The Trove of Intellectual Liberty fixed

The suitcase belonging to Four-Eyes embodies the state of intellectual liberty in China in multiple ways. For one, it’s status of being locked and stored away in secrecy is similar to how intellectualism is being persecuted in China and those who wish to gain knowledge must do it in secrecy during the Cultural Revolution. But when it is opened and explored, the people who discover the books are able to access a vast wealth of knowledge completely unknown to them before, just as when the narrator and Luo recount their memories of the bad Asian film to the villagers and the villagers are amazed at how such great and interesting media can exist.

The first example of this is when the narrator states, “We crept up to the suitcase… Inside, piles of books shone in the light of our torch: a company of great Western writers welcomed us with open arms… Brushing them with the tips of my fingers made me feel as if my pale hands were in touch with human lives” (99). Before being exposed to these books, the narrator and Luo lived a very monotonous life. They entertained themselves with nothing more than the few natural talents they had, such as playing the violin and telling stories from the same films on propaganda. However, when they opened the suitcase, it felt as if they were coming “in touch with human lives.” This shows how impactful these books are to the teen boys because they’d only been exposed to Maoist propaganda and when they came in touch with these “human lives”, it was unlike anything they’d seen before. The readers see later in the story that these same books will also begin to change the Little Chinese Seamstress and expand her worldview. In a way, the knowledge provided by these books helps each character gain confidence in themselves and opens their once-suppressed imagination. Educated by various characters, authors, and meanings of the book, the narrator, Luo, and the Little Chinese Seamstress are able to become more inspired and mature.

It is also incredibly dangerous for anyone to own the books that were stored away because they could be punished for reading or just having possession of them, just like how people were punished for learning or having been taught in the past during the Revolution. For example, when Luo accuses Four-Eyes of locking his books up, Four-Eyes becomes terrified and tries to deflect the attention. “Luo broke the silence. ‘I expect they’re books,’ he said. ‘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’”(49). Four-Eyes had to keep his books “locked up and hidden away” at all times, lest he be caught having them; evidently, there were severe consequences to owning books or else he wouldn’t be so afraid. The quote continues, “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. ‘You must be dreaming,’ he said. He reached out to touch Luo’s forehead. ‘Good god, such a fever! That’s what’s giving you these crazy ideas, it's making you delirious. Listen, we’re all friends, we have some good times together, which is fine, but if you go on about such rubbish as forbidden books, heck it, then…’” (49). This shows the paranoia that people would have when they had books because it was incredibly risky to even be suspected of owning them. By covering up his panic and faking his smile, it becomes certain that he has the books. Moreover, when he starts rambling on about how Luo must be delirious and how they can’t be friends anymore if Luo continues suspecting him of owning books, it shows his desperation to stop the accusation and discredit it before someone overhears.

The suitcase represents lack of intellectual liberty and how the powers and Mao’s rules during the Cultural Revolution didn’t completely abolish books, therefore creating potentially dangerous consequences.