Themes
Stories have great effects on people:
In the entire book, we read of various people being profoundly affected by hearing or reading stories. From the beginning, Luo was able to captivate the rest of the villagers with his film retellings. Later, both Luo and the narrator are revealed to Western literature and discover ideas like individualism and love. Their influence also spreads to people like the little seamstress and the tailor to whom they tell more stories. Finally, Balzac's stories led the seamstress to abandon her village life for one in the city.
Humans will always rise above oppression:
Throught Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, various characters had been able to escape the oppression of Mao's communist regime. At first, Four-Eyes was able to smuggle with him a suitcase full of banned books. Then, Luo and the narrator were able to steal those books and read them. After reading them, they were then able to spread the banned thoughts and ideas throughout the entire village and beyond.
