4) If you choose the following and answer the question well, you will receive 10 points extra credit:
In the early chapters of Pere Goriot by Honore Balzac (the same author that the guys read in the novel you are reading), the narrator describes the setting and conditions of early 19th century Paris where the main characters live.

"...in that famous valley of ever-peeling plaster and muddy black gutters, that valley where suffering is always real and joy very often false, and the everyday turmoil so grim that it is difficult to imagine any catastrophe producing more than a momentary sensation there... A Parisian losing his way here would see nothing but lodging houses and institutions, penury or boredom, old age declining into death, bright youth pressed into drudgery."

In what ways does Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress relate to this passage from Pere Goriot?

This quote is about suffering and coming of age, which is what the book "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" is about. The "Pere Goriot" passage is similar to the tone of "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress". The tone of the passage describes the boys suffering and uses imagery to paint a vile picture of a nasty scene. This is ironic because the main characters in "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" use the book to escape their harsh reality through imagination. The Little Seamstress becomes aware of the harsh reality through the words of Balzac and itches for the city. She becomes a "Parisian losing his way..." and through the words of Balzac, she is reborn.

The passage above describes the tone of the Little Chinese Seamstress from beginning to end. This quote, "...where suffering is always real and joy very often false," is a metaphor for true suffering and the imagination keeping a humans spirit alive. The two main characters have become numb because of the suffering they have faced. The boys have been forced to carry human and animal waste, and crawl under the ground like worms and risking their lives, "...the everyday turmoil so grim that it is difficult to imagine any catastrophe producing more than a momentary sensation...". Suffering is inevitable for the boys to be released. Every character suffers and the words of Balzac ease all the suffering, "I stayed in bed until nightfall, without food, completely wrapped up in the French story of love and miracles.".

The end of the book is a metaphor for life springing from the ashes; the equilibrium between life and death. The end of the passage is also a metaphor for the Little Seamstress leaving town. When the boys burn the books they are killing Balzac and the imagination they have taken refuge in from,"that valley where suffering is always real and joy very often false". The "Little Seamstress" rises from the ashes through the influence of Balzac's burned writings like a phoenix and escapes the mountain to the city; she is no longer, "bright youth pressed into drudgery.". Every death is accompanied by new life. With the death of her unborn baby girl, her life is able to continue and she is born again. In the city the Little Seamstress may begin a new life outside of "that famous valley of ever-peeling plaster". It is ironic that the city is the boy's home but they may not return and because the city is foreign to the seamstress she can go live a new life there.

The quote from Pere Goriot is similar in both tone and meaning to the book "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress". The boys use this book to escape from the bleak and miserable life they lead and use their imagination to sooth their soul. The end of the passage is highly symbolic as well as the end of the story. In the end, the boys and the Little Seamstress are all becoming independent. The tone of the passage relates to the suffering of the two boys. Their toil seems infinite and any hope of escaping seems unrealistic.