Feminist Theory
In society back then women were not able to play prominent roles in society. The role of women was to take care of the house, the husband, and the children. It is fair to say that women were seen and passed off as objects back then. This is shown in the story by the situation that the main character Oseki finds herself in. Her husband is verbally abusive to her, and she wants to leave but she knows that divorcing him would mean giving up everything. It is said in the story that if a woman divorces her husband, she is not allowed to retain custody of her children. A divorce also comes with the loss of benefits for her and her family. We saw this in the story when Oseki’s father and mother spoke about the benefits they and their son were receiving simply because Oseki was the wife of Isamu. We also saw how a woman’s opinion or voice was less important than a man’s. When Oseki voiced her troubles to her parents while her mother agreed that she should leave her husband her father disagreed and told her to put up with it, ultimately convincing her to stay. All of this goes to show how women were not considered as important as mean or not considered as equals.
Marxist Theory
Regarding Marxism, Isamu and Roku exist in two different worlds. While they are both men the way they live are completely different. Isamu can enjoy the luxury of being in a high social class while Roku must work and live out a meager existence as a member of the lower social class. Since Oseki is married to Isamu she would be considered a part of the upper class while Roku would be a part of the lower class. Although they grew up together, they were now in two different worlds. When Oseki and Roku met that night, it was shown that no matter what social class you’re in everyone has struggles. Through the lens of the Marxist Theory, we can see that in the story Oseki who represented the upper class was benefitting from the work of Roku and people like Roku who represent the lower class by using and riding the rickshaws. However, when they realized they knew each other they both felt embarrassed of what the other would think of them.
Hi Trinasia! I agree that meeting Roku made Oseki realize that everyone has struggles, regardless of social class. I liked how you mentioned that when they found out they knew each other, they were both embarrassed about what the other thought of them. According to Marxist theory, the different social classes would cause conflict, but as previously stated, Oseki and Roku were just embarrassed.