monthly reveiw: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

 
For the first part of my review I will be doing a character analysis of all the main characters in the book. The second will be a question for discussion from the back of the book. The second question has to do with a woman's worth and power weather they were really as worthless as the men in ancient china said. 

       

         For my character analysis i will start with the main character Lily. Lily: Lily is the main character and her best and worst quality is her need for love, first, her need for love from her mother which she tried to attain through going through the foot binding process quietly unlike the third sister who screamed and ran. but this did not earn her mothers love so then she decided she would be very quiet and obedient so she could  marry into a good family but even that did not make her mother love her, she tries to convince herself that she is just showing "mother love" like the nu shu character for mother love is pain then love but later in the book we find that she was not showing mother love at all but was really jealous of her daughters perfectly arched feet and therefore ability to marry into a good family. but as Lily tries to gain her mothers love it only brings her sadness and pain, then her need for love from Snow Flower which results lily wasting the last eight years she could have had with her laotong on petty jealousy and fear of rejection.

         Next is snow flower. Snow Flower: Snow flower is a girl from Tongkou who was originally from a very high social standing but when the emperors changed her family fell out of favor her father took to opium and her high standing was over but her aunt in hopes of making her a more favorable bride searched for a laotong for her. Snow Flowers dominant characteristic is that she is constantly trying to please her loved ones first her family by being out standing in her study of nushu a secret women’s language and embroidery and by learning to behave like the ideal chinese woman but even that cannot save her from being married into a butchers home, then by trying to please Lily by listening to her and following her advise on making her husband happy even if it means breaking a taboo. but when she feels to much pressure from lily to be the perfect wife she sends Lily a message seemingly ending their friendship and that shows a lot about her character in that she would rather leave her laotong than further disappoint her. 

         Next is Madam Wang: Madame Wang, the matchmaker, is a foot-bound woman and yet she does business with men, this makes her different than the other women in the story because some might view her as a woman of status and superiority but others might view her as Lily's father had and call her a necessary evil. he is also snow flowers aunt and we know that she dearly loves snow flower because of all the things she does to get her into a better marriage. Including risking business opportunities by recommending a girl from a broken household but in the end her efforts seem to be in vain since she ends up marrying a butcher and in their country which is mostly Buddhist this is considered the most unclean profession.

        the final character is actually my favorite character Beautiful Moon: Lily’s cousin is Beautiful moon. Her fate was directly tied to Lily’s they were both going to move to Tongkou and marry in to the Lee family which is the highest ranking family in the region but on one hot summer day while the girls are embroidering their dowry's outside beautiful moon is stung by a bee and dies. but before this she was a charming girl and someone who was very charismatic it was as if a light followed her around and when she died it weighed heavily on everyone especially aunt who only had one child.

   

        The next question is a question for discussion from the book. "In the story, we are told again and again that women are weak and worthless. But were they really? In what ways did Lily and Snow Flower show their strength and value?"

    I'm sure i would not be alone in saying no women are and were not weak and worthless both in modern western civilization and ancient china. snow flower and Lily proved their strength and value in numerous ways the first being that they bore children and not only children they had multiple sons and in that time a woman was considered worthless until she had a son now this is just one way that lily and snow flower individually proved their worth in ancient chinese society. A way they both showed strength is through the fact that they both had bound feet and that showed amazing strength to have all of your toes broken and circulation to you feet stopped while the growth of you feet are being retarded. but the thing that shows they have even more strength that imaginable is that they survived the Taiping rebellion in the mountains for months on bound feet walking across small ledges and with limited food in the snow. but in my opinion the thing that shows they have strength and value most is that they found was to endure the constant oppression of the men in their lives and they did it through creative and inspiring ways like the simple and elegant creation of nu shu women's secret writing so they could express the sorrows of losing a child and the joys of motherhood to one and other and another amazing creation of coping is the creation of lao tongs (old sames) and sworn sisterhoods, a lao tong is your perfect match with birthday number of siblings and other factors and you stay with your lao tong for life she is your one and only best friend that you may share everything with but a sworn sisterhood is a group of girl friends who you she things with only until marriage and in death when they come to see you to the after life. but it is these bonds that make me think it is impossible for women to be worthless if you can ban together for such an intimate relationship.   

 

lit circle letter #3: snow flower and the secret fan

Lily: Lily is the main character and her best and worst quality is her need for love, first, her need for love from her mother which only brings her sadness and pain, then her need for love from Snow Flower which results lily wasting the last eight years she could have had with her laotong on petty jealousy and fear of rejection.
Snow Flower: Snow flower is a girl from Tongkou who was originally from a very high social standing but when the emperors changed her family fell out of favor her father took to opium and her high standing was over but her aunt in hopes of making her a more favorable bride searched for a laotong for her. One of Snow Flowers characteristics is that she is constantly trying to please her loved ones first her family by being out standing in her study of nushu a secret women’s language and embroidery, then Lily by listening and following her advise on making her husband happy even if it means breaking a taboo.
Madam Wang: she is the match maker and also snow flowers aunt and we know that she dearly loves snow flower because of all the things she does to get her into a better marriage. Including risking business opportunities by recommending a girl from a broken household but in the end her efforts seem to be in vain since she ends up marrying a butcher and in their country which is mostly Buddhist this is considered the most unclean profession.
Beautiful Moon: Lily’s cousin is Beautiful moon. Her fate was directly tied to Lily’s they were both going to move to Tongkou and marry in to the Lee family which is the highest ranking family in the region but on one hot summer day while the girls are embroidering outside beautiful moon is stung by a bee and dies.

lit circle letter 1-2

the story starts with Lily as an old woman reminiscing on her past. It then jumps to seven year old Lily in her “milk years” it is then the diviner who over saw the binding of young girls feet called the match maker to look at them because she had high arches which meant that she could have “perfect golden lily’s” it was then madam Wang determined that Lilly was an eligible match for a laotong relationship with Snow Flower. Lily’s foot binding began and her third sister died from infection on the same day her grandmother also died from old age. Soon a fan came for Lilly from Snow Flower and on this fan they would record all significant events for the rest of their lives. Snow flower and Lilly met for the first time when they went to the temple of gupo to pray for sons. After this snow flower stayed with Lily’s family on and off Lilly’s family wondered why Lilly never went to snow flowers and the match maker said that it was because they were of a much lower social standing but soon word traveled of Snow Flowers families misfortune and lily’s mother and father found out but decided not to tell Lilly as to not spoil her views of her new friend. Much time passed and the girls went into their “hair pinning days” they are fifteen including beautiful moon. It was the catching cool breezes festival when all the women returned to their natal homes while the men went to work in the fields Lilly’s father and uncle told the girls that they could go outside and finish their dowry’s when Beautiful Moon is stung by a bee and dies. The time had come for Lilly’s wedding ceremony’s but when Lilly is about to leave snow flower gives her an envelope with a letter saying that she was sorry for not telling her about her family’s situation and that she hopes that Lilly will still want to be laotong. After Lilly returns to her natal family her and her mother get into a large argument resulting in her and her mother barely saying another word to each other for the rest of her mother’s life which is cut short due to an outbreak of typhoid. Lilly and Snow Flower both become pregnant with their first sons and move into their husband’s houses fulltime. Lilly has another son and a daughter, Snow Flower has a daughter at the same time as Lilly but after that she has multiple miscarriages but finally she bears another healthy son and he soon becomes his father’s favorite child. Then Lilly’s husband goes on the road to make his way in the salt business. Soon after came an outbreak of typhoid many people died including Lilly’s mother in law lady Lu and the headman making Lilly and her husband the highest ranking people of the highest ranking house in Tongkou. Lilly’s husband returns home successful in the salt business. Lilly soon goes to visit Snow Flower but while there the taiping rebellion broke into their region so Lilly with Snow Flowers family flee to the mountains with the rest of Jintian. While in the mountains Snow Flower becomes increasingly depressed and soon her second son dies. Her husband is engulfed in grief and begins to beat Snow Flower. Lilly does not know what to say to her so she keeps quiet.