Characters
The narrator- starts out as a mild-mannered teen who plays the violin. Over the course of the story, he becomes more audacious and daring, possibly due to reading the stolen books. He later matches Luo in his storytelling capabilities and shows his new capacity for hate by torturing the headman while fixing his teeth.
Luo- begins the story as a more daring person than the narrator. He has a quick wit with such things like "Mozart is thinking of Chairman Mao" and is a veteran storyteller. He doesn't seem to change much in the story other than forming a relationship with the seamstress.
Little Seamstress- the village beauty, the seamstress was a village girl. She was not a skilled writer and was not very educated as most villagers were. Upon meeting the two boys, however, she began to pick up on the stories they read and told. She became profoundly influenced and transformed into an urban girl complete with the new clothes and a changed mind. She discovers from Balzac that "A woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price." (184)
Four-Eyes- was the shrewd friend of Luo and the narrator. Hoarding a suitcase full of banned books, Four-Eyes worked only for himself or for his family. Throughout the novel, he was obsessed with being able to escape the re-education and returning home. He had a very narrow view of life and missed everything around him like the most likely unread books he possessed.
