Snow Flower and the Secret Fan, Week 2, Post B

Dear Miss Lily,
I just recently started reading a novel about your life growing up in China and I love it! At first, I didn’t think your relationship with Snow Flower was that strong, it seemed like you idolized her much more than she liked you. You always seemed to follow in her footsteps and waited for her to make the first judgment, “Thankfully Snow Flower took charge again” (52). Were you intimidated by Snow Flower? Were you ever jealous of her education? It seemed to me that Snow Flower always took control of you and guided you to believe and want the same things you did, which really bothered me because she seemed like such a control freak! Did you ever feel you were being completely overpowered by her? Were you bothered that you always had to be the first one to give an act of hospitality, after all you always had to initiate sending gifts and letters, and even welcoming her into your own house? This quote that you said really intrigued me, “...It didn’t disturb me, because I knew I didn’t deserve Snow Flower’s affections” (66). This is really hard for me to imagine someone saying this, because here in America it doesn’t really matter the class difference between you and your friend. But more importantly, I feel that in any kind of relationship, both people have to give the same amount of effort into it! It’s not fair if you feel you aren’t worthy of Snow Flower’s love, if it’s a true relationship you would both give each other the same amount of love. As the chapters went on, I came to enjoy both you and Snow Flower a lot, even though I found your relationship hard to understand at first.
Sincerely,
Rachel