Snow Flower and the Secret Fan

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2005

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Download PDF

Access Full Guide

Summary

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Prologue-Chapter 2

Chapters 3-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-11

Chapters 12-13

Chapters 14-15

Chapters 16-Epilogue

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Tools

Discussion Questions

Essay Topics

Early in the novel, Lily confesses that she was desperate to be loved. Discuss the various forms of love that occur within Snow Flower and the Secret Fan and the ways in which Lily herself expresses various types of love.

Lily’s mother quotes an old saying, “If a daughter doesn’t marry out, she’s not valuable; if fire doesn’t raze the mountain, the land will not be fertile” (79). Discuss the relationship between fertility and female suffering in the world of Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.

The society depicted in Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is one in which gender roles are firmly defined and enforced. Discuss three characters whose behavior exceeds or subverts these gender norms.