THEMES AND SIGNIFICANCE:

Unfair Traditions: Women in this society must have had their feet bound. In addition, women were taught that they were weak and if they were different to other girls then they were told they would be dishonoured. Women were seen not as humans but as a social status symbol.

Gender inequality: the first chapter displays how gender roles have a big impact for women especially. For example Alin is not allowed to go to school but to be taught at home by hired teachers whereas her future fiancé can attend classes in a school. Later on they get really close because he plans to teach her what he learns at school. Another reason for this inequality is that women must have bound feet at an early age in order to get married. If a woman did not get her feet bound then, she would have less probability to get married. Girls as Ailin saw that it was unfair not to be able to run just as boy do.

Cultural Conflict and Xenophobia: the Warners were really mad at Ailin when she was trying to share her taught values as Confucianism. Another example occured with Big Uncle who was seeing after Ailin, he did not like the idea about the Warners, neither the foreigners.

Discrimination: when Ailin was in the cabin and wanted to get a snack for Billy, she was refused because she was a non-first class passenger.

Political Unrest: The Chinese goverment of the time was having a new transitions and many things were changing includint this type of tradition.

Marriage: Without bound feet, Alin, the main character of the book, gets to know how unfair that society is and how girls are powerless and just not seen as humans in her country, but as contracts of trade that are conditioned as wealth and high-class by altered-feet.

Courage: From an early age Ailin always showed to be determined to fight for her own decisions. She did not want to have bound feet after seeing a relative's feet bound. Then, in the end she was happy to be the person she had become and she recognizes that if she had not fought against feet binding she would not have been where she was.

The book itself:

This book by its name forshadows how unfair a society can be just with simple things as ties. Chinese girls were obliged to bind their feet up to the point, for some, to not be able to walk. Those ties that bind anyone's feet also break their spirits and strength to be free and live a life out of torturous traditions. For a similar point of view, those ties that bind feet can also be broken and set free as a metaphor of whom is oppressed.

TIES THAT BIND, TIES THAT BREAK.

Title: TIES THAT BIND, TIES THAT BREAK
Published on: 2000
Editorial House: Laurel Leaf
Published Language: English
Number of Pages: 160

Writer's Biography: 

Lensey Namioka was born in Beijing China in 1929, she has been a famous writer and professor in different universities such as Wells College, Washintong University and Berkley university, ever since she moved to the United States of America due to the japanese invasion of 1937.
She was the first person known in China to have a name with no Kanji representation. Her book Ties That Bind, Ties That Break is one of the most inspiring books for women to fight against oppression, and unfair and tortorous traditions in China.

It has won or been nominated to the following awards: 

AWARDS

ALA Best Books for Young AdultsWINNER 2000

California Young Reader MedalWINNER 2004

Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading ListWINNER 2001

Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers AwardNOMINEE 2002

Some prasings from other publishers:

"Atmospheric and closely informed . . . this colorful novel has the force and intensity of a memoir."–Publishers Weekly, Starred

"Emotionally and historically illuminating."–Booklist, Starred

Source: 
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/26612.Lensey_Namioka
http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/119716/ties-that-bind-ties-that-break-by-lensey-namioka/9780440415992/

Ties that bind, Ties that break

LENSEY NAMIOKA                  

Book: Ties that bind, Ties that break.

Publisher:Bantman Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc

Date of Publication: January 1st 1999

Lensey Namioka is a prolific writer of books for young adults and children. 

She was born in Beijing, China, and came to America when she was 9 years old. 

she studied mathematics  at the University of California and  worked primarily as a mathematics instructor before beginning her career as a published writer in the mid-1970s.

Her husband, a college math professor, was born in Japan. 

The Namiokas live in Seattle, but Ms. Namioka has lived and traveled all over the world.

Namioka is perhaps best known for her series of exciting, adventure-mystery books about two sixteenth-century Japanese samurai warriors and for her humorous, juvenile novels about a family of Chinese immigrants living in Seattle.

Namioka's first book for young readers, The Samurai and the Long-nosed Devils, is set in sixteenth-century Japan

Namioka's first work of young-adult fiction set in contemporary times, Who's Hu?, was published in 1981

Ties That Bind, Ties That Break explores themes of cultural conflict and political unrest. Ailin is a young woman in 1920s China who is expected to prepare herself for marriage and a traditional family life. Unwilling to take the road expected of her, Ailin rebels and her journey of independence eventually takes her to America. Although the transition is a difficult one, in the end she is rewarded with happiness and self-respect.

Themes, The importance of the book and Significance of the title.

Themes

*Gender roles:  In the novel it is possible to identify gender roles. For example, women are meant to be uneducated, illiterate. They must not think by themselves and refuse to follow the traditions. Women, in contrast men can go to school, go to work and think further from to the statements established by traditions. Men were supposed to control everything Including family money. Within the text, the reader can notice how archetypal characters portrait the way Chinese culture considers the role of men and women in their society.

*Traditions: The novel reveals a critic point of view of the traditions that run a specific society, in this case, Chinese culture. The main character can notice how traditions can be wrong. In the text, traditions are shown as the base of their culture. Also, it is possible to analyze how people do not allow themselves to learn about other cultures because of their traditions.

*Marriage:  the novel shows marriage since the very beginning. Although the main character is aware of how marriage work, taking in account that when the novel starts she is a child. Therefore, this theme could be related with gender roles within Chinese culture

*Political issues: The novel has a political background that let the reader know about the novel’s context. This aspect considers how people react to their social environment and reality. Within this them, is possible to build characters’ perceptions to highlight the role they have and what they think about a social condition.

   

The importance of the book

The book won an ALA award for the Best Book for Young Adults. Far from that, the book has no a particular importance in the literary world. The author is recognized for giving the people who have experiences that kind of conflict the opportunity to find themselves in her literature.

 Significance of the title.

Ties that bind refers to both the ties that used to tie their feet, and the bonds that the girl feels to follow that tradition, to have to be submissive and not be able to be themselves because of the possible rejection of society. And ties that break, it's the same, a metaphor to the ties that broke, she broke those ties and was free in her way

Theme and significance

 1. Theme. Several themes may be dealt with in this book. List and explain them.


 This book deals with some strong themes such as:
 
Self-esteem and roles (man and woman): Those words are related thanks to the influence of culture that defines how you have to behave in certain circumstances or with determined people. Women are treated as inferiors that implicitly affects their self-esteem.   


Culture and traditions: As I wrote before, those aspects are extremely important because if this story would be developed in other country, the events will be really different. 


Politics: this book is developed at the moment China was having one of the most important transitions in terms of politics (the process from imperialism to a republic).

2. The significance of this book in the literary world, at the time it was published and thereafter

This book won the recognition of the ALA award for the Best Book for Young Adults. At the moment this book was released, it could be taken as controversial; nowadays is an inspiration for the people who feel tied and want to break those ties.

3. The significance of the title
For the people that accept their culture, those actions could bind them and develop their lives as normal as they think, but in other cases, for the people that feel trapped in a culture that forbid them to rise as they want, those ties could break you down.  

Significance and themes

1. Theme. Several themes may be dealt with in this book. List and explain them.

While reading the book I found some themes that influenced the story:

-CULTURE: 

This theme is very important in the story because it represenst the main characteristics from the  place,, specially from China. It also shows how traditions are strong and marked in each generation. 


FAMILY: we can perceive that the concept of the family is about respect. Also the relationship among the members of the family is different with each one. 

The role of men and women: in the story , the role of both  , men and women is stritc and influenced the behavior of the society. It also places Women in a lower position and destinate her to certain tasks in society.  

2. The significance of this bookte in the literary world, at the time it was published and thereafter

 Among the prizes its author has been awarded with the (American Library Association) ALA Best Books for Young Adults in 2000, the California Young Reader Medal in 2004, the Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List in 2001 and a nomination for the Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award in 2002

3. The significance of the title

 The significance of the title represents many things about the story, for example how  the girls suffer for this cultural background . Also shows marriage arrangements .

Theme and Significance

Ties that bind, ties that break

Themes

• Traditions: there are a lot of traditions mentioned along the story, as arranged marriages or "being all fixed up" (pg.9), "embroidering" that means women just sitting for hours while poking a needle through a piece of cloth (pg.12), education allowed only for men, family school for women, impediment to women for dinner with men in the same table, traditional thinking imposition when Ailin's father said that he considered not all new ideas were strange (pg.23) and the most important: bound feet only imposed for women.

• Gender role: Chinese history has had a big difference related to the gender role. Women have always been considered lower than men. Men have always had education, family and economic privileges. Also, women are the only ones who have to change their behavior and even support some painful physical changes in order to find a wealthy family or more specifically a wealthy husband.

• Determination: Ailin's determination for become an educated woman and not a follower of her country traditions is the real meaning of the story. Since she was a child she was thinking about the injustices for women and the real reasons for it and thanks to her determination she could become a talented and recognized Chinese woman.

• Family and Social class: being a wealthy or model family in the Chinese society is the most significant there because each family history has been kept through the years. For this reason, they continue their traditions to preserve a status or a "perfect" family.

The significance of this book in the literary world

It has had some awards as:

ALA Best Books for Young AdultsWINNER 2000

California Young Reader MedalWINNER 2004

Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading ListWINNER 2001

Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers AwardNOMINEE 2002

The significance of the title

The title refers to the process that women have to do for being considered a respectful woman, which is bind their feet. However, the word "break" means that this ties can be overcame. 

Source

* http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/119716/ties-that-bind-ties-that-break-by-lensey-namioka/9780440415992/