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Lily and Snow Flower's Fan
In the time and place of the novel, unless a girl was very poor and destined to be a servant (like Yonggang), she would have her feet bound starting at six years old. The goal was for a woman's feet to be between 2.5 and 5 inches long when fully grown—the smaller the feet, the more beautiful the woman was considered to be. The painful process of foot binding also prepared a girl to weather the pain of the rest of her life, which would include the emotional pain of a mother-in-law who would never truly accept her and hopefully, the pain of childbirth. A woman's feet, then, become a symbol of the pain she's endured, and a reminder of the pain she must endure throughout her life once her foot binding process is over, simply by virtue of being female. While Lily conceptualizes her first few years of life with unbound feet as the only freedom she ever experiences, she also looks down on women with unbound feet and sees their lives as sad and limited. Because those women don't carry the evidence of their pain in the form of bound feet, they're denied other rites of passage (like marriage) and the ability to move up in society.
Feet Quotes in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
The Snow Flower and the Secret Fan quotes below all refer to the symbol of Feet. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Daughter Days: Footbinding
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For us, the pain didn't lessen. How could it? But we learned the most important lesson for all women: that we must obey for our own good.
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"A true lady lets no ugliness into her life," she repeated again and again, drilling the words into me. "Only through pain will you have beauty. Only through suffering will you find peace. I wrap, I bind, but you will have the reward."
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"I would rather keep her on this earth unmarried than lose her forever."
"Then she would have no purpose and no value," Aunt reasoned. "Your mother love tells you this is no future."
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Daughter Days: Snow Flower
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"My mother bound my feet—and me to the chair—even tighter the next time."
"You can't fight your fate," I said. "It is predestined."
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Rice-and-Salt Days: Sons
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With her bold act, I realized the true purpose of our secret writing. It was not to compose girlish notes to each other or even to introduce us to the women in our husbands' families. It was to give us a voice. Our nu shu was a means for our bound feet to carry us to each other, for our thoughts to fly across the fields as Snow Flower had written.
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Rice-and-Salt Days: Letter of Vituperation
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And then the strangest thing happened. An image of my mother came to my mind. I remembered that as a child I'd wanted her to love me. I'd thought if I did everything she asked during my footbinding, I would earn her affection.
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Get the entire Snow Flower LitChart as a printable PDF.
Feet Symbol Timeline in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
The timeline below shows where the symbol Feet appears in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Sitting Quietly
...behaved obediently to try to win affection, but was too willing to obey. During her foot binding, Lily says, her mother encouraged her and reminded her of the rewards that would...
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Daughter Days: Milk Years
...that Aunt and Uncle are perfectly matched ugly people with an ideal marriage, although Aunt's feet are too big and there are rumors that this is why she couldn't carry sons...
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...Aunt is stubborn and reasons that "they only have these few months," as soon their feet will be bound. Mama gives in and the girls run outside. They find Elder Brother...
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Daughter Days: Footbinding
Lily says that girls in her county have their feet bound starting at age six. Lily is still outside running, but Mama has already begun...
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...Mama and Aunt send for Diviner Hu to select an auspicious date to begin their foot binding. Lily is scared, as she's heard the screams of other girls undergoing the process....
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...hesitates, Madame Wang picks her up and sits her down, and then takes off Lily's shoes to inspect her feet.
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When Madame Wang reclaims her seat, Diviner Hu says that Lily's feet are underdeveloped, and so Mama needs to wait a year to begin binding them. He...
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...good luck and meant to scare away bad spirits, as nothing can guarantee perfectly bound feet, and the slap is further indicative of Mama's “mother love.” Lily tells the reader that...
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...Four Virtues that delineate proper behavior for women. She begins learning to sew, starts making shoes to wear during her foot binding, and Aunt starts teaching her nu shu. Lily explains...
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...their bones to be soft. The girls are congratulated on entering womanhood. Lily knows that foot binding will make her more marriageable, which will allow her to achieve the goal of...
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...Third Sister offer the Tiny-Footed Maiden rice balls, and Mama and Aunt offer their miniature shoes to a statue of Guanyin. They gather their supplies, and Lily goes first. Mama washes...
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When the wrapping is finished, Mama and Aunt instruct the girls to get up. Lily's feet are throbbing, but Mama yanks her up and tells her to walk. Mama, Elder Sister,...
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...Mama sharply instructs her to keep moving through the excruciating pain. When Mama rewraps Lily's feet a few days later, she tells Lily that she will have only have beauty through...
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When it begins to snow outside, the bones in Lily's mid-foot break. Third Sister becomes feverish, and one day when Mama and Aunt are downstairs, Elder...
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...heard many sayings during those months and didn't understand their meaning, understanding only that her foot size will determine her worth—it will be an indicator of her ability to endure pain...
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Daughter Days: The Fan
The most painful part of foot binding is over, and Lily and Beautiful Moon spend their days sitting and working on...
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Lily's family decides to accept the laotong relationship. Mama helps Lily embroider shoes to send to Snow Flower as a first gift, and Aunt helps Lily compose a...
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When Lily is finished with the fan and the shoes, she worries that Snow Flower's family won't accept the relationship. When Madame Wang sees the...
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Daughter Days: Snow Flower
...is very pretty and wears a blue silk tunic embroidered with clouds, along with the shoes Lily made. The girls smile at each other. Madame Wang sits in the middle of...
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...Alone at last, Snow Flower and Lily tell each other about their families and their foot binding. Snow Flower says that she struggled so much that she was tied to a...
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Daughter Days: Learning
When Snow Flower, Beautiful Moon, and Lily turn 11, their feet are healed. Lily's are smallest, Snow Flower's are slightly larger, and Beautiful Moon's are even...
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Hair-Pinning Days: Catching Cool Breezes
...clothing. On the third night, which is hotter still, the girls strip down to their foot bindings and sleeping slippers, but are still far too warm. Snow Flower fans Lily with...
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...idea that there's nothing more erotic for a man than a naked woman in her sleeping slippers , but says that her eyes lingered on Snow Flower's slippers nonetheless. Lily licks her...
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...her hand down Lily's body and says they have two more lines. Moving to the foot of the bed, she takes Lily's feet in her lap and traces the third line...
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Hair-Pinning Days: Beautiful Moon
...The girls are required to make clothes for themselves, as well as enough quilts, pillowcases, shoes, and other household textiles to last a lifetime. All the girls love making shoes, as...
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...and the heat has not yet broken. Lily speaks of the memory of putting her feet in the river as a child, and Beautiful Moon and Snow Flower speak of their...
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Lily hasn't been outside in her village since her feet were bound, and she relishes the rhythm of village life. Lily embroiders a serene landscape...
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...Lily instructs Snow Flower to get help and Snow Flower runs off on her tiny feet, yelling for help. Lily notices a bee on Beautiful Moon's embroidery. Beautiful Moon's face, neck,...
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Hair-Pinning Days: The Flower-Sitting Chair
...seated, and Lily’s mother-in-law sets a bowl of soup before her. Lily notices her mother-in-law's feet, and she panics when she sees that she wears shoes that are much finer than...
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...life, and one achieves beauty through pain. These are the same words she used during foot binding, and Lily wonders if bed business is that bad. Mama continues and says, "you...
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...business, and then says that Lady Lu was very impressed by Lily's fragility and beautiful feet. She instructs Lily to close her eyes and sleep.
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...could be happy together. He follows all the traditions that night and puts on Lily's sleeping slippers for her. For Lily, this is more intimate than the sex that follows.
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Hair-Pinning Days: Truth
...to greet her. She goes to fetch Snow Flower, and Lily notices her small lily feet, thinking it's unusual for servants to have bound feet. Lily is shocked to see Snow...
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...prepared. He planned to sell Snow Flower as a “little daughter-in-law” (a concubine with unbound feet), but “Auntie Wang” saved her by binding her feet. Lily is aghast that Madame Wang...
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...Madame Wang admits that she wanted someone from a better family, but says that Lily's feet were very special and would've changed her fate anyway. She continues, saying that she told...
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Hair-Pinning Days: The Temple of Gupo
...says that she gave Lily the life she now has because she personally bound her feet. Lily snarls that she won't expect kindness from Mama anymore, and although she'll be charitable...
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Rice-and-Salt Days: Sons
...the true purpose of nu shu is to give women a candid voice, allowing their feet to carry them to each other and their thoughts to fly to each other. Lily...
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Rice-and-Salt Days: Into the Mountains
...watch the fire behind them. When the cart can go no further, they continue on foot. The next afternoon, the road turns into a narrow path. Elders sit abandoned along the...
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By the second night, Lily sees young girls whose foot bindings have just begun—abandoned. Little boys beg for help, but Lily asks how you can...
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Rice-and-Salt Days: Winter
The winter wears on in the mountains. It takes a month for Lily's feet to heal. When they do, she begins searching the groups in the mountains to find...
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Rice-and-Salt Days: Letter of Vituperation
...and Snow Flower make offerings at the Temple of Gupo, they discuss their daughters' impending foot binding. Lily realizes that while she is very happy, Snow Flower doesn't gain weight and...
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...the same sort of distance. Lily doesn't write Snow Flower back, and doesn't start Jade's foot binding on the date that she and Snow Flower set.
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...Lily burns it, as well as the next few that come as she starts Jade's foot binding. Lily explains that she started "Cutting a Disease from My Heart," or erasing all...
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Jade bears much of Lily's suffering. Lily wraps her feet tightly and channels her anger into chasing Jade across the room. She repeats what Mama...
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...to Snow Flower, and then kindly says that while Lily once had nothing but pretty feet, she now has an abundance of malice.
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Rice-and-Salt Days: Into the Clouds
Lily begins working on burial shoes for Snow Flower and embroiders curly-wing bats and deer on them. Snow Flower's feet and...
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Sitting Quietly: Regret
...son. Lily's husband obliged her wishes, and Lily sent for Madame Wang when the girl's feet were about to be bound. Madame Wang looked very old, and Lily believed she didn't...
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