In this case, Jean-Christophe helps the narrator realize the value of his life and convinces him to turn back and not risk the chance of falling. The narrator starts to adapt what he reads into deciding his choices by considering Jean-Christophe’s opinions on his actions. When the narrator crosses the dangerous ridge to get to the Little Seamstress, he contemplates, “I wonder what my good friend Jean-Christophe would say if I were to turn back” (Dai 114). He believes this literature improves a “poorly educated” mind that did not know much about the joys of outside world such as love, to a man that believes in a more individualistic approach on life. It clearly demonstrates the power of the stolen books on him. The wording and comedy in this quote also demonstrate the narrator’s realization of his previous seclusion from independent, ‘western’ ideals. But he was reading, learning, and believing that one man, or woman, can make a huge difference, and that this impact will not necessary harm society, but has the potential to better it, and make it more fulfilling for all. His culture and those in charge of his ‘re-education’ were telling him that society, as a whole, was more important than one individuals thought or desires. This quotation broadly grasps the effects of western literature on the narrator. After reading Jean-Christophe, the narrator comments “up until this stolen encounter with Romain Rolland’s hero, my poor educated and re-educated brains had been incapable of grasping the notion of one man standing up against the whole world” (Dai 110). Romain Rolland, the author of Jean-Christophe, greatly helps the narrator find transit into a world of freedom and individual choices, while also leading him to hate the Chinese re-education system. In Dai Sijie’s novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, the various Western books greatly influence the narrator by changing his perspective on individualism during his re-education, from one of limited free, unbiased thinking to one based on independent thought, reasoning, and judgment. For the majority, only those who secretly gained possession of ‘non-approved’ literature were actual able to further broaden their knowledge. Despite the name of the camps, Mao restricted all forms of education, including reading.

Beginning in 1966, The Cultural Revolution in China, created by Mao Zedong, exiled the upper class youth into re-education camps in an ironic attempt to ‘limit’ their learning. At times, reading literature delivers a magical power that can reveal new worlds and perspectives to people. Reading often remains an instrumental component of growth, change, and influence.

The seamstress grim dawn