MALE DOMINATION IN THE FOOTBINDING AND SECRET WRITING OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY CHINESE WOMEN AS SEEN IN LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidika
MALE DOMINATION IN THE FOOTBINDING AND SECRET WRITING
OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY CHINESE WOMEN AS SEEN
IN LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Agatha Piscesia Paskalin
Student Number: 071214040
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
MALE DOMINATION IN THE FOOTBINDING AND SECRET WRITING
OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY CHINESE WOMEN AS SEEN
IN LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By Agatha Piscesia Paskalin
Student Number: 071214040
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2011
This thesis is dedicated to: Jesus Christ Mother Mary
My Beloved Dad My Wonderful Mom My Sisters: Ima, Ela, Dita And My Alma Mater Life is an opportunity, benefit from it Life is beauty, admire it Life is bliss, taste it Life is a dream, realize it
Life is a challenge, meet it Life is a duty, complete it Life is a game, play it Life is a promise, fulfill it
Life is sorrow, overcome it Life is a song, sing it Life is a struggle, accept it Life is a tragedy, confront it
Life is an adventure, dare it Life is luck, make it Life is too precious, do not destroy it Life is life, fight for it
( Mot her Teresa)
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the work or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, 22 August 2011 The Writer
Agatha Piscesia Paskalin 071214040
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIK
Yang bertanda tangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswi Universitas Sanata Dharma: Nama : Agatha Piscesia Paskalin Nomor Mahasiswa : 07 1214 040
Demi pengembangan ilmu pengetahuan, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul:
MALE DOMINATION IN THE FOOTBINDING AND SECRET WRITING
OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY CHINESE WOMEN
AS SEEN IN LISA SEE’S SNOW FLOWER AND THE SECRET FAN
beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada). Dengan demikian, saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya dalam bentuk pangkalan data, mendistribusikannya secara terbatas, dan mempublikasikannya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta izin ataupun memberikan royalti kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis. Dengan pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya. Dibuat di Yogyakarta, Pada tanggal: 27 July 2011 Yang menyatakan, Agatha Piscesia Paskalin
ABSTRACT
Paskalin, Agatha Piscesia. 2011. Male Domination in the Footbinding and
Secret Writing of Nineteenth-Century Chinese Women as Seen in Lisa See’s
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Yogyakarta: English Language Education
Study Program, Sanata Dharma University.Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a historical fiction which tells about the lives of Chinese women in the nineteenth century which was still in the era of pre-modern China where women’s position was inferior to men’s position. During that period, Chinese women had been bearing lots of expectations from the society. There was a tradition which obliged them to bind their feet and forced them to endure the agony of footbinding. Besides, Chinese women were not allowed an education like that of men. This situation encouraged them to communicate with their friends and their natal families by using women’s secret writing or commonly called as nu shu. Therefore, the writer intends to discover male domination in the footbinding and nu shu of nineteenth-century Chinese women.
There are two problems formulated in this study. The first problem is how footbinding and nu shu are depicted in the novel. The second problem is how male domination relates to the practice of footbinding and nu shu.
Library research was conducted in this study. The primary source was taken from the novel Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, while the second source was derived from several books, articles found through the internet, and in encyclopedias which dealt with the topic discussed and supported the idea of the study. Furthermore, the approach applied in this study was sociological approach.
There were two results of the study. The first result showed that footbinding and nu shu were clearly depicted in the novel. Both had some social functions for Chinese women. The second results showed that male domination closely relates to the practice of footbinding and nu shu. Chinese women were the prisoners of tradition based on gender discrimination. This gender problem was the impact of Chinese society which used Confucian ideals as the guidance of their lives. The ideals demanded the women to obey their fathers, their husbands, and later their sons. Thus, Chinese women lived as the second-class citizens. Footbinding was an obligation for Chinese women because it could bring them to the life’s perfection. Footbinding dealt with being marriageable and the improvement of social status and the bright future as well. Furthermore, the bound feet became sexual fetish for men to achieve sexual pleasure. Then, the ideal that Chinese women were not allowed being outside the house caused them to be very far from having equal opportunities with men. Their right to education was not recognized. To escape from this situation, they wrote nu shu to communicate with their friends and their natal families and to express their feelings and creativities.
Keywords: footbinding, nu shu, nineteenth-century Chinese women, male domination
ABSTRAK
Paskalin, Agatha Piscesia. 2011. Male Domination in the Footbinding and
Secret Writing of Nineteenth-Century Chinese Women as Seen in Lisa See’s
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa
Inggris, Universitas Sanata Dharma.Snow Flower and the Secret Fan karya Lisa See merupakan novel fiksi
sejarah yang menceritakan kehidupan perempuan Cina di abad kesembilan belas yang masih belum moderen dimana posisi perempuan lebih rendah dari pada laki- laki. Di masa itu, para perempuan Cina dituntut banyak harapan dari masyarakat. Adalah sebuah tradisi yang mengharuskan mereka mengikat kaki dan memaksa mereka untuk menahan sakit tak tertahankan karena pengikatan tersebut. Selain itu, mereka tidak diijinkan untuk mendapatkan pendidikan layaknya kaum laki- laki. Situasi ini mendorong mereka menulis dalam bahasa rahasia yang disebut nu
shu untuk berkomunikasi dengan sahabat dan keluarga asal mereka. Oleh karena
itu, penulis ingin mencari tahu tentang dominasi laki-laki dalam pengikatan kaki dan nu shu pada perempuan-perempuan Cina di abad kesembilan belas.
Ada dua rumusan masalah dalam studi ini. Rumusan masalah pertama adalah bagaimana pengikatan kaki dan nu shu digambarkan dalam novel. Rumusan masalah yang kedua ialah bagaimana hubungan dominasi laki-laki dengan praktik pengikatan kaki dan nu shu.
Studi ini menggunakan studi kepustakaan. Sumber utama diambil dari novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan sedangkan sumber-sumber sekunder berasal dari beberapa buku, ensiklopedia, dan artikel-artikel dari internet yang menunjang topik diskusi. Selain itu, pendekatan yang digunakan dalam studi ini adalah pendekatan sosiologikal.
Hasil dari studi ini menunjukkan bahwa pengikatan kaki dan nu shu digambarkan dengan jelas di dalam novel. Keduanya memiliki beberapa fungsi sosial bagi para perempuan Cina. Lalu, dominasi laki-laki ada kaitannya dengan praktik pengikatan kaki dan nu shu. Para perempuan Cina terpenjara dalam tradisi yang berdasarkan pada diskriminasi gender ini. Masalah gender ini merupakan dampak dari penggunaan ajaran Confucian sebagai pedoman hidup. Ajaran ini menuntut para perempuan untuk mematuhi laki-laki: ayah, suami, dan nantinya anak laki-laki mereka. Maka dari itu, para perempuan Cina hidup sebagai rakyat kelas kedua. Pengikatan kaki adalah sebuah keharusan bagi mereka supaya mereka mendapatkan kesempurnaan hidup. Dengan mengikat kaki mereka dapat menikah dan memperbaiki status sosial serta membawa mereka ke kehidupan yang lebih baik. Selain itu, kaki yang diikat menjadi kesenangan seksual bagi kaum laki-laki untuk mencapai kepuasan seksual. Kemudian, ajaran yang tidak memperbolehkan mereka ke luar rumah semakin menjauhkan mereka untuk mendapatkan kesempatan yang sama seperti laki-laki. Mereka tak punya hak akan pendidikan. Untuk keluar dari situasi ini, mereka menulis nu shu untuk berkomunikasi serta untuk mengekspresikan perasaan dan kreatifitas mereka. Kata kunci: pengikatan kaki, nu shu, perempuan Cina abad kesembilan belas, dominasi laki-laki
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First of all, I would like to express my deepest praise and gratitude to Jesus Christ and Mother Mary for their countless blessings. Thanks for giving me strength, health, and guidance so that I am able to finish my thesis.
Second, I would like to thank my advisor, Father L. Suharjanto, S.J., S.S., B.S.T., M.A. for willingly giving his time to read and correct my thesis. Without his guidance, advice, and criticism, I surely cannot finish this thesis on time. My sincere gratitude is also addressed to Sr. Rachel, FCJ who kindly helped me in checking my grammar. Furthermore, I would like to thank Ms. Adesti Komalasari, S.Pd., M.A. for her help, advice, and discussion.
Then, my greatest thanks go to all PBI’s lecturers for the guidance for me during these four years. I also thank to PBI’s secretariat: Mbak Daniek and Mbak Tari for facilitating me during my study in USD.
I would like to give special acknowledgement to my parents: Drs. Ignatius Sukasworo and Dra. Caecilia Sartini for their unending support, love, and pray; to my sisters: Melania Chrisma Widyawarantini, S.Pd., Marsela Lotjita Parahita, and Theresia Galuh Wandita for the wonderful sisterhood; and to my great uncles: Robertus Sukasnowo, Yohanes Saroyo, Titus Sarjono, and Laurentius Saptono for sincerely supporting and facilitating me. I love you all.
I am grateful to Yonathan Sostenes Grace Hadi who has gallantly encouraged me when I fretted and worried. I thank him for his love, humor, patience, and lots of support so I can keep moving forward. Thanks a lot.
A bunch of thanks goes to my beloved friends: Wichan, Pipit, Rieta, Nana, Bertha, Pendi, Oda, Gobhe, Wiwid, Anti, Noti, Katrok, Deny, Celli, Trek, Nissa, Ayaz, and Dhuwai for their great supports for me during the completion of this thesis. I also thank to my Surya 6 family, especially Memey for sharing her book and thesis, C Linda, Mira, and my cousin Cintya.
My final thanks must go to my Stece friends: Itin, DiQta, Debo, Poezhy, and Chezy. Thanks for spending the precious time together. I will miss it.
May God bless them all.
Agatha Piscesia Paskalin
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PageTITLE PAGE .................................................................................................... i APPROVAL PAGES ........................................................................................ ii DEDICATION PAGE ....................................................................................... iv MOTTO PAGE ................................................................................................. v STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ................................................. vi
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH
KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIK ........................................................................... vii
ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... viii
ABSTRAK .......................................................................................................... ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. x TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. xii LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................................... xv CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................
1 A. Background of the Study .....................................................
1 B. Problem Formulation ..........................................................
5 C. Objectives of the Study .......................................................
5 D. Benefits of the Study ...........................................................
5 E. Definition of Terms .............................................................
6 CHAPTER II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE .........................
9 A. Review of Related Studies ..................................................
9 B. Review of Related Theories ................................................ 11
1. Male Concepts of Manhood .......................................... 11
2. Concepts of Living in a Society .................................... 13
3. Sociological Description of Chinese Society in the Nineteenth Century ............................................. 15
4. Sociological Review of Footbinding in China .............. 18
5. Sociological Review of Chinese Women’s Secret Writing (Nu Shu) ........................................................... 21
C. Theoretical Framework ....................................................... 23
CHAPTER III. METHODOLOGY ............................................................ 24
A. Object of the Study ............................................................. 24 B. Approach of the Study ........................................................ 27 C. Method of the Study ............................................................ 29CHAPTER IV. ANALYSIS .......................................................................... 30
A. The Depiction of Footbinding and Women’s Secret Writing in the Novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan ...... 301. The Practice of Footbinding and Women’s Secret Writing in the Novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan ................................................................................
30
a. Footbinding in the Novel ........................................ 31
b. Women’s Secret Writing in the Novel .................... 36
2. The Development of Footbinding and Women’s Secret Writing ............................................................... 40
3. The Importance of Footbinding and Women’s Secret Writing om the Nineteenth Century ................... 43
a. Beauty ..................................................................... 44
b. Pride ........................................................................ 45
c. Knowledge .............................................................. 47
d. Identity .................................................................... 48
B. Male Domination in Footbinding and Women’s Secret Writing ...............................................................................
50
1. The Male Idea of Beauty ............................................... 51
2. The Concept of Pleasure ............................................... 53
3. The Concept of Manhood ............................................. 55
CHAPTER V. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND SUGGESTIONS ................................................................... 57 A. Conclusions ......................................................................... 57 B. Implications ......................................................................... 60 C. Suggestions ......................................................................... 63
REFERENCES ................................................................................................ 64
APPENDICES ................................................................................................. 67
LIST OF APPENDICES
A. Summary of Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan .......................... 68
B. Biography of Lisa See ................................................................................. 71
C. Pictures of Footbinding ............................................................................... 78
1. Sources of Footbinding Pictures ........................................................... 82
D. Pictures of Women’s Secret Writing (Nu Shu) ........................................... 83
1. Sources of Women’s Secret Writing (Nu Shu) Pictures ...................... 86
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION This chapter provides the background information for the study. It
introduces and describes the nature and content of the proposed study. It consists of six parts: the background of the study that introduces the topic and the reason for choosing the topic, problem formulation that presents the questions to be answered in this study, problem limitation, objectives of the study, benefits of the study, and definition of terms.
A. Background of the Study
In literary works such as fiction, poetry, and drama, the authors usually create awareness of a certain background to help them explain the situation they build. It can be the cultural, social, political and historical background. The background helps the readers to both understand the situation and be informed about particular issues and events.
In this study, the cultural background is highly significant. One of the cultures that is going to be emphasized or underlined is Chinese culture. Chinese culture is one of the famous cultures that is still very much alive. It is famous throughout the world since China is successful in preserving their old and great culture through Chinese descendants all over the world. The culture has been preserved until now thanks to China’s great and world-famous civilization. Gallin in his research China: People and Way of Life (1978) wrote that “China has the oldest continuous surviving civilization in the world although it is not the first to
have developed” (p. 496). Not only rich in culture, China’s ancient civilization also has outstanding achievements in the political, economic, demographic, and social spheres as well.
In Chinese culture, men are considered more powerful than women. Nanquin and Rawski (1987) in their book Chinese Society in the Eighteenth
Century state that the woman in China is inferior to man (p. 80). Since ancient
times, Chinese women had been second-class citizens, very far from having equal opportunities with men. Their right to education was not recognized. They were prisoners of traditions based on gender discrimination.
For women, especially in the southern China, they had been bearing lots of expectation from the society. There was a tradition that obliged them to bind their feet as small as three inches. This footbinding brought and forced them to the suffering and the survival. In addition, there was the women’s secret writing or commonly called as nu shu that Chinese women used in order to communicate with their friends and the natal family after they were married. Nu shu is kept away from the men’s sightseeing so that the women wrote it to the fans or handkerchiefs. They use this secret writing because they were not allowed education at that time. Besides, the Chinese cultural idea kept isolating the women in the inner apartment as much as possible.
Chinese cultural idea is related to how Chinese people live in the society. Bloomfield (1991) in The Book of Chinese Belief insists that Chinese people traditionally have a very role-oriented society. Everybody has the role to play rightly. Children should obey their parents and respect their teacher; women
should obey their husband; and widows should obey their sons (p. xvi). This arrangement is a part of the Confucian filial piety demands that creates an orderly but restricted society.
Meanwhile, the demand of the women in the society is closely defined by Jackson in her book Splendid Slippers: A Thousand Years of an Erotic Tradition that Chinese society’s life was derived from Confucian dictum. Confucianism was prevalent at that time, or even till now. The girls who stray from these principles will not grow into virtuous women. Jackson (1997) mentioned the principles that Chinese girls must conform to.
Learned scholars, both Chinese and Western, basically have agreed that women’s rights were taken away from them by the Confucian dictum of “Thrice Following” from Book of Rites. In simple terms, Thrice Following stated that the woman must obey her father and elder brothers in her youth, her husband after marriage, and her son after the death of her husband. (p. 16) However, from the quotation above, it can be seen that the Confucian ideals keep the women being considered inferior to men. This unequal gender between men and women in Chinese culture is overall picture of confinement and subjugation.
In this study, the writer is going to use one of Lisa See’s novels, that is
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan as the subject of the study. It portrays Chinese
women’s life in the nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. Then, the portrait of Chinese women’s footbinding and nu shu is depicted very closely.
Lisa See is the author of the bestselling books: Snow Flower and the
Secret Fan , Shanghai Girls, Peony in Love, On Gold Mountain, The Interior,
Dragon Bones , and the newest Dreams of Joy. All Lisa See’s literary works
portray Chinese women lives in the past. She is actually a Chinese-American woman who has a broad knowledge of China and also explores it as well. She grew up with Chinese tradition surrounding her. She lived closely with the old Chinese tradition. It became the reason why she was very interested in the Chinese background.
In Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, the major characters, Lily and Snow Flower are two girls who are living in the south China. In the place named Hunan County, footbinding still remains and become the obligation for their girls to bind their feet. It starts at the age of six or seven. Lily and Snow Flower obey it and successfully shape their feet into the small size. Since both of them are a pair of
lao tong , which means friend forever, they keep communicating each other with
the nu shu. Footbinding exists as a kind of rule for women to fit into man’s desire.Meanwhile, nu shu exists as a way that Chinese women do to keep interacting with their natal family and friends to share their happiness and sadness since they do not have someone to share with. It also has a relation to male domination in Chinese society at that time. Based on this condition, the topic was chosen to see the male domination in the footbinding and women’s secret writing of nineteenth- century Chinese women as depicted by the author in the novel.
Discussing Chinese tradition is very interesting. By exploring and observing through the novel, the reader will get a view of life of women at that time. Seeing from the sociological point of view becomes a challenge as well. In this study, the writer will deeply analyze how the social circumstance influenced Chinese women in the nineteenth century.
B. Problem Formulation This study addresses two problems which are formulated as follows.
1. How are Chinese women’s footbinding and secret writing depicted in Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan?
2. How does male domination relate to Chinese women’s footbinding and secret writing as revealed in Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan?
C. Objectives of the Study
This study has two objectives in accordance with the questions formulated in the Problem Formulation. The objectives are:
1. To see how women’s footbinding and secret writing are depicted in the novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.
2. To find out how male domination relates to women’s footbinding and secret writing revealed in the novel.
D. Benefits of the Study
This section identifies who will benefit from the study in accordance with the research objectives. The benefits of this study can be clarified as follows.
Chinese women in the nineteenth century lived at the end of the period of male domination. The social factors affect how they behave and live at that time. This study gives benefits for the writer as a researcher to understand and provide more knowledge about the portrait of Chinese women in the nineteenth century by footbinding and their secret writing; and also the relation of male domination to
footbinding and the secret writing. This study also gives benefits to the future researchers who conduct studies on the sociological aspects which influenced Chinese women’s life in the nineteenth century. Besides, this study provides the open discussion about implications of the study to education.
E. Definitions of Terms
Below are the list of terms which are used throughout the study and their definitions.
1. Footbinding Naquin and Rawski (1987) state that footbinding is the tight painful binding of the toes for Chinese girls and wrapping of the feet to keep them the small size deemed desirable for wives as small as three inches (p. 90). It is begun at the age of six or seven. Then, Fairbank (1986) in his book The Great Chinese
Revolution 1800-1985 defined the bound feet as the erogenous area and the source
of sexual fetish for men and become a guarantee of chastity for women (p. 70).2. Women’s Secret Writing (Nu shu) According to the book Origins of Chinese Language (2009), nu shu is women’s secret codes from Jiangyong County, Province Hunan, People’s
Republic of China. The characters of nu shu are phonetic and every word has its spelling. Nu shu was developed a thousand years ago. It appears to be the only written language in the world to have been created by women exclusively for their own use. As it is secret for men, Chinese women keep this away from men.
3. Male Domination Jackson (1997) states that male domination of women is a condition in which men create a situation to keep the women “…physically restricted was, presumably, less likely to be mentally independent” (p. 15).
4. Nineteenth-Century Chinese Women Nineteenth-century China is the last period of dynasty’s might in China before being overthrowing by revolutionists in the early twentieth century. It belongs still to pre-modern China. According to Hook (1991) in The Cambridge
Encyclopedia of China , the status of women in the era of pre-modern China
“…asserted the superiority of men over women, supporting that perception with its ethical justifications, legal codes and customary practices” (p. 95). The practice of footbinding had crippled Chinese women since they were in early childhood. Then, the unequal state of women still obviously remains. For instance, a woman has a little choice in her life but to marry into the household of her spouse, leave her natal family, face a potential conflict with her mother-in-law and gain the security by giving birth a son as well.
Meanwhile, one module entitled Western Views of Chinese Women:
Introduction maintains that women in nineteenth-century China followed gender
norms based on Confucianism. The norms emphasize on the family as the primary social unit and advocate the primacy of women in the domestic or inner realm.
Furthermore, daughters are expected to obey their parents’ authority, assist their
mothers in domestic tasks, and, luckily in elite families, learn to read and write (Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media, 2004).
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:
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
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
The theories used in this study are male concepts of manhood, concepts of living in a society, sociological review of Chinese society in the nineteenth century, sociological review of footbinding in China, and then sociological review of Chinese women’s secret writing.
1. Male Concepts of Manhood
There are some interpretations about male ideology. Men seem destined to fight with nature in which they should deal with society. According to Turner
quoted by Dubbert in his book A Man’s Place: Masculinity in Transition (1979), it is stated that, He came from a civilization based on individual competition, and he brought the conception with him to the wilderness where a wealth of resources, and innumerable opportunities gave it a new scope (p. 80). From the quotation above, it can be seen that the spirit of competition helped men develop the qualities of characters needed to survival. They have a better chance of survival since they have these capabilities. Men have qualities of courage, endurance, and muscular strength, which make them more adaptable than women to a changing environment. Women, however, according to Patrick, developed very different qualities: “such as good manners and good taste in matters of etiquette” (as cited in Dubbert, 1979, p. 91).
The system in the society tends to agree if it is easier for men to dominate a society than for women. Men have more power in controlling because they have strong sense of conation—a mental process that makes someone wants or decides to do something. They have the nature to think before act. Therefore, they are more likely to lead a society.
According to E. A. Ross’ theory quoted by Sorokin in his book
Contemporary Sociological Theories (1928); men have desires which are derived
from social forces. Then, social force is classified into two parts. They are the natural and the cultural. It can be seen in the following quotation: The natural desires are: (a) appetitive (hunger, thirst, sex-appetite); (b) hedonic (fear, aversion to pain, love of ease, warmth, sensuous pleasure); (c) egotic (shame, envy, love of liberty, of glory, of power); (d) affective (sympathy, sociability, love, hate, jealousy, anger, revenge); (e) recreative (play impulses, love of self-expression). The cultural desires are: (a) religious; (b) ethical; (c) aesthetic; (d) intellectual (p. 642).
Furthermore, men can be separated according to their interests. The interests men have according to Small in Sorokin include: health, wealth, sociability or prestige, knowledge, beauty, and rightness (p. 644).
Talking about manhood means talking about gender. Even though gender means social sex, it is also close to the difference between men and women.
According to Crawford in her book Talking Difference on Gender and Language (1995), the different way of acting of men and women is influenced by a way of creating differences. That is why the men confirm that they are different from the women. It is supported by the following quotation.
When men and women are treated differently in ordinary daily interactions, they may come to behave differently in return. Thus, gender can be conceived as a self-fulfilling prophecy—a set of processes by which gender difference is created, the observed differences are conflated with sex, and belief in sex difference is confirmed (p.14).
2. Concepts of Living in a Society
To live in a society, there are some norms that have to be accepted by the people who live there. Social norms which regulate the society are divided into two: formal norms and non formal norms. Formal norms include the norms which come from formal institutions or the government. Formal norms are usually in the written form. Meanwhile, non formal norms are not in written form and many more than formal ones. Non formal norms include the usage, folkways, and mores. (Maryati and Suryawati, 2001)
According to Suprapto quoted by Maryati and Suryawati (2001), there are five major functions of social norms:
1. to provide such a tool to standardize the social value of a society or a group, 2. to direct the society how to think and behave, 3. to motivate someone to fulfill his social role as an individual and a member of a society, 4. to be a solidarity tool with the society in order to give security to all members of a society, 5. to be a controller of the human behavior so that people behave in an appropriate manner in the society they live in.
When people live in a society, they need an interaction with people who live surrounding them. In that interaction, status and status role become the important things. Empirically, status differentiation affects someone in the way that he/she interacts with others. People with higher status behave differently from the people with of lower status.
Social status is also commonly called as social stratification. Edgar and Sedgwick (2002) explained that it can be called social stratification when the separate groupings in a society can be seen as hierarchical. In sociology, there are three major types of strata. Edgar and Sedgwick named them as a caste system, an estate system, and industrial societies. The following is the explanation of those types of strata in society by Edgar and Sedgwick (2002):
In a caste system, different strata are characterized in terms of ethnic purity; with no movement between castes (so that a person lives his or her entire life within the caste into which he or she is born). In an estate system, typical of feudal societies, again there is little and no mobility between strata. The estates are defined through land ownership and bondage. In industrial societies, stratification is in terms of class, with classes understood as economically defined (p. 366).
Moreover, according to Ralph Linton in Maryati and Suryawati (2001), there are three ways to have status in a society: ascribed status, achieved status, and assigned status. Ascribed status is granted to people since they were born e.g. a man of noble birth. This status can be found in feudal societies or extrovert societies. Achieved status is the status which is achieved by people who have a try at getting it. They are able to get it without the influence of others because it depends on the individual himself. For example, to be a lawyer, someone must learn and graduate from the Faculty of Law so that he gets the title of lawyer. Then, assigned status is the status which is given by a particular party. Assigned status is similar to achieved status in how this status is given to someone who has struggled for something. However, assigned status is given by a person or a group of higher status. For instance, in the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II gave the musician Elton John the title of ‘Sir’ because of his commitment to music in Great Britain.
3. Sociological Review of Chinese Society in the Nineteenth Century
The setting of time in the novel is the nineteenth century. In China, the nineteenth century was still the pre-modern era. The nineteenth century was the end of traditional Chinese society era before entering the transitional era. Nineteenth-century China was under the Qing Dynasty (Manchu Dynasty) which was ended in 1912. By this time, in late imperial China, there were some growth and changes which were influencing society. The rebellions were aroused,
consolidating the imperial China. The dynasty was finally overthrown by revolutions led by Sun Yat Sen (Lynn Pan, 1998, p. 367).
Traditional Chinese society was institutionalized according to Confucian belief. The teachings of Confucianism had already become the determinants of their life. International Encyclopedia of the Social Science mentions the five basic Chinese relationships which were based on the ethos of legitimate authorities of Confucian ideals. They were: “emperor-subject, father-son, elder brother-younger brother, husband-wife, and friend-friend (only the last relationship expresses egalitarian values) – (p. 410). This was called ‘Thrice Following’ which was taken from the book of Confucian Book of Rites that can be seen in the next quotation.
Thrice Following stated that the woman must obey her father and elder brothers in her youth, her husband after marriage and her son after the death of her husband. (Jackson, 1997, p. 16) In traditional Chinese society, the connection between state and social system was dominated by a status group. The form of a status groups or gentry is specifically one of the most important functions of a social system. The system itself was already influenced by the colonial that started driving China to the revolution towards the empire. Gentry have a higher position in society and then determine the status.
The traditional Chinese designation of that group as “officials, landlords, and notables” suggests that there were three different sources of status – in effect, power, wealth, and prestige.
(International Encyclopedia of the Social Science, p. 411) When the Emperor was overthrown to the Manchus (Qing Dynasty), the rule was tightened. The result which was more repressive affected Chinese women at that time. According to Richard J. Smith (1994), Chinese women were
becoming “subject to standards of fidelity and female propriety more rigid that at any previous time in Chinese history” (p. 245). Women were not permitted the literary education though women and men possess the same abilities. The women also had to remain at home and had no public voice. This point of view is related to the Chinese ancient belief dealing with Yin and Yang. Men and women lived in different realms. Fairbank (1986) stated that
Women were fitted into the social and cosmic order (which were a continuum) by invoking the principles of Yang and Yin. All things bright, warm, active, male, and dominant were Yang while all things dark, cold, passive, female, and yielding were Yin (p. 68).