Educating Women During the Cultural Revolution Through the reading of background historical information and the novel of the same time period, one can see that literature is the reflection of the time period about which it was written. Historical data and fictitious characters are woven together to produce a realistic result. During the Cultural Revolution, the traditional attitude about educating woman changed as shown through Chinese history and as written by Bette Boa Lord in Spring Moon. Pre-cultural revolution, women were not allowed to be educated. After the revolution, more and more woman were being educated and getting jobs. We see this through the character’s actions in Spring Moon, and in real Chinese experiences. Spring Moon, a fictitious character in the novel of her name, desperately wanted to study; however if she were educated it might course many problems. “All at once, he knew the answer. ‘ Spring Moon?’ she looked up. ‘How would you like to read and write?’ ‘Could I?’ … ‘But all the boys would laugh at me and the tutor would resign again.’ … ‘What will grandmother say?’” (Lord, page78) In this discussion between Bold Talent and Spring Moon we see the consequences females might undergo from being educated. Spring Moon was afraid of what her family might say, what boys would laugh at her, and of the teacher would resign because he wouldn’t teach a girl. All these problems just from teaching a human to read and write. However most females were not afraid of the consequences they might suffer. “ ‘At last I decided to starve myself in bed.’ … ‘Tell me what is the matter’ she persisted. ‘I want…I want to study!’ I said it at last.” (Wall Bingham & Hill Gross, page20) This woman who lived during the pre-cultural revolution time period wanted to study so bad and the only way she knew how to convey this desire to her parents was to attempt suicide. Not only did this cause problems for the educated female, it also caused problems for her family. “ ‘What is the use of daughter learning a lot of drivel? You know that a girl can’t support herself.’ His voice was rising. ‘Besides, it would give me a terribly bad name.’” (Wall Bingham & Hill Gross, page20) A father during the pre-cultural revolution has the same feeling as Spring Moon’s grandmother. Bette Bao Lord writes:
The Enlightenment is known as the revolution that brought to question the traditional political and social structures. This included the question of the woman’s traditional roles in society. As the public sphere relied more and more ?? and the advances in scientific and educated thinking, women sought to join in with the ranks of their male counterparts. Women held gatherings known as salons where they organized intellectual conversations with their distinguished male guests. Seeking to further their status, enlightened women published pamphlets and other works advocating for educational rights and political recognition. Even with this evolution of woman in society, many still clung to the belief that the role of the woman was solely domestic. The females that spoke up were usually deemed unnatural. However these women used the time period of reason and science that allowed them the opportunity to break away from their domestic roles and alter the view of women in society.
There are many things that most people take for granted. Things people do regularly, daily and even expect to do in the future. These things include eating meals regularly, having a choice in schooling, reading, choice of job and a future, and many more things. But what if these were taken away and someone told you want to eat, where and when to work, what you can read, and dictated your future. Many of these things happened in some degree or another during the Chinese Culture Revolution under Mao Zedong that began near the end of the 1960’s. This paper examines the novel Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie and a book by Michael Schoenhals titled China’s Culture Revolution, 1966-1969. It compares the way the Chinese Cultural Revolution is presented in both books by looking at the way that people were re-educated and moved to away, what people were able to learn, and the environment that people lived in during this period of time in China.
When Lu Xun was born, Chinese society had been following the same traditions for generations. A pillar of these traditions, strict social hierarchies particularly oppressed women. Instead of having a say in their lives, they were subject to their father, their husbands, their husband’s family, and then even to their sons. Marriages were arranged, and in the event of the death of a husband, the woman would be expected to remain chaste even to the extent of choosing suicide over remarriage. Social hierarchies also restricted the intermingling of classes with strict social rituals separating the elite from the common. During Lu Xun’s early years, however, society had begun to get restless, and many pushed for change. At the forefront of the changing tides in Chinese society, Lu Xun advocated for change in the ancient social hierarchies that had directed Chinese society for generations in his stories “My Old Home” and “New Year’s Sacrifice” which specifically responded to the injustices of the traditional system against women and the arbitrariness of the separation between classes that the hierarchical system imposed.
The desire of the Founding Fathers to make America a successful republic played a significant part in changing the many roles that women found themselves in after the Revolution. The role of women as wives became more important as republican ideals established an emphasis on marriage. Society saw marriage as a miniature representation of a republic. Therefore, republican ideals like independence and the freedom from arbitrary power allowed women as wives more value and power within their families. The roles of women as mothers also became more important in the republic, as patriarchy loosened and the nation depended on mothers to educate American children in the republican way. And finally, the role of women in politics was theoretically reduced due to the increasing demands of their domestic roles, but they managed to develop methods to convey their opinions. All three of these roles had setbacks for women in the republic, but there were also significant positive effects. Women became more valued in their domestic roles as wives and partners to their husbands, and their roles as mothers and educators of their children. Also, though politics and state affairs were very exclusive to men, women of the republic managed to find ways to have their voices heard.
In the beginning half of the 20th century, China experienced an intellectual revolution, known as the May Fourth Movement. Among other things, May Fourth thinkers were passionate about women’s rights, and fought for equality between the sexes. Like in any school of thought, ideas about women and their roles evolved over time. In 1925, Lu Xun wrote “Regret for the Past”, a story about Shih Chuan-Sheng and Tzu-chun, a modern couple whose relationship falls apart. Ten years later, in 1935, the film “New Woman” was released. The film follows Wei Ming, a music teacher whose life begins to crumble due to the machinations of a lecherous businessman. Both Tzu-chun and Wei Ming represent a version of the “modern woman, but their similarities and differences illustrate how the idea of the modern woman changed and stayed the same over time.
Women are frequently overlooked when it comes to history in the 18th centuries. They were there in the flesh for all of the historical events, but they are rarely mentioned. Everyone has heard of the “Founding Fathers”, but students rarely hear about the “Founding Mothers” in their curriculum. Although women did not directly plan out our government, they still deserve to be given some credit for it. The roles that women played during the Revolutionary War greatly influenced the outcome of the war and the country that resulted from it.
The main characters in this story are a generation of mothers and their daughters. This story is told in sections as a narrative, where each chapter is recounted by a different woman. The mothers speak of their experiences growing up under the strict conditions in China. They told of how their marriages were predetermined and how they had to do as any male ordered. The daughters, on the other hand, being raised under American ways, told of their hardships with pressure given to them by their mothers. They spoke of American husbands, equality between both sexes, and how they’d rather believe that their futures could indeed be controlled.
Firstly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese family were considered as a shame for the family. The sons of the family were given more honour than the daughters. In addition, some daughters were even discriminated. “If you want a place in this world ... do not be born as a girl child” (Choy 27). The girls from the Chinese family were considered useless. They were always looked down upon in a family; they felt as if the girls cannot provide a family with wealth. Chinese society is throwing away its little girls at an astounding rate. For every 100 girls registered at birth, there are 118 little boys in other words, nearly one seventh of Chinese girl babies are going missing (Baldwin 40). The parents from Chinese family had a preference for boys as they thought; boys could work and provide the family income. Due to Chinese culture preference to having boys, girls often did not have the right to live. In the Chinese ethnicity, the family always obeyed the elder’s decision. When the family was trying to adapt to the new country and they were tryin...
The education of young ladies and youthful grown-up ladies in Colonial America seems to have gotten insufficient consideration. Constrained consideration has added to an uneven perspective of ladies' edu cation as being to a great degree devastated when appeared differently in relation to the instruction of men. Such a perspective seems to have come about because of an overemphasis, in instructive histories, on formal open educating.
Kirk, Ashley. "The Importance of Historicism and Context in Literature." Web blog post. Words on a Page. N.p. 2 Nov. 2012. Web. 11 Feb. 2014.
At the beginning of this essay Alexie gives some background information on his story which informs the reader that he may not have had the education that he would have liked, but he got by by reading. He says that he loves his father and he wanted to be able to read like his father. So, that’s what he did. By reading it gave him the confidence to not act like all the other young Indian boys on the reserve. He wasn’t afraid to let people know that he was smart. He cared about reading and wasn’t going to give that up. By having this strong confidence in his reading it inspired people in generations today to succeed in school even if they are in an Indian reserve and may not have the most stable
How important is your name? In “No Name Woman” by Susan G Kingston she talks about her nameless aunt who has committed adultery and is forgotten because of it. Chinese culture is very strict and non-forgiving it caused this woman to commit suicide along with her new born child because she couldn’t take the torture of living and constantly being judged for a possible mistake. This world that Kingston lived in names were like a privilege. If you did something to distort the Chinese culture your family along with the outsiders would forget you like you never existed.
“Books are the carriers of civilization” (ThinkExist, 2010, para. 1). The first part of a quote from Barbara W. Tuchman cannot be truer. It is why students study America’s classic novels to learn about the time period. Many authors intend writing for the future, while others just write for fun. They use literary techniques that are popular to the time period, making it obvious when the pieces were written. With the history, you also get the sentiment of the writer that only the novel can give you. The result of this is a great fusion between literature and history, and has its roots since the beginning of America.
In the Herland society education was a very important and valued aspect. Children were taught by the more experienced women of the society. Children appeared to enjoy their studies. This had a lot to do with how education was provided to the children. Learning was made to be fun and exploratory. It was hands-on and as the children progressed, their individual talents and interests were noticed and encouraged. “Beauty, health, Strength, Intellect, Goodness-for these they prayed and worked” (Gilman, p. 61). The theme throughout the novel indicated that the women were highly educated, and made every opportunity a hands-on learning experience. Even the arrival of the three men who were exploring became an educational experiment as they immediately began teaching the men their own language. Gilman noted that after capture, the men were each given a book to learn the Herland language, “we were indeed to learn the language, and not only that, but to teach our own” (p.
History is no more confined to a monolithic collection of facts and their hegemonic interpretations but has found a prominent space in narratives. The recent surge in using narrative in contemporary history has given historical fiction a space in historiography. With Hayden White’s definition of history as a “verbal structure in the form of a narrative prose discourse” literature is perceived to be closer to historiography, in the present age (ix). History has regained acceptance and popularity in the guise of fiction, as signified by the rising status of historical fiction in the post colonial literary world.