Re-education, a practice in Communist China in which urban youth are sent to rural villages so that they can connect with the ways of their ancestors and create a stronger working class large, it may seem like a harmless system. However, re-education, to some extent, is useless. Ironically, urban youths who went to rural villages to become one with the land ended up instilling their knowledge in villagers, the exact opposite of the goal of re-education. Balzac and the Little Chinese Dressmaker by Dai Sijie explains the irony of the re-education system in Communist China, as the two main characters, Luo and an unnamed narrator, end up changing the values ​​of the villagers more than themselves. In the novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Dressmaker by Dai Sijie, Luo and the narrator during the re-education process change the villagers to become more civilized by manipulating them and introducing them to Western technology and culture, expressing the irony of the re-education system . Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay During their re-education, the two boys manipulate the villagers to suit themselves, changing the villagers more than themselves and ironically destroying the fundamental principle of re-education. When Luo and the narrator first arrive at their village, they bring with them an alarm clock, which the chief begins using to tell the time and tell the workers when to start the day and begin work. However, Luo and the narrator sometimes don't want to work as early or late as usual, so they change the hands of the clock to manipulate the time. The narrator states, “by the end we had changed the position of the hands so many times that we had no idea what time it really was” (Sijie 15). The clock dictates the lives of the villagers, as the chief would use it to determine when they start and stop working. When the narrator and Luo manipulate the hands of the clock, which has become so integrated into the lives of the workers, they are manipulating and changing the villagers to suit themselves. Working in rural villages is part of the communist ideal, so when the boys introduce this clock, which the villagers use, and then manipulate it to control working hours, they express the irony of communist re-education. system. Luo and the narrator manipulate the villagers and the labor system to suit their own wants and needs, thus defeating the purpose of Communist China's re-education system. Luo even expresses a desire to civilize the workers, especially his girlfriend, the little Chinese seamstress. Luo, speaking with the narrator, explains how he wants to manipulate the Little Chinese Dressmaker into becoming more civilized. He says: “with these books I will transform the Little Seamstress. She will never be a simple mountain girl again” (Sijie 100). Luo expresses a clear desire to manipulate the seamstress through books. Saying "she will never be a simple mountain girl again", she explains how her main goal is to civilize the little Chinese seamstress, as she wants her to become more than a simple mountain girl and will achieve this by reading books, a symbol of modernity, for her , thus making it civilized. Luo is manipulating the seamstress to satisfy himself and achieve his goal of civilizing her, showing the irony of the re-education system. The little Chinese seamstress is a perfect definition of the rural aspects of the mountain, so when Luo attempts, and succeeds, to civilize her, we see that the re-education system is needlessly ironic, as a symbol ofrurality is being manipulated to the satisfaction of the city's youth to become civilized. The villagers, in addition to being manipulated by the two boys, are introduced to new technology, which has led the villagers to change more than the boys. Luo and the narrator also bring new and unknown technologies and ideas to the village they stay in, changing the villagers through introducing innovation. Since urban youth are already exposed to these civilized things, they are not affected as much as villagers. The narrator and especially Luo have a gift for storytelling and bring civilized Western stories to the village by retelling movie plots. The principal appreciates these performances and says: “'I'll send you to see another movie. You will be paid as if you had worked in the fields” (Sijie 20). Luo and the narrator constantly tell the stories of these films, bringing new ideas to the villages. Considering that the films are urban works and that the two boys are bringing this piece of civilization to the village, the villagers are changed thanks to this introduction to innovations. The fact that the principal states that the children will be paid as if they had worked in the fields demonstrates the irony of the re-education system. Instead of working in the fields and getting used to the land and customs of their ancestors, the boys watch films in a civilized city and bring them to the villagers, the exact opposite of re-education. Also noteworthy is the fact that the principal is willing to send these kids to bring a piece of civilization to the rural village. The villagers seem eager to learn about urban technologies and ideas, which gives rise to the idea that people are always busy learning and innovating, thus making civilization inevitable. Once again the clock, symbolizing modernity, is a piece of technology that supports this idea of ​​the desire of rural villagers to learn about civilization, and in turn expresses the irony of the re-education system. When the narrator and Luo bring the clock to the village, they are “surprised to see how the alarm clock has captured the imagination of the farmers… Everyone came to consult the clock” (Sijie 14). The two boys come into contact with this technology even before arriving in the village, and they bring this symbol of civilization with them. The villagers are exposed to new technologies and welcome them, the alarm clock captures their imagination, and they use it, while everyone comes to consult the clock. Luo and the narrator bring new civilized technology, and in turn, through the villagers' use of these innovations, the villagers themselves become more civilized, adapting to the ways of civilized people rather than the urban youth who they adapt to the ways of rural people. The goal of re-education is not for the villagers to become one with civilization, but for the city's youth to become one with the land, which is the exact opposite of what happens to the narrator and Luo. The villagers in this novel are exposed to new technologies because of the youth of the city, thus making them more civilized and expressing the irony of the re-education system. In addition to introducing new technology, kids also introduce Western culture. When the narrator and Luo open themselves up to outlawed Western literature and culture during their re-education, they introduce the same thing to the villagers, changing the villagers through the introduction of Western culture. When the mountain tailor asks to stay at the narrator and Luo's house during his stay in their village, he asks for a bedtime story. The narrator,.