The theme of the significance and influence of storytelling and literature is central to the entire novel. It is present even in the way the book is narrated: in first person, with the narrator addressing the readers and indicating through his tone that he is telling his story to an audience. Soon after, the readers learn the reason behind this type of narration; Luo and the narrator have been the village storytellers, putting on "oral cinema shows" by acting out movies. Luo was at first far more superior, able to evoke great emotions in the audience, while the narrator had less of a talent. However, as time goes on, it is revealed that the two simply have diferent styles of storytelling: Luo is able to act out almost any character's part, while the narrator is better at simply being, well, the narrator, engaging the audience as he relays a story. The narrator eventually discovers he is much better at retelling great literature than propaganda movies, because of how true the emotions are and how well famous writers tell their stories. This is first manifested in the narrator's famous nine-night retelling of The Count of Monte Christo.
Literature in the true sense first appears along with Four-Eyes, Luo and the narrator's friend who is also being reeducated on Phoenix of the Sky. Four-Eyes is the son of a poetess and a writer, and the two main characters believe they have equipped him with forbidden books, which he keeps in a secret suitcase and refuses to admit to having. This news excites them greatly, as they do not have access to literature on the mountain, and their boring and monotonous lives cause them to yearn for any entertainment.
Before obtaining any books, Luo and the narrator engage in an interesting discussion about Western literaure. Neither knows much about it, as their parents were not eager readers. Luo knows only that one of his aunts had several translated books before the revolution, and remembers her reading Don Quixote to him, yet comments only to say that it was "a great story". The two contemplate the burning of books during the Revolution, and the narrator bitterly remarks: "We had been so unlucky. By the time we had finally learnt to read properly, there had been nothing left for us to read." (p. 51) It is because literature has become a forbidden fruit that the main characters are so curious about it. They feel as though they have been deprived of a facet of life, yet do not fully understand what they have been missing. Once reading Ursule Mirouet and being moved to steal the books, this changes: when standing over the suitcase of banned books, they feel loathing, "loathing for everyone who kept these books from us" (p.99).
The first book, the real treasure and oddity after months of watching Korean propaganda movies as the sole entertainment, is Ursule Mirouet by Balzac, and also one of the first encounters with Western literature. When reading it, they are struck with several things: the beauty of the language and how relatable it is. Even though the characters know very little of France or its history, they are able to connect to the plot about inheritance and understand the characters, which is always the mark of great storytelling. While at first the need for literature stems out of boredom, curiosity, and aesthetic/cognitive needs (something that allows them contact with civilization on the rural mountain), the first taste causes them to instantly want more. They realize books can be beautiful and a form of art, like the narrator’s violin music. Music and books allow them to temporarily forget their circumstances (the dreaded “three in a thousand” chance of being released from the mountain) and be transported elsewhere.
When at last having access to all the books, they find new worlds opening before them - they find out especially much about love. The narrator's favorite book becomes Jean-Christophe; without it, he says, he "would never had understood the splendor of taking free and independent action (...) up until [then he] had been incapable of grasping the notion of one man standing up against the whole world."(p.110) To him, it is an "ultimate book". He is influenced by this directly to want to own something, rather than share everything with Luo, and the two begin dedicating books to each other.
The influence of literature and stories is also manifested in much smaller ways - listening to the retelling of The Count of Monte Christo influences the tailor's garments; offering a novel to the doctor bribes him to perform an abortion.
The person influenced the most, of course, is the Little Seamstress herself - she goes from an "uncivilized" (in Luo's eyes) mountain girl to a woman with much wider horizons, one that longs for city life. The matamorphosis is what Luo intended by reading her the books, and what he was proud of up until her sudden betrayal. The seamstress showed an interest in the ouside world ever since the two main characters met her; her first encounter with real literature was very emotional, and it was her idea to steal the secret suitcase from Four-Eyes as to not have to part with the books. With Luo, she also discovers the wonders of acting as they role-play a story. In her parting words, she says she learned one thing from Balzac - that a woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price.
"The artistry of the great Dumas was so compelling that I forgot all about our guest, and the words poured from me. My sentences became more precise, more concrete, more compact as I went along. I succeeded, with some effort, in sustaining the spare tone of my opening sentence. It was not an easy undertaking, but I was pleasantly surprised, in the course of telling the story, to see the narrative mechanism laid bare before my eyes: how Dumas established the theme of vengeance, and set out the different story-lines which he would eventually gather with a firm, deft and audacious hand. It was like seeing a great, uprooted tree: the nobility of its trunk, the strength of its naked roots.
I lost all sense of time. How long had I been talking? An hour? Two? We had arrived at the point in the story where our hero, the French sailor, was locked up in a cell for the next twenty years. I felt drowsy, and had to stop.
'Right now,' whispered Luo to me, 'you're doing better than me. You should have been a writer.'
Intoxicated by this compliment, counting as it did from a master storyteller, I drifted off into a delicious sleep." p. 125
