Margaret Atwood's Whale Rider

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In the film Whale Rider, directed by Niki Caro, a young girl named Pai is being oppressed by her grandfather, Koro, due to her being a girl. She is obviously the greatest option for leading, but he insists that she is incapable. She suffers from exile throughout the duration of the film, and achieves justice and power through her own efforts. This is much like the sirens in Margaret Atwood's “The Sirens Song”, where they pull in men as prey by exploiting their weakness despite being viewed as objects. Despite her imminent success, Pai still goes through a lot of pain at a young age solely because of her gender and the biases of her culture, much like all women in ancient Greece were treated. This can be seen in Homer’s epic The Odyssey, where Odysseus and his crew can be seen treating women as lesser beings. Margaret Atwood might state that the unfair and unequal treatment of women in these stories is not at all justified, and the ways of culture needed to be changed to achieve equality between the sexes. The purpose of Atwood’s “The Sirens Song” is to shift our understanding of …show more content…

During this journey, Homer illustrates multiple ways that women were oppressed with in the times of ancient Greece. “Kneaded them in my strong hands and the wax soon grew soft, worked by my strength” (Homer ⅘) Through this quote, one can find that men were portrayed as strong, powerful beings who had the power to defy and use the siren’s, or more generally women’s, knowledge to add to their own ego and figure. Despite not being direct, Odysseus elevates himself and other men by portraying himself as strong and legendary, while his comrades are loyal. The Siren’s were viewed as an obstacle to overcome as the only female figures in these scenes. These “monsters” were not given a voice and were only spoken upon by an egotistical

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