Librarything is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers all about snow flower and the secret fan. In what ways did lily and snow flower show their strength and value. Heres where youll find analysis about the book as a whole, from the. The process of binding the feet in tight wraps, forcing the girls to walk, and thus breaking the foot. Lily lily is the narrator and main character of snow flower and the secret fan. Like the joy luck club, snow flower and the secret fan is an oprahapproved, new york times bestsellerbased tale of female empowerment, grrl power, sistahood, motherdaughter relations, herstory, womyns issues, repressed lesbianism, whathaveyou. Snow flower and the secret fan literature tv tropes. Snow flower and the secret fan english flashcards quizlet. Click to read more about snow flower and the secret fan by lisa see. But when a misunderstanding arises, their lifelong friendship suddenly threatens to tear apart. Snow flower and the secret fan summary from litcharts the.
Snow flower and the secret fan is a wonderful story about the friendship between two women, laotongs, who endure a lifetime of trials and tribulations enduring the pressures of their culture and traditions in 1800s china. An analysis of three girls literature essay samples. I guess nothing will live up to snow flower and the secret fan. When snow flower comes to visit for the first time, the familys fears of being looked down upon disappear because snow flower is very kind and generous. The warring matchmakers are marvelous characters, and the story made me recall the girl closest to my own laotong. It is a story so mesmerizing the pages float away and the story remains clearly before us from beginning to end. In her introduction to the novel, see writes that lily, the narrator, was born on june 5, 1824the fifth day of the sixth month of the third year of the daoguang emperors reign. The organization of chinese american women named her the 2001 national woman of the year. The goal was to have golden lilies or feet that were just seven centimeters in size. Analysis of snow flower and the secret fan 1421 words 6 pages. Snow flower and the secret fan by hannah james on prezi. Snow flower and the secret fan summary from litcharts.
Get all the key plot points of lisa sees snow flower and the secret fan. In rural hunan province, a county in china, lily and her friend snow flower are a laotong pair whose sisterly relationship is far stronger and closer than a husband and wifes. A story of friendship set in nineteenthcentury china follows an elderly woman and her companion as they communicate their hopes, dreams, joys, and tragedies through a unique secret language. With the period detail and deep resonance of memoirs of a geisha, this lyrical and emotionally charged novel delves into one of the most mysterious of human relationships. In her introduction to the novel, see writes that lily, the narrator. That fall, lily travels to jintian to visit with snow flower. It adds imagery to the text and helps the reader understand and picture things. The novel begins in 1903, when lily is 80 years old. For your reference, we provided these snow flower and the secret fan quotes with page numbers using the following version of the book. Analysis of snow flower and the secret fan 1479 words. Snow flower and the secret fan is a brilliantly realistic journey back to an era of chinese history that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. There is also random house readers circle bonus content, sure to inspire discussion at book clubs everywhere.
Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers high quality study guides for challenging works of literature. Snow flower and the secret fan is a 2005 novel by lisa see set in nineteenthcentury china. Snow flower and the secret fan is a frame tale, a story within a story, as told by an eightyyearold chinese woman, reflecting on her life and preparing for her death. This 39page guide for snow flower and the secret fan by lisa see includes detailed chapter summaries and analysis covering 17 chapters, as well as several more indepth sections of expertwritten literary analysis. Snow flower and the secret fan lisa see random house, inc. Things fall apart is a novel by chinua achebe that was first published in 1958. I kind of hate reading descriptions, because i feel like they ruin my discovery of the story, so its nice that i have such a long toread list, because it gives me time to forget the book description. Summary lisa sees novel snow flower and the secret fan takes place in china during the 1800s. She is one of five children, born the second daughter, a status considered to be low in the family. Lily, a young girl in 19thcentury china, gets a sworn sister, or laotong, named snow flower.
Its not too complex, so its easy to get through, and. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Occasionally, in the midst of notes about childbirth and marriages, lily and snow flower wonder how to understand the value of their secret writing in relation to the mens outside world. Snow flower and the secret fan is the story of an intimate friendship between two 19th century chinese women. I found snow flower and the secret fan an easy and engaging read. Snow flower and the secret fan summary and study guide. Snow flower and the secret fan by shannon lundin on prezi. The note reads that snow flower is afraid that once she learns the truth, lily wont love her anymore, and lily is perplexed. This interesting, wellwritten book will not let you, as a reader, put it down as lilys.
Snow flower and the secret fan by lisa see librarything. Supersummary, a modern alternative to sparknotes and cliffsnotes, offers highquality study guides for challenging works of literature. Welcome to the litcharts study guide on lisa sees snow flower and the secret fan. Although the truth is stretched to accommodate the relationship, the laotongs are supposed to have eight characters that. English i snow flower and the secret fan final exam study. The author sees snow flower and the secret fan as a novel about love and regret, but do you think theres also an element of atonement in it as well. Lily is the main character and firstperson narrator of her life story. In the story, we are told again and again that women are weak and worthless. Snow flower and the secret fan is so rich in psychology, feminine high stakes and marital intrigue that it evokes the work of jane austen. Both of them women, both lily and snow flower have do deal with the things that are expected of women in china in this day and age. Snow flower and the secret fan is a lovely, delicate story of two women in nineteenthcentury china, who pledge themselves to be soulmates for life at the young age of seven. There were many things i liked, each womans story and their struggle and. Start studying english i snow flower and the secret fan final exam study guide. In nineteenthcentury china, when wives and daughters were footbound and lived in almost total seclusion, the women in one remote hunan county developed their own secret code for communication.
I fell in love with this book from the moment i picked it up. Snow flower and the secret fan and peony in love focus on the lives of chinese women in the 19th and 17th centuries respectively. Overall, i would say that snow flower and the secret fan is solidly entertaining. Snow flower and the secret fan 2011 rotten tomatoes. Snow flower introduces herself by sending lily a silk fan, on which she has written a poem in nu shu a language created by chinese women to communicate in secret and that the most educated of them used to teach to their daughters. Lily is the main character and firstperson narrator of. She was taught to honor duty and ones place in society even when events challenged that sense of duty and place i. Snow flower and the secret fan study guide from litcharts. One day, elder sister allows third sister to sit down so she can.
Amy tan, author of the joy luck club and the opposite of fate. Snow flower and the secret fan random house readers. An exciting new novel set in the chop suey circuit of san francisc. The laotong relationship is a life long relationship between women, often with similar birthdays, horoscopes, or other social or biological markers. Snow flower and the secret fan is achingly beautiful, a marvel of imagination of a real and secret world that has only recently disappeared. Snow flower and the secret fan, lisa see snow flower and the secret fan is a 2005 novel by lisa see set in nineteenthcentury china. To prepare for her new life, she must undergo the agonies of footbinding, learn nu shu, the famed secret womens writing, and make a very special friend, snow flower. Read a plot overview of the entire book or a chapter by chapter summary and analysis. The movie added a modern story with the same basic plot ruined the film not enough detail in either story made it hard to connect to the characters recommendations i recommend the book to anyone interested in the ancient chinese culture and to all girls young and old i do. Snow flower and the secret fan is a beautifully written book by lisa see.
Snow flower and the secret fan 2011 snow flower and. Created by the original team behind sparknotes, litcharts are the worlds best literature guides. From a very young age, the two best friends write to each other and share many. The wellproduced snow flower and the secret fan has certain things also going for it in its rare thoughtful exploration of the friendship between two women, coupled with how china has a. But apart from who i was with snow flower, i was resolved to be an honorable wife, a praiseworthy daughterinlaw, and a scrupulous mother. This example compares lilys flapping across the room with a bird with broken wings. Snow flower and the secret fan in my opinion i think of lily as being a tragic heroine.
We felt that snow flower and the secret fan was a book that truly transcended time and culture. Discussion questions snow flower and the secret fan. Snow flower and the secret fan chapters 1011 summary. Lisa see is the new york times bestselling author of peony in love, snow flower and the secret fan, flower net an edgar award nominee, the interior, and dragon bones, as well as the critically acclaimed memoir on gold mountain. Truth immediately after her own wedding, lily goes to snow flower s home for. Literary devicesplot snow flower and the secret fan. We live at the whim and pleasure of others, which is why what snow flower and her mother had done. The story was clear and its feminist message forceful. Literary devices similea simile is a comparison between two words using the words like or as. Lilys family agrees to accept the match and lily decides to send her reply to snow flower on the same fan, which goes against tradition. Snow flower and the secret fan lisa sees official website. Snow flower and the secret fan by lisa see, paperback barnes. This study guide consists of approximately 47 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of snow flower and the secret fan.
Snow flower and the secret fan quotes showing of 69 read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river. But a bitter reversal of fortune is about to change everything. Snow flower and the secret fan is a 2005 novel by lisa see set in nineteenth century china. The next morning snow flower gives lily their fan and a note before lilys inlaws take her to tongkou. Snow flower and the secret fan summary from litcharts the creators of sparknotes. It is at the heart of lisa sees period bestseller snow flower and the secret fan, and has inspired a film that carries the concept into the present day.
Snow flower and the secret fan is a 2005 historical novel by lisa see. In the first and last chapter, the narrator lily reveals that she is dictating the story to peony, the wife of her grandson, as a form of confession to her friend snow flower. They painted letters on fans, embroidered messages on. Snow flower and the secret fan by lisa see book club. Snow flower and the secret fan, random house llc, 2005 258 pages. At age seven, lily is matched with her laotangold same snow flower, in a match that is meant to create a lifelong bond between the two. The paperback of the snow flower and the secret fan by lisa see at barnes. Snow flower and the secret fan, a novel written by lisa see in 2005, is a coming of age story accounting the life of lily, a girl born in puwei, china, in 1823. This plot, with two women at its center, encompasses the hurt, pain, anguish, and undying compassion two.
I think lisa see was quite clever in the way she did not date the story or locate it into some wellknow geographic. The result is a tiny, contorted foot with the toes lying underneath. It appeared for the first time when snow flower my laotong, my old same, my secret writing partnersent me the fan that sits here on my table, and then again after i met her. Freebooknotes found 8 important quotes from 6 key chapters of snow flower and the secret fan by lisa see. Top 8 quotes from snow flower and the secret fan free. This was a relationship that could begin with the agreement of their parents before birth, and persist independent of marriage, children or the changing fortunes of life. On screen, its easy to pick out the elements that made the book such a popular read.
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