This passage from Emily Prager's 1982, "A Visit from The Footbinder," encapsulates a young girl's first foot binding experience. Prager, an American author, provides readers with a non-oriental perspective on the tradition of foot binding. This excerpt takes place inside a temple, sometime during Ancient China where this crippling practice conforms to society and is deemed to be beautiful, leading to the idea that women with bound feet 'may marry well' and live a prosperous life. The overall tone of this passage is quite dark, with the opening paragraph graphically describing the mutilation of the Pleasure Mouse's foot, ending with her bellowing 'in agony.'.
This passage is told in third person by a heterodiegetic narrator, a narrator who is not a character in the story but is able to describe all the particular events that take place throughout the story. However, this means that we learn nothing about the narrator's own position, and we do not interpret the narrator as an actual person. Furthermore, this does not require the writer to reveal all that a first-person character would otherwise. This particular passage is in past tense, and told in story time, meaning readers are able to closely follow the process of the foot binding and the how Pleasure Mouse reacts to it in more detail. .
Prager's detailed and uncensored description at the beginning of this extract leaves readers feeling uncomfortable with the graphic process of the foot binding. The author's use of alliteration throughout the first half of paragraph one with the letter 'B' such as in 'bent', 'beneath' and 'break' provides this harsh emphasis on the pain of foot binding, allowing readers to further empathise with the main character. In line 8, the shape of Pleasure Mouse's newly shaped foot is described as 'the point of a moon sickle.' This comparison provides clear imagery, giving readers the opportunity to picture the unnatural curve of Pleasure Mouse's foot.
