What was the role of Valkyries in Norse mythology?5. The strength and fierce attributes of warrior women in mythology and folklore had an effect on the societies of the ancient Greeks, Norse, and Celts. In fact, Viking women (the historical counterparts of the Norse mythological figures) were even allowed to divorce their husbands under certain circumstances. What were these circumstances?Critical Thinking Questions1. Early in the unit, you learned that women warriors are always on the side of good.
Unlke Yunior, she did not grow up in another country. Her struggle deals with finding an identity as a Chinese- American. Unlike the Domincan culture, which seems to be outspoken and open, the Chinese seem to encourage silence and secrets. The novel begins with Kingston’s mother saying, “You must not tell anyone,” before sharing the story with her daughter. - Silence is encouraged in their culture, allowing Kingston to develop into a shy, awkward girl with trouble adjusting.
Each mother and daughter tell her own story. The book is divided into four main sections; the stories are told from the viewpoints of four Chinese mothers and their Chinese American daughters. The only exception is Suyuan Woo, who, having recently died, speaks not for herself but through her daughter, Jing-mei. The daughter tells her mother’s stories as she takes her mother’s place at the mahjong table and on the fateful trip to China. The novel traces the psychological development of the American daughter and her final acceptance of the Chinese mother and what the Chinese mother stands for.
At the end, Lily finds out the complete truth about her mother who lived in the Pink house, and on the day that she died, she went to get Lily and to run away from T. Ray. Lily also learns that she did kill her mother by accident, forgives herself and learns to love her mother. I would improve the book by adding Deborah's ghost as she watches over Lily through the whole story, and how much she changes as the climax reaches its end. I would recommend this book to families and friends, since it has a very important life lesson. “The Secret Life of Bees” is, once again,
Feb 13, 12 Modernizing China and Japan Critique 1: Wild Swans Three Daughters of China Jung Chang’s Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China is about the lives of three Chinese women; the author herself, her mother Bao Quin, a high ranking Communist official who fell under conflict with political leaders when Jung Chang was still a child, and Jung Chang’s maternal grandmother Yu-fang, who could remember back to the “Old China” when events were so much different. Through a look into the lives of these women, we can see the effects of personal, political and societal Chinese history on particular individuals; through them, history is made personal. The changes that these three generations of women saw are truly amazing. For example, Yu-fang, who was given to a warrior as a concubine at the age of 15, suffered through both the agony of foot binding, a binding of the feet to stop growth, and, much later, the equal agony of allowing her feet to change back to their natural state. After only six days together, her husband left, leaving his
Kingston’s story “A Song for a Barbarian Reed Pipe” employs numerous fantasy elements in depicting her separation from the restrictiveness of China and further, her discovery of harmony between her ancient family’s culture and her new American one. Navigating through confusion and anger, Kingston is ultimately able to remove herself her Chinese bindings and find a sense of accord between her past and her future. Kingston’s rhetoric conveys her struggle with the complexities of her Chinese culture and her inability to come to a core truth. Furthermore, she gravitates toward American culture for its simplicity. Kingston is having difficulties sorting fact from fiction in her mother’s story about Moon Orchid’s encounter with her husband.
written by Gish Jen demonstrated a double consciousness. Through her racial lens she detects the differences between the Chinese, the Irish, and the White Americans; she is always racially conscious and suspicious. When her Shea in-laws continuously comment on her granddaughter Sophie’s skin color she makes a remark implying more racial breeding thus ceasing conversation and invoking an apology. Further in the text Chinese grandmother says, “Nothing the matter with Sophie’s outside, that’s the truth. It is inside that she is like not any Chinese girl I ever see.” Her statement gives insight on how the granddaughter may pass through the veil with her exterior as Chinese but her interior passes for American, a dual identities within one person.
Carleen Henry-Palmer English 101 Professor Askary Essex County College 3 June 2013 Palmer 1 Carleen Henry-Palmer Professor Nina Askary English 101 3 June 2013 Snapshot: Lost Lives of Women Strength and inspiration comes from our family, elders, past generations and their stories. In Amy Tan’s “Snapshot: Lost Lives of Women”, she attempts to reach, touch and appeal her reader’s emotion. Although the story of her grandmother’s life seems to be a common story of the Nineteenth Century Era within the Chinese cultural context, it reveals another intense story to us. This delicate message is about the author’s grandmother’s relentless spirit that has become her muse to write and share these historical facts with her audience. She uses a family photo to describe the bondage and enslavement of Chinese women in her grandmother’s culture.
However, the tone quickly changes as Song begins to miss and need China. After describing an unfriendly run in with a landlord Song says “You find you need China: your one fragile identification, a jade link handcuffed to your wrist” (Song). Here we see Song relating to the sister across seas and knowing that she needs to be back with her family and the people that love her, like her mother. These two contrasting section of the poem are used to show that even though life may be tough and strenuous in China, the life lived in America can also be not as forgiving. Family and culture seem to always win the battle against rebellion to a new land, resulting in the speaker’s sister’s
Oscar Cruz EN 102 Prof. Helm March 17, 2013 Domination of Women in the Yellow Wallpaper “The Yellow Wallpaper,” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, tells the story of a woman’s fall into madness as a result of the rest an ignore the problem cure that is frequently prescribed to cure hysteria and nervous conditions in women. More importantly, the story is about control and attacks the role of women in society. The narrator of the story is symbolic for all women in the late 1800s, a prisoner of a confining society. Women are expected to bear children, keep house and do only as they are told.