By Pamela Kapaldo
Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan tells the story of Snow Flower and Lily, two young girls who grow up in China in the 1800s.
Snow Flower grows up in a life of luxury, or so it seems. Her family is rich until her father becomes hooked on opium and wastes all of the family’s wealth on the drug. The house is in turmoil and her aunt, Madame Wang, picks Lily, a normal Chinese girl from a plain family as her “Laotong” or “old same,” a match between the two girls said to last a lifetime. Their relationship starts when Snow Flower sends Lily a fan with a message in “Nu-Shu,” the secret language women have created to communicate with each other. Their bond grows as Snow Flower starts to visit Lily after their feet heal from the destruction of foot binding, an age-old tradition in China of breaking women’s feet to get them to be around 3 inches in length. Snow Flower comes to Lily’s family or natal home to visit many times throughout the beginning and middle of the book. Lily wonders if she will ever go to Snow Flower’s home, as she does not yet know that Snow Flower is poor. Madame Wang, the matchmaker, soon picks husbands for both girls. Marriage was an important feat, as female children were worthless unless they bore sons. Lily marries well into the Lu family, the richest family in Tongkou. Snow Flower marries a butcher in Jintian, a bad marriage but at least he will have some money to bring her family up. Lily’s mother-in-law does not want her to talk to Snow Flower because now her Laotong is beneath her. Lily ignores her and continues to converse with her friend until the war starts and she realizes her friend is being beaten by her husband. Lily writes often to Snow Flower after that discovery to get Snow Flower to get him to stop the beatings, but it is to no avail. Eventually, the girls’ relationship falls apart. Lily tries to stay strong and not care while she visits her friend on Snow Flower’s deathbed. Snow Flower soon dies and Lily learns that her dear friend did not betray her, as she believed. The book ends with Lily growing old and out living most of her family and friends. She still regrets the fight that ended her friendship with Snow Flower.
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