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CHAPTER II REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
This chapter presents theoretical writing and study. It provides relevant theories which are going to support the study. This chapter consists of three
sections namely review of related studies, review of related theories, and theoretical framework. The review of related studies contains the overview of
comments and previous studies on similar topics or related ones. The review of related theories covers the elaboration of the theories which are directly relevant
to the study topic, namely theories on male concepts of manhood, theories on sociological concepts in living in a society, review of Chinese society in the
nineteenth century, review of footbinding in China, and then review of Chinese women’s secret writing. Besides, this chapter provides a theoretical framework
which covers the elaboration of the theories which are related to the study.
A. Review of Related Studies
In this study, the writer presents some reviews and comments on Lisa See’s fourth novel, Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The writer did not find a
journal that discusses the novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan specifically on the topic of this study. All she found were some reviews of the book as a whole.
In her book review, Clea Simon discusses the contribution of Lily, the narrator of the novel. Simon focuses on how Lily learned many life values during
the process of her life. Simon states that:
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10 In Lily’s life, those connections—like the communication—are often
flawed. And for all that she learns from the refined Snow Flower, Lily fails to spot some basic human weaknesses, or to recognize them for what
they are. People can communicate, she learns, but they can also deceive “Novel’s Powerful Prose Brings History to Life”, 2005.
Psychologically, Lily wants to show us that somehow people can make mistakes by not believing any longer in her very best friend or lao tong, as she is called in
the novel. The misunderstanding led Lily and Snow Flower to be separated, leaving regret in the end. Similar to Simon, Caroline Baker, the guest author in
her article, commented on the relationship between Lily and Snow Flower, which was wonderful at the beginning but became progressively more sorrowful at the
end. The higher status of Lily made her act more powerfully than anyone else in Tongkou village—where she lived after she got married. Lily’s betrayal of her
laotong left her with a great regret. Unlike Simon and Baker, Ellen Emry Heltzel in her article points out that
the realm that Lisa See recreated in the novel really did exist in China about two centuries ago. Heltzel discusses the phenomenon of “a society of women who
were paired for life and had their own secret language” “Bound Women in Charge”, 2005. She comments that the novel leads the reader to “see the world
from the inside out, through the window of someone who never transcends her time and place yet serves as a compassionate and insightful witness”. Julie
Brickman’s article comments on the “stunning” culture the author describes in the novel. Brickman notes that nineteenth-century China showed a culture in which
education was limited to men—the situation that motivated the women to create their secret writing. Besides, the women at that time endured the agony of
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11 footbinding and had to walk on their tiny feet as well “Unfolding Secrets: An Old
Woman’s Memoirs Reveal a Culture Wrapped in a Story”, 2005. Meanwhile, Victoria A. Brownworth’s article talks about the strict
adherence to Confucian rules. This meant that their gender defined every aspect of the lives of the Chinese women in the nineteenth century. Brownworth states that
at that time a Chinese woman’s life was “rigidly defined and programmed by her gender: footbinding, arranged marriage, virtual imprisonment by both her family
of origin and her husband’s family” “Secrets, Misery in a Chinese Woman’s Tale”, 2005
In this study, the writer is going to reveal how footbinding and the women’s secret writing in nineteenth-century China are portrayed in the novel and
how male domination relates to footbinding and the women’s secret writing as well. Both will be formulated in sociological scope. Furthermore, this study has
never been conducted by other writers.
B. Review of Related Theories
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