Analysis Of Lensey Namioka's Ties That Bind, Ties That Break

In a world full of constant struggle, the character Ailin in Lensey Namioka’s Ties that Bind, Ties That Break is made no exception. As a young girl in the early 1920s, Ailin Tao faced many obstacles in her home land of China. She was going to be forced into an arranged marriage and denied a full education. Furthermore, Ailin was going to have to face the pain of having her feet bound. All of this said though, she was able to overcome these things and build a life for herself.

At the very beginning of her life, Ailin began to deal with problems surrounding her gender, starting with marriage. It was expected of her to be married in her early teens so that she could help support her family financially. When her coupling is prearranged, her mother talks about how the opposing family “ [is] also willing to have

a very modest exchange of gifts” (Namioka 19). Ailin was being traded away by her family for money to be with a man she barely knew, which was culturally and socially acceptable to do to a girl in that time period. Later in the book, when the marriage falls through, Ailin is yet again almost willing given up by her family to another. When confronting her uncle, Ailin is told she will be sent away to be a concubine which was “little better than a slave, since she was brought into the household without any contract or exchange of gifts… she did not have the rights of a standing wife, even a secondary wife” (Nomioka 81). Ailin’s family was so desperate to send her off that they were ready to give up her rights without her consent. It was understood by Ailin that this was not the right choice to make, and she bypassed these offers and moved on with her life.
Along with marriage, Ailin also had fight to have the education she deserved. At the time, it was unusual for a young girl to have a good, strong academic foundation. Ailin first learns of this gap in equality when she is four, as a young boy tells her “You can’t [go to school]...you’re a girl” (Nomioka 15). The people in her country had been taught that it was a woman’s only job to stay home and weave silk, and to not pursue higher level employment. Even after Ailin was able to achieve getting into school, her father died, and that meant she had to drop out. Her sister explained this to her, stating, “It was Father who made the decision to send you to school… When he is no longer here to pay the tuition, I’m afraid you’ll have to drop out of school” (Nomioka 71). Ailin’s father was the only person who fully supported all of her personal choices, and when he was gone, she had to become a self advocate. The character Namioka created grew and developed as the story went on, in more ways than one.
Though Ailin had to face many plights, the issue of her unbound feet create the biggest dilemma.

During the early 1900s, it was expected that all women have their feet bound at a young age to be considered marriage material. Ailin’s sister explained to her that, “women all have to go through this ordeal: Mother, Grandmother, Eldest Sister, Mrs. Liu, your amah. Life is hard on women” (Namioka 21). It was acknowledged that life was not what it should have been for women, and Ailin was able to grasp this concept very early on, which gave her an advantage. She understood that generation after generation had to go through the painful process of having their feet bound, even if it was against their own will. Ailin was almost forced to have her feet bound, as described on page 39: “I began tearing at the cloths around my feet… they tried to hold me down, but I just thrashed and screamed more and more loudly” (Nomiokas 39). Ailin had to conquer many obstacles because she was a girl, but she literally had to fight her way out of this one. She never gave up though, and made the commitment of having unbound feet, no matter what the long term consequences ended up

being.
Throughout all of the hardships Ailin Tao had to face, she learned many valuable life lessons. She first learned that you can choose who you love, and that someone does not deserve you just because they have money. The next focused on Ailin’s education, and she discovered that there was so much more out there for her than what people were offering, she just had to find it for herself. The third and final thing that Ailin had to defeat was cultural stereotypes. She did not want to have her feet bound, and even though she need to have them bound to be socially accepted, Ailin made the decision she felt was best for herself. Perhaps if she had listened to those around her, Ailin’s character would have grown up to be a typical young girl instead of a strong-willed woman.