Monday, July 19, 2010
Woman Warrior
Maxine Hong Kingston gives a series of educational stories meant to inspire in several different ways. For instance the stories told in the chapter "White Tigers" is meant to make you think that as a woman it is possible to achieve wondrous things. In the case of girl in "White Tigers" she became a great warrior and conjured armies to overthrow the emperor and feared nothing. These are fantastic feats for any one person to achieve, man or woman. However I must say it is a larger triumph for a woman than a man to have achieved these things in the settings given. I knew that in a lot of Asian countries (China in particular) woman were/are belittled and not that to be as great as a man. However I did not know the extent of abuse and neglect that they undertook compared to boys. The fact that villages would celebrate for a week if someone had a boy and if they had a girl people are sad and tell the parents it is more profitable to raise sheep than a girl seems to me extremely disheartening and backwards compared to the culture that we have been raised in. After hearing about all of the verbal and physical abuse that girls went through I am not surprised that some of them took their own lives rather than go through with their arranged marriages their abusers had set up. The reasons for her success to me seem to be because of spite towards her parents and fear that they would control her life until she is married to a man who would control her life. She rose above the abuse and went to school got an education and has become a successful woman. The path to her self righteousness may have started with ill intent but has blossomed to help fight for women's rights everywhere.
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I was also surprised by the treatment of women in this book. I already knew that China was considered behind in certain aspects, and I also know that in Japan - a seemingly more "advanced" nation - that women still don't have the right to vote. However, I was shocked that slavery was so common in such a recent time. I also must admit I was saddened by the fact that the women were compared to sheep, although that is not very different from slavery in America when the slaves were listed among horses and cattle in the tax return forms.
ReplyDeleteI was also shocked by Brave Orchid's reaction to her brother-in-law taking another wife. I could not imagine my mother going to her ex-husband's house in Georgia and taking all of his children for herself. And to make his new wife her servant on top of that? No way!
It is sad to read that girls were looked down upon, not just by the public, but even by the family. They would sell their girls on the market, which is crazy to me, but like sierra said, it is just like slavery here. Its awful. I do like the fact that you saw that it was to empower women and show them they can fight and become something more then a slave girl or second wife.
ReplyDeleteSierra: when Brave Orchid did that to her sister and made her face her husband, Moon Orchid got dissed and then went mad. I do believe the mother does many things and it hurts others way more than her. She also doesnt really feel bad for saying hurtful things, like saying how she doesnt know how her six children did so well in sports that they are useless and how the narrators voice is awful and no one will marry her. If my mother constantly said hurtful things to me, I dont think I would be around much.
i just studied this in a geography class at uis... how over in china they prefer boys over girls so much that there numbers are greatly disproportioned. women are finding out they are having girls and having abortions. with their one child per family law due to their huge population, the parents are going through extremes to make sure that their one child is a boy to take on the family name and legacy. but they arent realizing the impact its going to have in the near future. the difficulties they are going to encounter when it is time to find a mate. It baffles me to think that the men are seen to be so important there when the women are the ones that will have to be there to keep life going. But we do see a gender role here in the united states as well I just hope we never become as obsessed with the idea as china and other countries have.
ReplyDeleteWhile some women in China were likely driven to suicide because of the way that they were treated, the article that I read for my presentation brings up another reason as to why women may have resorted to suicide. The article explains that while women were viewed as weak and had no voice in the family/community in China, she could use suicide to make a statement. In China, suicide is viewed as the "most damning public accusation" and many women used it to show condemn their husbands or mother-in-laws.
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