March 3, 1999

Bound Feet and Western Dress is a dual memoir. The novel chronicles the lives of Chang Yu-I and Pang-Mei Natasha Chang. Chang Yu-I went through the first modern Chinese divorce in 1922. Chang Yu-I is Natasha Chang's great aunt. Natasha was born in America to Chinese parents and learned her heritage through Chang Yu-I's story. Several themes appear through both women's lives and Natasha Chang illuminates these themes throughout the novel. The themes include womanhood, marriage, Westernization, and success.

Chang Yu-I starts the memoir with explaining the role of women in China. She says, "in China, a woman is nothing. When she is born, she must obey her father. When she is married, she must obey her husband. And when she is widowed, she must obey her son" (6). Chang Yu-I feels the effects of this throughout her life. She experiences the incapacitation of foot binding, is expected to follow the rules of filial piety, is largely ignored in school and never feels support from any of the men in her life.

Chang Yu-I describes the pains of foot binding in detail. She explains the breaking of the bones in the foot, the removal of bloody bandages, the soaking, the rewrapping and tightening of the bandages. The process begins when Chang Yu-I is three years old. When her brother sees the pain Chang Yu-I is in, he insists that his mother stop the painful binding. Chang Yu-I's mother is worried that without bound feet, no man would marry Chang Yu-i. Bound feet are not only considered beautiful like a lotus flower, but they also serve to control women and keep them confined to their houses.

Another way to control women is to keep them ignorant. Chang Yu-I finds few opportunities to gain an education. Out of the four girls in her family, Chang Yu-I is the most inspired and determined to learn. Even this determination can not give her the education she wants. The tutors that come to her home to work with her brothers occasionally help Chang Yu-i. Chang Yu-I wants more education and arranges to attend a boarding school for teacher training. Her parents realize it will be a less expensive option to have Chang Yu-I at school as opposed to home, so they allow her to attend. Being at school is a valuable experience for Chang Yu-I until she becomes engaged and her professors gave up on her education. Chang Yu-I tries once again to learn when she moves to France. There she hires a tutor to teach her the language, but she gives up when her husband asks her to. Chang Yu-I's husband, Hsu Chi-Mo, has ultimate authority in the marriage, therefore controlling her education.

Hsu Chi-Mo's control over Chang Yu-I begins before they even meet. Chang Yu-I's brother, who is impressed by Hsu Chi-Mo's intellect, arranges the marriage. Chang Yu-I does not meet Hsu Chi-Mo until her wedding night. From the moment they meet, Chang Yu-I is subject to scrutiny, not only from Hsu Chi-Mo, but also from his colleagues. On their wedding night, Hsu Chi-Mo's friends stand around Chang Yu-I and criticize and tease her to no end. From that time on, Chang Yu-I can do no right by her husband.

Though Chang Yu-I is unable to please her husband, her in-laws think she was the ideal daughter-in-law. Her duties to the extended family include keeping her mother-in-law company during the day, greeting her in-laws in the morning and seeing them off to bed at night. These responsibilities mean confinement to the house and very little rest. Even after Chang Yu-I and Hsu Chi-Mo are divorced, Chang Yu-I continues in her duties to her ex-in-laws.

Chang Yu-I is held strongly to Chinese tradition. This creates tension between Hsu Chi-Mo and her. Hsu Chi-Mo wants the unattainable. He wants a Western woman with modern ideals, who will remain subservient. This leads to the destruction of their marriage. When Chang Yu-I comments about a guest that "bound feet and Western dress do not go together," Hsu Chi-Mo screams, "I know that...That's why I want a divorce" (122). This is symbolic of the struggles of the time in trying to incorporate Western ideals with traditional Chinese values.

This contrast of Western and Eastern values is the essence of the novel. Chang Yu-I finds the strength in both lifestyles and becomes a success as a daughter, student, daughter-in-law, mother, and businesswoman.