Dai Sijie uses Four-Eyes’ glasses to represent fear. Four-Eyes constantly lives fear that his secrets will be discovered, and that he will not be able to escape re-education. His glasses are representative of this fear, as they disguise both his physical defects and his hidden s flaws e
"I was sure, however, that he wouldn't allow this interfere with his work, in case his myopia was taken as a sign of physical deficiency by the revolutionary peasants and they thought he was a slacker. He lived in constant terror of the peasant's opinion, for it would be up to them one day to decide whether he had been properly re-educated, and so, in theory at any rate, his future lay in their hands. In these circumstances even the slightest defect, either political or physical, could be disastrous"(53).
“‘The way you keep your suitcase locked up and hidden away is enough to betray your secret: you’ve got a stash of forbidden books.’ A flicker of panic showed in our short-sighted friend’s eyes, then vanished behind his glasses as he composed his features into a smiling mask.”
Which physical defects do the glasses hide about Four-Eyes? His biggest one that I remember is his poor eyesight, and glasses bring more attention to that.
ReplyDeleteIf Four-Eyes glasses represented his constant fear, why do you think the author had the buffalo break his glasses? (maybe it was because his fear was temporarily revealed and exposed after they discovered the books?)
ReplyDeleteI think that the glasses are also related to Independence and Coming of Age. Four Eyes learns to not allow his glasses put in at a disadvantage. Often, when they do get in the way, he resourcefully finds another path to complete a task.
ReplyDelete1. Do the glasses being broken further this symbolism, or does it not fit the metaphor?
ReplyDelete2. This connects to coming of age because it shows how different people develop when exposed to new conditions. Four-Eyes becomes very afraid of doing anything wrong, and as a result, he grows up very differently from Luo and the narrator.
What "hidden flaws" does Four Eyes have, beyond his obviously poor eyesight?
ReplyDeleteThis connects to coming of age because Four Eyes exists as a barrier to Luo and the narrator from achieving their desire of reading more books. They even make a comment about how they loathe those who had kept books hidden from them, which could refer to Mao and his repressive policies, but also on a more micro-level, referring to Four Eyes, who had kept these books hidden from them. Later, we see that these books are essential to their growth and character development.
It's interesting how you related fear with the glasses, I never thought about it that way, but now I can totally see how it makes sense. So do you think that the author purposely had his glasses broken?
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the glasses represent another thing other than fear? I think that they served more as a disability to him and they just got in his way, making it harder for him to leave re-education.
ReplyDeleteDo you think that the glasses could have represent more than fear and rather the ideas of coming of age and reeducation?
ReplyDelete