Pain is beauty

“I have always told you a true lady let’s no ugliness into her life,” she said, “and that only through pain will you understand beauty.” (109) This quotation from the book is going to be a very memorable one because of it’s meaning. By saying that “a true lady let’s no ugliness into her life”, conveys the idea that their isn’t any true ugliness in the first place. A lady can be considered to be “ugly” but if she is able to get past how other people view her, she is a true lady, because although other people may view her as being ugly, it did not matter; she does not care. The second part of the quotation is similar to the sayings “no pain, no gain” and “beauty is pain”. These sayings are true in all aspects. What is beauty and why do people view such importance in it? That is what beauty is. Beauty is/are the thing/s people feel are so important they consider it beauty. To some, a lean and toned body maybe considered beautiful; to others the Patriots winning the super bowl after a perfect season would have been beautiful. The lean and toned body may seem superficial, but looking deeper into the picture may change your mind. Not everyone is born with a lean and toned body. A lot of people work hard to achieve their ideal body size. If a person puts such great effort in doing something productive, shouldn’t that be considered beautiful? The Partiots worked their butt off all season, why wouldn’t it be considered beautiful if they achieve the ultimate award in the NFL. In the story, women went through crucial pain and agony to achieve their goal. The beauty was not what was achieved but the dedication they had to go through the things they did to achieve their goal. “For ten years you have trained for this moment,” she gently reassured me. “You obey the rules set down in The Women’s Classic. You are soft in your words but strong in your heart. You comb your hair in a demure manner. You don’t wear rouge or powder. You know how to spin cotton and wool, weave, sew, and embroider. You know how to cook, clean, wash, keep tea always warm and ready, and light the fire in the hearth. You take good and proper care of your feet. You remove your old binding each night before bed. You wash your feet thoroughly and use just the right amount of scent before putting on clean bindings.” (109) In this passage, not only does she have to deal with the pain of the bindings, she had to deal with learning all the duties and responsibilities she would have for the rest of her life. She is forced, by society, to go through this pain, and although this may not be something she truly desired, the fact that she endures all this, in the end, allows her to determine the important beautiful things in life.