70 pages • 2 hours read
Lensey NamiokaTies That Bind, Ties That Break
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Prologue-Chapter 3
Prologue Summary
Tao Ailin begins the story not able to walk properly—but this is a temporary situation, brought on by her high heels and the narrowness of the Chinese cheongsam dress she is wearing. It is 1925; she is 19 years old and the wife of a Chinatown restaurant owner in San Francisco. Looking around to make sure things are running smoothly, she sees a face from the past come in. It is Liu Hanwei, her former fiancé. She reacts: “A huge bubble of laughter rose in my throat, and I wanted to shout a greeting” (2).
Instead, she asks him if he’d like to be seated. He recognizes her instantly and is surprised. She explains that her husband owns the restaurant and orders a large meal of Chinese delicacies for him in Cantonese. She gives him some information on her current situation and asks about his. He is studying chemistry at the University of Illinois but heading home to China because his mother is sick. He stopped in the restaurant because he misses Chinese food, only to find an old acquaintance. Ailin thinks he has changed for the better, from a spoiled boy to a working man.
After he eats, Hanwei tells her that his parents have changed also, and are quite modern. Ailin asks if they now accept unbound feet. Hanwei wonders aloud why Ailin ran away, and she thinks back to a time when she was five years old and Hanwei was seven.
Chapter 1 Summary
Ailin explains that she grew up in a compound in Nanjing with fifty rooms surrounded by a wall. Grandfather headed the family, and Big Uncle and her father are his sons. They live there with their wives, children, and servants. Ailin has two older sisters and one little brother.
One day, Ailin is annoying her amah (governess) by talking back, running away, and hiding, as she likes to do. Second Sister’s promise of moon cakes, however, makes Ailin behave. They’re having these treats because Ailin’s marriage is being arranged by Grandmother. Ailin must look her best, so Second Sister and her amah fix her up before they go to meet the guests. However, Second Sister and the amah are slow, as their feet are bound and Ailin’s are not.
The guests turn out to be Mrs. Liu and her son Hanwei. Grandmother greets Ailin and Second Sister by chiding them for their lateness. Mrs. Liu, however, says she knows how accomplished Second Sister is. Grandmother agrees, noting, “It’s this little one who drives me mad. Look at her! Almost five years old, and still running around like a boy” (11). The other woman says Ailin looks healthy and will probably be a great beauty, remarking that the girl has not had her feet bound yet. Ailin can tell this is a matter of importance. Mrs. Liu points out that once the binding is done, Ailin will stop running around and will settle into more ladylike pursuits.
While the adults discuss tea and other topics, Ailin turns her attention to Hanwei. She asks his name, and he tells her he is attending a public school, where he takes lessons with boys from other families. Ailin says, “I’d love to go to a public school” (13); as a girl, however, her educational options are more limited. Hanwei promises to teach her some of the things he has learned. Ailin is fascinated by Hanwei’s explanation of science and about his learning English from the “Big Noses,” or Caucasian missionaries that teach at his school. A natural mimic, Ailin easily repeats the English words that Hanwei says for her and he offers to teach her more. She wonders why he is being so nice, and he says, “I’m going to be your husband one of these days” (17).
Chapter 2 Summary
Two days later, Ailin’s mother tells her father that she must have her feet bound as soon as possible. Father looks sad and wonders if she is still too young. Mother says she had a distinct impression that the Lius might look elsewhere for a bride if Ailin didn’t have her feet bound. Gifts from the Lius would be most welcome given their own family’s financial losses.
Ailin runs to Second Sister. She wants to know what foot-binding is like but gets distracted for a moment by the silkworm cocoons Second Sister is tending. Ailin finally blurts out her question: “How did you get your feet small enough to squeeze into those pointy shoes?” (20). Second Sister’s response is not encouraging. She says, “Life is hard on women” (21), but she invites Ailin to come into her room that night to watch her wash her feet. Then she will see how she fits into the tiny shoes.
That evening Big Uncle dines with her family and criticizes Ailin both for being too loud and too quiet. He doesn’t even think it was necessary for Ailin and Hanwei to meet, but Ailin’s father tells him things are changing. Father says, “Not all new ideas are strange” (23). The two brothers argue about the current state of China’s affairs, with Big Uncle criticizing foreigners, Western influence, and public schools, while Father stands up to him. Ailin defends her father’s point at the mention of public schools, noting Mrs. Liu’s adherence to modern fashion; this interruption only angers Big Uncle, but he is diverted by the appearance of a favorite food.
Ailin is bored by the subsequent talk of technological innovation and she worries about what she’ll see in Second Sister’s room that night. When it’s time she considers staying outside to play instead, but she really needs to know. She watches her sister unwrap her feet from the strips of white cotton. It smells bad, because of sweat that gets trapped in the skin folds during the day: “I stared at the pitiful stumps at the ends of Second Sister’s legs. The sight made me sick” (28), Ailin reflects. She explains that her sister’s feet had been squeezed into a wedge, with the big toe undeformed, but the rest of the toes pushed under the sole of the foot: “I’ll never let them do this to me, I vowed to myself. Never! Never!” (28).
Chapter 3 Summary
Three days later, after a day at her family school where she memorizes Chinese history and practices Chinese brushwork, her mother and amah catch Ailin. She thinks she has done something wrong, but instead they tell her it is time to have her feet bound. Her mother says they are only going to wrap her feet and it will not hurt, but Ailin is not convinced: “‘It hurts! It hurts, I know it hurts!’ I screamed. ‘I saw Second Sister’s feet. You can’t fool me!’” (31). She runs off, and because her feet aren’t bound, she escapes.
Ailin hides behind a planter. Unfortunately, she eventually has to pee, so she ends up moving hiding places until she sees Mother slapping Second Sister repeatedly for showing Ailin the truth. Second Sister tells Mother that they would lose Ailin’s respect if they weren’t honest with her. Ailin steps out, telling her mother to stop. Her mother then asks how they are going to find her a good husband if she won’t have her feet bound. She says, “My poor girl, you’re beautiful, and you’re clever. But you are too headstrong. Someday you will have to pay a price for that” (33).
Politics distracts the adults after that, and it even affects the children when their teacher suddenly dismisses class and disappears for good. Later, Ailin learns he was a revolutionary. Servants are afraid to go out to buy food, and Father can’t work at the customs office. The emperor of China and his family flee, and rebels talk of establishing a republican form of government. Ailin hopes there won’t be another emperor and that girls won’t have to have their feet bound any longer.
Grandmother sends for Ailin, and Ailin notes, “I was facing a stranger. This was not the kindly grandmother who always took my side when I was in trouble” (37). She says she wants to be able to walk freely, but Grandmother says what she wants doesn’t matter: “You don’t get to give orders here, little girl! You take orders!” (37). Ailin is afraid but brings up the revolution. Grandmother reminds her that she liked Hanwei and he will be her husband—but only if her feet are bound.
That night, her mother and amah try again, and Ailin finds the foot binding doesn’t hurt as much as she expected. That is, until she tries to get up. Her mother says she cannot get up for weeks, saying, “You need patience to learn how to walk on bound feet” (39). That’s when it hits the protagonist that she will never walk normally again. Ailin becomes angry and starts tearing the bindings off, thrashing and screaming. At hearing her amah say they will have to watch her night and day, she becomes even more frenzied, biting in her fury.
This brings Father into the fray. He says Ailin does not have to have her feet bound if she doesn’t want to. When Mother tells him she is too young to understand what she is doing, he says, “But I understand the consequences” (40). After that, no one scolds the girl, but four months later her mother says that Mrs. Liu called the matchmaker to break off the engagement with Hanwei. The family worries about Ailin’s future. Father says he will think of a plan.
Prologue-Chapter 3 Analysis
Readers are introduced to Tao Ailin (with surname first as is proper with Chinese names) when she has limited mobility due to her clothing—but this is her choice. She is wearing a cheongsam or qipao, an Asian dress that is fitted slimly to the body with a distinctive collar and side slits. The dress is traditionally worn in high heels and remains associated with Chinese restaurant hostesses: This is, in fact, the role Ailin plays at the beginning of the narrative. Her clothing is restrictive and follows the dictates of Chinese fashion from the period, but it is certainly not as restrictive as the practice of foot-binding, which would not have allowed her to have the difficult, yet rewarding, life that she leads.
In the Prologue, Ailin encounters an old friend—in fact, the boy she was once engaged to until the marriage was broken off by his family. She immediately orders her restaurant’s delicacies for Liu Hanwei, an act that has roots both in Chinese and Western hospitality traditions. The unexpected meeting brings up Ailin’s troubled history provides a framework for the flashback that makes up the meat of the story. Ailin has moved on from her past, but there is unresolved pain there, shown by the “touch of bitterness” (4) she feels at the mention of Mrs. Liu. Hanwei, too, seems affected by remembrances: Ailin sees that “his eyes were full of sorrow and regret” (5). The story begins when Hanwei asks Ailin why she ran away instead of waiting for his situation to change.
The first three chapters of the book are steeped in family dynamics, which make up one of the most important themes in the narrative. In the very first paragraph author Namioka describes Ailin’s household structure. She also quickly introduces Ailin’s amah and Second Sister, both characters who have bound feet. The contrast between Ailin’s spirited nature and her amah is clear from the beginning; the young girl runs and hides from her ladylike amah, knowing that without bound feet she can easily escape. Second Sister, meanwhile, uses a different tactic to tame her wayward sister, tempting her with moon cakes.
Ailin is called “Little Miss Three” rather than her name, stressing the importance of her position in the family as compared to her individuality. As a girl in the family, Ailin is not important. Her main value lies in cementing a connection to another family. In the Tao’s case, her future marriage is meant to create an alliance with a richer family that can help improve their decimated family fortunes. She lives in a patriarchal system in which her feelings don’t come into play. The first event of any note in the book is that Grandmother summons her to meet the Lius, including Hanwei, her intended groom. For the family, this event is of paramount importance as giving Ailin a future and the family additional status. For Ailin, it is important because Hanwei introduces her to the idea of public school.
Additional members of her family are introduced as well. Big Uncle comes over for dinner one evening, and he and Ailin’s father speak of the political happenings in the world, which is stimulating change in China and introducing another important theme in this work. Ailin’s father represents a more open viewpoint: He tells his brother, “Not all new ideas are strange,” (23) while Big Uncle relies on tradition and what he knows. Their political differences become quite important later, influencing the way Big Uncle treats Ailin after her father’s death. The family also gets a closer glimpse at the things happening in the outer world when the family’s schoolteacher runs off to join the revolutionaries. The safety of the servants and of Ailin’s father, going out to work and run errands, is in question during this time. They speak of the abdication of the last emperor of the Qing; Ailin is in favor of the revolution if it means she doesn’t have to have her feet bound.
Another theme quickly develops in the narrative: that of rebellion against traditional roles—specifically, gender roles. From the start, Ailin’s personality as something of a wild child is set. She likes to run away from her hobbled amah. Grandmother, in describing the girl to Mrs. Liu, says, “She doesn’t stay still long enough to grow up, much less become a beauty” (12). Having her feet bound is meant to remedy this character flaw. Ailin, young as she is, seeks out information about foot-binding. She has seen sorrow in both her father’s and her sister’s eyes when the topic is spoken of. Foot-binding is, of course, one of the most important aspects of this novel, and Ailin’s viewing of her sister’s washing ritual helps also introduce the topic to young readers of the story who may not have encountered the topic before.
When they try to catch Ailin to bind her feet, she does not go quietly, causing turmoil in her family. Her mother says, “Children owe respect to their parents! We don’t have to earn it!” (33) and her Grandmother reminds her of her family obligations: “What you want and what you don’t want make no difference! You don’t give orders here, little girl! You take orders!” (37). It is Father’s interference that allows Ailin’s rebellion to succeed. This type of rebellion feeds into another theme in the story, that of identity. Ailin is young in this part of the book, but these events are seminal to her growth. The milestones she experiences here feed into her self-esteem and eventually a desire to be able to determine her own future for herself.
Second Sister introduces a symbol during the second chapter that is pertinent to Ailin’s situation. She shows her younger sister her silkworms, which are generally white, and points out the green one that she says would make a beautiful green silk thread. The green one is different and special. Ailin remembers how Second Sister gave her some to raise, but she forgot to feed them. This shows the differences in their personalities; Second Sister is more patient and dutiful.
