Literary Devices within Culture

It is traditional in certain cultures that the women maintain certain responsibilities. The women are held to a different standard and are expected to take care of tedious household cores. It is also a custom that women are more submissive to their superior male figures such as their husbands. Women are to be obedient and do what they are told to do. In the short stories, customs in the homes are for the female characters to maintain a sense of stability in a submissive manner as a part of their emotional characterization. In the terms of emotional characterization in the first story, “The Moon on the Water,” by Yasunari Kawabata, the main character, Kyoko, is customarily in charge due to her husband’s illness. In the story, the author lists multiple instances where Kyoko is in charge of many chores. She is accountable for maintaining a household along with caring to her bed ridden ill husband. She writes, “she combed her husband’s hair with camellia oil”(350). Here Kawabata includes this detail to prove a normal custom of her culture. The women are expected to work hard and help out their families, especially in a time of need. The particular task of nursing her ill husband seems to be a handful but a normal part of this character’s daily life. The character spends much of her physical energy completing these customary tasks with a sense of clam stability. The reputation of the women in this culture is based on their hard work and to show what they’ve accomplished with maintaining a normal lifestyle. Overall the role of Kyoko is extremely physical in this culture. In the story, “The Collector of Treasures,” by Bessie Head, the she writes about the emotional characterization of the main character that struggles with her marriage. It is customary that a woman is to deal with her problems in a collective way. Even in such a case that her husband was cheating her, it wasn’t anything surprising. Women were not taken seriously and were mistreated such as was. Due to the fact that she hurt her husband in an inappropriate matter she was sent to prison. The behavior was frowned upon and people had the thought that she shouldn’t have had made cheating such a big deal. Women are to just accept the behavior of their husband’s regardless if its wrong. This was an obvious struggle for the main character that tried to make her husband pay for the emotional submission he had held her to. She made a stand for what she believed and then paid the price in jail. In the story, “The Destination,” Wang Anyi writes about the return of Chen Xin. While becoming reacquainted with his hometown he runs into his old friend Yuan Xiaxin. Yuan tells Chen that she is not yet married but waiting for the right opportunity; not giving up on the idea, due to the fact that she was now in her thirties. After they say their goodbye Chen’s younger brother makes a comment and says “ She’s a dead crab.” (125) Chen seems surprised that his brother would say such a thing. His brother then goes on to explain that because of her older age and not having a boyfriend that there is no hope for a woman like her of one day