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Depiction of Roles of Women in Stories

In general, the roles of women in these stories are severely limited, both by the male-dominated society which restricts women through tradition and socialization, and through the women's self-limitations which they accept in response to social pressures. In part, these limitations reflect Confucian ideals because the maintenance of those limitations promotes the kind of orderly, "gentlemanly" society which Confucianism advocates. Confucius did not openly advocate the keeping of women in their inferior place---at least in The Analects---as much as he simply took for granted that it was a man's world and that it was natural and acceptable that his guidance for morality was aimed at men. Women were assumed, apparently, to be creatures who would not dare question their peripheral importance to men. These women generally want only to behave, to do what is expected of them, to obey, to accept abuse, to be subservient to others, especially to men, and to avoid the kind of social troublemaking which would bring harsh judgment from Confucius.

In Lu Hsun's "The New Year's Sacrifice," we read with respect to the sacrifice at the end of the year in Luchen: "Only men can be worshippers" (Lau 17). The protagonist of the story---referred to as "Hsiang Lin's wife"---is viewed as the possession of a man rather than as an individual human being. It is nothing out of the ordinary when her mother-in-law suddenly shows up and demands that she return with her to her husband, as if she were a runaway slave (Lau 21). The story of the woman's marriage-by-force is also accepted as something women were expected to endure (Lau 22). Finally, she is rejected by the community, humiliated, abused, and dies a beggar.

The female protagonist in "The Merchant's Wife," by Hsu Ti-Shan, is just as abused as the woman in the first story, but the merchant's wife rationalizes her abuse at the hands of a society which devalues women: "If I recall [the traumatic eve...

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Depiction of Roles of Women in Stories. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:47, March 28, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1702697.html