She cannot simply create conflict nor can she walk away. Thus, she needs to find a solution by which one of her loyalties is broken for her. Her family is not available to break that loyalty so she must then find a way for the new family to break the loyalty. This is what leads to the plan she eventually enacts.
The narrator is bound by a strong sense of loyalty. There is conflict, in that it seems each of these different loyalties provides a strong constraint on the problem. Yet, with time, the narrator finds a creative way to resolve the conflict without breaking any loyalty. It is interesting to note that each loyalty is given the same value to the narrator. To some, it would seem clear that there is a loyalty hierarchy that should be used to resolve this situation. Loyalty to the new family, for example, should be lowest according to many Westerners. However, the sense that the narrator has is...
Thus, the situation must be resolved without breaking any one loyalty.
The story provides a strong example of finding ways to resolve ethical dilemmas. Such dilemmas occur specifically because there is no easy solution. In this case, the loyalties appear to be mutually exclusive -- that the loyalty the narrator feels towards herself must be subsumed in order that the loyalties to the two families be maintained. Yet, we see that she finds a solution that shows she did not need to subsume her loyalty to herself in order that the situation be resolved. This provides insight into the nature of solving even the most difficult ethical dilemmas -- there is another constraint often ignored in time. Given enough time, solutions may emerge and as long as the person with the dilemma has the time they should take it in order that the dilemma be resolved in the best possible manner.
