The Little Chinese Seamstress

1) How is the power of imagination a major theme of the story?

Exiled from city life and forced to live far away in the distant mountains because of the Cultural Revolution, Luo and his friend soon became exhausted and bored. However, the boys managed to spice up their lives by reading forbidden books and retelling stories to the villagers. By reading books they imagined themselves in exciting places and times far from the dreary mountainside village and away from the realities of the Cultural Revolution. Their imaginative storytelling and reenactment of films opened new relationships with villagers and sparked their romance with the beautiful Little Seamstress. The imaginative power of romance, love, and miracles surprises the boys and leads to unexpected consequences.

The creative film reenactments of Luo and his friend not only uplifted their minds, but brought excitement into the lives of the villagers including the village leader, the Little Seamstress, and the sorceresses. Luo and his friend transfixed their audiences and could move them to tears of sadness or joy. The power of the imaginary scenes and romantic plays filled the audience’s minds with wonder. “By the time we, or rather he, reached the end of the story, in the allotted time, our audience was ecstatic.” The boy’s adventure with the Little Seamstress began when the village leader, enthusiastic about their stories, sent them to her village.

Luo, his friend, the Little Seamstress, and several other characters constantly read or listened to the forbidden stories to relax and escape reality. Often Luo and his friend would stay up reading all night deep in the fantasies of the forbidden stories. “I was carried away, swept along by the mighty stream of words pouring from the hundreds of pages.” Reading the stories comforted them and gave them a sense of freedom from their dull life of exile. By reading the forbidden books, the boys could imagine themselves at home. “By the end of the day I was feeling quite at home in Nemours, imagining myself posted by the smoking hearth of her parlour in the company of doctors and curates.”

The wonderful stories Luo told and read to the Little Seamstress delighted and enchanted her so much that she fell in love with him. Her father, the tailor, was also awed and influenced by the boy’s stories. “Inevitably, some of the details he picked up from the French story started to have a discreet influence on the clothes he was making for the villagers. Dumas would have been most surprised to see the mountain men sporting sailor tops with square collars that flapped in the breeze.” Unfortunately, Luo and his friend underestimated the power of their stories and were unaware of the consequences that would result. “Or, quite simply, had we ourselves failed to grasp the essence of the novels we had read to her?” Ironically, the Little Seamstress fell in love because of their story telling, but she also left them because their story telling made her long for city life. The Little Seamstress’s desire to become a city girl grew stronger than her love for Luo and his friend. Her desire became too tempting and she surprised them by leaving to an imaginary world of city life.