Pain and Beauty

In the story “Ribbons”, by Laurence Yep, the grandmother shows signs reflecting the culture she is used to living in, the Asian culture. For example, she treats Ian, her grandson, better than her granddaughter, Stacy, because in the Asian culture boys and men are everything. Women have little to no rights and receive little attention. Also, when Stacy attempt to show her the dancing she does with ribbons on her shoes the grandmother loses it. In her culture ribbons were used to bind young Asian girls’ toes behind their foot. It was considered to be “beautiful” in the Asian culture. The Grandmother was disgusted by them because that is what happened to her when she was a little girl. She was ashamed by them and never spoke of them and told people who knew never to speak of it. When Stacy found out she didn’t know what to feel. A mixture of sadness and awkwardness overcame her when she found out the whole story. She was not used to the culture, being born in America. She later tells the grandmother she feels sorry and shows how beautifully she can dance with the ribbons to prove that they don’t only bring pain.