I believe that the female character “Oseki” is a representation of what the majority of women during those times had to go to. Within the text alone, you could infer that Oseki’s situation is not an isolated incident but instead something that the women of that time had to go through and was expected to go through. In addition of Oseki being a representation of the women, I believe that she also represented their thoughts and emotions as well. The power that women held at the time was through their husbands. They were expected to marry a husband, to stay home and support all of his needs. As we can see with Oseki for example, at one point it is said that she would be leaving without permission from Isamu.
Fiction
Marxism in the Thirteenth Night
The similarities that Isamu and Roku share in terms of social class is that they were expected to be successful because they are men. The differences however, is that unlike Isamu, Roku did not hold up to that expectation. Although he started off early in life with a good reputation, his life began to go downhill after his engagement. He is now in a place where his partner and child have left him and he works until he is tired only to survive. Isamu’s social class would be considered higher because he is working in a successful job and bringing home money. One final similarity is that although they are both in different social classes, they both seem to be miserable because of how much work they have to do.
What I think Oseki learns from her run in with Roku is that staying in a situation where you cannot see yourself lasting, simply out of obligation, will do nothing for you in the long run to help you see the change that you want. As Roku was said, “But it wouldn’t have mattered what beauty of a wife I had. Ono no Komachi, Lady Hsi Shih, Princess Sotoori herself dancing before my eyes — my bad habits wouldn’t have changed.” (Ichiyo, 11) I believe that this quote can relate to Oseki because she feels miserable in her marriage, but feels that she has to stay out of obligation to everyone who depends on Isamu’s success. Trying to endure the marriage and doing it simply out of obligation will not change the fact that she is miserable and will continue to be miserable if she attempts to endure.
Armand
Armand put this letter away. He stood here without any motion. This letter was like a bullet hit his heart. His brain began to recall the way he did to Desiree. The only thing he wanted to do now was finding Desiree back to home. Suddenly, he heard the voice from the first floor. He recognized this was Valmonde’ sound, so he went downstairs immediately. Valmonde sat on the chair quietly like a tangible figure. She did not look at Armand when he walked close to her.
“Where is Desiree? mother” Armand asked.
“She’s dead, her body was found in the river bank a few days ago” Valmonde said.
“Is that what you want? ” Valmonde continued.
Armand did not reply, and his brain just like blank paper.
“Now, we have no relationship with you. Please don’t try to make any contact with me.” Valmonde started to leave after she said.
Armand still stood here like a wood. He knew what a big mistake he made. He blamed himself harshly. He began to yell and kick the furniture in the living room. He could not do anything now. Armand did not eat anything at that day, and he did not talk to anybody. He just stayed in his room and kept looking the picture that he with Desiree and the kid.
In the next day, Armand began to sell his property and his plantation. He also released the slaves who belongs to him. By the time he completed all of things, he left L’Abri. He did not tell anybody where was he going, and nobody knew what was he planning. He was like a shadow disappeared in the dark.
Independent Reading
Here is where you will post the answer to the question for the reading you chose for the Independent Reading assignment.
Discussion Post Topic 2
The race of the writer does matter when the narrative deals with issues of race. It matters both in the sense that they must be careful with how they say things depending on what race they are, and to know what perspective their writing is coming from. Knowing that the story “Desiree’s Baby” was written by a white person puts the story into perspective. I would say that nothing in this story was in bad taste, and only reflects the thoughts that were common during the times where racism was simply a social norm. Although the story expresses through the characters that having black blood was something to be upset about, the author somehow does so without being extremely offensive, which could have been done by going into more detail about how much black people were seen as lesser than. Also, a white person writing about the experience of a black person during those times is a very risky thing to try, since no relation is really there between the character in the story and the author, which is another reason why race matters when an author is writing on a narrative concerning race.
Discussion Post Topic 1
Standing in shock, Armand set the letters down with weak, shaky and sweaty palms. He looked around, seemingly spaced out in deep thought as he contemplated. The people that he looks down upon and treats as property are people that he shares blood with. The baby that he helped create had black blood not because of the mother, but because he as the father carried the blood, and seeing how he treated the mother of his child for what he now knows came from him. The only emotions he could feel for a while was confusion and denial, as his entire life has been Armand began pushing everyone away from his life, for he would rather live the rest of his life alone than let anyone realize the truth of the composition of his heritage.
I believe that he would have felt denial because upon finding out that his baby was colored, it seemed that their was no doubt in his mind that it was the mother and not himself. His accusations were so strong that he even wanted her to leave after “finding out” that she was not fully white.
“A quick conception of all that this accusation meant for her nerved her with
unwonted courage to deny it. “It is a lie; it is not true, I am white! Look at my hair, it is
brown; and my eyes are gray, Armand, you know they are gray. And my skin is fair,”
seizing his wrist. “Look at my hand; whiter than yours, Armand,” she laughed hysterically.
“As white as La Blanche’s,” he returned cruelly; and went away leaving her alone
with their child.” (Chopin, 3)
This interaction between Armand and his spouse shows how strongly he feels about black people. He turned so quickly and strongly on someone that he had a child with just because of the fact that they may have black in their blood. This leads me to believe that if he were to find out that he actually was the one with black in his blood, he would most definitely not accept it right away, and would not want anyone to know because of how shameful he believes it to be.
Feminism in Ichiyo
“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)
Marxism in the Thirteenth Night
Based upon the story by Ichiyō Higuchi “The Thirteenth Night,” the two characters Oseki and Roku have similarities and differences. The similarities are that they are both unhappy in life, they both come from low-ranking families. Their differences are that Oseki is a wife of a rich man now, lives in a luxury house and Roku is just a rickshaw driver, does not have the house to live in. In my opinion, Oseki learns that she needs to stay together with her husband and child no matter what because she does not want to end up homeless like Roku. The significance of their meeting is that if they chose each other when they were young, they would both end up in a happy life unlike now, therefore through the lens of the Marxist theory Oseki’s husband is a wealthy man who mentally abuses her because she is from a poor family.
Chopin
Kate Chopin being a white woman whose family had slaves during this time period but being bold enough to acknowledge the issues of race, is very interesting to me. She is clearly much more progressively thinking than other people. However, Chopin is discussing race issues from the perspective of someone who has never personally experienced that ridicule. Because of this, she isn’t able to completely and fully comprehend what the African-American population was experiencing in their every day lives while being slaves and what that really meant for Armand to discover he was of mixed race. Despite her lacking those hardships for herself, I really do appreciate the story she wrote and her bringing attention, to hopefully her community who may be in favor of racism, with these issues. I think that everyone should use their voice to advocate against racial inequalities despite your own racial background.
Armand
The end of this story truly stunned me, as I’m sure it also stunned Armand. Considering that Desiree and the baby are long gone by the time he realizes the huge mistake that he has been made, I’m not sure that there is anything for Armand to do besides go down a rabbit hole of self-loathing and questioning his identity. If I was a fly on the wall to observe how Armand would react in that moment, I imagine him falling to his knees, screaming and crying, totally hysterical in the fact that he gave up both his wife and child for a “curse” that really came from his family. I also imagine that would never share this information with anyone else, scared that someone would treat him the way he treated his own wife.
