The British School of Bahrain Department of English s2

The British School of Bahrain Department of English Year Nine Novel Study Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Worksheet 1: Chapter One

Read pages 3 to ‘I was seventeen’ on page 6.

Don’t forget to offer proof from the text when you answer!

1 Describe what happens and where the action takes place, in no more than three lines.

2 From whose point of view is the story told?

3 What can the reader work out about the narrator? Be a detective!

4 Take a look at the first paragraph. What is the reader supposed think that the villagers are like? Give evidence for your answer!

5 Make a list of the features of the headman: his appearance, his words and his actions. What is the reader supposed to think of him?

6 What details show that the narrator is tense and nervous on pages 4 and 5?

7 Why is he afraid?

8 What do we discover about Luo’s character? The British School of Bahrain Department of English Year Nine Novel Study 9 Write a paragraph explaining the use of humour in this section. Don’t forget to use quotations as examples to prove that you are right!

Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie

Worksheet 2: Chapter One

Read from ‘A Few words about re-education’ (page 6) to the end of Chapter One.

1 Explain what happened to the narrator and his friend Luo during The Cultural Revolution.

2 In the first paragraph of this section, why are the words ‘young intellectuals’, ‘re- educated by the poor peasants’ and ‘to the countryside’ in inverted commas?

3 What do you think the violin symbolises?

4 How can we tell that the narrator thinks that The Cultural Revolution is ridiculous and ineffective? Try to give five reasons, with quotations to prove your points.

5 Look at the second and third paragraph on page 9. How can we tell that the narrator and Luo are close?

6 How can we tell that Luo’s father has suffered at the hands of the government before? Why do you think that this might be the case?

7 How does the writer hint that Luo’s father’s confession is untrue? The British School of Bahrain Department of English Year Nine Novel Study

8 Why does Luo hit the narrator? Do you think that the narrator blames Luo for this? Explain.

9 What do you think the writer thinks of The Cultural Revolution? Explain carefully. Your Writing

A Write Luo’s father’s diary entry after his public confession.

B Write the article that will appear in the local (communist) newspaper.

Worksheet 3: Chapter Two

1 In the first paragraph, which word shows that the narrator thinks that his re- education is a punishment?

2 Why is the mountain called ‘Phoenix of the Sky’? Give the two reasons from the text.

3 Which other details tell us that the place is primitive and remote?

4 Using a dictionary, look up the following words and write down what they mean:

 eunuch  coolie

 minting  pannier

 vertiginous  bandit

5 Replace each of the following words from the second paragraph (‘The Phoenix of the Sky comprised...’) with another of a similar meaning. Try first to do this without a dictionary. The British School of Bahrain Department of English Year Nine Novel Study  comprised

 serpentine

 summit

 plump

 makeshift

6 The alarm clock is a symbol. What idea does it symbolise?

7 What idea do the ‘buckets of shit’ symbolise? On page 14, find two more words that mean something similar to ‘shit’.

8 It always seems to be raining. What is the writer’s purpose here?

9 Make a list of all of the adjectives in the paragraph that begins, ‘It rained often on Phoenix mountain.’ Make sure that you know their meanings.

10 Put three of these adjectives into sentences of your own, showing that you know what each one means.

Worksheet 4: Luo

19 Read from ‘Phoenix Mountain was so remote...’ to the end of Chapter Two.

1 What special mission are the boys sent on?

2 Why do you think that these two are chosen for this job? (Think about the entertainment facilities that are available in the village).

3 How do we know that the boys enjoy this task?

4 What evidence is there that even the village at Yong Jing has no permanent cinema? Which word conveys this? The British School of Bahrain Department of English Year Nine Novel Study 5 When the boys return to their village, the villagers are hungry to be entertained. Which word conveys their eagerness?

6 Which details tell the reader that Luo is a natural entertainer?

7 What is the headman’s reaction to the boys’ performance?

8 What message does this section convey about the importance of the arts (language, drama and music) in the lives of human beings?

9 Remember back on page 6?

What simile is used here?

What does this description of the peasants’ faces suggest about people’s need for music?

Extension: To the left are some lines from a play by Shakespeare. What ideas do Shakespeare and Dai Sijie share?

Worksheet 5: The Little Seamstress

1 Read the narrator’s description of the little seamstress. How can we tell what he thinks of her? Pick five details and comment on them.

2 How can the boys tell that the little seamstress likes their company? The British School of Bahrain Department of English Year Nine Novel Study 3 Luo tries to convince the little seamstress that they have something in common. What is it? Is this similarity a real one? Take off your shoes and socks and check!

Read the account of Luo’s illness on pages 29, (from ‘At the end of the sixth week Luo fell ill...’) to the end of the chapter.

4 What details show the harshness of the people and the place? Choose three details.

5 Describe the local traditional treatment of malaria. What does the men’s treatment for malaria tell us about the people of the village?

6 Do you think that Dai Sijie respects this aspect of the local culture? Support your opinion with one o two quotations from the text.

7 Look at the narrator’s comments about the little seamstress’s letter and her handwriting. What does the letter convey about her character? Choose three details and comment on them.

8 Why does the little seamstress want Luo to come to her village?

9 Homework: who was Scheherazade? Find out and write a paragraph about her. Cite your source. Do you think that the characters of Luo and Scheherazade might have anything in common? Explain.

Worksheet 6: The Little Flower Seller

Read from page 33 to the end of the chapter. The British School of Bahrain Department of English Year Nine Novel Study 1 What problem does the little seamstress solve, and how does she do it?

2 What hint is there that neighbours reported each other to the authorities?

3 The little seamstress thinks that the narrator is afraid that she might report him. What crime has she committed?

4 What details remind the reader that the little seamstress is ignorant and uneducated?

Writing for Impact: Irony

5 Why is this idea that religion is forbidden by communism ironic (remember the way that the miners tried to cure malaria)?

6 Read the description of the sorceresses. Why is their presence ironic? How successfully have communist ideas about the dangers of religion been learned by these rural Chinese villagers?

7 Read the first paragraph. What is humorous about this situation?

8 In the second paragraph, how can we tell that the narrator is successful?

Writing for Impact: Focus on Sentence Structure

In the third paragraph, find and copy a sentence that is short for impact.

9 Find and copy a complex sentence that has a number of clauses to build up tension.

10 Write out the sentence in the fourth paragraph and underline and label the main clause and the subordinate clause.

11 Copy a detail that hints that the narrator likes the little seamstress.

12 Why is the ending of the chapter amusing?