Importance of Ji Lin's Chastity

Though she loves and is attracted to Shin, Ji Lin maintains her chastity throughout the novel. Her chastity symbolizes not only her purity, but also her respect for order and ritual; she knows there is a proper and improper way to go about conducting relationships and wants to honor what she knows to be true. Despite Shin's frustration—and her own—she refuses to compromise her values, knowing what she knows and holding true to what she believes in.