Themes & Significance

Themes in... Ties that bind, Ties that break. 

a. Gender roles: In the novel are shown the differences between the rol of men and women at that time. For example, women were not allowed to go to school as men and this is something that Ailin discuss with Hanwei (page 15). Moreover, women had to bind their feet in order to be accepted and get married (page 12).

b. Tradition: In this novel we can find a lot of traditions and customs of Chinese families. First, we can related the gender role with the tradition of how women and men are supposed to place in society: men worked and women took care of children. Then, the tradition of binding feet, were women had to change they natural form of their feet. 

c. Xenophobia: This theme is mainly demostrated by the hand of the character ''Big Uncle'' on page 24  where he referred to foreigners like: '' Those greedy foreign devils!''. We can see the conception he has about foreigners. Also, how other people shown the same attitude where they say that ''Foreign Big Noses'' are eroding the empire by bringing in Western philosophies. 

b. Courage:  We can see how Ailin question about her role in society and shown opposition to the tradition of binding her feet. This character is headstrong and defiant. 

Significance of the book in the literary world

This novel won numerous awards: ALA Best Books for Young Adults in 2000, California Young Reader Medal in 2004 and the Texas TAYSHAS High School Reading List in 2001. 

Significance of the title 

The title refers to the painful process the chinese women go through for having their feet bound until their feet break, getting the feet society accepts. We can also consider as a possible significance: how a person can break the models of society and finally be free. 

Sources

http://www.randomhouse.com/teachers/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780440415992&view=tg

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