Theme and significance

TIES THAT BIND, TIES THAT BREAK

 

 

 

 

 

 

MAIN THEMES

 

CHINESE CULTURE (fOOt-bound)

One of the main themes of the book is the practice of foot-binding.This, which started out as a fashionable impulse, became an expression of Han identity after the Mongols invaded China in 1279. The fact that it was only performed by Chinese women turned the practice into a kind of shorthand for ethnic pride. A small foot in that country represented the height of female refinement. For families with marriageable daughters, foot size translated into its own form of currency and a means of achieving upward mobility. It is assumed that women never needed to work, due to “Lotus feet”. represented. Through years, the practice of foot-binding has caused some effects in the woman life; for them, It was difficult to walk, let alone run or dance with bound feet.

WOMEN’S ROLE 

Throughout the imperial period and into the beginning of the twentieth century, the relationship among family members was prescribed by Confucian teachings. All family members were subordinate to the eldest male. This hierarchy also dictated relationships between a husband and his wife and concubines, a father and his children, and an elder and younger sibling Marriages, births, and deaths were all accompanied by rituals designed to reinforce these unequal but mutually supportive roles.

The status of women was set at birth. Sons were the most loved in the family, not only for their physical and economic ability to contribute but also as the carrier of the family name. Only a son could provide for his elderly parents and properly venerate his ancestors.

Daughters were considered a "small happiness" because they would marry into another family. To make a daughter more desirable to her future husband, her feet were broken and bound. In times of famine or dangerous warfare, daughters were the last to be fed, and newborn girls were smothered. While such severe actions were rare, they did occur and left a lasting legacy of discrimination against females.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE  BOOK IN THE LITERARY WORLD

 

Reading Ties that bind, Ties that break lifts us at the setting in China 1917 when there were incredibly strict social and cultural rules of tradition.

• ALA Best Books for Young AdultsWINNER 2000

• California Young Reader MedalWINNER 2004

• Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading ListWINNER 2001

• Illinois Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Award

TITLE 

Ties that bind, Ties that Break refers to the foot-binding practicing to young girls, for the purpose of modify their shape of the foot and support a painful process follow an ancient tradition.

  

 BIBLIOGRAPHY 

http://resources.primarysource.org/content.php?pid=78888&sid=584078

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/why-footbinding-persisted-china-millennium-180953971/