Both The Quiet American by Greene and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress by Dai Sijie represent a female character that were objectified by the male characters due to the mid and late 18th century east Asians’ mindset that women are of a lower class than man, and women are even more objective and often used by men throughout both books. Not only did Fowler use Phuong to accompany her, but Luo also takes the seamstress as a doll that he could play around with. With textual supports from both books, Greene and Dai Sijie oppose to the idea that women are cheaper and are among the lower hierarchy than that of man in the society at the time. During the time when The Quiet American and Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress were written, …show more content…
After Pyle dies, Fowler immediately gets Phuong back to his side, “and waking that morning months later with Phuong beside [him], [he] thought: And did you understand her either? Could you have anticipated this situation? Phuong so happily asleep beside me and you dead?” (Greene, 52) After Pyle’s death, Fowler is mocking Pyle. Pyle says that he would provide to Phuong a better life than Fowler would, and Pyle was sure that he is the better choice for Phuong. But Fowler sets Pyle up and mocks Pyle, not only that Pyle had to pay for what he’s done, but also that Pyle made promises that he did not end up keeping. Both Pyle and Fowler takes Phuong as some sort of toy, they are fighting over who owns this toy, as if Phuong was their property. Phuong was more of a servant rather than Fowler’s mistress, but because of how women were treated back then, she did not even realize that Fowler was using her. Fowler is a drug addict, and instead of helping Fowler to not do drugs, she only keeps asking: “Shall I make your pipe again?” (Greene, 6) over and over, as long as Fowler says yes, Phuong will not stop. Fowler does not really “love” Phuong, he is just afraid of being lonely, and Phuong is only wanting to be with Fowler because the society pushes her to think that she needs to be married to a foreigner in order to life her …show more content…
She was looked down upon at first, Luo thinks that “She’s not civilized, at least not enough for [Luo]” (Dai Sijie, 27). The seamstress did not know how to read, so After Luo finds himself attracted to the seamstress, Luo takes advantage of reading different books to the Seamstress and claiming that he will teach the seamstress how to read in order to influence her and to trade for her love and obsession to Luo. “With these books [Luo] shall transform the Little Seamstress. She’ll never be a simple mountain girl again” (Dai Sijie, 100). Both Luo and the narrator love the little seamstress, but they want to own her as a part of their property rather than respecting her. At the end of the novel, the Little Seamstress leaves the village, inferring that she does not need their help to know the world; she wants to go check it out herself. This is such an irony because Luo and the narrator’s intension are to influence the Seamstress with more knowledge about the outside world, but after accumulating some basic knowledge about the outside world, the Seamstress does not want to be stuck in the small village anymore; she wants to experience the outside world, because she learned from Luo and the narrator’s book—“a woman’s beauty is a treasure beyond price” (Dai Sijie,
Although Mrs. Spring Fragrance has only lived in America for a short amount of time, her husband states “There are no more American words for her learning” (865). It is obvious through reading this statement that Mrs. Spring Fragrance has become quickly acquainted with not only the English language, but also with American customs and traditions. However, not every character in Mrs. Spring Fragrance adjusts to American culture as easily as Mrs. Spring Fragrance; some characters have a difficult time leaving their Chinese traditions of marriage and accepting that in America, love comes before marriage. Throughout Mrs. Spring Fragrance, Sui Sin Far describes the process that the Chinese characters experience as they slowly begin to alienate traditional Chinese culture and becoming Americanized through accepting American culture as their own.
The Norton Anthology: American Literature, Volume A: Beginning to 1820. New York City: Norton & Comany, 2007.
This huge discrepancy illustrates gender inequality. Secondly Poh-Poh’s opinion is securely indulged that girls are useless. When Jook Liang was six, once she was learning knots from Poh-Poh, but her six-year; old fingers are too clumsy to follow Poh-Poh’s skilled fingers, essentially reasoning for her failure. After the fact, Poh-Poh refused to teach Liang anymore: “all her [Poh-Poh] womanly skills she would keep away from me [Jook Liang], keep to herself until she died: ‘job too good for mo yung girl’”(Choy 32). Clearly, Poh-Poh believes girls are underdeveloped, and too slow to perform womanly skills, providing a girl with good things is a waste. Lastly, although Poh-Poh treats her granddaughter poorly, and looks down upon girls. She herself is also a victim of the perspective that a girl-child is inferior to a boy-child. When Poh-Poh first came to the world “‘Too ugly’ the midwife has pronounced at Grandmother’s [Poh-Poh’s] birth. And her father, an old farmer wishing for a son, spat at his wife and left them forever” (Choy 38). Obviously, Poh-Poh’s father abandons Poh-Poh’s mother and Poh-Poh just because Poh-Poh is born a girl-child. However, this ridiculous incident is common in Old China; a woman has no existing value except for being a tool of
The bitter cold bit against the starved girl’s skeletal body. She was tired. Her parents discussed ways to get to good lands. They told her the only way to have a better life was to sell her into slavery. The girl, only ten years old was silent. She dreamed of fine clothing and good food. The girl went to the House of Hwang. She was too ugly to be in sight; she was kept in the scullery. All dreams of any kind were lashed out of her young mind. Mistreated, beaten, and underestimated, young O-lan learned to work hard and became resigned to her fate. One day, the Old Mistress summoned her and told her that she was to be married to a poor farmer. The other slaves scoffed, but O-lan was grateful for a chance to be free - they married. O-lan vowed to return to the great house one day in fine clothing with a son. Her resolve was strong; no one could say otherwise. Her years of abuse as a slave had made O-lan wise, stoic, and bitter; whether the events of her life strengthened or weakened her is the question.
Madsen, Deborah L. "Chinese American Writers of the Real and the Fake: Authenticity and the Twin Traditions of Life Writing." Canadian Review Of American Studies 36, no. 3 (October 2006): 257-271. America: History & Life, EBSCOhost (accessed May 12, 2014).
In the novel Paradise of the Blind, Doung Thu Huong explores the effect the Communist regime has had upon Vietnamese cultural gender roles. During the rule of the Communist Viet Minh, a paradigm shift occurred within which many of the old Vietnamese traditions were dismantled or altered. Dounh Thu Huong uses the three prominent female characters – Hang, Que and Aunt Tam – to represent the changing responsibilities of women in Vietnamese culture. Que, Hang’s mother, represents a conservative, orthodox Vietnamese woman, who has a proverb-driven commitment to sustaining her manipulative brother, Chinh. Aunt Tam embodies a capitalistic
As the four women entered America, which is far from their motherland China, they experience a change of culture, the American culture, which was dominant than the Chinese. The Chinese mothers are faced with a difficult task of how to raise their American-born daughters with an understanding of their heritage. The daughters clearly show a gap in culture between the Chinese culture and American culture. The mothers wanted their daughter to follow the Chinese traditions, but the daughters followed the American traditions and even some of them got married to American men. The mothers tried to tell their daughters the story about the Chinese ancestors but the daughter could not follow them and the daughters thought their mothers were backwards and did not know what they are saying. As much as the mothers tried to show love to their daughters, the daughters usually responded negatively. They often saw their mothers’ attempts to guidance as a failure to understand the American culture. Being Chinese and living in America, both the mothers and the daughters struggle with many issues like identity, language, translation, and others. The mothers try to reconcile their Chinese pasts with their American presents; the daughters try to find a balance between independence and loyalty to their heritage
There are obvious differences within our two cultures and the way we depict gender roles. These differences show themselves in the work force, the distinct tasks performed in the home, and the privileges one receives in society. In the work force, the women of America hold many positions of importance, relatively speaking (I know that's a whole other essay). They are usually treated as equals with men and there are few jobs from which they are excluded, again for the sake of argument. In China, women are expected to stay at home and are not permitted to be in a work force that is held exclusively for men. They are assigned the role of housewives and must stay at home to clean the house and raise the children. Women in America receive education that will prepare them for the high paying jobs of a professional, all while the women in China are obeying the orders from their husbands and culture. The films portrayal of these particular gender roles are very evident. We can't forget however, that this was a western made film and in my opinion I feel that it tends to exaggerate the gender roles. I'm not saying that they are not present, because there is a definite inequality. I just keep in mind that it is a film and has to have an audience appealing theme.
Poor people are always the victims. And through these two novels, we see that the leading female characters are both victimized because they came from poor households. I feel that Eileen Chang’s writing style has made her female characters seem too unrealistic. These situations are unfathomable. Her novel does not seem to depict the true struggle of traditional Chinese women.
The narrator has two daughters, Dee and Maggie. Dee was this cute girl who was super intelligent and sophisticated. She often saw herself as being above her mother and sister and would often make them feel stupid and bad about themselves. "She used to read to us without pity, forcing words, lies, other folks' habits, whole lives upon us two, sitting trapped and ignorant underneath her voice". She shows that Dee enjoyed making her mother and younger sister feel dumb about themselves because it made her feel superior. Her whole life Dee detested her family and where she came from and couldn’t wait to get away. But, still her mother worked her booty off to provide her with high education and a good life. Dee goes away to college and when she returns she is a completely different person, suddenly interested in her family; photographing them upon arrival. With her guest, new "Wangero Leewanika Kemanjo", invades her mothers house taking everything in like it’s a cute display for her. Finally, when Wangero (Dee) demands that her mother give her some quilts, her mum can not take anymore. She tells Dee that Maggie, not her, will be receiving the quilts and she snaps. "I did something I never had done before: hugged Maggie to me, then dragged her on into the room, snatched the quilts out of Miss Wangero's hands, and dumped them into Maggie's lap. Maggie just sat
...as Mary Ann in the novel show that women can do so much more than sew and cook. Without women, all wars would have been a lot harder. Although men tend to keep a macho facade in order to calm others (such as the women in their lives), inside they may be like glass, easy to break. A society set on the ideal stoic, fearless warrior who acts ruthlessly and saves the damsel in distress (also showing that women are weak) obviously is one where doomed to sexism. Without the comfort and inspiration, men would have deteriorated in the face of death. All and all, women provided the needed comfort, nursing, “manpower”, and love that the soldiers of Vietnam need, something that helped them endure the havoc of war. O’Brien’s expert use of the feminist lens allows the reader to know that women indeed were a powerhouse in the Vietnam war, without whom, men would have perished.
In the beginning of the story, the author describes the Chin Yuen's as American in appearance yet Chinese in customs. Throughout the story she continues to describe the deterioration of the Chinese customs by American ideal. This is pinpointed when Mr. Chin Yuen decides to let his daughter marry the boy that she loves. The conversation that Mr. Spring Fragrance has with Young Carman explains that only in American culture is it customary to find love before marriage; in the Chinese tradition, all marriages are arranged. This clearly exemplifies the manner in which the Chinese characters are more and more disregarding their Chinese culture and taking on this new American standard of living. Ironically, Sui Sin Far conveys the notion that the American tradition is not necessarily better than the Chinese tradition. More so she demonstrates the struggle of identity between two worlds that both make sense. Though Laura and Kai Tzu have found their happiness in the American tradition of marriage, the reader discovers that Mr. and Mrs. Spring Fragrance are equally as happy even through the Chinese tradition of marriage.
Women usually worked as secretaries or on the assembly line because “bosses felt that young women were more diligent and easier to manage” (p. 56). Men, however, were either in a high managing position in the factory or worked in the lowest of jobs available, such as a security guard or driver. It was interesting to learn that about one-third of all of China’s migrants are women. These women go to the factory towns to work, but also, a majority of them leave their homes to see the world and experience life on their own for the first time. Chang makes a point that “to some extent, this deep-rooted sexism worked in a woman’s favor” (p. 57). The statement is supported by the idea that women are less treasured in their families; therefore, they had more freedom to do what they wanted with little care from the family. Shockingly, Chang noticed that no woman ever complained about unfair treatment. “They took all of these injustices in stride” (p.58). The women were grateful for the opportunity leave home and gain a sense of freedom; injustice was not a prominent
French feminist criticism concerns itself with the objectification of women, and examples abound in Two Kinds. From the beginning, Jing-mei’s mother pushes her to be a prodigy partially for reasons of pride and competition. Jing-mei’s Auntie Lindo has a daughter who is a national chess champion, and Auntie Lindo never fails to remind anybody of the fact. When discussing their daughters, both Auntie Lindo and Jing-mei’s mother make no mention of their character, only bragging about their level of “genius”. Ironic as it sounds, they are objectifying their daughters and using them as status symbols, no different from flaunting a new car or gadget. On the other hand, American feminist criticism focuses on the victimization of women, a victimization that is apparent in Two Kinds. Though at first glance, Jing-mei’s mother may seem like the antagonist in the story, when one considers her backstory it is apparent that she just wants her daughter to have the life she never had. The mother lost everything when she moved from China to San Francisco in 1949. In China she lost her family, her spouse, and she had to abandon her twin baby girls. She had a very difficult life in a society that was even more hostile to women than post-World War II America. Finally, there is the Female Subtext form of criticism, which focuses on minor female characters. The minor female characters in this story are Aunt Lindo and her daughter Waverly, two toxic characters that represent the opposite of what feminism stands for. Aunt Lindo drones on about how great her daughter and remarks about how she is obsessed with chess with mock disgust. Waverley herself is no saint, as she brags about her level of genius while belittling Jing-mei after her piano recital fiasco. This is strikingly similar to how men looked down upon women as subhuman for most of history. All in all, Two Kinds is
In chapter two, the narrator goes to the British Museum in search of answers. During research, she uncovers that women are common topics of literature. However, none of the literature written about them is penned by women. When she reveals her findings for the definition of woman, she uses words such as weak, inferior, vane, and etc. that define woman. I think the narrator uses these words to emphasize the way men perceive women as being the weaker sex.