Balzac And The Little Chinese Seamstress Analysis

For decades, literary works have been identified by certain themes that affect the protagonist of the novel. One of the major themes that has been countlessly discussed is “The Individual versus Society”. In this situation, the protagonist has conflicting interests, or is being antagonized by the society he lives within. Over this past summer, I have read through two novels that have both explored this common theme. As I saw the struggles that the protagonists had to traverse each day of their lives, I saw a similarity between my daily experiences and theirs. In Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress, by Dai Sijie, the narrator and thousands of students are forced away from their homes because the new Chairman decides that previous education is no longer needed and wants to send them away because they had been taught a certain way. Also, in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon, the protagonist, Christopher, has Asperger’s Syndrome, and is constantly seen as strange child with problems, throughout

The narrator is taken away from his life and stripped of his goals, like how I was stripped of my dreams when colleges determined that horseback riding was a female only sport. In addition, Christopher is verbally attacked and pressured by people who are meant to be helpful to him. I experienced a similar situation to this in Middle school when I was mocked and put down because of the sport that I enjoyed playing. Both characters and I share a common dilemma in which we are placed against a society that does not accept a certain part of us. Ultimately, I saw my own life play out in these characters, I saw the ugly side of old friends, I saw the article release from my favorite college, and once again, I saw the glossy, light blue paint of that cool, metallic