Ties That Bind Ties That Break Summary

The story, “Ties that Bind, Ties that Break” is about a young girl, Ailin Tao, that grows up in a society where women need to get their feet bound in order to impress men and get married. This story is told as a flashback when she was young. As she grows up, a revolution is also going on. She lives with her family, the Tao Family, in Nanjing, China. China was first an Empire. After the revolution in 1912, it became a republic.

Ailin obviously has to get her feet bound as she becomes older. However, she does not want to. Her father agrees to let her be without bound feet. She then becomes an amah, (an “amah” is someone who takes care of children like a mother.) for a foreign family, the Warners. She is different than many other people. …show more content…
Change is being made because there is a revolution changing China’s Empire into a republic. Ailin’s father mentions many times that things are going to change. Ailin is interested in this change as her life does change as well. For example, on page 36, Father says, “There is talk that some of the rebels want to do away with the empire altogether and establish a republic.”. Ailin asks, “What’s a republic?” and her mother answers back, “Little children shouldn’t ask stupid questions.”. This shows that Ailin is interested in this change from an empire to a republic and wants to know more. Later on, on that same page, after Father tells Little Brother that he may grow up in a country without an emperor, Ailin says to herself, “I hoped Father was right. If things changed, maybe girls wouldn’t have to have their feet bound any longer. I was all in favor of the Revolution, whatever it was.”. This shows that even though she doesn’t know what the Revolution is, she still is in favor of it because she thinks that maybe it will change her life and other generations of girls’ lives as well. Also, on page 37, after Ailin tells her Grandmother that she doesn’t want to get her feet bound because she wants to walk freely and not hobble around, she says, “Father said things are changing because of the Revolution.”. This tells me that she thinks that maybe she doesn’t have to get her feet bound as things are changing due to the Revolution. This shows that change is happening in China and has an affect on Ailin’s life. Furthermore, on page 34, one of Ailin’s cousins says, “Revolution means that everything is turned upside down!”. This shows that if everything is turned upside down, that symbolizes change, because everything is going to changed and different. This could be different for Ailin’s life. Additionally, at the end of the prolologe, (when Ailin is an adult and lives in America) Hanwei asks Ailin why she