is alone. In his dream, he is saved by the Little Seamstress who arrives, weeping.
pg.109-130
39. The themes that captivated the boys the most were women and love, and it opened up a new world for them, because they had not known previously about these things portrayed the way they are in the Western novels.
40. The theme of taking independent action as an individual attracted the narrator greatly as it had never even come across his mind that this would be possible, seeing as he lived during a time when all individuality was erased and everyone did everything for the common good and everybody was equal.
41. The significance in his adventures is that Luo, who is dead afraid of heights, was willing to go across the precarious ridge to reach the Little Seamstress to educate her, which shows how highly he values converting the Little Seamstress into an educated woman as well as going to see her. The raven is always there to meet him, as though he is expected to go and he has an obligation to be there each morning. Then, after Luo had crossed the ridge, the raven's duty is over and it flies away.
42. The nightmare foreshadows that in the furture, they will be separated by something very very abrupt, like the way they are separated in the nightmare by the sudden death of the Little Seamstress.
43. He asks Luo to fix his tooth with the piece of tin that he'd bought. This tells us that the cultural revolution has it's disadvantages, and the banned knowledge is very important sometimes to even the most zealous supporters of the revolution.
44. His reason is so that he could listen to their stories, but Ma suspects that he wants to know his daughter's potential son in law better. Ma surprisingly tells him one of the western novels that he had read recently when the tailor requests them to tell him a story.
45. He protests against the story because it has a count in it, which means that it must be a revolutionary story. He insists that the narrator go with him to the Social Secuities office, and the narrator hints for Luo to keep the books hidden before he has to go. Then he walks towards the headman attempting to feign confidence. The headman's alternative was to blackmail them to fix his tooth, which Luo agrees to do to save Ma.
40. The theme of taking independent action as an individual attracted the narrator greatly as it had never even come across his mind that this would be possible, seeing as he lived during a time when all individuality was erased and everyone did everything for the common good and everybody was equal.
41. The significance in his adventures is that Luo, who is dead afraid of heights, was willing to go across the precarious ridge to reach the Little Seamstress to educate her, which shows how highly he values converting the Little Seamstress into an educated woman as well as going to see her. The raven is always there to meet him, as though he is expected to go and he has an obligation to be there each morning. Then, after Luo had crossed the ridge, the raven's duty is over and it flies away.
42. The nightmare foreshadows that in the furture, they will be separated by something very very abrupt, like the way they are separated in the nightmare by the sudden death of the Little Seamstress.
43. He asks Luo to fix his tooth with the piece of tin that he'd bought. This tells us that the cultural revolution has it's disadvantages, and the banned knowledge is very important sometimes to even the most zealous supporters of the revolution.
44. His reason is so that he could listen to their stories, but Ma suspects that he wants to know his daughter's potential son in law better. Ma surprisingly tells him one of the western novels that he had read recently when the tailor requests them to tell him a story.
45. He protests against the story because it has a count in it, which means that it must be a revolutionary story. He insists that the narrator go with him to the Social Secuities office, and the narrator hints for Luo to keep the books hidden before he has to go. Then he walks towards the headman attempting to feign confidence. The headman's alternative was to blackmail them to fix his tooth, which Luo agrees to do to save Ma.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
pg.80-105
28. Yong Jing is a small town which had a post office, a town hall, library, school, a hotel with a dozen rooms, restaurants, and the district hospital. It also shows movies in the basketball courts, which Luo and the narrator attend to retell to their village when they return.
29. The woman is Four-Eyes' mother and the narrator talks to her as Luo perhaps due to the fact that he himself had fought her son recently. What she means is that people with knowledge and intelligence will be needed eventually even though the ignorant are superior in the society at this time. She has a positive idea about how all this is going to turn out.
30. It is the Little Seamstress' idea, which is interesting because one would expect Luo or the narrator who are more daring to make this suggestion. This might very well be because of the books that she had been read and the ideas that she had been given by the content of the books.
31. It was pushed off so that they could pretend that the death was accidental, since working animals are not allowed to be slaughtered.
32. His reeducation has given him a new aspect, where he has internalized the traditions of the village, and has become more accustomed to work. However, his reeducation did not really 'work' as he is going to work at a publishing company with his mother as a writer or an intellectual.
33. The function of the 5 sorceresses were basically as enternainment, drama, and just to show that the mother and Four-Eyes are in agreement with the villagers about this tradition. The sorceresses made a great show of destroying the demons with their skit during the celebration, but they simply sat at Luo's bed when he was down with malaria. As a matter of fact, the sorceresses even began to fall asleep while looking over Luo. I believe that a major difference in this was the amount of money given to them.
34. The discovery of the books had a profound effect on him, as he had only seen so many western books before--- when they were being burnt. After so many years of curiosity, he finally has the opportunity to meet the great authors through their books. He expresses anger about people not being allowed to share these masterpieces, and at the people who hid it from him and the narrator.
35. They face the risk of being discovered, and being denounced, which would lead to the destruction of the books and also very severe consequences for the two teenagers.
36. He sees educating the Little Seamstress with the books and making her more sophisticated the purpose of these western novels.
37. Just because Four-Eyes never considered the narrator and Luo friends does not really justify the theft, but it probably made they narrator and Luo feel less guilty about doing this to him.
38. The irony is that he put this mark of his reeducation that symbolizes even more because this tail broke his glasses, with his books, which show that all this reeducation really had no effect on him.
29. The woman is Four-Eyes' mother and the narrator talks to her as Luo perhaps due to the fact that he himself had fought her son recently. What she means is that people with knowledge and intelligence will be needed eventually even though the ignorant are superior in the society at this time. She has a positive idea about how all this is going to turn out.
30. It is the Little Seamstress' idea, which is interesting because one would expect Luo or the narrator who are more daring to make this suggestion. This might very well be because of the books that she had been read and the ideas that she had been given by the content of the books.
31. It was pushed off so that they could pretend that the death was accidental, since working animals are not allowed to be slaughtered.
32. His reeducation has given him a new aspect, where he has internalized the traditions of the village, and has become more accustomed to work. However, his reeducation did not really 'work' as he is going to work at a publishing company with his mother as a writer or an intellectual.
33. The function of the 5 sorceresses were basically as enternainment, drama, and just to show that the mother and Four-Eyes are in agreement with the villagers about this tradition. The sorceresses made a great show of destroying the demons with their skit during the celebration, but they simply sat at Luo's bed when he was down with malaria. As a matter of fact, the sorceresses even began to fall asleep while looking over Luo. I believe that a major difference in this was the amount of money given to them.
34. The discovery of the books had a profound effect on him, as he had only seen so many western books before--- when they were being burnt. After so many years of curiosity, he finally has the opportunity to meet the great authors through their books. He expresses anger about people not being allowed to share these masterpieces, and at the people who hid it from him and the narrator.
35. They face the risk of being discovered, and being denounced, which would lead to the destruction of the books and also very severe consequences for the two teenagers.
36. He sees educating the Little Seamstress with the books and making her more sophisticated the purpose of these western novels.
37. Just because Four-Eyes never considered the narrator and Luo friends does not really justify the theft, but it probably made they narrator and Luo feel less guilty about doing this to him.
38. The irony is that he put this mark of his reeducation that symbolizes even more because this tail broke his glasses, with his books, which show that all this reeducation really had no effect on him.
Saturday, November 8, 2008
pg.61-79
22. Four-Eyes' mother gives him the task of creating poems full of 'romantic realism', which he fails miserably at and is about to give up on when he is told of the miller who knows all the authentic songs of the region. He sets off to collect these songs but fails by insulting the miller by refusing to taste the miller's 'jade dumplings with miller sauce'.
23. They appear as government officials and change their clothing as well as their accent in order to impress the miller which worked very well.
24. Luo and the narrator accept the miller's favorite dish: 'jade dumplings with miller sauce'.
25. Four-Eyes is finding songs with love and emotion in them. Where is the Love? might be considered a modern song with romantic realism. The miller gives them songs with riddles in them and are about very secular objects but are not that romantic.
26. They are definitely aware of the consequences, but they choose not to care about them. In the book, they recorded the songs of the miller but did not once mention that its content was forbidden, and when they asked for Four-Eyes' books they did not think much about what would happen to them if they were discovered with them, but rather, just about getting them and discovering what was between the covers. They might be considered lucky, that they were not caught stealing the books, giving Four-Eyes those songs, and that the headman, who discovers their secret needed their help fixing his teeth.
27. He was defending their hard work and the credit given to them, but he was not justified because he did not succeed in ripping up the pieces of paper. He did, however, have the satisfaction of injuring Four-Eyes.
23. They appear as government officials and change their clothing as well as their accent in order to impress the miller which worked very well.
24. Luo and the narrator accept the miller's favorite dish: 'jade dumplings with miller sauce'.
25. Four-Eyes is finding songs with love and emotion in them. Where is the Love? might be considered a modern song with romantic realism. The miller gives them songs with riddles in them and are about very secular objects but are not that romantic.
26. They are definitely aware of the consequences, but they choose not to care about them. In the book, they recorded the songs of the miller but did not once mention that its content was forbidden, and when they asked for Four-Eyes' books they did not think much about what would happen to them if they were discovered with them, but rather, just about getting them and discovering what was between the covers. They might be considered lucky, that they were not caught stealing the books, giving Four-Eyes those songs, and that the headman, who discovers their secret needed their help fixing his teeth.
27. He was defending their hard work and the credit given to them, but he was not justified because he did not succeed in ripping up the pieces of paper. He did, however, have the satisfaction of injuring Four-Eyes.
Saturday, November 1, 2008
pg.45-60
Vocabulary:
sadistic (adj.) -
syn: cruel, ant: kind
vigilance (n.) - syn: watch, ant: negligence
substantiate (v.) - syn: confirm, ant: disprove
garish (adj.) - syn: flashy, ant: modest
myopia (n.) - syn: nearsightedness
belligerent (adj.) - syn: aggressive, ant: cooperative
redolent (adj.) - syn: aromatic, ant: stinky
somnabulates (v.) - syn: sleepwalks
16. He lives on the lower slopes of the Phoenix of the Sky and he is the son of a writer and a poet. He is very paranoid about his reeducation and is constantly in fear of lessening what chance he has of getting out. He is also very secretive and would not reveal anything about his mysterious suitcase.
17. All the books were burned and they hold great mystique for the boys, who had heard of them and even had relatives that owned them, but were never able to discover what the books held within their covers.
18. This is symbolic of him breaking away from the old world as his glasses were the last traces of his old self. The boys use this by offering the help he cannot turn down in his state in return for one of his books.
19. He is jealous because he also likes the Little Seamstress and this is a new feeling that he has which is part of change (growing up), one of the themes in this book.
20. He copies the excerpt onto a sheepskin coat, which was given to him by the villagers which is symbolic because it shows that he is making the best use of what is available during his reeducation. This is a blend of the old and new, because the literature which is old is written on the sheepskin coat which is part of the new society. He feels a strong connection to the narrator because he was also in the same situation and when he was banned from writing, he began translating instead.
21. Luo and the Little Seamstress make love in the end, and this is possibly due to the ideas presented in the literature. Literature can be dangerous to those who do not know how to differentiate the world in which the book is set and the reader's world or cannot differentiate the characters' actions from what they themselves can do.
sadistic (adj.) -
syn: cruel, ant: kindvigilance (n.) - syn: watch, ant: negligence
substantiate (v.) - syn: confirm, ant: disprove
garish (adj.) - syn: flashy, ant: modest
myopia (n.) - syn: nearsightedness
belligerent (adj.) - syn: aggressive, ant: cooperative
redolent (adj.) - syn: aromatic, ant: stinky
somnabulates (v.) - syn: sleepwalks
16. He lives on the lower slopes of the Phoenix of the Sky and he is the son of a writer and a poet. He is very paranoid about his reeducation and is constantly in fear of lessening what chance he has of getting out. He is also very secretive and would not reveal anything about his mysterious suitcase.
17. All the books were burned and they hold great mystique for the boys, who had heard of them and even had relatives that owned them, but were never able to discover what the books held within their covers.
18. This is symbolic of him breaking away from the old world as his glasses were the last traces of his old self. The boys use this by offering the help he cannot turn down in his state in return for one of his books.
19. He is jealous because he also likes the Little Seamstress and this is a new feeling that he has which is part of change (growing up), one of the themes in this book.
20. He copies the excerpt onto a sheepskin coat, which was given to him by the villagers which is symbolic because it shows that he is making the best use of what is available during his reeducation. This is a blend of the old and new, because the literature which is old is written on the sheepskin coat which is part of the new society. He feels a strong connection to the narrator because he was also in the same situation and when he was banned from writing, he began translating instead.
21. Luo and the Little Seamstress make love in the end, and this is possibly due to the ideas presented in the literature. Literature can be dangerous to those who do not know how to differentiate the world in which the book is set and the reader's world or cannot differentiate the characters' actions from what they themselves can do.
pg.21-41
Vocabulary:
prudent (adj.) - syn: judicious, ant: careless
pitiless (adj.) - syn: brutal, ant: sympathetic
capricious (adj.) - syn: volatile, ant: staid
precarious (adj.) - syn: risky, ant: certain
anthracite (n.) - syn: coal
livid (adj.) - syn: pallid, ant: radiant
poultice (n.) - syn: dressing
10. She is the granddaughter of the famous tailor, wears shoes, and is one of the most beautiful girls on the mountain. Also, she is interested in educated people, unlike most other peasants.
11. Luo is proud of his intelligence and the fact that he is civilized and also, he feels that he cannot like someone who is not educated like him, because he still has the mindset that educated people are superior
12. The tunnel is like their reeducation, because just like they might not get out of the tunnel alive, they might never get out of reeducation. It is also similar in the way that they worry a lot about it and that time spent in both is difficult. However, there is a three in a thousand chance that they will get out of reeducation and that is like the small dot of light that is the exit to the tunnel.
13. He is convinced that Luo is crying because he had talked earlier about his thought that he would die in the tunnel. It was the type of crying that comes with hopelessness and fear.
14. She helps his through the sickness by giving him the poultice, getting sorceresses to look over him, and by giving him love.
15. This probably means that even though the girl was sincere, and it should have saved her mother, her mother still died and this world just isn't always fair.
prudent (adj.) - syn: judicious, ant: careless
pitiless (adj.) - syn: brutal, ant: sympathetic
capricious (adj.) - syn: volatile, ant: staid
precarious (adj.) - syn: risky, ant: certain
anthracite (n.) - syn: coal
livid (adj.) - syn: pallid, ant: radiant
poultice (n.) - syn: dressing
10. She is the granddaughter of the famous tailor, wears shoes, and is one of the most beautiful girls on the mountain. Also, she is interested in educated people, unlike most other peasants.
11. Luo is proud of his intelligence and the fact that he is civilized and also, he feels that he cannot like someone who is not educated like him, because he still has the mindset that educated people are superior
12. The tunnel is like their reeducation, because just like they might not get out of the tunnel alive, they might never get out of reeducation. It is also similar in the way that they worry a lot about it and that time spent in both is difficult. However, there is a three in a thousand chance that they will get out of reeducation and that is like the small dot of light that is the exit to the tunnel.
13. He is convinced that Luo is crying because he had talked earlier about his thought that he would die in the tunnel. It was the type of crying that comes with hopelessness and fear.
14. She helps his through the sickness by giving him the poultice, getting sorceresses to look over him, and by giving him love.
15. This probably means that even though the girl was sincere, and it should have saved her mother, her mother still died and this world just isn't always fair.
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