It is basically about a girl named Ailin who is in an upper-class Chinese family. The book starts when Ailin is around 5 years old and she still hasn't gotten her feet bound. At first I didn't get what it meant by 'bound feet' and I always had to refer back to the start to see if I forgot anything that made the story not make sense. Well anyway, 'bound feet' is like having white cloth bound around your feet(tightly) so it won't grow way to big. 'Bound feet' is what only GIRLS get because they are thought to be the ones to stay home, cook , clean and look after children. So Ailin rebels against it at age 5. Which only leads to bad consequences. Her marriage proposal to Hanwei is broken off by his family because of her 'unbound feet' but Hanwei actually likes Ailin which I find sad because the children have no say in anything. Ailin's only support is her Father ; who allows her to have 'unbound feet' and also lets her goes to a public school with the "Big Noses" (The foreign people) . But after her Father dies, her uncle is now the head of the family and he is the more strict one. He stops Ailin from going to the public school, which makes her sad. 'Big Uncle' annouces that his intentions are to give her to another family as the second son's concubine(his two wives have not given birth to a son). Ailin rejects this future and goes to work as a nanny for American missionaries. At the age of 16, she takes the missionarie's offer to take her to America with them to look after their children. On the way to America she meets a Chinese-American man who greatly admires her courage and independence. She marries him shortly after her arrival and they open a restaurant in Chinatown (A restaurant that succeeds partly due to the hard work she does while standing on her "two big feet"
This story strikes me as sexism. Mainly because females are the ones that have the most rules to follow, while the males just go to school, get a good job and get married. In my opinion I don't like how girls have to get their feet bound just because they're the ones that 'stay home'. Ailin is an inspirational character because she rebels against something she actually doesn't want to do and at such a young age which makes it even better and makes me feel like she's a strong minded girl. Ailin makes me think that I can go for what I believe in, even though I'm hated for it because one day I might be as strong as Ailin. I also don't like how the children's choice is totally neglected just because the girl's feet aren't 'bound' . I understand how it is culture and everything, but sometimes, culture can be very harsh and there will obviously be people that want to stand up for their rights; which is what Ailin did. I mean, what's wrong with having 'big feet'? . Many people have big feet, but they are great people today and I don't see what the big fuss is about. Please don't get me wrong. I respect what they have to say, but this is just my opinion. So NO HATE .
Yeah, I'd recommend this book to any around the ages 12-15 . Not a very big book, would probably be read in a few hours.
Great review, Cynthia. I have to agree with you about foot binding. It was a horrible practice that basically disabled the girls. Just as being super-thin, tall, having no cellulite and perfect teeth etc is considered "beautiful" by many in our culture, tiny feet were considered desirable in that culture/time. When you think about it, women in western cultures put themselves through equally horrific things for the sake of beauty, don't they? Some people would argue that they do this to themselves, so it is not the same, but the motivation is the same I think.
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