Madame Bovary in Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
             Sijie mentions Gustave Flaubert in a list of authors and quotes from his acclaimed work, Madame Bovary, while the boys burn all the books. Although the casual eye might not notice it, Madame Bovary is a powerful vehicle for Sijie to further draw attention to the context, characters, and style of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress. Though brief, the inclusion of Flaubert's novel allows Sijie to use rich, compact, connections to the birth of realism that is still applicable to the modern author.
             First, the context of Madame Bovary, though separated by over a century, is remarkably similar to that of Balzac. Gustave Flaubert was born in 1821 Rouen, France, and grew up with the Revolution and Napoleon's empire inevitably still in the thoughts of those who raised him. Much like Luo and the narrator, Flaubert was born the son of a provincial doctor . Sijie's setting is also one of revolution and a powerful leader trying to dictate from his capital (Mao's Beijing and Napoleon's Paris). In addition, both contexts involved changes in the class system. Napoleon was put into power by the newly formed bourgeoisie (the self-made middle class) while Mao attempted to destroy it and make all equal despite ability or merit.
             Secondly, both authors reach their political purposes by painting their characters as romanticists, escaping from their problems, but then grounded with the sharp sting of realism. Born into a relatively well-off family, Flaubert used his novel to criticize the powerful new middle class. The title character in Madame Bovary, Emma, a woman trapped in a stifling bourgeois life, longs for an even more rich and extravagant lifestyle. Having been "re-educated," Sijie criticizes Mao's corrupt plan to redistribute wealth. The narrarator in Balzac, a boy exposed to the corruption of Mao's communism, dreams of the lifestyle he reads about in clandestine books. Both char...