Snow Flower and the Secret Fan : Lisa See
Lisa See’s bestselling novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is set in China in the 1800s. In her introduction to the novel, See writes that Lily, the narrator, was born in 1823 — “the third year of Emperor Daoguangs reign”
Plot summary
A language kept a secret for a thousand years forms the backdrop for an unforgettable novel of two Chinese women whose friendship and love sustains them through their lives.
Lily and her friend Snow Flower are a laotong pair, related more closely than husband and wife. Lily’s Aunt describes a laotong match this way: “‘A laotong relationship is made by choice for the purpose of emotional companionship and eternal fidelity. A marriage is not made by choice and has only one purpose — to have sons.’”
The two girls are also bound together by experiencing the painful process of foot binding at the same time and by letters to one another written on fans with Nü Shu, a secret phonetic form of ‘women’s writing.’In addition to the language itself, the young women learn Nü Shu songs and stories.
Although both friends are born under the sign of the horse, they are quite different. Lily is practical, her feet firmly set on the ground, while Snow Flower is a flying horse that attempts to fly over the constrictions of women’s lives in the 19th century in order to be free. Their lives differ as well. Although Lily comes from a family of relatively low station, her beautiful feet play a role in her marriage into the most powerful family in the region. Lily ends up as Lady Lu, the region’s most influential woman. Although Snow Flower comes from a once prosperous family, she is not so fortunate. She marries a butcher, culturally considered the lowest of professions, and has a miserable life filled with children dying and beatings at the hand of her husband.
The novel depicts human suffering in many ways: the physical and psychological pain of foot binding; the suffering of women of the time, who were treated as property; the terrible trek up the mountains to escape from the horrors of the Taiping Revolution; the painful return back down the mountain trail with dead bodies everywhere. Some estimate that the number of people killed during the Revolution was approximately 20 million.
The detailed treatment of the suffering which Lily and Snow Flower experience in their laotong relationship is a major aspect of the book. Lily’s need for love and her inability to forgive what she considers to be acts of betrayal cause her to inflict harm on many people, Snow Flower most of all. Believing that Snow Flower has not been true to her, Lily betrays her by sharing all her private secrets to a group of women, virtually destroying Snow Flower’s reputation. When Snow Flower is dying, Lily is called to her bedside and tends to her until the end.
As the book returns to the present (1903), Lily is an 80 year old woman who has lived 40 years after her friend’s death. Lily’s final words indicate that her love for Snow Flower remains: “But if the dead continue to have the needs and desires of the living, then I’m reaching out to Snow Flower and the others who witnessed it all. Please hear my words. Please forgive me.”
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