In the story Oseki is forced to remain Harada’s wife and put up with his mistreatment because it is the only way to help her family. Oseki represents what women went through at that time to obtain some type of power since the priority of women was to obey the man. She and her marriage are also affected because of their different social status. Harada believes he is superior to her and categorizes her as a woman without knowledge. The difference between their social classes leads them to have different perspectives about life. Oseki’s little knowledge of upper-class activities does not allow her to function as Harada would like.
4 thoughts on “Feminism- Ichiyo”
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Hello Loren Lebren
I agree with what you said Oseki endured abuse in order to help her son and her family.
I agree with you oseki represents women back then who felt like there only way of being successful was to marry into wealth.. but at the expense of happiness.
I agree with your point regarding the role that economic classes had on their relationship dynamic and the way that Harada viewed her.
I do believe Oseki represents the length some women went to in order to get power. She unknowingly agreed to a life of misery and gave up on her first love for the sake of a better life for her and her family.