Ties That Bind, Ties That Break

Ailin goes to Big Uncle to tell him of her decision to be the Warners’ amah. She is nervous, and he takes the news expressionlessly. Taking this for calmness, she explains, “I thought it less disgraceful to the family name than becoming a concubine of the Fengs” (90). However, Big Uncle is hiding his fury. He tells her he loved her father: “That is why you may leave this room alive” (90).

She says goodbye to her family. Then she leaves in a rickshaw to her new home, where she thinks Billy will be the troublemaker. While she is unpacking, Billy and Grace express an interest in her ink-making materials. She shows them, then says that if they are good she’ll teach them how. She thinks they’ve probably never been bribed with Chinese brush-painting before.

Life as an amah who teaches lessons to American children is not easy for Ailin, or Eileen, as they call her. Billy is unruly, but she recognizes a kindred spirit in him, telling him Chinese stories to quiet him. The difficult part, though, is adjusting to a new way of life. The houseboy dislikes her, she soon grows out of her clothes and must buy Western ones, and she must get used to the Warners’ food.

The servants, too, have trouble understanding Ailin’s role. She overhears a conversation between the houseboy and a maid where she finds she is considered well-bred, but she is also just a servant. She also overhears the Warners discussing her teaching the children about Chinese brushwork, and Imogene calls Chinese a “heathen language” (98). She doesn’t understand the word or how it applies to her writing.

One Sunday, after church, Timothy Warner asks to speak to Ailin. He tells her that instead of Chinese folktales, they want their children to learn Western history and literature. They are specifically concerned that she is teaching them Confucianism, which he calls a “heathen religion” (98). Ailin argues that it is not a religion at all, but a philosophy. Mr. Warner rants about the topic, mentioning “idolatry” and reminding Ailin of Big Uncle’s implacable stubbornness. She just nods, then looks up the word in her dictionary later. She is indignant, realizing for the first time the price she has paid for her misdeeds: being exiled to a culture that despises her values. 

For two years, Ailin lives completely as Eileen. Her only link with the past is Miss Gilbertson, who invites her to a party where she finds it difficult to speak to Xueyan. She stays away from her family. She also stops talking about Confucius, easing the Warners’ fears. Billy is better behaved, which means she has earned the respect of the other servants by making their lives easier.

One day, the Warners tell her that they are going on a retreat and leaving the children in her care. On the second day, Ailin realizes that Billy is sick, so she goes to the houseboy. He does not remember the name of the Warners’ doctor, so she has the houseboy order a rickshaw. As he agrees, he calls her “Miss Tao” for the first time. She goes home, where the gatekeeper Lao Wang tells Ailin her mother is with Second Sister. Rather than face her uncle, she goes to Second Sister’s new home. The gatekeeper slams the gate in her face, saying they will have nothing to do with foreigners. Finally, she heads for Miss Gilbertson’s home, crying. Miss Gilbertson goes to the same doctor as the Warners, so she takes Ailin to him.

Billy turns out to have the measles. After she has assured the other servants that it is not smallpox, she goes to rest. The houseboy brings her a cup of tea. The Warners return after Miss Gilbertson calls them, but all is calm. Mrs. Warner says they are lucky to have Ailin. Despite her improved relationships with people in the house, she remembers having the door shut in her face and feels like an exile in her own city.

Timothy Warner calls Ailin into the library again, this time to tell her they are going back to America. She only hopes she will be able to get another job. Mr. Warner surprises her and asks if she would be willing to travel to San Francisco with them. He says they are worried about Billy’s social immaturity and have decided to have him taught at home. They think that their kids’ transition back to American life will be easier with her around. She asks to think things over but knows she will go with them.

Ailin takes the rickshaw to the Tao compound, where she finds her uncle a pathetic figure. They trade barbs, and then she informs him she is going to America. He is surprised that she even bothered to tell him, but his face shows “a mixture of guilt, regret, and even admiration” (115). She says she thought he should be informed, as head of the family, and even tells him she does not think he would have sent her to be a concubine because of his family pride. He says he has underestimated her. She gives him the money she has saved from her work to fund her younger brother’s public-school education, then goes to see her mother. Her mother tells her Liu Hanwei won a scholarship to study in America. She jokes that maybe she will run into him there. Her mother begins to weep, saying she should have insisted on having Ailin’s feet bound. Instead, she must live with the “foreign devils” (117). Ailin realizes that her mother does love her after all, even though she has been so much trouble.