Son So-hŭi's "The Afternoon of Mellow Persimmons" reveals the Confucian society's pressure on women to bear children and how the Confucian values demoralize barren women. Barrenness, in Confucian society, was one of the seven vices for which wives were expelled from her husband's house. Confucian society was especially obsessed with preserving patrilineage, and thus, bearing children became the most important role of women. As Professor Kim mentioned in the introduction, "a woman's body was considered a biological and material instrument to serve patrilineal intersts" (Kim, 7). Perhaps the Confucian society's obsession of continuing their patrilineage was influenced by their concerns about receiving filial support from their children later in life. However, this kind of obsession demoralized women to feel less valuable and needed if they couldn't give her in-laws what they have expected from her …show more content…
She described herself as an abandoned woman, her barrenness caused her to feel guilty about continuing her relationship with her husband and forced her to come to the temple to pray for a child. Her husband, who first refused her suggestion of taking a concubine, changed his mind as he slowly grew his desire for a child. Although she believed in her husband's affection towards her, watching the young woman giving birth to a son caused the protagonist to feel segregated from the family and less valuable to her husband. Regardless of how well her husband treated her, the fact that his mistress could give him something she couldn't made her suffer the indignity of being "useless" to her husband. When the husband offered her an amber ring which was also on his mistress's hand, it stirred her sense of shame and inferiority toward her husband and the mistress. The ring, which was given to the young mistress before the protagonist, degraded her dignity as a
Yan Zhitui states that, "women take charge of family affairs, entering into lawsuits, straightening out disagreements, and paying calls to seek favor...the government offices are filled with their fancy silks." (Differences between north and south, 111). Yet, even in the Qing dynasty women were still restricted by and expected to uphold more traditional ideals, especially in the public eye. So, in the end, through her virtue, Hsi-Liu’s two children we able to become upright. Here, there is a split between what a woman is supposed to be according to old Chinese tradition, and the realities facing women in Tancheng. The loss of her husband, and economic hardship had forced His-Liu to behave in a different way, as if she were usurping the power from the eldest son so she could teach the two boys a lesson about being good family members. While she still maintains the ideals of bearing children, and being loyal to her husband, even after he dies, out of necessity she is forced to break from Confucian ideals of being only concerned with the domestic issues. This too put her at odds with the more traditional society around her, as the villagers pitied her sons, but vilified the Hsi-Liu for being so strict with them (Woman Wang, 65). Had she remarried, she would have been looked down upon even more because she would had broken her duty to remain faithful to her deceased
Lessons for Women was written by Ban Zhao, the leading female Confucian scholar of classical China, in 100 C.E. It was written to apply Confucian principles to the moral instruction of women, and was particularly addressed to Ban Zhao’s own daughters. As her best remembered work, it allows the reader insight into the common role of a woman during this fascinating time-period. The work starts off by Ban Zhao unconvincingly berating herself, and claiming how she once lived with the constant fear of disgracing her family. This argument is rather implausible, for the reader already knows the credibility of Ban Zhao, and how important her role was in ancient China.
(1) Wallace Stevens was born in Reading, Pennsylvania on October 2, 1879, and became one the most accomplished poets of his era. His modernist ideology coincides with colleagues such as T.S. Elliot and Ezra Pound. In his life Stevens wrote many poems, collected in over ten major publications, and won the Pulitzer price in 1955 for his works. In his poem Study of Two Pears' Stevens describes two pears not only how they are, but at the same time as they are seen. Li-Young Lee was born in 1957 in Djakarta, Indonesia, son of parents with opposing backgrounds. After fleeing Indonesia through Hong Kong to the United States, Lee attended several Universities. His work is influenced by his childhood, his family history and individualism. His poem Persimmons' is about himself growing up in the United States, trying to adapt to this new country and it culture. But also the relationship with his father plays a role.
AGG) The author of “Under The Persimmon Tree” often uses symbolism throughout the book. (BS-1) The author of UTPT uses the stars to give Najmah a superstitious belief, and give her hope and guidance to drive her towards her goals. (BS-2) The stars are used to help Nusrat accept loss, she looks to them for hope and guidance, and they have a religious meaning to her. (BS-3) The author uses changes in the stars to convey events and changes in Najmah’s life. (TS) The stars are used to portray changes in the characters lives, and the author uses them to give the characters hope, guidance, and an important meaning, as well as the ability to deal with loss
Almost everyone who is fortunate enough to live in a developed country can enjoy benefits and freedom. As people who have had a happy life since day one, many may have never gave much thought on how privileged we are compared to those living in horrible conditions in developing countries. The book Under the Persimmon Tree, by Suzanne Fisher Staples, provides the reader with a new perspective of the lives of those living in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is done by exploring the lives Najmah, a teenage Afghan girl, and Nusrat, a young American-Pakistani woman. The story is about these two characters struggling to survive under the Taliban regime. As both slowly start to lose what they love most and fall into despair, the
She was seduced at an early age and then fell in love with a preacher, but was overcome by an exciting younger man. She experienced every form of lust and desire as well as loss. Somehow though all the hardship she was able to come out on the other side a more complete woman and ironically did so without any of these
In today’s world, many societies would treat the children indifferently, caring for them and respecting them as an individual. However, in the Qing Dynasty, the gender of the child made a huge difference. This is viewed in The Story of the Stone by the children of the several concubines and how they are able to progress through society. Boys born through concubines are able to reach a place of power in the instance that a male child that is going to be the heir of a royalty or family dies. Therefore, the next male child would fill in to place, including concubine’s children. This is another example throughout The Story of the Stone of the differences in gender relations. Men are able, despite being the child of a mistress, to prevail in society during the Qing Dynasty due to their gender. Males are able to assume positions of power in their life despite who their mother is. Women who are born from a concubine, however, do not have such opportunities, and are viewed as just another girl in the family, and will never have the chance to excel from just being the daughter of a mistress. This shows the Dynasty’s lack of respect for women as a gender in a powerful position as the head of a family or ruling. Girls in the Qing Dynasty did not get the same opportunities as men, as seen above when it comes to positions of
The speaker's relationship with her husband had to go over a few changes. At first, she did not want anything to do with her husband, she was still fourteen years old consequently feeling unready on handling such a big responsibility, but she had no other choice but to stay with him as she was a part of an arranged marriage. Later on, the speaker accepts her relationship with her husband and
When the family arrives in Welch, they notice that their newly purchased house is dull-looking and depressing, matching their moods when they first start living there. Jeannette notices that their glum house is contributing to their glum moods so she suggests painting the house yellow, a colour that is symbolic of happiness, to try and boost morale. Nobody in her family is willing to help so she paints by herself and notices an improvement in the look of their house. Unfortunately, she leaves the paint outside in the wintertime causing it to freeze, meaning that she is unable to finish painting the house. One day while playing outside, Jeannette and her brother stumble upon a diamond wedding ring lying on the ground. The wedding ring symbolizes hope to the children because they realize that it can be sold for a substantial amount of money. They bring the ring to their mother and tell her that, “it could get [them] a lot of food” (185), to which she replies, “but it could also improve my self-esteem. And at times like these, self-esteem is even more vital than food” (185). Rose Mary decides to keep the ring because she values her own selfish needs over the welfare of her children. Both the yellow paint and the ring represent positive changes for the family but neither of them ends up actually changing their
which explains well how she had a finite amount of money and thought material wealth was more important than happiness. If she only knew before that she would spend the next decade working off her debt, she would have never asked for the necklace and she would have had a happy life. Furthermore, wealth isn’t the only thing that brings happiness to life. With an easy explanation, it explains how having material possessions doesn’t matter, because the moments we have are more valuable.
She then saw another life. Life without working and cleaning; however, the Lord doesn’t take her seriously. He doesn’t feel like he has too, as they are not married. “He wore me like a silken knot” is a simile which defines how he used her in his own way. He just wanted her as an accessory....
... by it. This is symbolic of her marriage which started out as happy and desirable and in such a short time she doubts her love for him and starts to see him as undesirable and animal-like. Women are afraid not to submit to the male species in fear of losing what they have and not being able to make it on their own.
What has happened to Confucianism. For a long time, Confucian was accepted as the idea that a healthy society depended on a solid traditional family. Confucius himself, for example, called for people to put principle above selfish desires. People supported hierarchy. The rulers moral example would inspire the people to live good lives. But one begins to detect a new theme emerging in society especially amongst the Chinese reformers: the theme of individualism oppose to familialism. Today, would the Confucian family be more and more aware of abuse to women and children? The rituals and traditions can be seen as both positive and negative. The ways in which women suffered affirm that some rituals were abusive. There are multiple signs indeed that something has gone badly wrong with the Chinese family traditions that led to family instability.
Do you like going to Sea World? After reading this essay, you might have second thoughts about going to see the amazing orcas. In the tragedy Blackfish, the audience experiences catharsis for the Killer whales and trainers alike because they both experience hardships, which makes the audience desire to help change the lives of these tragic heroes and changes the audience's opinion on Seaworld and other similar industries. Catharsis is the feeling of pity the audience experiences while watching or reading a story. The killer whales suffer starvation, violence and have to watch their babies be taken away from them, while the trainers also suffer in consequence of the whales harsh conditions- the trainers would try and build relationships with the whales and make them comfortable, but because of the whales natural instinct, trainers face death and are also classified as the tragic heroes of Blackfish.
It took ten years for Mathilde and her husband to pay off the debt of buying a new necklace. Those ten years were not spent with the luxuries she experienced so many years ago at the party, nor were they filled with the simple things she once owned and despised. She came to know “the horrible existence of the needy. She bore her part, however, with sudden heroism.” When passing her rich friend again in the street, she was barely recognizable. Who she was the day she ran into her friend was not who she was the night she wore that necklace.