"Ties that Bind, Ties that Break" Book Update #2



I have continued reading more of the "Ties that Bind, Ties that Break" (by Lensey Namioka). 

 In this part of Ailin's story, her father has passed away and now it's her Big Uncle who's in charge. Ailin is well aware that her Big Uncle doesn't like the fact that she is going to a missionary school, and now that her father is gone no one will pay for the tutoring fees. She now knows that it is more likely that she will stop going to school permanently.

 One day her Big Uncle summoned her to discuss her future and he gave her three choices: to become a nun, a farmer's wife, or a concubine of the Feng family. But Ailin decides to take another path and become an Amah for the Warner family; her Big Uncle accepts her choice and she is sent off to live with them. 

 At first everything starts off pretty well and she is treated very well by the Warner family, who give her Western clothes to wear and a large empty room. But after a few weeks of working with them, she starts to hear bad things about her. She hears the houseboy talk badly behind her back, saying that she should not be treated so well just because she is from a wealthy family. 

 Not only are her colleges talking behind her back, she soon finds out that the Warner's themselves are doing it too. Mrs. Warner had said that she didn't like Ailin teaching the children how to write Chinese characters using a brush, she also added that Chinese was a heathen language.

 I feel very bad for Ailin as her own people didn't accept who she was and wanted to be and sent out of her home, and now living with the Westerners she has to face the same thing. This violates the human right that everyone is free from discrimination regarding their beliefs, values, race, religion, sex etc. This is extremely unfair for her, I can't imagine myself being excluded by everyone around me just because of my own beliefs.

 I also feel very mad because these people are acting very inappropriately. Just because Ailin teaches a language that she was taught and more people understand the Chinese culture and history or is treated differently because of personal connections, doesn't mean that the Warners and the other workers in the house have to start saying bad things about her without her knowledge. If they have an opinion about her then they should either keep it to themselves or explain to her what she should change, in a way that doesn't offend her.  

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