“The Thirteenth Night” particularly in terms of the late 1800s, where the role of women was to take care of the children, do the house chores, and surrender to their husband. Socially women were not equal to men, and they are considered weaker hence. In that period, people actually considered women as slaves which they had no control of their own lives. For instance, Oseki from the story was one of those women because she had no option but to remain with an abusive husband therefore her parents could not even help her. Another female is Oseki’s mother, she felt bad for her daughter but still encouraged to stay with her husband since “…he is still successful.” (Page 10)
6 thoughts on “Feminism in Ichiyo”
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Hi! I agree with your opinion.The circumstance is tough for women in the past. They have to tolerant the pressure from society and family. In other word, they don’t have freedom at time. Maybe there were some women tried to stand up, the revolution will be sabotaged by the society.
Thanks!
Hi, your post was very well worded and I agree with what you are saying. I like that you mentioned that women were even considered slaves at one point, because within the story, Oseki says: “From now on, I’ll consider myself Isamu’s property.” (Ichiyo, 9), as a solution to how she will endure having to serve Isamu. I also like that you included the mother as a part of this conversation since she still wanted her to stay with her husband. In Roku’s case, since his wife left him to go back with her family, I wonder how that could be interpreted.
Thanks, and agreed!
I support the fact women were not displayed as equal to men in the historical era. The story displays how women had no voice in society and had to follow what the men did. Oseki’s example shows how men had power over their women such that not even the woman’s parents would question him.
Yes, that is sad to hear.