During Oseki’s run in with Roku In “The Thirteenth Night” by Higuchi Ichiyo I believe Oseki realizes how life could have been if a person’s social class in society was not so important. Marrying Isamu is acceptable to her family and it was what they wanted because they come from poverty. Isamu is considered more educated and is in a higher social class compared to Roku, but he does not make Oseki happy. Along with her happiness, she gave up being with someone who had actual feelings for her. Who Oseki truly loves does not matter when it comes to financial stability.
Fiction
Marxism in The Thirteenth Night
After running in with Roku, Oseki learns that they live unhappy lives. This is ironic because Oseki should be living a good life because her husband is rich and can give her all the world’s pleasures. However, despite living in a financially stable environment, her marriage is not stable, which is the source of her unhappiness. In contrast, Roku is not happy with his marriage and financial situation. Their meeting is a testament to the Marxist theory. Karl Marx’s theory states that a society should have no classes where everyone works to achieve a specific goal, and there is no class struggle. In Oseki and Roku’s case, there is no class struggle. Oseki is in a different class than Roku, but they are both unhappy with their problems. Their meeting is a testament to the Marxist theory where Roku and Oseki are under one class despite their financial stability differences due to their struggles.
Government
In both “The trial of Thomas Builds- the-fire” and “This is what it means to say Pheonix, Arizona” Sherman Alexie alludes to a particular type of government/ rulership. Two characteristics of this system are discriminatory and unjust, both are seen evident when Thomas was on trial and they used the fact that he is Native American as grounds to charge. While Thomas was unsure of what he was being charged for, they decided “It has to be a felony charge. We don’t need this kind around here anymore”. This shows how little regard they have for Thomas and Native Americans in general. The system itself is discriminatory which creates unjust outcomes. Thomas can be seen as an allegorical figure because he is in his own right dealing with a discriminatory system as an individual but also representing Native Americans like him that deal with the same unjust treatment.
Bambara topic 2
In my opinion, I believe kids should know the truth . But also they should approach it carefully that it doesn’t affect them or hurt them . It’s important for kids to know the truth from there parents because they would be able to resolve the problem with their parents rather then someone else. Even if the truth hurts it better than lying or hiding something from your own child. Kids should know everything about life because they when they are older than can know how to resolve their life issues .On top of that teasing kids is wrong because it doesn’t teach them anything and it will just aggravate them, and to me I would feel made fun of in a way.
The Horror of Frankenstein
I chose this particular short story as I was absorbed into some gothic literature when I was in high school. I recall the topic of Frankenstein’s story from those past days, resulting in me choosing Frankenstein. Gothic literature puts a dark and graphical lens over common things to reveal a greater image or concept. In particular before this read, I recall Frankenstein being a morbidly misunderstood character who alike to anyone desired relations.
I do not agree with Phil Wang concerning that an interest in horror is abjectly a sign of privilege as a perception of one genre should be multi-faceted. While one enjoys a horror film, they may become scared but the source of the fear is a subject of debate – such as what if the monster is not the source of the fear, rather the results from the experiences it faces to succumb to what it may become is fearful. I believe horror is an enjoyable subject as there are topics explored beyond the regular scope of experience that will elucidate the viewer to a new side of themselves they did not know about. A group of kids telling ghost stories may realize a fear of death rather than the paranormal, as they picture the lost of their love ones. Discovery of the self is pleasurable by the surprise of the identify they find leading me to believe Phil Wang’s ideas of horror to be misconstrued about the people with a certain amount of privilege in their life.
Chopin
I believe that writing about racism is more about writing about the issues. Race is a multi-faceted concept encapsulating culture, history and more to a person which is something that cannot be empathized without their own experience. A white women in the 1890’s, while being able to understand prejudice and oppressions, would not be able to understand how it feels to be an African-American women in the 1890’s; their stories may contain similar chapters but speak wholly different volumes of words.
Armand
‘Armand stood appalled at the letter – daring to neither to believe his eyes or the ink upon the paper. Silence seemed to crackle louder than the bonfire in Armand’s mind lasting what seemed to be an eternity. Breaking the the period of silence, was the ashes of Desiree’s affection in the form of letters drifting up and across his sight – the endearment exchanged during their espousal which he tore apart. “What have I done,” would be the one of the questions ringing relentingly in Armand’s mind, “May I have a chance to fix this regret?” Desperate to not lose hope, he lunged past the tall licks of flames to grasp at the remnants of the still burning letters – searing the skin on his hands black and blistering. Moments later, while the pain of his hands seemed nonexistent next to the pain in his heart, he left the L’Abri in desperate hopes to see Desiree and remedy their situation in anyway possible.
Arriving at the plantation of the Valmonde, the sight of an untidy and frantic Armand left Madam Valmont curious of his visit as he asked, “Where is Desiree? I must apology for my irreparable mistakes!” Later to his shock, and more importantly Madam Desiree’s, the absence of the mother and her child may only leave the worst to be assumed for the heartbroken mother – leaving the smoldering sparks of his hope to fall identical to the ashes of the letters. Staring at his darken and blistering hands, he may only ask himself in self-loathing, “What have I done? What has become of me?”
My understanding of the story would leave me to believe that Armand would quickly rethink his assumptions and try to remedy the problems, but little did he know the impact of his previous choice would have on Desiree. Desiree, I believe, in her sorrows did not know how to continued her life falling from love in the eyes of Armand leading her to detest and destroy what caused the ruin of the relationship – being herself and their child. The walk away from the L’Abri could only be the departure of the lives of Armand’s misunderstood wife and child.
Feminism in Ichiyo
I believe that Oseki in “The Thirteenth Night” represent the standing of females as a whole in that period. Ichiyo was born in the Meiji restoration period where there was a large growth in the economy and industry, tasking the women of the era to labor as factory workers or prostitutes – Ichiyo, in particular, was born near the pleasure district with a first-hand perspective. The role of the growth of the industry gave way to the need of new laborers for the new processes requiring women to be dedicated to new jobs deemed necessary at the time. A thought that remains consistent with Ichiyo’s writing and the role of women in that time period is that they were submissive and docile, evident from Oseki’s actions in the story. Ichiyo herself, while born to a member of the government, had to provide for her family when her father passed experiencing firsthand the difficulties for women in her time. Her stories, while not encapsulating her full journey, was a milestone in written perspective for women and the future they had past being treated as submissive and docile women, as there was no difference in the poetry or stories they could share.
Marxism in the Thirteenth Night
While Isamu and Roku are vastly different in terms of status, Isamu being affluent while Roku is deprived, neither were able to achieve a successful relationship. Isamu, having money and status, was able to attain anything and act anyway he seemingly desired from his courting of Oseki to his blatant mistreatment of her – Oseki’s own father believing that she would not find a greater happiness than when she is with Isamu; Roku, without great wealth or status, was unable to keep his wife even when his behavior was similar to Isamu. The difference of results through similar actions from different social standings is a clear point of contention in Marxist theory as Roku may never attain the same happiness as Isamu purely from their places in society.
From Oseki’s encounter with Roku, I believe she had second thoughts on how she could have lived differently to have been happy. The meeting sparked the thought of what if she did not listen to her parents ramblings of marry Isamu and instead steadfastly pursued the homely life she envisioned with Roku in her earlier years, but even Roku was not able to picture a future where Oseki would have been happier with him as one was the, “great Harada Isamu” while the other was just the lowly rickshaw driver.
Government
Commonly seen between “The Trial of Thomas Builds-the-Fire” and “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, by Sherman Alexie, is the allusion to a tyrannical government. Evident throughout both stories is the subtle dismissal of the needs of the Indian people, in “This is What it Means to Say Phoenix, Arizona”, Victor was not able to acquire the funds to travel to make arrangements for his late father as Tribal Council was having, “difficult time financially”(99) while Thomas Builds-the-Fire was deemed, “‘Dangerous'”, for being blatantly truthful(139). The lack of basic funds for necessities was deemed unimportant while Thomas Builds-the-Fire’s trial became somewhat of a formality before his sentencing, Thomas’ fault being his interaction with Esther who was being mistreated by her husband, the tribal chairman, who practiced a form of self-hate by calling Esther a “savage in polyester pants”(140). During the trial, there was clear lack of professionalism apparent through the bias from his history by judge who also had ample funds for a replacement gavel.
