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Birds and Flying
Over the years of Lily and Snow Flower's laotong relationship, the two pass notes back and forth to each other and record major life events in ink drawings and nu shu on a single silk fan. This fan, then, becomes a physical representation of their relationship, as well as an example of the nuance required to understand nu shu. The fan most importantly records the note that makes Lily believe that Snow Flower has joined a group of sworn sisters. Upon Snow Flower's death, the fan becomes incriminating evidence and a vehicle for Plum Blossom, Willow, and Lotus to impress upon Lily the damage she did to her relationship with Snow Flower and the importance of close reading. Finally, the fan stands as a condensed version of the novel itself, and through Lily's interpretation as an old woman, asserts again the importance of careful reading and deciphering language.
Lily and Snow Flower's Fan Quotes in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
The Snow Flower and the Secret Fan quotes below all refer to the symbol of Lily and Snow Flower's Fan. 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:
).
Daughter Days: Learning
Quotes
"Each word must be placed in context," she reminded us each day at the end of our lesson. "Much tragedy could result from a wrong reading."
Related Characters:
Related Symbols:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Snow Flower LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lily and Snow Flower's Fan Symbol Timeline in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
The timeline below shows where the symbol Lily and Snow Flower's Fan appears in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Sitting Quietly
...for the first time when Snow Flower, her laotong (contractual best friend), sent Lily the fan that now sits on the table in front of her. Lily understands now that she...
(full context)
Lily describes the fan for the reader, the text of which she has memorized. An elaborate design of flowers,...
(full context)
Daughter Days: The Fan
...her family may be less. Madame Wang calls Lily to her and gives her a fan, waving away Mama's concerns about a fee. Before she leaves, Madame Wang addresses Aunt and...
(full context)
...men) while Lily, Beautiful Moon, and Elder Sister chatter excitedly. Elder Sister asks what the fan says, but Lily can't read all the nu shu characters running down the first fold....
(full context)
...compose a nu shu reply. Lily decides to not send her reply on a different fan, as is customary, but rather to send it back on the same fan. The note...
(full context)
When Lily is finished with the fan and the shoes, she worries that Snow Flower's family won't accept the relationship. When Madame...
(full context)
Daughter Days: Love
...Lily, and she wants to soar with Snow Flower. One day Madame Wang brings the fan, and Lily opens it to read a request from Snow Flower to come visit Lily's...
(full context)
Daughter Days: Learning
...losing their sister. Snow Flower reads the couplet that she and Lily wrote on their fan to commemorate the occasion.
(full context)
Hair-Pinning Days: Catching Cool Breezes
...to their foot bindings and sleeping slippers, but are still far too warm. Snow Flower fans Lily with their fan, looking her naked body up and down. She licks her forefinger...
(full context)
Hair-Pinning Days: Beautiful Moon
...composed for Beautiful Moon's spirit, and when they return home, they write it on their fan and add a moon to the designs. Lily tells the reader that this tragedy can...
(full context)
Hair-Pinning Days: The Flower-Sitting Chair
...Flower guides Lily to the palanquin and helps her in, tucking a note and their fan inside Lily's jacket to read later.
(full context)
Lily reads the happy note from Snow Flower on the fan, and then turns to the embroidered note on a handkerchief. Snow Flower writes that Lily...
(full context)
Hair-Pinning Days: Truth
...over, and Lily returns to her natal family. When she arrives home, she opens the fan and, to mark Snow Flower’s marriage, writes about a phoenix soaring over a common rooster....
(full context)
Rice-and-Salt-Days: Joy and Sorrow
...at all, but Lily and Snow Flower don't care. They mark the decision in their fan.
(full context)
Rice-and-Salt Days: Winter
...of her reverie, and she and Lily return to the camp to write on their fan. The butcher and Snow Flower do bed business that night, and afterwards Snow Flower whispers...
(full context)
Rice-and-Salt Days: Letter of Vituperation
...Mid-Autumn festival, but Lotus appears on Lily's doorstep instead. She carries Lily and Snow Flower's fan wrapped in silk and gives it to Lily. Lily is suddenly afraid. She opens the...
(full context)
...the letters from Snow Flower she can find with it. Lily cannot, however, find the fan, and Snow Flower continues to haunt her.
(full context)
...her it's too early to find Jade a marriage match. Madame Wang pulls out a fan and mentions the laotong match between Jade and Spring Moon. Lily asks for the fan...
(full context)
Lily tosses the fan at Madame Wang. Madame Wang agrees to pass the message to Snow Flower, and then...
(full context)
Rice-and-Salt Days: Into the Clouds
...and one day, she arrives with a basket full of letters, embroideries, and the secret fan—all the things Lily couldn't find when she made the flower tower. Lily spends the last...
(full context)
...children. In Snow Flower's final hours, Lily reads their contract and happy parts from their fan. Snow Flower's skin turns golden and she finally stops breathing, surrounded by Lily, Spring Moon,...
(full context)
...say that Snow Flower wasn't actually their sworn sister. Lily cites the message on her fan, and they ask to see it. Lily learns that Snow Flower taught Lotus, Plum Blossom,...
(full context)
...Lily says her heart had been a shriveled old walnut. Lily goes home with the fan and writes on it that one day she hopes that she and Snow Flower will...
(full context)
Sitting Quietly: Regret
...felt as though she'd failed Snow Flower miserably, and recorded Spring Moon's death on their fan.
(full context)
