"During the whole month of September following our successful burglary we were seduced, overwhelmed, spellbound by the mystery of the outside world, especially the world of women, love and sex as revealed to us by these Western writers day after day, page after page, book after book."(109)
Luo and the Narrator, after having stolen Four eye's, become enthralled with the writings of Western writers like Balzac and Dumas. These boys, who have never left China and know very little of the outside wall, should have nothing but hate for Westerners since the only information they have are the Communist propaganda posters. The key here is that they don't.
When they read the books, they cut through the smothering propaganda and see the true nature of the novels. Luo and the Narrator learn of love, emotion and passion within the words of the few masterworks that they have. They become absorbed by the novels because they see what was always there instead of what the Communist party wants them to see. They see the shining light of the human spirit. They see beauty and no contortions can detract from that.
