Depiction of Roles of Women in Stories
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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
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," a female is placed in a position of apparent superiority---being essentially worshipped by three males---but in fact she is as much a "thing" instead of an individual human being as the women in the other stories are. We cannot be certain what her fate was, if and why she killed herself, and what precisely happened to her corpse, but the story can in no way be taken as a sign that she or women in general fare any better than the slave-mother, merchant's wife, or any other women in these tales. The terrible fate of the girl is peripheral to the suffering of the narrator and his crippled friend.
2. The relationship between men and women in Chinese society as portrayed in these five stories once again puts women in an inferior, subservient, passive position, a position which is aligned with the Confucian assumption that men run society, rule in the home, have the power and authority, etc.
One of the rare references to women in Confucius sets the standard for the relationship between men and women: "Nan Jung repeated over and over again the lines about the white jade sceptre. Confucius gave him his elder brother's daughter in marriage" (Confucius 106). Women do what men say to do when men say to do it.
In Lu Hsun's "In the W
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Ts'ung-wen's Woman, , Hsu Ti-Shan, Jou Shih, Ts'ung-wen's Quiet, Nanny Yang, Shao-Chun's Autumn, Yeh Shao-chun, Ah Shun, Hsiang Lin's, merchant's wife, ah shun, embroidered pillows, society women, relationship women, female protagonist, lu hsun's, teacher charge, shen ts'ung-wen's, women seen,
Approximate Word count = 1733
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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