Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress: Part 3, Chapter 9 Summary & Analysis

Addressing the reader, the narrator says that that's the story. Three months after the Little Seamstress's abortion and Luo's return, Luo and the narrator sit outside their house with the books spread in front of them. Luo, drunk and laughing, lights matches, and the narrator describes the characters catching fire. The narrator plays a sad song on his violin, and he remarks that not even a surprise appearance by the village headman would've stopped the book burning frenzy.

The narrator says that the Little Seamstress had left suddenly and dramatically earlier that day. He explains that he and Luo had spent a lot of time looking back for signs that she was going to leave, and when they thought about it, there were several clothing-related clues. Two months earlier, she'd made herself a bra. Luo explained at the time that the Seamstress's "latest obsession" was to be like a city girl. The boys believed this was just vanity.

The narrator continues that the other two signs were the Mao-style jacket that the Little Seamstress had made for him to visit the miller the first time, which she'd altered into a smart-looking woman's jacket. She'd also asked the tailor to buy her a pair of white tennis shoes, which were completely impractical given the muddy ground on the mountain.

On the western new year, which was a national holiday, the narrator and Luo had gone to see the Little Seamstress. When they entered her house, they were shocked to see that she'd cut her ponytail into a stylish bob. She was busy finishing her jacket and when she put it on, Luo and the narrator thought she looked "unfamiliarly stylish and sensual," and the narrator remarks that the mountain girl was gone. Luo was thrilled with her transformation and whispered to the narrator that reading to the Little Seamstress definitely paid off.

The narrator says that the true result of the Little Seamstress's transformation hadn't occurred to Luo and himself at that point. He questions if they overestimated the power of love, or if they hadn't truly understood the novels they'd read to her. In February, Luo and the narrator are at work in a field when they hear shouts. When they run back to the village, the tailor greets them, looking rumpled and distraught.

The tailor says that the Little Seamstress left the mountain that morning—she'd gotten the documents to do so behind the tailor's back and told him that she intended to change her life and move to the city. She hadn't told Luo or the narrator, and the tailor tells the boys that he told his daughter to not come back.

Luo begins a headlong sprint down the mountainside after the Little Seamstress, and the narrator follows. As he runs he thinks about his nightmares where the Little Seamstress falls down the cliffs. He hears the red-beaked ravens and wonders why he's chasing after Luo. He can't decide if it's friendship, love for the Little Seamstress, or his desire to see the end of the drama.

After two hours, the narrator sees the Little Seamstress sitting by the graveyard where the narrator had met the poetess months earlier. He stops his descent and watches Luo fall to the ground in front of the Little Seamstress. The narrator watches the two sit silently as smoke rises from Luo's mouth. The narrator gathers some kindling, starts a fire, and buries some sweet potatoes in the fire. He muses that he's angry with the Little Seamstress. He says that he is aware that he is nothing more than a spectator, but he feels betrayed that she didn't tell him she was leaving. He feels as though he'll only ever be a friend of a friend to her, and that his help in arranging the abortion meant nothing to her.

The narrator hears Luo and the Little Seamstress speaking softly. They sound agitated and the narrator hears Balzac's name, but can't hear much else. Suddenly, the Little Seamstress jumps up and resumes her march down the mountainside. The narrator yells for her to wait and to have a sweet potato. The Little Seamstress starts running and disappears. Luo comes and sits with the narrator and tells him that the Little Seamstress said that she learned from Balzac that "a woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price." Luo and the narrator burn the books hours later.