Ribbons

Author's Note: "This is my response to the short story "Ribbons." Enjoy!"

 The shoes represent their culture and tradition and resistance to change. People in China think that if you have really small feet that means that you are beautiful so people used to and still do bind their feet to make themselves appear beautiful. As a result of the binding of the feet the women’s feet would still grow and become deformed from all the binding. The reason that the grandmother got so upset when she saw the girl’s mom handing her the slippers is because she thought that the mother was making the girl bind her feet. All in all to me the shoes symbolize tradition and I think they are also a little misleading.

 In today’s society, especially here in the U.S. beauty is everything. In fact, beauty almost gives you power. Think about it, all our Hollywood star actors and actresses and people in the tabloids are skinny and have what’s known as “the perfect figure”. Very few are an exception to this. Is that really who parents want their kids to look up to? Skinny girls in tight dresses? It almost makes overweight or bigger people seem like outcasts and that they have little importance, or at least that’s what I think. But really, what is beauty these days? Is it true beauty that lies inside or is it superficial and all about what’s on the outside? In the U.S. beauty is everything.