Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Chapter 9
Summary Chapters 10, 11, & Epilogue
Monday, April 16, 2012
Chapters 7 & 8
Stephanie Brushway
Literature Circle 4
Summarizer
Chapters 7-8
Chapter 7 begins with a pleasant, happy scene of Ailin teaching her little brother an English song while her mother smiled. This moment of hope is destroyed when Ailin is summoned by Big Uncle who will tell her what he has decided for her future. Her mother is scared for her. Big Uncle reveals to her that he wishes for her to be a concubine for the second son of the Feng family. He believes it is the only future he can find for her. After attempting to reason with Big Uncle, he finally says that she has three choices: become a nun, become a farmer’s wife, or become a concubine. She realizes that she has no way out of Big Uncle’s decision because she has no money, her Father is dead, her sister’s are married and gone, Xueyan’s family cannot legally help her and may not be on her side, and she does not want to commit suicide. She was left with the idea of becoming an amah. Her mother shoots this down by telling her that no respectable family will hire her because her feet are not bound, she does not have the respect and manners that they want their children to learn, and she ran from her own amah as a child. She turns to her teacher, Miss. Gilbertson, who was shocked at what Ailin confessed to her about her Big Uncle’s decision for her future. She offers her to be an amah for the English missionaries that were her friends. Ailin agrees to go visit them. She meets the children, Grace and Billy. She then accepts the offer to be their amah and live in their home.
Chapter 8 begins with Ailin going to tell Big Uncle of her decision to become an amah. He is beyond furious and lets her leave alive because he loved her father. She moves in with the Warner family and is immediately stunned by several aspects of her new life. The first in that she is responsible to care for herself entirely and run her own errands. Second, she finds that she must care for the children as well as teach them lessons in reading and writing. She has trouble adjusting to the food, her clothes no longer fitting, and the strange customs of the Warners. She is able to care for the children though and their behavior improves when she bribes them with learning to brush Chinese characters when they are good. She tells them Chinese folktales that they love. Ailin is disturbed when she overhears the Chinese house help talking about her and placing her on their level. She is also disturbed when she hears the Warners talking about her teaching the children a “heathen” language. She finally understands the price she I paying for her rebellion when Mr. Warner pulls her aside and is upset with her for talking about Confucianism in front of their children. He reminds her of Big Uncle during this conversation. She realizes that her is now in a culture where they hate what she was taught to value.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
Summary Chapters 5 & 6
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Summary Chapters 3 and 4
In chapter 4, the chaos that had ended in chapter 3 has seemingly died down, however everyone's displeasure and concern for Ailin is still apparent. She speaks of the changes in government into a republic and the debates her father and uncle share over these changes. Her father decides to enroll Ailin into a public school which angers the elders in the family. Before she is accepted into the public school she must pass a few tests. Her first impressions of the people are very interesting and the first thing she looks at in the woman are their feet. She gets accepted into the school and excels in speech classes as she has a speciality in hearing and repeating sounds. The chapter does not end on an optimistic note, rather it points out that Ailin's grandmother is getting weaker and weaker.
Monique Brown Summarizer for Discussion 1
Summary Chapters 1-2
As we get into the story we realize that Ailin is up for an arranged marriage, but what is hindering her is that her feet have yet to be bound. All the women in Ailin's family (and if you are of upper class) have had their feet bound. From just these two chapters it is possible to understand the ultimate situation in the story, Ailin refuses to have her feet bound.
Her older sister shows Ailin her bound feet and we soon learn how painful the "womanly" duty is. They smell awful and resemble folded pieces of bread, as The author describes. It is also why the women are slower, modest and try to remain still. When it is Ailin's turn, she runs away, but then returns home where her sister is being reprimanded for showing her her bound feet. That's where this section concluded.
In addition, we learn that western culture is being introduced as well. Ailin's dad has different views on foot binding, arranged marriages and such traditional ideas. Also we see how children (boys) are being schooled by foreigners; traditionally they are home-schooled.
Overall we are able to see the importances in culture, social class and gender roles in the first few chapters.