The Little Seamstress

by Sam Zhang

The Little Seamstress is the most important and dynamic character in the book. She shows her different personalities through many events. We can observe her personality by closely look at these events.

One of the most significant scenes in the novel was when the Little Seamstress and Luo playing game by the lake. Luo throws the key ring into the lake every time and make her jump and pick it up. According to her, she loves Luo too much and willing to do anything for him, however, we realize the love is not so deep for her to do anything. She was scared of the grass snake, and didn’t dare to go deeper. The key ring, which Luo’s mother gave to him as a birthday gift, is very important to Luo. In China, people should never lose their parent’s gifts. The Little Seamstress obviously didn’t care so much about Luo’s beloved ring. We can see that she is a selfish person. She already touched the ring but didn’t grab it. Just a grass snake, which is totally not poisonous, could make her back off.

The Little Seamstress was making love with Luo by the lake. Girls are forbidden to get marry or have sex before twenty-five at that time. It is very dangerous because you can have a baby easily. She is not responsible for herself and Luo. If somebody knows there relationship, they will be punished, especially Luo since he is being re-educated. Luckily, only the old miller witnesses the whole thing happen, but he didn’t tell anybody because he likes Luo. We can see clearly that the Little Seamstress does not like to follow order, and be ordinary as the others. She likes to do whatever she wants, but does not care about the serious consequence of doing that.

Overall, the Little Seamstress is almost like an ambivalent character, since she is daring to love, and not want to take responsibility for her love.