At the end of the story of “The Barrelmaker brimful of love” Osen kills herself. I believe this was to express her innocent. At that peirod of time of this story, women could not speak for themselves. And even though they spoke for them, no one would listen to them anyway. This kind of interpretation is showed in the story of “Punishment” as well. Women did not have any voice to them. They were scared of men, society that they were in, and their status that they were represent.
Throughout the stories and poems we read in class, women are represented as weak, powerless, and low-status. It is certainly very different from the life nowadays. Even though they are physically weak, their voice is strong ever since. Using this blog, I was trying to focus on women’s status, and their representations in our texts. Women were mis treated in old days compared to the 21st century life.
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Edgar Allan Poe
Even though, we did not read this poem by Edgar Allan Poe, it is very famous poem. Im pretty sure many poeple know this poem.
This is my number 1 favorite poem even though I don’t like reading poem.
This “Annabel Lee” is also about death and love like “when we are old”
By reading the poem “when you are old” by Yeats, I thought of real Love.. whether the poet was rejected by his lover, whatever the behind story was for them, I interprete this poem as I am about to die, laying on my back at the hospital.. many happenings will be reminded in my mind. And I would recall my whole life thoroughly and I would probably thank to one specific lady who would be holding my hands at that time of death.. My wife, my lady, my lover.. “How many loved your moments of glad grace. And loved your beauty with love false or true.” I would probably recall every moments with her, and would be smiling while thinking..
The poet doesn’t describe about who the lover is, who he is mentioning, however we just know her from his life story.. “And loved the sorrows of your changing face” my favorite line of this poem.. This is how I think the real love is. Real love means I will love whether or not you get older and uglier.. Meaning of spending my whole life together is A real love.
After reading of “Love in a fallen city” by Eileen Chang, i had to think about what divorce really means to people. In text, the newly divorced daughter became a burden to her family and ever more her family tries to make the daughter to get married to another man again, the family does not care about her feelings.. only thing they care is money. It seems a little odd to me even though i was raised up in Asian culture. This text represents the Chinese culture and their thoughts at that time of the story.
In Western culture mostly (I think), when woman gets divorced, she tries to live a new life without a husband. They’re very independent and brave!, so they don’t come back to her parents. On the other hand, it is a little different in Eastern culture i think. In most case when they get divorced, the woman comes back to her parents and live with them. Asian women are not that independent to live alone, or not as brave as Western to start a new life alone. They have a.. that feeling! that need to have a man to lead for them. what do you guys think?
Moreover, the family should not treat her as a failer in life. The divorce is definitely a big change in one’s life, but it is not an wrong thing to do. It happens sometimes. The family should try to help her to get better and to start a new life without a husband, not try to sell her off from family because of their needs.
Can you take a death penalty for someone you love?
Reading the story of “Punishment” by Tagore, I just wonder how those two brothers can do such a thing to younger wife who is in her teen age. Chandara who is appeared to be murderer in the story is actually a witness. Her husband, Chidam, is supposed to save her from this situation. However, Chidam is trying to save his brother instead of her by telling false information. “if I lose my wife I can get another, but if my brother is hanged, how can I replace him?” In my opinion, this is insane, nonsense. How could you not save your wife who is innocent? By the way, why does Chandara admit what her husband tells her to do?
This story tells us how India or Asian society at that time period was men-centered. Men possess all power in that family. Mostly men go out for hunting for food or bringing money for food to his family, on the other hand, women stay at home and take care of household and child, powerless or useless. Right before the murder happened, Dukhiram came home from work and looked for food saying “Give me my food.” He did not care about how she was doing all day or how she felt, all he cared at that time were how hungry and tired he was.
Moreover, between younger couple, Chidam says “if I ever hear that you’ve been to the ghat on your own, I’ll break every bone in your body” and Chandara replies “the bones will mend again.” then what happens… Chidam sprang at her, grabbed her by the hair, dragged her back to the room and locked her in. (p.1696) Women as you see from Chandara were powerless, low social status, and commonly harrassed by men at that time. This expresses women’s power and their role at that time of era.
Posted in Literature | Comments Off on Real Love??
This past weekend I went to see a movie “titanic” yes.. It’s a little old movie, but it just came out again in 3D. Titanic is one of my favorites.. While I was watching this, I thought that Rose is changing a lot of her personality after she met Jack throughout the movie… Its story is based on the time in early 20 century, 1912. At that time, women didn’t have any rights that much, they were just followed whatever men said.. Rose is just like that at the beginning. Shes scared of her fiancé and also her mother…she had to follow her parents decision.. Once she met Jack and fell in love, she totally changed her personality and attitude and she decides to get away from her situation.. I thought that Rose kinda represents women in that time of period and also some what similar to the characters in our texts..
Posted in Literature | Comments Off on Just a thought
this embedded video is the movie trailer of “Love in a fallen city..”
it focuses on their love story part which could get the viewers attention at the most easily,
but its still a big part of the story in our text and it makes easy to imagine the Chinese society at that time of the story
The lovestory between Gurov and Anna in “the lady with the dog” by Anton Chekhov is a story of their act of adultery. the definition of “adultery” is voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not his or her spouse from Oxford dictionary.
Even though they both are not happy with their marriage, their status is Still “married,” not “separated or single.”
If Gurov wants to get away from his wife, there’s some ways to it absolutely. If Anna is not happy with her husband and tired of her life, she should’ve done something else.
Yes, they could fall in love at the first sight… However, if they want to continue with their love affair, they should end up with their current marriage. Without that, it would just be an adultery.
this video shows the images of old days.. how women were treated and were not allowed to vote.. what their social status was and etc.
How they were treated at home as well, the director of this film made a fun of it, but it still gives me an idea how the reality on woman was at that time.
It is helpful to understand the 19th century’s society to get more easy, understandable ideas on our readings..
In the story by Anton Chekhov, “the lady with the dog,” Dmitri Gurov eventually meets a lady “Anna” while he was vacationing in Yalta, then they spend the time with each other and fall in love. They both are not satisfied with their current marriage. Gurov is never ever faithful to his wife, he tries to cheat his wife all time. On the other hand, Anna is beautiful young lady, living in a big house with big fence. She is eventually looking for a getaway..
After leaving Yalta, Gurov realizes that he can’t forget Anna out of his mind and tries to find her in her town. Fortunately, finds and meets her, and they fall in love again at the end of story…
People, is it a real love? or is it an unfaithful adultery?
