"A sincere heart can make a stone blossom."

1) How is the power of imagination a major theme of the story?

Imagination, which leads to storytelling, are the fuel of the narrator and Luo's fire. To escape the never ending troubles of living on the "Phoenix of the Sky", these two boys tell of better places and easier days, leaving behind the troubling jobs they carry, "Each basketful that we managed to haul all the way from the end of the tunnel became a game of Russian roulette," (Sijie 30). But not only does the storytelling heal the mental troubles but also heal actual dangers.

Early on in the book, Luo and the narrator are sent out of the village to watch a movie in the city and "relate the film from beginning to end to the headman and everyone else," (Sijie 19). Giving the boys a vacation because of their storytelling abilities, proves that their imagination got them out of a lot of poo (pun intended!). But also, letting Luo home his storytelling abilities put the entire story in swing. After the narrator receives Ursule Mirouet by Balzac, he falls into the book, leaving food and sleep behind. "In spite of my complete ignorance of that distant land called France...I was feeling quite at home in Nemours, imagining myself posted by the smoking hearth of her parlour..."(Sijie 57). His falling, but not helplessly, is important for self-preservation. Taking part in these experiences leaves another moment of potential self-pity at waste, and their dreams alive. "We accepted this infernal ordeal, because we were determined to stay in the race at all costs, even though our chances of returning to the city were no more than the infinitesimal three in a thousand."

Everyone is affected by these two boys active imaginations, most of the time ending well for them. The little seamstress, in particular, is greatly affected by their imagination. Her entire outlook on life is different when books and imagination are introduced to her. She takes escape to the next level, when she leaves her mountain seclusion for the city lifestyle. Both the boys took her for granted saying,"...I was angry with the Little Seamstress. Although I was fully aware of my role as spectator, I felt just as betrayed as Luo, not by her decision to leave the mountain, but by the fact that she had not thought to tell me about it," (Sijie 183). But what the narrator does not see is that for her to leave and take the final step in growing, she needed not to tell them of her departure. The final line of the book sums up her growth; "She said she had learnt one thing from Balzac: that a woman's beauty is a treasure beyond price,"(Sijie 184)