Third Sister Chapter Summary

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Through her foot binding, Third Sister is used by See to demonstrate how risky the chase for lotus feet wasl. On page 31, Third Sister is revealed to have had developed blood poisoning from the foot binding, which resulted in her death, bringing the truth about the dangerous practice home. This evidences the lengths that the women of child would go to so they could be accepted and advanced by the men in the society to show the results of egoism and lack of submission in the females of Chinese culture at the time. Despite the risk of the death of their children, mothers in China still bound their daughters’ feet due to the importance placed on small feet; this also helped show how much the men had control over the women. However, despite the importance of this foot binding, Third Sister resisted. The result of her stubbornness was shown on page 30 of the novel, when she struggled …show more content…

“I have tried to teach my mother, but she sees things only as they were in the past,” said Snow Flower about mother on page 123. Snow Flower attempted to teach her mother how to do things for herself, but she still lived the delusion of her past riches, staying stuck in her opulent past. She represented immaturity, the inability to change, and weakness; she could also be seen as the epitome of femininity at the time, the weak and useless creatures that women were forced to be in high society. Instead of changing, her mother became a beggar with her opium addicted husband, as evidenced on page 155. See used Snow Flower’s mother in comparison to Snow Flower herself, showing how flexible, opportunistic, and open minded she was. This character also demonstrated how pointless the things that the high class women of society at the time learned

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