of propriety has regulated the accepted behavior of how men and women live in Chinese society. Therefore, men and women should follow the standard of life that is
applied in Chinese society. Women especially should know their position because based on the hierarchy, women is in the lowest position. Women should act
according to the doctrine that Confucianism had. Lily as one of the main characters also acknowledges that women should live based on the Confucianism doctrine.
I also understood that two Confucian ideals ruled our lives. The first was the Three Obediences: “When a girl, obey your father; when a
wife, obey your husband; when a widow, obey your son.” The second was the Four Virtues, which delineate women’s behavior, speech,
carriage, and occupation: “Be chaste and yielding, calm and upright in attitude; be quiet and agreeable in words; be restrained and exquisite in
movement; be perfect in handiwork and embroidery.” If girls do not stray from these principals, they will grow into virtuous women. See,
2005: 24
Women are taught about their role and how they should behave in the society since their childhood. Women should keep that Confucianism doctrine in their mind
and implement the rule as long as they live in Chinese society. Women have been taught to always obey and prioritize men whether he is father, husband, and sons.
1. Footbinding
“In order to have women completely in its control and its disposal, the Confucian-dominated society also invented and forced upon women an odd and
appalling concept of feminine physical beauty – the small, bound foot” Hong, 1997: 22. Women in China underwent the painful tradition of footbinding. Footbinding
was a cruel procedure that was done for the purpose to have tiny feet. As stated by Pang, the process was surely painful because the toes were forced pressed tightly to
the sole of the foot by using a bandage to tie it. There would be blood and pus
coming out after the feet bound with the bandage. The main goal of the process was until the toes broke Pang, 2000: 3. The process of footbinding was not only painful
but also dangerous. There was a possibility that the girl whose feet were bound die due to infections and other health issues. Even though women knew that the practice
of footbinding was really painful and dangerous, women still apply this practice. Lily, one of the main characters in the novel said she just realizes that the practice of
footbinding is really dangerous for her as a woman. The people around her never tell the truth of the danger of footbinding when Lily was at a young age at the time of
her footbinding. No one said I could die. It wasn’t until I moved to my husband’s home
that my mother-in-law told me that one out ten girls died from footbinding, not only in our county but across the whole of China.
See, 2005: 25
Chinese women bet their soul to do the practice of footbinding. They did the practice of footbinding by relying of the luck. The existence of the standard of
beauty has influenced the mindset of women. The high pressure in the Chinese society about the standard of beauty has forced women to evaluate their physical
appearance. This condition makes women feel inferior when they cannot fulfill the standard in society. Women will feel that they are not beautiful and not attractive
when they do not have a pair of tiny feet. They will think that they are really a PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
woman and are considered as a truly woman by society if they did the practice of footbinding. By doing the practice of footbinding, women will feel that they are also
part of Chinese society. Therefore, women did the practice of the painful and dangerous footbinding to fulfill the standard of beauty in Chinese society.
The practice of footbinding really complicated the lives of women. At the age of six or seven, women were forced to experience this cruel procedure. The practice
of footbinding did not only hurt them physically but also made women lose their childhood. At the age of six or seven, when children were supposed to enjoy their
lives such playing with their friends and developing themselves, women stayed at home instead and prepared their selves to do the practice of footbinding. They were
forced to obey the standard of the society about the perfect feet. In the novel, Snow Flower does not want to undergo the painful tradition of footbinding. Although she
refuses by hiding and begging her father not to bind her feet, she still has to undergo this torture of footbinding practice. “My mother bound my feet–and me to the chair–
even tighter the next time” See, 2005: 56. In the novel, many mothers in China do not have another option except to do
the same practice of footbinding to her daughters. As Ping states, “during the two years of binding process, the mother has imprinted her secret knowledge of female
survival onto the flesh of her daughter.” Ping, 2000: 6. Even though the mother knows exactly the pain and the hate of footbinding because she had also experienced
it from her mother, the mother still has to force her daughters to do the practice of PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
