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Death Of Woman Wang Essay

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Ciciora 1
Michael Ciciora
Professor Farrell
History 171
15 March 2015
Death of Woman Wang Essay The Death of Woman Wang, by Jonathan D. Spence, paints a vivid picture of provincial China in the seventeenth century. Manly the life in the northeastern country of T’an-ch’eng. T’an-ch’eng has been through a lot including: an endless cycle of floods, plagues, crop failures, banditry, and heavy taxation. Chinese society in Confucian terms was a patriarchal society with strict rules of conduct. The role at this time of women, however, has historically been one of repression. The traditional ideal woman was a dependent being whose behavior was governed by the "three obedience’s and four virtues". The three obedience’s were obedience to …show more content…

An example of a great relationship in the story is the marriage of Hsi-lu and Kao. Hsi-lu says to her husband Kao, “Would you be willing to give up attending to our family’s business affairs and let me look after them?” Kao let her take over; for six months everything went well with the family’s affairs, and Kao praised her” (Spence 63). Hsi-lu did such a good job with what Kao asked of her to do that he praised her very much. He let his wife take care of the family’s expenses and pay the bills. During this time woman running the household and paying bills is unheard of. No man would let a woman do the job that he was supposed to be doing, but Kao saw how smart his wife was and let her do her thing. It turned out for the best. Along from this relationship, other women in relationships, along with widows, are treated very poorly. Men were considered higher up and better than women so men and women were not equals. Spence has been able to show throw the novel The Death of Woman Wang the positive and negative sides to these relationships that took place in seventeenth century China. Ciciora 4
The lives of women and experiences they faced were due to the stereotypes that are given to women during the time of the seventeenth century. Women are meant to be married, have children, and to attend to the needs of her husband as well as the needs of the household, not do the work of their husbands like Hsi-lu did.

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