Questions on Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie (Part 2)

1.    When the headman returns, why is he angry?

2.    The tailor arrives in the village and stays with Luo and the narrator. Before they go to bed the first night, he asks the boys to tell him a story. What story does the narrator tell him?

3.    On the third night, the headman interrupts the story. What does he accuse the narrator of? 

4.    The headman threatens to take the narrator to the Public Security Office, but says he’ll leave the narrator alone if Luo ____________________________________________.

5.    How do they make a drill?

6.    What does Luo suggest as the headman can’t stand the pain of the makeshift drill? 

7.    How does the narrator take revenge on the headman? 

8.    The novel switches to passages of narration by other characters. The old miller narrates a story of coming upon Luo and the Little Seamstress. Then Luo narrates, saying that he taught the Little Seamstress how to dive, and how she loved to dive for his ____ _____.

9.    Why does Luo leave for a month?

10. What does the Little Seamstress encounter that bit her, while looking for [the answer to #8] underwater? 

11. What does Luo ask the narrator to do while he’s out of town? 

12. What does the narrator envisions himself as? 

13. Who attacks the narrator as he ‘s heading home one night?

14. The Little Seamstress tells the narrator she’s pregnant. The narrator explains that being an unwed mother is ______, abortion is _______, and getting married before age 25 is _______.

15. In Yong Jing, the narrator spends two days trying unsuccessfully to learn how to procure an abortion. On the third day, he decides to try to get help from a _________, who sweeps the streets. 

16. At the hospital, while sitting with [the answer to #15], the narrator catches a glimpse of the doctor and follows him into an exam room. What does he offer the doctor in exchange for the abortion? 

17. What do the narrator and Luo, drunk and laughing, burn? 

18. Why did the Little Seamstress leave suddenly? 

19. In the time leading up to her departure, what changes about her were noticed? 

20. Luo and the narrator run down the mountain in pursuit of the Little Seamstress. The narrator spots her and watches Leo and her begin talking. The seamstress resumes her march down the mountain. The narrator calls after her, but she keeps running. What doe she say she learned from Balzac?