Questions on Balzac and the Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (Part 1)

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~ p.120

1.     What is the narrator’s musical instrument that the village headman wants to burn in the beginning in the novel?


2.     Why have the narrator and Luo been sent to the mountain? 


3.     What kind of work do the boys do? 


4.     What is Luo’s only talent? 


5.     Why does the headman send Luo and the narrator to the town of Yong Jing?

6.     What does the little seamstress’ father do? 


7.     After six weeks of the work in the extremely dangerous coal mine, what does Luo contract? 


8.     What do the miners to Luo to drive out the infection? 


9.     At the little seamstress’ request, who keeps a vigil around Luo?


10.  When they (#9’s answer) begin to fall asleep, what does the little seamstress asks the narrator to do? 

11.  When the narrator is searching for a sweater for Luo, what does the narrator finds under Four-Eyes’ bed? 


12.  What is the book that Four-Eyes give Luo and the narrator after they help him finish his work?


13.  Where does the narrator copy a passage from the novel?


14.  Four-Eyes tells Luo and the narrator that he had the opportunity to get off the mountain by collecting ______ ________ from an old miller. He ruined the opportunity by offending the old man and got lice in the process. 

15.  What do Luo and the narrator do to visit the miller?


16.  When they present their work to Four-Eyes, how does he respond? 

17.  The narrator meets Four-Eyes’ mother, the poetess, on her way to retrieve her son from his re-education. How can Four-Eyes get out of his re-education? 


18.  What does the Little Seamstress suggest they do before Four-Eyes leaves? 

19.  What does Four-Eyes’ village’s headman slaughter for the celebratory banquet? What do he and Four-eyes drink? 



20.  Luo and the narrator spend a month reading all the books in the suitcase. What is the novel that the narrator is most taken by? 

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