The themes in the story “The Wedding Gift” are freedom, the right to choose, women power and much more. All of these themes fall into one category, which is one of the major theme in this text, “self realization”. When Kezia is told to marry an old, rich man, by the Barley’s for their own business benefit. Kezia expresses her feelings by telling Mr. Mears “My body doesn’t belong to anyone, expect for me”. This story showcases, how women were portrayed back then and even right now in some countries such as China, Afghanistan, India etc. I recently read an article, where a young girl named Priya Khan, committed a suicide in India due to a forced marriage to an old man enough to be her grandfather. Since, her family was not able to provide for her. Towards, the …show more content…
Keiza was in put in a situation, where she had an option to trick Mr. Mears into marrying her. However, in Priya Khan’s case, her families were always around pressuring her. She only had two choices, either kill herself or marry the old man. Just like Kezia, Priya Khan made a choice. It might not have been the best decision, but this shows that she would rather die then to live an unhappy life. Overall, women were and still are treated like a toy being passed around for someone’s satisfaction. They struggle to become independent and to let their voices be heard. The theme in the story “The Roller Rink” is universal because the oval roller rink is a metaphor for circle of life. It represents from beginning of mankind people born, live and die. In my perspective, the rink symbolizes the after life. When humans are at their death stage. They begin to see blackness and are unable to remember clearly. In the beginning of the text, it stated “Unfortunately I can no longer tell which parts- I have been reworking these notes. I am not even certain precisely how I first stumbled into environs of the story.” After a
Steven Herrick’s verse novel ‘The Simple Gift’ and Tame Impala’s ‘Yes I’m changing’ incorporate a variety of effective language techniques and textual forms to centralise the notion of transitions. In these texts transitions are portrayed through the transformation of the characters. This transformation is displayed through themes of acceptance, realisation and embracing change.
It is human nature to look for happiness. Some people find it in material possessions, some find it in money, but most of us find it in love. To find true love is a difficult task especially now in the times of cell phones and Jaguars. Money and power play a big role in today’s society, and some people would rather have those things than a love of another human being. In some rare cases it is not even a person’s decision who she (almost every time it’s a woman who is being given away) will marry. Although it does not happen very often, there are still cases where a woman is being married off to a man by an arrangement made by her parents, to insure stability and security of that woman. The standing in the community means a great deal, just like Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God illustrates.
The marriage between Stella and Stanley has become a very dysfunctional relationship. Stella being attracted to a man of forceful nature becomes blindly accustomed to the everyday routine of an abusive relationship. Many women in the 20th century and even today put up with household abuse, many who were unable or unwilling to leave. One case that appears time and time again is the high abuse in the traditional custom of child marriages. In rural areas, such as those of Afghanistan child marriages are common, even more common is the abusive and controlling nature towards the underage brides. Much like Stella’s marriage, these underage brides will live in abuse, unable to speak against their husbands, and be tormented and humiliated throughout their marriage.
The Simple Gift is a free verse novel and a compelling story of a 16 year old boy, Billy who leaves his abusive fathers home and dull schooling life, anticipating for something better than what he left behind. He finds a home in an abandoned freight train outside a small town. He falls in love with a wealthy girl Caitlin and befriends a fellow train resident, Old Bill. Billy is voluntarily homeless but now has a future that he did not have before. This book is a life-affirming look at the characteristics of humanity, generosity and love.
This trend was heartbreaking but it is also a reality. Marrying Darya was not new to her father but a secure way to pay off a debt. “I’m not going! I’m not going” (119). Forcing a child to marry is a human waste and cheap sorrow. Marrying girls at a young age is the way to settle debts and improve family’s finical situations. This business deal is unprecedented and unjust. Selling a daughter to pay off a debt is not acceptable or normal. Despite the terrifying story of the opium brides, the bigger issue is the reason behind the debt.
Imagine seeing a girl no older than eight years old, being forced into marriage to a man twice her age. For many girls around the world, being forced into marriage to much older men is an everyday occurrence in their lives. The word “arranged” is not usually associated with the word “forced” but in cases like these the girls have no choice but to agree to marry. Arranged marriages are deeply embedded into the cultures of some countries, with girls being promised into marriage when they are as young as a month old and marrying before they reach maturity. About a third of the women married in developing countries are married before they are eighteen years of age.
Growing up in a traditional Punjabi family with both of my parents being born and raised in India has been an experience that I can only fully comprehend now at the age of twenty-three. Realizing how backward our culture is when it comes to women’s equality among family and society is an astonishing thought. Even though there is more gender equality here in America than in India within our households the women are still subjected to live and serve the men of the house. This custom has become almost an unconscious thought, to think of Punjabi women living in a traditional family more than a maid or babysitter would be blasphemous and heretical talk.
...show us that the choices for women in marriage were both limited and limiting in their scope and consequences. As can be seen, it came down to a choice between honoring the private will of the self, versus, honoring the traditions and requirements of society as a whole. Women were subject to the conditions set down by the man of the house and because of the social inequality of women as a gender class; few fought the rope that tied them down to house, hearth, and husband, despite these dysfunctions. They simply resigned themselves to not having a choice.
Marriage is the union of two people, traditionally husband and wife. Traditional also are the roles that women play when confined in a marriage. When a woman has had the opportunity to educate herself pass tradition and has been use to a fast-paced modern lifestyle, this role of the wife might prove to be quite onerous to mold to. Usually a time of joy, celebration, and adulation, marriage may also bring along emotional and physical pain as well as awkward situations, as the woman must alter herself to conform the traditional role of what a wife should be. Bessie Head depicts two modernized, educated women in her short stories of “Life” and “Snapshots of a Wedding”. These women are forced to change from the only lives they knew as single women to the new roles they must live up to as wives.
Back in the old days, women were practically enslaved in marriages. Meaning they really did not have no rights and their masters were their own husbands. Kate Chopin author of many different short stories, wrote a few stories where the female character shows signs of her being in enslaved marriage. Kate Chopin stories have a common theme of, women suffering from enslaved in a marriage and denial of any type of freedom. To prove this, in Kate Chopin stories it shows, One women cheating and dishonoring her current husband with one of her old lover 's “The storm”. Second another character was happy when she found her husband was supposedly reported dead. “Story of an hour”. And lastly “Desiree’s Baby” about a woman who was mistreated by her husband
The overlook of society creates this division between men and women, suppressing the latter. For generations women have been oppressed and against their counterparts. This barrier deems women less superior and unequal to men, making them appear weak. Since men are seen more strong, society thinks that they should be the more dominant ones and over shadow females. Kate Atkinson and Thomas Raddall use similar elements to display this idea. In the short stories The War on Women and The Wedding Gift, Thomas Raddall and Kate Atkinson show the oppression of the women and their attempts to achieve freedom. The authors both use similar elements of location and characters.
Sandra Cisneros often shows us how women are treated as subordinates in a patriarchal society. In society the way women are supposed to better themselves is by marrying. Often women marry at a young age which Cisneros condemns in The House on Mango Street by stating that her friend, Sally, should not have gotten married by saying:
In the western world, it is common for a little girl to imagine herself walking down the aisle in a beautiful white gown and her father at her side ready to hand her over into the hands of the man of her dreams. However, in Sub-Saharan African societies like Ghana and Uganda, girls dream of the day when a man, along with his family, will come to her father’s house and propose a bride price to perform the traditional marriage rights. Bride price according to Gita Sen is problematic in that it is defined as a payment made by a prospective husband to the family of a woman he wishes to marry (Sen). From Sen’s definition, it is evident that bride price not only highlights the dominance of patriarchy in African societies but emphasizes the objectification of women as payments are made in exchange of a bride/woman.
Wedding Traditions Explained. n.d. - n.d. - n.d. Filipino Wedding Traditions and Spanish Influence. Flesche, F. L. (1912, March). Osage Marriage Customs -. ( A. A. Association, Ed.).
In this short story the protagonist is a newly married Indian woman who is attending a party with her husband’s western friends. Throughout the short story the reader senses her anxiety of being introduced to people who are not as conservative as her. “She longed for the sanctuary of the walled home from which marriage had promised an adventurous escape. Each restricting rule became a guiding stone marking a safe path through unknown dangers” ("The First Party"). In this quote, the narrator explains how the Indian woman did not feel comfortable or at ease with this new world she had been introduced too. She fiend to be back home but because of her tie that she made to this man through marriage she is in her mind, stuck with him. In addition to her anxiety of being with non-conservative woman, who drank, smoked, dressed provocatively, and had painted nails, the protagonist grew angry in her own head. “She had been so sure of herself in her contempt and her anger, confident of the righteousness of her beliefs, deep-based on generations-old foundations” ("The First Party"). Is this the way that the Indian people reacted to British colonialism? The things that western people found normal, was this disrespectful to the Indian people. The protagonist surely thought it was and was certain that her anger was not misplaced. She felt as her anger was a sign of her strong faith. She came to the realization that her husband was someone who would challenge her beliefs but above all she knew that her beliefs state that her life must be one with his (“The First Party”). This realization must be heartbreaking, to realize that one 's comfort is not found in their life partner. The protagonist was raised to believe that her life must be one with her husband, that she is