Deborah Adekoya
Question: Think about the setting of “The Thirteenth Night”, particularly in terms of the historical era. Given what you know of the era, and more specifically, what you learned about Higuchi Ichiyo’s life story, what or who could the female character represent? What role(s) did women play in society at the time, what kind(s) of power did they have, and how did they navigate their way through the systems of power?
Answer: The female character represents Ichiyo and many other females that lived during the Meiji era. Women were meant to be submissive and obedient wives, that looked after their husbands and children. They had to stay at home and cook, clean, and look after the children. They had no rights and could make no choices. This was the woman’s role in society at that time. They had no clear form of power and when it came to navigating their ways through systems of power, they had to be fearless and rebel against the norms of society. The author of Thirteen Nights, HIGUCHI ICHIYŌ is well known because of how fearless she was during the Meiji era.
