Women’s Secret Writing in the Novel

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b. Women’s Secret Writing in the Novel

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Women’s secret writing is commonly called as nu shu. By having ability in nu shu, women have a chance to be more educated. Although they will not get education like men have, at least by nu shu they will be enriched with the past stories, poems, and other literary works. When Lily is still little, she cannot see the differences between nu shu and men’s writing. As time goes by, she can differentiate it. Nu shu is actually difficult to recognize because it seems like only scratches made by pen. Nu shu characters are described in the novel in the following quotation: But now I can say that men’s writing is bold, with each character easily contained within a square, while our nu shu looks like mosquito legs or bird prints in dust. Unlike men’s writing, a nu shu character does not represent a specific word. Rather, our characters are phonetic in nature. As a result, one character can represent every spoken word with that same sound. So while a character might make a sound that creates the words for “pare,” “pair,” or “pear,” context usually makes the meaning clear. Still, much care has to be taken to make sure we do not misinterpret meaning. See, 2005, p. 29-30 The quotation above shows that it surely not easy to learn nu shu. A specific ability is needed to interpret it correctly. Nu shu itself has many advantages for women. “It can be used to write letters, songs, autobiographies, lessons on womanly duties, prayers to the goddess, and, of course, popular stories” See, p. 30. The media to write on can be a paper or a fan which is written upon with brush and ink. Another way is by embroidering onto a handkerchief or weaving into cloth. There are two important things about nu shu. They are “men must never know that it exists and men must not touch it in any form” See, p. 30. Therefore, PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 37 the women are really careful to keep it a secret. There are actually some situations that will save them so that men will not know it. Women usually wrote when they are in women’s chamber. Because Confucianism tells them all to appreciate each realm, men were not allowed to enter this room. In this room, women could do anything, such as singing, embroidering, babysitting, weaving cloth, and of course writing. In addition, they could write at noon when their husband or their brothers went to work. This situation created a little possibility or chance to be caught by men indeed. Still, they had to be careful especially when it was sent out. Lily and Snow Flower are also careful in sending the fan to each other. It has already been stated before that Lily and Snow Flower are a laotong. They cannot be separated because this laotong match is about eternity. Once it is made, it is not able to be broken. Even this laotong match has as deep a meaning and heart as a marriage. This is supported by the following quotation. “Like a marriage between a man and woman, the kind ones go with kind ones, the pretty ones go with pretty ones, and the clever ones go with clever ones. But unlike marriage, this relationship should remain exclusive. … You understand my meaning, girls? This is a joining of two hearts that cannot be torn apart by distance, disagreement, loneliness, better marriage position, or by letting other girls—and later women— come between you.” See, p. 68 Then, a laotong is made by choice and offers lasting companionship, while a marriage is not and has only one purpose—to have sons. Having a laotong is a special opportunity that a girl has. It is completely different from a sworn sisterhood. Laotong involves two girls from different villages and lasts till the end of their life, while a sworn sisterhood involves several girls and ends at marriage See, p. 26. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 38 Women’s secret writing is described in the novel as the media that Lily and Snow Flower used to communicate with each other. Since they lived in different villages, Lily in Puwei village and Snow Flower in Tongkou village, they needed such a communication tool. At first, Lily learns to write nu shu from Aunt. In her household, only Aunt and Elder Sister are able to write nu shu. Meanwhile, Snow Flower also learns nu shu in her own home. She is taught by her mother. Lily and Snow Flower start their journey in writing nu shu on a fan. This fan journey starts when Snow Flower sends Lily a silk fan to introduce herself to Lily. Through this first nu shu, the relationship between both of them is truly started. Snow Flower offers Lily a relationship of being a laotong. Here the first words Snow Flower writes to Lily: I understand there is a girl of good character and women’s learning in your home. You and I are of the same year and the same day. Could we not be sames together? See, p. 56 At first, Lily cannot recognize well all the words Snow Flower wrote. She only recognizesthe words: girl, good, women, home, you, I. It shows that nu shu is not an easy thing to study. Snow Flower’s ability in nu shu is already better than Lily’s ability. Lily is helped by Aunt to understand the whole part. Snow Flower’s words are unusual words. The words she uses shows that she is clever. Even the words she uses make Lily and Aunt both frightened and excited. When Snow Flower visits Lily’s house, Lily learns many new characters from her. Even Aunt also learns from her. Many characters she got are coming from her brother’s writing and also her mother. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 39 Some she got from sneaking peeks at her brother’s studies, since many nu shu characters are only italicized of men’s characters, but others came from Snow Flower’s mother, who was extremely well versed in our women’s secret writing. See, p. 87 Moreover, Nu shu has a social function a tool for women to be able to communicate with their natal family when they cannot reach them. It can be described as a solidarity tool with the society, in this case the family. Nu shu is used in order to give security to all the member of a society Maryati and Suryawati, 2001. Because they easily cannot be out of their realm, the existence of nu shu is very helpful. The condition that girls will be out of their home and live with their husband’s family consciously becomes the consideration for the girls to learn nu shu. They obviously do not know what will happen in their life after marrying. The fear that the mother-in-law may be cruel, abusive, always complaining and criticizing or their husbands may be rough and may not really appreciate them well are haunting them. Lily and Snow Flower are told that learning nu shu is important to keep in touch with their natal family. They are afraid whether or not they will be treated well by their in-laws. This is supported by this quotation: “…but this was nothing compared to how I felt when she talked about my husband and my future in-laws” See, p. 92. It shows that Lily was worried about her new family, but Snow Flower told her that her new family must treat well and asked her to be calm instead of afraid and uncomfortable. Lily and Snow Flower understand it well so they learn more characters. PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI 40 However, since one character may have several meanings, nu shu can cause misinterpreting in meaning. One must look at the context to get the meaning. See wrote that Men’s writing takes a lifetime to learn and understand. Women’s writing is something we pick up as girls, and we rely on context to coax meaning p. 201. This becomes a crucial thing that affects the relationship between Lily and Snow Flower. Lily misinterpreted what Snow Flower wanted to say in the fan. Due to that, Lily embarrassed Snow Flower in front of many people. If it is said that nu shu will secure them, it is not exactly right. Nu shu, the thing that makes them become one, makes them apart. However, referring to the function, nu shu is the connection tool to keep the users in with their family or their friends.

2. The Development of Footbinding and Women’s Secret Writing as