Study Guide for Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. The timeline below shows where the character Mama appears in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan. In the story, we are told again and again that women are weak and worthless. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one: 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. Featured content includes commentary on major characters, 25 important quotes, essay topics, and key themes like Teng Ai – Mother Love and Wealth and Worth. 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. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance. But were they really? Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Snow Flower and the Secret Fan: A Novel. The author sees Snow Flower and the Secret Fan as a novel about love and regret, but do you think there's also an element of atonement in it as well. In what ways did Lily and Snow Flower … Summary Lisa See’s novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan takes place in China during the 1800s.Lily is the main character and first-person narrator of her life story. 9. In her introduction to the novel, See writes that Lily, the narrator, was born on June 5, 1824—"the fifth day of the sixth month of the third year of the Daoguang Emperor's … Later, when I began writing Snow Flower and the Secret Fan , I was able to show that kind of stoicism and acceptance in the characters of Snow Flower, Lily, and the other women who populate the novel, but I also called upon other beliefs that have been handed down in my family. It is at the heart of Lisa See's period best-seller Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, and has inspired a film … 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 wife's. 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. In the story, we are told again and again that women are weak and worthless. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Isolated by their families, they furtively communicate by taking turns writing in a secret language, nu shu, between the folds of a white silk fan. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance. The author sees Snow Flower and the Secret Fan as a novel about love and regret, but do you think there's also an element of atonement in it as well. The butcher loves and favors his mother, who is really cruel to Snow flower. 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: female friendship. 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. 10. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a 2011 historical drama film based on the novel of the same name written by Lisa See. Directed by Wayne Wang , the film stars Gianna Jun , Li Bingbing , Archie Kao , Vivian Wu , and Hugh Jackman . 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 men’s “outside world.” The question is left delicately open. Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a frame tale, a story within a story, as told by an eighty-year-old Chinese woman, reflecting on her life and preparing for her death.