Amy Tan tells of a mother's expectation for her daughter to be a child prodigy. Jamaica Kincaid tells of an unknown person describing to a girl how to be a "good" girl. Both essays illustrate an authority figure that has expectations for a young female and why and how those expectations will come about. As young children growing up without a care in the world, we cannot comprehend why authority figures dictate how we should behave. In "Two Kinds", the daughter is expected to be a child prodigy because her mother believes "you can be anything you want in America".
In the process, she endangered her life as she was threatened by the Taliban. Being the daughter of a school owner meant that she had the moral support of her parents as she persevered as an education activist and a feminist, but on the 9th of October, 2012 she was shot by a Talib. (1) Education is a privilege most of us are blessed with but some are willing to pay the ultimate price for. She was born and raised in a male dominant society, a community where a girl child was considered to be a burden to the family and was only useful to bear children or to do household chores. (2) She realized that ensuring education along with women’s rights were the only solutions to the dilemma she experienced in her society.
Two men in Miral’s life treat her very well. Both education and natural power are themes that we compare with based on these two novels. Education is very important for women from Middle East countries because it is a good way to change their lives. In Saadawi’s novel, Firdaus was born in and grew up in a poor family in a community of poor families. She did not know about how book was so powerful at the beginning until she moved to her uncle’s house in Cario.
Being a mother has been truly a wakeup call and a sincere motivation to continue my education. Like many other children my sweet baby girl does not like the doctor, while waiting in the room for the doctor to come she asked me “mommy why are you not a doctor? This way we would never have to come here” while I smiled and nodded to her with a response that mommy would be one day, it just hit me hard like never before that I must take some action soon before it is too late, not that she mentioned to me she wanted me to be a doctor but it has been my desire to become a nurse one day since I was a little girl, her words were just a add on and touched me deeply. I have a great sense of humor and great personality. I am easy to get along with and a hard working mother that works hard to raise a child
Women need to realize without them our society and world could not go on. Therefore they do not need to risk their health for us, when there are other people that would do that instead of them. Women being women, and fighting in combat, the men they are fighting against feel like they are an easy target and could easily capture them and take them for hostage. Women are weaker than men by genetics they would not be able to fight back and defend themselves. Women would always need a man there to protect themselves.
As a young adult Matlins parents expressed a concern that her deafness would be an insurmountable barrier in a world where words and sounds were so important to everyday living. But instead of agonizing over her deafness, they faced it head on and embraced it. They sent her to schools where she learned to both speak and sign and they encouraged her to make friends in the neighborhood. But most importantly they treated her as any child should be treated with love and respect. Marlee is currently serving as the national spokeswoman for the largest provider of TV closed captioning, and has spoken on behalf of CC in countries such as Australia, England, France, and Italy.
It is a story of the indomitable spirit of a people and individuals seen through the eyes of two resilient women. A Thousand Splendid Suns is a must read for those who wish to understand the modern history (1964 - 2003) of Afghanistan, which is told eloquently through the eyes of Laila and Mariam (our second heroine). Life is an unending search for love, family, home, acceptance, a healthy society, and a promising future. You can go home again, even if "home" has evolved and been transformed. As home is transformed one adapts and maintains what one can of tradition.
Katherine battles to teach a groups of girls and encourage them to be independent and think for themselves. She tries to overcome this challenge in a society that does not value women’s independence and treats them as second class citizens; only fit to look after and serve men. Katherine’s new and strong views challenge the school traditions and bring her to the attention of the school board who instruct her only to teach the syllabus and give no other support or feedback. This can be seen as a metaphor for the treatment of women in the time where women were expected to only do as they were told. The society in this text had low expectations for women.
The School seems to have older methods however the Obis have a passion for modern methods. Micheal says “Ndume School is backward in every sense of the word”(162) and tries his hardest to change that completely. Micheal is pleased to hear “All our colleagues are young and unmarried,”(161) he tells Nancy “they will give all their time and energy to the school”(161) however Nancy is not pleased to hear this news. Nancy had already imagined herself as the “admired wife of the young headmaster, the queen of the school” (161) she wanted everyone to know who she is and look up to her, Nancy was a bit of a showoff. The Obis have their ideas and don’t want anything to ruin that, even their own self deconstruction.
This form of education also allows Jane to explore her imagination. At Gateshead, Jane is constrained by the form of education afflicted upon her by the Reed’s, she is educated to be humble and obedient, this is illustrated through her subservient character, “silence! This violence is all most repulsive.” By Mrs Reed telling Jane to “silence”, conveys that her aunt wants Jane to know her dependency, inferior status, and her little rights. The Reed family use hegemonic control upon Jane, to educate her to be submissive. This informal form of education places constraints upon Jane, as the authority of her aunt and cousins restricts her.