Images of Women. Transformations in the role of women within time…

Now it’s time to make an end note of my blog!

I found blogging very interesting and engaging. It’s always hard to start writing a post for me, but once I start , I can’t stop writting.

Probably I had many thoughts to write because of my theme, I really like it. It was so wonderful to watch transformations in women’s role throughout time, while I was reading works from the world literature.

Also I want to point out that readings of male-writers and female-writers  are different in the way how readers get perception of women.Certainly, women- writers could do it better, since it was  easy for woman-writer to express how a woman could think and feel and to portray images of women, to show protests and pain that only a woman could bring to the reader.But from the other hand it was also important to read male-writers ‘ works about women, because they illustrated woman’s role from man’s perspective.

So, within time woman’s role changed and progressed . As everyone remember when in the seventeenth century a woman was considered as  a person who had to maintain household and  bear children, be a good wife. Now a woman can do whatever she wants : to be a wife, a mother , a business woman, a president and etc…Now most countries have enacted the law which allows  men and women to have equal rights in every aspect of  our life. This adjustment was portrayed very well in literature, writers and poets pictured every  light change of role of women in society.

I fell in love with this theme because  it relates to my life  and also because a very first reading from our class ” The Barrelmaker Brimful Love” impressed me in many ways. There were many things that seemed unacceptable for that society and for that period of time and for Eastern culture. For me, one of them was unacceptable behavior of women , I believe, it was beginning of those transformations in women’s role,since it was in the seventeenth century. This story made me think and analyze that shift.

In addition I would like to say that I’m happy that women achieved what they were trying to get for so long time, now we all are equal, but sometimes I feel that women go too far and forget that they are “women” , a weak gender ,that is not supposed to take a leading role in society.I also believe  too much of independence of women spoiled some of our  men, who eventually became weaker than they should be.

In overall, I enjoyed blogging, because I could express my feelings, emotions and finally  my thoughts, sometimes in informal structure. When I write academic standard essay, I have to follow instructions and I can’t sometimes focus on what I find important and significant  in texts,but while I was doing my blog, I could do it and I felt so satisfied, that I’m creating something mine!

Chekhov’s story “  The Lady with the Dog” represents transformations in woman’s role and man’s perception about women. The main character Dmitri Gurov ,who was a womanizer, didn’t care about women, “to whom he referred  as the lower race”. His view of Anna Sergeevna was  the same as he considered any other woman , but within time it had changed and Gurov fell in love with her, and he never experienced before in his life.

Anna Sergeevna was a  young married woman in her early twenties, who went on vacation to Yalta alone ( which seemed very interesting and strange for me).She seemed very naïve. When she made love with Dmitri for the first time, she felt bad and embarrassed, Anna couldn’t hold her emotions inside herself. Anna never deceived her husband and now she was like “ an ordinary woman”(“ It’s not right. You will never respect me anymore”, “ I’m wicked ,fallen woman”, p.1527). I’m sure she felt in that way, because of her family education and social stereotypes. It was a nonsense when a  married woman could have an affair with a married man, it was shame. Anna knew that she shouldn’t have done that, but she did it. It was interesting for me that she thought that he would not respect her anymore, but eventually Dmitri fell in love with her. Now Dmitri was not so powerful over women anymore, but Anna got some  power over him , which she was not even planning to get. Now Dmitri couldn’t live without her  and stop thinking about her. I think  Anna is a vivid example, when we can see transformation of a woman- innocent to a woman, who got power.

Personally, I like the fact that Dmitri became vulnerable and Anna’s role  was leading in their relationship. However, I dislike unfaithful people in both genders, I think it’s one of the worst deeds people can do in their life. Thus, I think Chekhov wanted to show us some kind of woman’s protest that Anna represents in her infidelity. Certainly, Anna didn’t have that protest, but I feel it was an indirect message from the author.

I found this link interesting since it’s a biography of a woman, who became a pilot.

I really like this article about Amelia Earhart, who was born in the nineteenth century , when it was a beginning of changes in social role of women.Women started writing , working  and finally , becoming a pilot ! Ihave a friend of mine who is a pilot, most airplane crew don’t have a woman-pilot  nowadays ! It’s very rare to see it. I think it was a significant shift. The fact that she had long-distance flights impressed me a lot .

Amelia Earhart: “Please know I am quite aware of the hazards.  I want to do it because I want  to do it.  Women must try like men have tried.  When they fail, failure must be but a challenge to others.”

This quote made me think that she was one of the feminists at that time. I hear a strong temper that arises from her words :”I want to do it because I want to do it”. Amelia thought that if a man could do it then a woman could  try to do it!

I love her words that even inspired me!

http://library.thinkquest.org/J001621/

Anita Desai’s story “The Rooftop Dwellers” portrays  a woman, who wants to be more independent and get her achievements in life by leaving her family and moving to the hostel- starting her new life by herself. This story was published in 2000. We  can notice some significant changes in Indian society.

The main character Moyna represents a new image of woman. It’s very interesting for me that a woman from middle class, who used to live in good conditions and had comfort, decided to change her life. The fact that she is not married and she is not young, makes me surprised. Moreover she got her degree in literature, she was teaching at school in her hometown, before she left home. I admire her that she could leave her family and started to realize herself in life and she was not afraid of anyone’s opinion.

Most women who live in” barsati”, were women, who had a new role in the society. They work hard.For example her friend Tara has a husband, but she still works and I feel like in their relationship they have equal rights. The moment that Tara smokes is kind of unexpected from Indian women. I think it made me think about those changes more ,since in previous readings it was never mentioned.

I also found important when Moyna drinks vine with a man, whom she has met recently. I think it shows us that a relationship between a man and a woman became less strict and more open, it’s not shocking anymore.

The story “ In Camera” by Nawal El Saadawi impressed me in a bad way…It’s  one more sad story, I think, all sad stories portray real life. For me it’s hard to read that kind of stories, when  I have to face the ugly truth, that people were going through.

This story was confusing, some parts I didn’t get, but all I got that a young girl was having horrible time in her life. She was in camera, in pain, couldn’t even sit, but she had to do it at the court trial. She was not only in a physical pain, but also in emotional. Leila Al-Fargani got raped by ten males.

This story was written in 1980 and still I can see how bad women were treated by men. Her aunt was beaten by her husband and she wanted to claim  it, but the judge asked her to strip in order to see where and how she was beaten, since she couldn’t strip in front of a strange man ,her aunt had got to return to her husband-  on this my emotions were  ”Are you serious?”. How could they ask for it, if they know muslim  rules that no one  of men could see naked woman even to report the wound. They asked it on purpose in order not to make this story big and put a woman down. The judge as a representative of “man power” wanted to show woman’s place in society by rejecting her claim.

One phrase , I remembered very well, when Leila’s mother said :” Girls of your age think only about marriage. Politics is a dirty game which only ineffectual men play.” I could notice that her mother had old stereotypes about politics and women’s role. However this girl was in that situation, I found her very strong , it’s like she was not young girl, for me it seemed she was not a girl at all. Of course, she was suffering, but most of her pain was worries about her mother, that this situation made her mother suffer. In my perception, she was brave to face all of this at her young age.

But her father was feeling miserable because his reputation and his honour  were violated, since his daughter was in camera, and got raped by ten men. I don’t know why men were so selfish and they didn’t feel in other way.

Again this story was very brutal  and it shows injustice towards women. Women were still “lower race”. Hence, some changes I could notice: before a woman couldn’t even go to report that she was beaten and a young girl couldn’t get involved in politics. At least these women tried to change their situation, but it was ended unsuccessfully.

I just want to clarify the situation about that raping and beating of a woman, in every religion is a huge sin to raise a hand on a woman. And in Islam is one of the worst, according to Muslim rules a woman is supposed to be treated as a queen and princess and can never been “touched” by a man. Sometimes when people read or hear that kind of stories about Arabic women or Muslim women, they might think that it’s a norm, but  it’s not, since I know about this religion very well. Only “animals” could do this. I want to believe that in the future the world will  not have these situations, when a woman can be abused.

When I was reading “The Barking” by Ingeborg Bachmann, I was about to cry ,honestly I dropped tears. This story was about love of old Fraun Jordan and Franziska for a man (son and husband) and feeling of loneliness of Old Frau Jordan.Why did this story make me sad?

First of all, I found it very sad, because it’s about a woman, who was old  and  lonely. She loved her son so much and this crazy love made her suffer. Leo ,her son, didn’t want to see her more often or to talk to her, even didn’t want to take care of his mother, when she was not feeling good because of her knee.(Leo reacted with annoyance and then, to placate her, had explained that he couldn’t drive out to Hietzing because of such a trifle. Just tell her-he rafted off some medical terminology-she should buy this and that and do and walk as little as possible.) Yes, he supported her financially, but it was not enough . This old lady raised her son alone, since her husband died and gave him the best, that made him the famous doctor at that time, but he forgot about it. I love my mom very much, I can’t even imagine how I can leave my mother in such a difficult situation. This old woman is a great example of sincere mother’s love that children have to appreciate and value. We have only one mother. The moment ,when old Frau Jordan made herself to lie her son ,because she didn’t want  to bother and make  him mad for some reasons, made me so upset and Leo had me feel even angry. Another scary moment was when old Fraun Jordan was afraid of her son. Probably I was shocked by this story, because in my country I could barely see lonely old people, since we had a tradition, that the youngest son was supposed to live with parents forever and would never leave the family. Therefore we don’t have nursing homes or homes for elder people, because all old people are being taken care by their kids. I believe that even in Germany children used to treat their parents better two-four centuries ago. I don’t want to generalize this situation for everyone in the twentieth century in Germany.

Another woman, who was inferior in this story, was Franziska ( Leo’s wife). She could do everything that would never make him sad and hurt his reputation.(“ More importantly  she didn’t dare reveal to the doctor who she was and who the old woman was, because that would only have hurt Leo’s reputation, and protecting Leo’s reputation was also in Franziska’s best interest.) I believe she loved him a lot, but he didn’t deserve, he was very selfish. Also I could notice that Leo didn’t even consider his wife opinion about anything.

I think  even nowadays only a woman can still suffer like that, because women are very emotional ,and even when women can hide their feelings, they suffer inside…

I’m glad if males  can get a chance to read this story, maybe they can learn something from this story: how to treat a mother and a wife.

Liusu was a chinese young woman, who lived in Shanghain. She was 28 years old and already divorced ,because her husband used to beat her. It was a middle of the twentieth century (1940) and the fact she got divorced impressed me ( she got divorced and she was from a traditional family with good reputation).The twentieth century , I guess , was a beginning of that kind of changes, when divorce started to be not a overwhelming moment. Even Liusu was divorced for 7 years, she didn’t change her situation, didn’t look for anyone until her family told her that they couldn’t support herself anymore. I think , at least she could go to work, even she was not educated, but if  a person in that kind of situation , she could change her perception about working, since she was worried about reputation, that a woman from her  high class family couldn’t do dirty work due to the lack of education.(I haven’t studied much, and I can’t lift and carry, so what kind of job can I get?”) It was the twentieth century, most women worked at that time.

But I like the moment when Liusu finally showed her feelings and emotions, when the family put her down ( they had been supporting her for 7 years, meanwhile they speculated her money).(“Why didn’t you say all this seven or eight years ago?”Now that you’ve spent all my money , you are not afraid of upsetting me?””It’s because  I’ve eaten you out of house and home.You’ve lost my money?It must be that I’ve led you on.Your sons die?Of course it’s because I’ve brought evil into your lives.”) At that moment a young woman,who was so quiet and like a shadow in the family, finally got her voice.

When I was reading I loved one phrase so much, when she expressed her feelings again in the conversation with Liuyuan.(“Your idea of the perfect woman is someone who is pure and high-minded but still very ready to flirt. The pure high-mindedness is towards others , but the flirting is towards you. If I were an entirely good woman, you never would have noticed me in the first place!”) This was a very strong statement from the woman, who used to swallow everything before, but now she spoke up and said what she thought. For me, this transformation seemed very interesting.

I have something to say about her “love” for Liuyuan. I think if she was not  experienced in relationship with men, she wouldn’t fall in love with Liuyuan. Everything ,what happened only because of circumstances( she needed to leave her family, to get married or to live somewhere else, since her being in her family was terrible).I agree that his compliments and  sweet words could seduce her and make her feel special, but I think, she could  have filtered  some of them. Moreover, I didn’t like when she was thinking that she couldn’t get back to family, because everyone would think that she became Liuyuan’s mistress. What did she expect? And why didn’t she think that way before she went for long walks with him till  late night, spent all time with him? Of course, she didn’t do anything inappropriate with him, but still if she knew social rules of her culture, why did she go for that then? And when second time when he asked her to come to Hong Kong, she didn’t even think that he would want to have  a night with her or that she would be in the same room with him. I don’t know how a woman at her age could be kind of naive.

I think this woman was unhappy even after her marriage with Liuyuan, because of herself. Nothing satisfied her, she couldn’t let her past go away(the time when she was left and became a mistress) and enjoyed her life and maybe this fact made me think that if it was true love, she would be feeling in a different way. This woman was living at that time, when a woman had to become stronger and stronger, but Liusu was a weak person with temporary changes, when she showed her strong side of her temper. I believe if she didn’t get fight with her family in the beginning ,Liusu wouldn’t  even get married again.

Since the nineteenth century the world has been hearing from female voices in literature.I think it’s a significant shift in human history. Now we can see images and role of women not only from male writers’ works, but also directly from women. One of these female voices was Anna Akhmatova,who was born in 1889. Anna Akhmatova is one of the famous Russian female poets  in the twentieth century.Her writing was divided on the early work (1912-25) and her late work( 1936 until he death).Her strong leading voice struck a new chord in Russian poetry. Akhmatova’s principal motif was love ,especially tragic love, expressed with feminine accent.

Considering  her as a woman-representative of early twentieth century, I found huge transformations in that society, since Akhmatova married three times. I think this strong female voice was not only a representative of first woman- writers ,but also her personal life( three marriages) was overwhelming for me. Personally, I like her poems about love, they expressed sincere female feelings, that only a woman could express and bring from her soul and heart to readers. Before we read some poems about love of male poets and we could see how they describe their love and lovers. Now I , as a female, I can feel tone and intonation of her poems better. Here is one of them:

You thought that I was that type:

That you could forget me,

And that I’d plead and weep

And throw myself under the hooves of a bay mare,

Or that I’d ask the sorcerers

For magic portion made from roots and send you a terrible gift:

My precious perfumed  handkerchief.

Damn you! I will not grant your cursed soul

Vicarious tears or a single glance.

And I swear by the miracle-working icon,

And by the fire and smoke of our nights:

I will never come back to you.

1921

I read this poem in original language, this translation is quite well. I like this poem so much, maybe because I have a period of time,when I’m in love, I can relate myself to  her lines.These lines bring anger and frustration.Anna Akhmatova got offended, someone hurt her feelings and she didn’t have mercy for him.Saying  “I will never come back to you”, Akhmatova showed readers her strong character and her pride, like no one  had a right to make her  feel that way.I feel she wanted to say: Who are you?who made me feel that way?The poet wished him to be in the hell by saying ” Damn you!”. I think this poem is very impulsive  and has lots of emotions, that could be felt only by a woman.However this woman was strong enough not to fall.

Years ago women couldn’t  even express their feelings, but now Anna Akhmatova published them.

In the nineteenth century characterization of women continued to change more rapidly, first  protests of women  were happening in that time. Tagore’s story “Punishment” was written in the end of nineteenth century, India. Traditions of Hindus were very strict and harsh towards women. I have known about Hindu culture and some their traditions since middle school and when I read this story ” Punishment” , I almost saw a real example from their life.

This story shows how women were dependent on their husbands, women maintained their household (Chandara and Radha), while their husband worked in the fields. I would like to talk about  Chandara as a main character of this story and as a representative of woman’s protest, that is how I see her through my eyes.

Chandara was a young girl, “ was not more than seventeen and eighteen” ,” buxom,  well-rounded ,compact and sturdy – so trim in her movements”.Chandara and Chidam had good relationship, they loved each other, but Chandara couldn’t trust him wholly , she felt that she could lose him one day. One day when they had a quarrel , I realized how powerful and even cruel  man was in his actions towards his wife (”Chidam sprang at her, grabbed her by the hair, dragged her back to the room and locked her”).It seemed that is was normal to do it with a woman in that time. However, Chandara was not quiet and agreed with everything, she had own voice.For example when her husband was threating  her that he would break her bones, she said that “the bones will mend again”. I felt like she was not scared at all. After that fight she escaped from her house to her uncle, I think that she was not behaving like a typical Hindu woman was supposed to. Chandara didn’t really listen to her husband. I think she just had that kind of temper and because she was much younger that her husband, she was not wise yet, but at the same time she was not dumb.

The key moment of this story was when Chidam asked her to admit to the murder, she didn’t say anything ,just agreed with him.She decided that it would be better to die than to live with her husband.Why had she done that? I think after what her husband suggested to her, Chidam broke her heart that she didn’t expect him to do. Last quarrel affected her as well, when she run away from him.Yes, she loved him a lot and at the same time she couldn’t take it anymore, she was not satisfied  how he treated her. And her last drop of patience was when her husband preferred to rescue his brother ,but put Chandara’s life  under a risk. After that she hated him and loved at the same moment, she knew that she wouldn’t leave him, because it was not impossible for a woman in India to get divorced. However, she couldn’t imagine how she would  live her whole life with a person, who betrayed her.(“I shall give my youth to the gallows instead of to you. My finals ties in this life will be with them”).Chandara was so broken. Her decision to die was a protest, that she didn’t have  an opportunity to make under other circumstances. In that moment she made a choice, probably Chandara had never had one before. Chandara wanted to leave that life and not to suffer anymore with her husband.

Personally, I don’t support her in her choice, but I’m impressed how a young girl made  such a hard decision in her life in order to make herself free and punish her husband, who realized what he had done ,but it was too late. I  think justice was served, since she made her decision , showed protest and that punished her husband, who lost his wife  he really loved and now he would probably be suffering for the rest of his life. I don’t even feel sorry for Chidam ,he deserved it.

“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” was about a knight ,who got seduced and fell in love with a mysterious woman, who left him in the end. “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” was translated as “The Beautiful Lady without Pity”. The Lady was so beautiful and bright , she made him charmed by her appearance.(“Full beautiful ,a faery child, Her hair was long, her foot was light and her eyes were wild”). This quote described her as something faery and pure, because he compared her with a child, and I feel this lady was so clean and light, but on the other hand the author’s words “her eyes were wild”  gave me a strange feeling and  a completely different perception of the woman, it’s like she was not so innocent ,so pure anymore. I see that the narrator was in deep love with her and he was so romantic(“ I made a garland for her head, and bracelets too, and fragrant zone…”).He was caring and loving, he set the lady on his horse and as he said  “And nothing else saw all day long, For sidelong would she bend and sing a faery sing”, and it seemed the knight could do anything for her and for his love.These all expressions of his emotions  made  me think that a man  had lost control of himself and everything, when he met a beautiful woman, who could seduced him so easy by singing and her appearance. And in the end the lady took him to cavern and made him asleep, left him alone and cold on the “hill’s side”.(“ And there she lulled me asleep , And there I dreamed, ah woe betide! The latest dream I ever dreamt On the cold hill’s side.”) This poem had  an unpredictable end, since not a man left  a woman and felt fine ,but here was a woman ,who charmed the knight and left him broken in his feelings.

When I read this poem first time, I thought it was a romantic poem about knight’s love  ,but I read one more time  and I saw that it’s not only about his love for a woman,who was very beautiful and he adored her. This poem showed us power of a woman , that could manipulate  a man. A woman became dangerous ,she was not inferior as a traditional woman used to be before in society. I think this poem represented new changes in women’s role and characterization.