Stroies Influence/balzac

Power of Stories

Stories were invented a by people at the dawn of civilization for many reasons. Some stories were invented to tell history, some to show patterns. In the book "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" they discover what stories can do to them, and how powerful they are. In the book the Communists ban literature so the people lose there individualism so the government can have complete control of the nation.

Stories told to show the past are important because they make people remember the past so they don't repeat it. When there was a console to get the sickness out of Luo by wiping him with “two Branches, one from a peach tree, the other from a willow.” They said to Luo “Only these trees would do”(p34). This shows that they if they had been told that wiping wouldn’t help a sickness, then they mite not of beaten Luo. This also shows that they have lost some civility by not being able to learn form history. Another story told is used to invoke emotions.

Stories told can sometimes bring up emotions. When the narrator tells the story about the film little flower seller, and Luo uttered the Praise “that a sincere heart can make a stone blossom… was the