Given the historical context behind the late 1800s, I believe that she represents most of what women went through during that period. Through the story, we see how women were if not completely seen as objects who were less valued than the men of that time. We know now that women up until 1964 were denied the same rights and therefore respect those men have in society with Oseki’s story being no different from others. At that point in time a women’s status was also determined by the man she married and how powerful and respected that man was which we also see in “The Thirteenth Night.” The stereotype which women of that time followed was to be a proper well-adjusted stay-at-home spouse who bared and took care of the children full-time and did housework like cooking, cleaning, etc. Which leads me to believe that she is a representation of that time.
Author: sean lopez
The Thirteenth Night
In the story “The Thirteenth Night” by Ichiyō Higuchi, we see similarities and differences between the two main characters of the story which are Roku and Ozeki. Their differences are that Oseki is married to a rich and lives a life of luxury while Roku is a rickshaw driver and does not live a life of luxury. However, they both become similar due to both disliking the lives they live. In Oseki’s run-in with Roku, she learns that her life could be worse and that it’s worth it to stay with the man she married and to find happiness within her marriage and life because overall she could be in Roku’s place and live a poor life where she needs to work all the time to support herself despite being currently mentally abused by her husband. In the lens of a Marxist theorist, their run-in shows working towards a common goal as a society is crucial in being happy for yourself and others and working only towards improving your personal wealth once you’ve obtained more than what you need to be comfortable within life is a poison in our society.
Sherman Alexie
The two stories illustrate how the justice system is very racially biased and discriminatory against people of color. The kind of discrimination that Thomas faced in “the trial of Thomas builds-the-fire” was purely racial discrimination against him in a court of law because he was Native American. The judge in the matter did not want to hear him out just because of his race and skin color to the point where he was just straight-up telling him to shut up so that he could be judged unfairly and without his side of the situation being considered. Through Thomas’s case, we saw both discrimination, and iniquity against him, which even today we see in our justice system. Thomas’s rights were mistreated and neglected by the judge just so that the court could see another person of color having their entire life stripped from them just to satisfy their racist motives.
parents
When it comes to what is said by adults around children, I believe that parents should censor what they say around their children. This is because personally from growing up around younger children I have always noticed that when kids learn how to form together words and replicate, they will repeat words they hear others say. They will indefinitely repeat what parents or family members say because the kids look up to them. Parents should be careful when talking to their children because like I said before children when it comes to their parents or older siblings are highly impressionable and will things curse words that they hear from their elders, however when it comes to telling the truth parents should almost always tell the truth. But there are situations where telling the truth could hurt them mentally for example something that we see often are dads who leave when their children are extremely young to avoid imprinting on them or having anything to do with them, although it is messed up and the child should know what happened because they will find out eventually you can’t tell a five-year-old there dad walked out on them because the dad did not want the child, you kind of have to lie until they’re old enough to handle the truth. Another thing that adults should always do is mean what they say, unlike telling kids the truth does not have its rare moments when it’s ok to go against it in extreme situations, you should always indefinitely stick to your words, especially around young children. Overall teasing kids is not bad, but you must understand when you are overdoing it to the point where it can be harmful to their development, and you also must understand that they must be censored to a certain extent but introducing them to the realistic aspects that make life well life is also not a bad thing.
blackout poem
