Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress Reading Questions: pg. 3~20

Vocabulary:
risible (adj.)
syn: jovial
ant: melancholy

surreptitious (adj.)
syn: stealthy
ant: honest

sonata (n.)
syn: n/a
ant: n/a

audacity (adv.)
syn: boldness
ant: caution

reactionary (n.)
syn: traditional
ant: liberal

vertiginous (adj.)
syn: dizzy
ant: steady

insidious (adj.)
syn: deceitful
ant: honest

Questions

1. The village headman assumes that the violin is a toy. Luo told them that the violin is a musical instrument and fooled them when he played a Mozart sonata and he called it "Mozart Is Thinking of Chairman Mao". The villagers do not know anything about music and anything outside the village while the boys are educated and had training in music.
2. All textbooks and school subjects were banned. They were only taught industry and agriculture. Peasants and workers became important members of the society. Mao Zedong was the Chairman of the Revolution and they had to read Mao's "Little Red Book". Intellectuals were labelled as "enemies of the people". All young people were sent to the countryside for re-education. The purpose of this revolution is to make everybody equal and suppress learning and ideas that are against the government.
3. Is it ironic that Luo and the narrator were sent to be re-educated because they were not even high school graduates. They have never studied at any institution for education. But they were sent to be re-educated because their parents were intellectuals and they were labelled as "enemies of the people".
4. Luo punches the narrator because he was very angry when he saw his father under public attack. He just needs to release his anger.
5. The mountain was called "Phoenix of the Sky". The narrator thinks that the name is due to its high elevation that even birds and sparrows can't reach it and only the phoenix can fly there.
6. The mountain has copper mines and workers have to carry buckets of copper down the mountains. But because of the lack of transportation, the production of copper has declined and bandits are growing opium. The village is poor and the economy is controlled by the opium growers.
7. The boys changed the time on the alarm clocks to allow them extra time to sleep or end their days' work earlier. This shows that the boys are mischievous and creative.
8. For ordinary families, re-education lasts for 2 years. But Luo and the narrator are sad because they know that they'll never go back to their families. They were identified as enemies of the people and their re-education will last forever.
9. Luo has a gift of storytelling and the village headman appreciates this so he assigned Luo to tell stories about the films that they had seen. The village headman also sends them to Yong Jing to watch a new film and they have to re-tell the story to the whole village. I think that the narrator says that this gift will lead to complicatoins because the boys will discover films and books that were banned.