A Study On Lisa See’s Snow Flower And The Secret Fan From The Perspective Of Ethical Literary Criticism

As a Chinese-American female writer and novelist, Lisa See is still active in the field of contemporary Chinese-American literature. Her works are based on Chinese stories or against the background of ancient Chinese society. Published in 2005, See’s work Snow Flower and the Secret Fan enjoys popularity of the readers all over the world. In the recent years, researches on Lisa See and her works begin to emerge. Researches on Snow Flower and the Secret Fan are mainly from the perspective of Feminism and Orientalism, etc. Based on the text reading of the novel and the theory of ethical literary criticism, this thesis attempts to analyze the ethical structure of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and to reveal the ethical value of this novel.The body of this thesis comprises three parts. Chapter Two and Chapter Three analyze two ethical lines of the novel:the growth of Lily and Snow Flower and the laotong relationship between them and deconstruct the ethical knots on each line. Chapter Four discusses the ethical vale of the novel.First, this thesis analyzes the growth of Lily and Snow Flower under the ethical environment respectively, paying attention to the change of their ethical identities and their ethical choices. Lily who sticks to the feudal ethic all her life grows from a humble peasant daughter to the noble Lady Lu. She perfectly fulfils the duty of several ethical identities and successfully adapts to the ethical environment. Compared with Lily, Snow Flower grows from a noble miss to a humble butcher’s wife and she used to be rebellious but finally surrender herself to the feudal ethic. Snow Flower’s failure to adaption to the ethical environment leads to her tragic ending that die of tumor at a very young age.Then this thesis discusses the special ethical relationship:laotong relationship between Lily and Snow Flower. After giving introduction to laotong and nu shu, this thesis analyzes the development of their laotong relationship, mainly focusing on the ethical dilemma and the ethical choice when they deal with their relationship. Snow Flower’s ethical dilemma is whether she should always be true to Lily. And Lily is confusion whether she should listen to her in-laws to break with Snow Flower. Finally, their ethical choices offend against the ethical taboo of laotong and the breach of their relationship is inevitable.After analyzing the ethical structure, this thesis finally explores the ethical value of the novel. Being confined to the feudal ethic, the growth of women is a history of compromise and surrender, the only thing they can do is to obey. In contrast, the laotong relationship of women in fact is a challenge to male authority and nu shu in some degree embodies women’s awakening of the female consciousness. By applying ethical literary criticism to the analysis of the novel, this thesis explores reflections on family ethics and social ethics, hoping it will be beneficial to the solution to problems in contemporary society.