As noted above, besides being a mark of gentility and indulgence, bound feet were thought to be seductive. Men thought that if a girl bound her feet, her waist became more slender, and her breasts and hips bigger and more shapely. In his book My Country and My People, Lin Yutang writes that "small feet influenced the whole carriage and walking gait of the woman, throwing the hips backward, and effecting an extremely gingerly gait, the body 'shimmying' all over. Looking at a woman with bound feet walking was like looking at a rope-dancer, tantalizing to the highest degree." The bound feet, then, were some of the highest sophistications of the Chinese sensual imagination.
In Wang Lung's case, it was a mere indulgence to have a woman with bound feet. She was almost useless; she could not work in the fields or carry heavy loads, as O-lan did. She was kept as a "toy" to show other men that the master of the house could feed a mouth that did not work for its pay. The possession of Lotus by Wang Lung causes the villagers to respect him more. It shows that he is rich enough to afford his pleasures; he does not worry where his next meal is coming from.
Thus as Wang Lung becomes wealthier, foot-binding takes on more significance to him. Even though he noted on their first meeting that O-lan had big feet, yet during the years of work, this fact did not bother him. When he has more money and leisure, however, he looks at O-lan, and "she was altogether hideous, but the most hideous of all were her big feet in their loose cotton cloth shoes." Now that he has money, Wang Lung begins to realize that something is lacking in his life. It is then that he discovers the concubine Lotus, and his attraction for her is based, in part, on her small feet.
When Wang Lung moves Lotus into his house and builds her own separate court, she never goes out. One reason for this is simply that she cannot walk very far on her bound feet. She is kept like a toy or a pet, one who is expected to serve no other function than being a sex object.
Wang Lung's change in attitude is also shown in his view of his daughter. He makes O-lan bind the girl's feet so that they can enable her to find a good husband. Thus even Wang Lung, basically a mere farmer, represents the Chinese's long tradition of considering small feet to be associated with elegance and royalty.
