Notes on the Story:
1) Kong Yiji's surname Kong = surname of Kongzi (Confucius)
2) Kong Yiji's long coat signifies that he is a scholar.
3) Yet Kong Yiji doesn't have a real job. He steals books and only books. He is literate. He's proud of his literacy - too proud to pursue labor jobs - but all he knows is useless information like knowing how to write the same character in four different ways.
4) Kong Yiji's disappearance indicates that he is insignificant to others. The apathy of Chinese people is also highlighted here.
Question: Is Kong Yiji a bad example of what an intellectual should be, or is the mass at fault for observing nothing but apathy? If someone is useless to society, does that person deserve such a banishment? Who demarcates the line between 'useless' and 'useful'? And based on what?
Conclusion: No one is insignificant, yet everyone is insignificant.