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Balzac and the little chinese seamstress analysis
Gender roles in literature examples
Gender roles in Literature
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Passage Analysis from Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress The opening passages of the novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie introduce the eponymous character. The author characterizes the Little Seamstress through the description of her physical appearance and her residential setting, constructing her with discordant elements of innocence and sensuality, as well as establishing the conflict she has with her environment. The passages clearly establish the contrastingly pure and passionate descriptions of the Little Seamstress. The author initially constructs an image of her innocence by depicting her engaged with her “sewing machine” in an archetypal, domestic, female pursuit. The bold color imagery in her “pale pink canvas shoes” implies her grace and demureness, which pairs with the color of her “white nylon socks” and …show more content…
Her home is in a state of absolute squalor, “the floorboards were grimy and streaked with yellow and black gobs of dried spittle” obviously left unwashed for a long time, which is ironically unsuitable for the seductive “princess of Phoenix Mountain”. Her conflict with her environment is further reinforced with the author’s choice of battle diction in the metaphor describing piles of cloth “under siege from an army of ants”, connoting unrest. This is added to by the symbolic presence of “a book lying on the table”, implying her craving for forbidden knowledge in the illiterate countryside. She also chooses to adorn herself with her “pale pink shoes” and “red silk ribbon” out of a sense of her own pride, and perhaps even a taste of disobedience from life in the dusty village, symbolic adumbrations of rebellion. The incongruity created by the contrasting characterization of the Little Seamstress and the setting create a palpable sense of disagreement, and
What would one expect to be the sentiment of a young women who worked in the Lowell textile mills? It is just such a depressing story; and the sad heroines are the young women of Lowell - Lucy Larcom- who Stephen Yafa portrays in his excerpt “Camelot on the Merrimack.” A perception through the eyes of a thirteen-year-old Lucy Larcom reveals that, “For her and the other young girls, the long and tedious hours they spent tending to demanding machines robbed them of their childhood.” The imagery in “Camelot on the Merrimack,” from Big Cotton by Stephen H. Yafa disclose the working conditions in those sordid mills.
Over the course of history there have been numerous works of literature which presented the reader with great descriptions of story characters and their overall personalities, and one of the most prevalent examples of such use of character depiction is shown in the story “A New England Nun,” written by Mary E. Wilkins Freeman. In this short story, Freeman is able to illustrate a woman who is struggling with the commitment of marriage after waiting fourteen years for her fiancé Joe Dagget to return from Australia while also maintaining a lifestyle that involves monotonous, domestic activities in her home. However, more importantly, Freeman is able to clearly establish the character Louisa as someone who is suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder by outlining her behavior as being precise, organized, and compulsive, as well as depicting her traits of perfectionism. One of these compulsive tendencies involves Louisa constantly sewing to the point of perfection, in the sense that she often rips out her sewing in order to remake it again.
On the surface, the protagonists of Silko's "Yellow Woman" and Chopin's "Story of an Hour" seem to have little in common. Yet upon closer inspection, both stories relate tales of women who are repressed by the social tenets that define their roles as wives.
As he slouches in bed, a description of the bare trees and an old woman gathering coal are given to convey to the reader an idea of the times and the author's situation. "All groves are bare," and "unmarried women (are) sorting slate from arthracite." This image operates to tell the reader that it is a time of poverty, or a "yellow-bearded winter of depression." No one in the town has much to live for during this time. "Cold trees" along with deadness, through the image of "graves," help illustrate the author's impression of winter. Wright seems to be hibernating from this hard time of winter, "dreaming of green butterflies searching for diamonds in coal seams." This conveys a more colorful and happy image showing what he wishes was happening; however he knows that diamonds are not in coal seams and is brought back to the reality of winter. He talks of "hills of fresh graves" while dreaming, relating back to the reality of what is "beyond the streaked trees of (his) window," a dreary, povern-strucken, and cold winter.
The Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan Spence is an educational historical novel of northeastern China during the seventeenth century. The author's focus was to enlighten a reader on the Chinese people, culture, and traditions. Spence's use of the provoking stories of the Chinese county T'an-ch'eng, in the province of Shantung, brings the reader directly into the course of Chinese history. The use of the sources available to Spence, such as the Local History of T'an-ch'eng, the scholar-official Huang Liu-hung's handbook and stories of the writer P'u Sung-Ling convey the reader directly into the lives of poor farmers, their workers and wives. The intriguing structure of The Death of Woman Wang consists on observing these people working on the land, their family structure, and their local conflicts.
Factory Girls by Leslie Chang is a book that looks into the lives of two migrant workers in China, and the author carefully scrutinizes their journey in search of a better life. Having a sense of self-fulfillment, both of these characters desire success, and they will go above and beyond anything to reach their purpose in life---which is, transitioning into a higher class. With their independent-driven mind set, both are able to reflect upon themselves the necessity and extravagance appropriate to their knowledge. Both show different flaws in how they handle economic exigencies, however they are able to face those with simplicity just by recognizing their dreams and ambitions. Nonetheless, both characters show different innovation and imagination, and thus having those characteristics creates a sense of agency which symbolizes as a “whole” to all Chinese migrant workers.
Wang Lung needs a wife so saves up the little money he has and buys a woman who is a slave named O-lan. O-lan is sold to Wang Lung so she can take care of the home, cooking and bear children. Wang Lung is disappointed when he first sees O-lan because she does not have bound feet which was a desirable quality at that time but he does enjoy when O-lan has the food ready when he comes in a night from the land. Wang Lung is very proud when O-lan makes cakes that no one else in the village knows how to makes and when his family comes to feast for the new year at their house.
Blondal’s ‘red coat with silver buttons’ is contrasted to Steina and Lauga who ‘[rub] mud off [their] skirts’. The monotonous colours of the sisters’ clothing compared to Blondal’s spritely red garments with shimmering embellishments exemplify the extent of society’s wealth disparity. Further, Blondal’s ‘bright red coat’ is also suggestive of his power, as red tones are typically symbolic of strength, authority, thus establishes his determination to bring Agnes to her death for the crimes she committed. Despite Steina and Lauga’s father being a district officer, they still live amongst ‘the hovels of peasants and farmers’, which ‘begin to repel’ Blondal, who is ‘accustomed to the more spacious dwelling… built from imported wood’. Through this, Kent introduces the capitalist attitudes present at the time, subsequently demonstrates Blondal’s forthcoming manipulation of Agnes’ trial and the disempowerment of several characters in the novel who do not have the influence that Blondal possesses. Thus, the opening chapter is used by Kent to establish the wealth disparity between people of different social classes, hence encourages the reader to anticipate the impending result of Agnes’
This creates sinister predators within her short stories through the use of empowering and dangerous women. in ‘The Snow Child’, the use of subversion turns the traditional fable of Snow White’s existence from maternal desire into a child who is the product of paternal desire and sexual fantasy. The original tale of Snow White explores a queen who is driven by her desire for beauty and youth, this is similar within ‘The Snow Child’ as the Countess becomes jealous of the child as the Count begins to favour her. The countess and the child are portrayed as binary opposites throughout the story; as one is clothed, the other is naked. This could reflect the importance of appearance within society, and explain the Countess’ antagonistic response to the child and acts of neglect due to her jealousy of the child’s beauty. Carter’s description of the Countess’ clothing leaves the reader with an idea of her dangerous nature; she wears “pelts of black foxes”, an association suggesting a predatory and cunning nature. She also wears “scarlet heels, and spurs” and it may be that the colour of the heels comes from the actions of the spurs, which adds to this idea of violence. We see this nature when she is threatened by the child regarding the Count’s affections, “wife” becoming “the Countess” in a shift emphasised by finally having her own thoughts and feelings in the
Chinese Cinderella is a compelling autobiography by Adeline Yen Mah, a struggling child, yearning for acceptance and love in her dysfunctional family. In this novel of “a ‘secret story of an unwanted daughter”, Adeline presents her stepmother Niang, as a violent, impatient, biased, domineering and manipulative demon. Analysing the language used by the author, we can discover how effectively she does this.
Page 151: “A barefoot girl. A full-grown one. One who wore the top tenth or so of what had long ago been a pair of blue jeans. One who wore a short, skin-tight, sleeveless sky-colored t-shirt through …which revealed the shape of the…”
Working at her father’s clothing shop, she became very knowledgeable about expensive textiles and embellishments, which were captured in her works later in career. She was able to capture the beauty and lavishness of fabrics in portraits of aristocratic women.
The Chinese Cinderella is a true story of an unwanted daughter by the name of Adeline. Adeline’s aunt is the only person who is not mean to her. This book is very good, but sad at the same time. However, why does her family hate her so much? This paper will tell you all about her childhood.
Thomason, Elizabeth, ed. “Little Women: Louisa May Alcott 1868.” Novels for Students. Vol. 12. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 116-129. Print.
Tertullian. “Chapter1. Modesty in Apparel Becoming to Women, in Memory of the Introduction of Sin into the World Through a Woman.” On the Apparel of Women. Trans. S. Thelwall. Ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe. Vol. 4. Buffalo,NY: Christian Literature, 1885. Print.