QGoldBoyEmeralsGirl Look for two specific quotes about Professor Dai that shows her to be a different person from the traditional image of Chinese women. Explain how these quotes show the differences from the traditional roles and images of women. Define the social structure that allows Professor Dai to be who she is. To what extent does “social construct” create who a person can be? Would she have been allowed to be who she is today if she had been born in the 1850-1940s?
In the story, her son is also murdered so that there would be no inheritance on her side of the family. It would be appropriate to assume that women during this time period, (widowed or not) were indiscreetly challenged by law to adhere to the morals and ideals of men in order to succeed in society. Public opinion and shame have a significant influence on the outcomes and success of women during the late imperial China. Out of all these characteristics and expectations of women, the idea of submissiveness and courage are probably the most important and honorable of Chinese women during the late 1600’s. It was expected that women would abide by their husband regardless of their situation.
As she attempts to interpret and understand the cultural codes that have shaped her life, Kingston introduces the reader to the fate of transgressive women in traditional China, elucidates women’s situation in her extended family, and epitomizes the contradictions in the cultural messages with which a young Chinese American woman must grapple. Storytelling becomes the means through which mother passes on to her daughter all the complexities and uncertainties of mother’s and daughter’s identity as women in a patriarchal culture. Remembering her mother’s interpretations as they resonate with the memories of her past, the daughter, as she too passes them on to posterity, ponders around these memories, critiques them, making them her own. The role of memory in The Woman Warrior surfaces from the very first sentence of the
Women in Chinese Society In the article The Named and the Nameless: Gender and Person in Chinese Society by Rubie S. Watson the social structure and the role of women in China is deeply connected with the patrilineal values of the culture. She specifically studies the Cantonese culture of Ha Tsuen located in the northwest corner of the New Territories (Watson 208). She focuses on the act of name giving and how this act is directly related with the status of a male, also how name giving is extraordinarily different between men and women. Where men have multiple names to show status, women are essentially nameless (Watson 207). The social structure of the Ha Tsuen is represented by names.
Role of Women in Flatland Society Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions by Edwin A. Abbott depicts a fictional two-dimensional world that “A Square” lives in. This two-dimensional world is used to satirize Victorian society and the strict social hierarchy. The role of women in Flatland’s society appears to be especially reflective of Victorian society at the time. As typical of Victorian patriarchal society, women have very few rights and are considered to be at the bottom of society. However, based on the breadth of women and other shapes in Flatland, it appears that certain shapes in Flatland have the same appearance as women from a distance making it an interesting contrast of women’s traditional role in society.
Roman women in ancient times, though discriminated against on ground of gender but was seen as the most liberated in the world of that time. When looking at the sources for ancient roman women many questions are asked and considered, such as, what was the role of roman women in their society? Were they considered citizens who had personal freedoms, or were given no or little education? Were there roles really important to society? Whenever we go through the records of roman women's status in society there is always a great consternation.
Kaplan’s essay, ‘The Case of Women in The Recent Chinese Cinema’, mentions how “new Chinese films attempt something different than national allegory, that we find precisely related to the issue of female and subjectivity.” (Kaplan 159). She brings two Chinese films related to the subject of women, Tian Yun and Army Nurse, for her cross-cultural analysis. Among the two films, this essay focuses on Army Nurse by Hu Mei in terms of how individuals, eroticism and marriage were conflicted in the society. The film, Army Nurse, begins with depicting the society system which requires Chinese to fulfill their duties even before the individual has their own thinking. In this case, the Party steals the individual’s freedom to choose a job, because they started their duties so early that the
Compare/Contrast Essay In ancient Chinese and Indian societies, women were not thought highly of, however they did play differing significant roles in their own societies. Their main points of significance were found in the qualifications for a wife, duties inside the home, and the relationship between them and their husbands. Chinese and Indian women are very similar in their societies because, although they go about it in different ways, they both have the ultimate goal of making their husbands, families, and villages look good. Qualifications for a wife are where the Chinese and Indian women differ the most. Chinese women are supposed to appear modest, which is why they must ever use inappropriate language, always keep their clothes on and fresh, and hide their chastity, if they have any.
The Daughters in The Joy Luck Club battle the cultural differences between the ancient values of their immigrant mothers and the American way of life they live in. In China, the mothers were taught strength of character was built through obedience. In modern American, the daughters are exposed to a society where women have more freedom of expression. Even clothing is different in each culture. The daughters are being raised on conflicting cultural differences.
The problem with the confined versus unconfined woman in the medieval period as expressed in some literature of the time is that the unconfined woman is seen as dangerous. She is subverting an older order of gendered behavior and is proving that she can take on the same responsibilities and think on par with her male counterparts. Women who adhere to the narrow roles of wives, mothers, and peaceweavers generally appear as confined. Although this word may conjure connotations of something being done against one’s will, the confined woman of medieval literature appears perfectly happy and gracious to live in such a role. She is not dangerous and poses no threat to the male power structure.