Characters

Luo: Luo is the outgoing, charming, and audacious best friend of the narrator. He is the son of a well-known dentist who was accused of being a "reactionary" for bragging that he operated on Chairman Mao's teeth, therefore implying that Chairman Mao was not perfect. Luo falls in love with an alluring seamstress and longs to "civilize" her by exposing her to Balzac and other forbidden Western novels.

Little Chinese Seamstress: The Little Chinese Seamstress lends a hand in revealing one of the novels main themes regarding knowledge and the true definition of being civilized. She is alluring; she is lovely, and her evolution as a character causes both Luo and the narrator great amounts of both happiness and pain. The Little Seamstress was never educated or introduced to the power of literature until Luo and Mao began to read their forbidden novels to her and was forever changed by her reading time with Luo and the novels narrator.

Narrator: The introverted son of two doctors who have been labeled enemies society, the narrator of Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress plays the violin (in a time which did not encourage creativity) and is a marvelous story teller. He is never called by name within the book and finds true refuge within Balzac's literature.

Four Eyes: Four Eyes, named after his need for glasses, is the character who makes ideas of creativity, imagination, and literature available to other characters within the novel. Despite the fact that he seems to idolize Chairman Mao and his teachings, it is he who has a hidden stash of forbidden Western Novels.