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.
Themes
Defying Traditional Gender Roles
The custom of foot binding is a well-established one by the time Tao Ailin becomes old enough to have it done. Foot binding has long been considered to be a gendered practice, part of a culture that often did not historically value girls or daughters beyond their role as mothers of sons. The act of foot binding restricts a girl’s movement, allowing better control by families and husbands through severe physical impairment. A lady having her feet bound signified, much like Hanwei’s smooth hands, that she did not need to use her body to toil and could rather expect the be waited upon. Critics today consider it to be a brutal example of the lengths that patriarchal cultures will go to in order to control women.
The narrative in Ties That Bind, Ties That Break focuses on one girl’s resistance to allowing her culture’s history to determine her future; she never wavers, though she is just a young girl at the beginning of the story who instinctively feels that foot binding (and other handicaps girls suffer as compared to boys) is wrong and unfair, but does not truly understand the longer-term social ramifications of her decision. Others in her culture, who adhere to custom, defend traditional methods by pointing out, as Big Uncle does, that “Nature never changes” (62). He means that women are seen as subservient creatures who exist solely to serve men’s pleasure, so Ailin should not aspire to anything more.
As Ailin gets older, her reasons for not having the process done become more political and sophisticated, but she never regrets it. She is part of the last generation or so of women expected to have their feet bound, as the practice had mostly ended by the 1940s, and her experience includes being ostracized by her family and schoolmates. Her rebellion causes her to travel a difficult life path at odds with members of her family as well as members of her culture. However, she believes herself to be right, and an integral part of Ailin’s story is her courage in dealing with the injustices she is dealt because she chose not to participate in this tradition. Her rebellion is a lifelong one, and one that defines who she is.
Cultural Misunderstandings and Conflict
When the Chinese residents of Nanjing meet with Caucasian Americans, ignorance results in stereotypes and misunderstandings. Ailin calls foreigners, such as her schoolteachers, “Big Noses,” until she actually meets them. Her uncle calls them “greedy foreign devils” (24) based on the way Western powers attacked China in the mid-1800s for the right to sell opium within its borders. Ailin’s teachers at the MacIntosh School have preconceived and prejudicial notions about their students, too. Miss Scott in particular clashes with her young charges, teaching history with a Western lens that denigrates the contributions of Chinese society and looks upon women in their society as no better than slaves, unimportant and oppressed.
When Ailin goes to work for the Warner family, Americans again minimize her culture who do not want their children exposed to the stories and arts of a “heathen” culture and criticize her for teaching them such subjects. They misunderstand Confucianism as a heathen religion, too, calling it “idolatry.” Yet, the Warners’ relationship with China is complex; after they have lived there, and their children have partially grown up there, they clearly miss it after their return to the U.S. Mrs. Warner says, “It’s hard to say exactly where home is for me” (133). This is also expressed when Ailin offers to cook Chinese food for them and they are enthusiastic about it. So, while cultural conflict clearly exists in this narrative, it’s also clear that ignorance can be dispelled by familiarity and there is value in both cultures that simply needs to be experienced and shared. Additionally, readers should note there is conflict within Ailin’s culture, too; Ailin experiences a class hierarchy within her own culture that manifests in the school structure with other students, with servants in the Warners’ household, and with workers on the ship taking them to America.
Family Life and Social Relationships in China
One of the most prevalent themes in this book is that of the Tao family’s status and the relationships within their household. The narrative reveals not only the family’s inner workings and where each individual fits into an idealized whole, but focuses on how important these relationships are. The members are not named, except for Ailin—and even she is referred to by her family not by name, but as San Xiaojie, or Little Miss Three, because she is the third of three sisters and the older sister of her little brother. These names stress how important the family order is. Within the family hierarchy, Grandfather is the head (with Grandmother second in line, although both die early in the narrative) followed by Big Uncle.
Father is in charge of his own wives and children, but when he dies, Big Uncle takes control of Ailin’s future as head of the Tao clan. Chinese families were traditionally largely patriarchal and patrilineal, with property being inherited by men and the elder members treated with the most respect. Women were removed from their birth families and incorporated into their husband’s families, and men often had more than one wife as well as concubines. Wives had equal status with one another and more status than concubines; such arrangements were often based on cementing favorable connections rather than love.
Concubines tended to be women of lower classes and were likely purchased with money; some could change their status, however, after producing an heir or after the death of a first wife. Naturally, however, the daily workings of a family and the power its women had were often very individual to each family structure. It is important to note that each family had a collective identity and reputation, or “face;” the actions of one member of the family impacts how others view the entire family. The family is considered more important than any one individual within it and loyalty is paramount. This is one reason that Ailin’s rebellion is considered so negatively by Big Uncle. It is also why Ailin believes she can persuade her uncle to her point of view by invoking the family’s status and her uncle’s pride in it.
Identity and Self-Respect
At its core, Ties That Bind, Ties That Break is a coming-of-age story focusing on one girl, Tao Ailin, growing up in a time of change. She escapes a tradition that critics consider barbaric, but which has persisted in her culture as a sign of delicate beauty and upper-class values for a millennium. In doing so, she closes doors to a wealthy and leisurely existence in favor of hard work and self-determination. The fact that she does not have her feet bound shapes her identity as surely as any physical feature does. It influences the way her family treats her, affects her self-worth, and leads her to seek independence at an early age. She must grow up more quickly; she is put in charge of children when she is just thirteen years old and travels to America not long after. The issues of identity that Ailin experiences helps her make choices that determine her own fate.
