Depiction of Women Power in Waiting Years and Ants Swarm - Essay Example

Depiction of Women Power in Waiting Years and Ants Swarm Introduction The depiction of women in Japanese literature has evolved with time. This is portrayed by the way altitude towards women changes in literature texts written at different times. Traditionally, women’s role entailed taking care of the children, the homes, and management of income. Men on the other hand were supposed to provide for the family. This essay will analyze and compare the characters Tomo in The Waiting Years and Fumiko in Ants Swarm. The analysis will demonstrate how the different stories address the issue of women power. Ants Swarm is a story by Ari Takaru that revolves around a female character Fumiko and her husband Mastsuda. The story evaluates how Japanese society views and treats women. Fumiko is an educated woman who challenges the traditional role of women as child bearers and homemakers. Although her husband allows her to work, she is still expected to be submissive to the husband. Such submission is depicted by her desire to feel pain while having sex with her husband. By allowing her husband to inflict pain on her, Fumiko shows that she is under his control. Moreover, this depicts loss of freedom. However, Fumiko demanded that her husband inflicts pain on her, which exhibits her unpleasant reaction to the society treatment of women. She is using the action to condemn the social ideology that men are supposed to control women. This is comparable to the character Tomo in The Waiting Years. The Waiting Years is set in a period when the feudalism was ending. Tomo is married to an insensitive husband Yukimoto. Yukimoto lacks emotional attachment to her wife who buys a concubine called Suga for him. She hopes his husband would appreciate her. One night Yukitomo kills a man and goes to Tomo to find comfort. Tomo is glad since she hopes that Yukimoto was starting to understand and appreciate her. However, she learns later that this was not so. This depict that Japanese women are at times viewed as assets that men are free to use for pleasure purposes. This depicts powerlessness. Tomo depicts the place of women in the early modern Japanese culture. She suffers under her insensitive husband, Yukitomo. She even wishes she would kill him however. She remains submissive since the “feudal code of feminine morality” (Enchi 52) required her to do so. Irrespective of the mistreatment from her husband, Tomo continues to sacrifice for her family and husband. On the other hand, Fumiko is a woman in a society that requires her to have children. However, “She had never once wanted to have a child of her own. The very thought of giving birth and having to raise a baby repelled her” (Kono 171). This is depictive of Fumiko’s great desire to reduce the societal expectations on women. She feels that women should have a choice in their lives and should not only aim at fulfilling the societal demands. She yearns for power to control her own life. Tomo also depicts the sacrifices that women in Japanese society are obliged to make. After Suga’s purchase, Tomo secretly keeps the money that was left. Tomo hopes to use the money to escape from Tukimoto after divorcing her husband. However, Tomo still considers herself les powerless and chooses to stay in the husband’s house. Actually, she believes that her son Etsuko would only get a good life if she remains with the father. Tomo fails to acknowledge her great capability in managing house finances. She thus chooses to remain submissive to the husband, which portrays powerlessness (Enchi 14). When Fumiko supposes she is not pregnant, she starts joking with her husband on how they would bring up a child if it were a girl. Fumiko argues that she would ensure that the girl is not educated much and that she talked less. She argues that she would not wish to have a girl who talked much. She claims that she want a girl who is “incapable of talking back-a girl who has no opinion of her own” (Kono 122). This demonstrates the place of women in the Japanese society. Takaru uses the character Fumiko to criticize the treatment of women and girls in the society. The Japanese patriarchal society raises girls to be submissive to their male counterparts. This demonstrates that Fumiko and Tomo are powerless and cannot control their own lives. In The Waiting Years, Tomo is symbolic of the hardships that women in Japanese society have to go through to succeed. They have to make numerous sacrifices and are often victims of feudalism. Tomo is in a society that deprives her of the right to be heard. Though she has several personal desires, she can barely accomplish them, as she has to overcome numerous struggles in the plight to be a domestic wife and enjoy being part of working class. Tomo is comparable to Fumiko in Ant Swarms who has great desire to pursue education but feels obliged to fulfill her husband’s desire of having a baby. Although Fumiko appears to have accepted her position as subordinate to her husband, her words portray something different. Although she expresses her wish to be beaten by her husband during sex, her suggestion on how she would bring up her daughter depicts the underlying bitterness on the lack of power amongst women. Fumiko’s behavior is quite similar to that of Tomo in The Waiting Years. Though she wants to make others believe that she is happy, she lives with the hope that her husband will change. She is outwardly strong but internally unfulfilled. She feels unhappy and unappreciated and wishes that her husband would treat her differently. The two characters depict women yearning for power. In Ants Swarm, Fumiko is educated but her position in the society is indefinite. She is trying to establish her position in a patriarchal society that considers women inferior to men. Primarily, Fumiko and Matsuda were supposed to go to United States to further their education. However, Fumiko supposed she could be pregnant and might not have enough time to abort. At this point, Matsuda appears to care less if Fumiko manages to go to United Starts or not. He even suggests that they have a baby. Actually, he appears frustrated when he realizes that Fumiko was not pregnant. He had hoped for a boy child. This depicts the powerless position of women in the society. Matsuda appears ready to leave Fumiko on her own is pregnant other than staying with her. She expects Fumiko to give up her dream of studying but he is not ready to do the same. Moreover, Fumiko is will to give up her dream to fulfill her husband’s desire. In the same way, Yukimoto expects Tomo to continue playing the role of a faithful husband while he engages in promiscuity. Actually, he succeeds since Tomo does not divorce her. This depicts powerlessness of women in Japanese society. Fumiko enjoys the power of making love with her husband. There is no sign of unfaithfulness in the story. However, the husband is still insensitive in the way he makes love to her. The husband sticks with her even though she has no child. The only power that Fumiko has is that of making her husband inflict pain on her. However, Tomo has lost the power of having sex with the husband. Though she has fulfilled the role of a woman by bearing a child, however the husband is still unfaithful. Both women have unquestioningly submitted to their husband’s desires. They are supposed to bear the wrath of their husbands silently. Actually, they are only supposed to validate their husbands’ actions. In the end Tomo dies. She does not manage to win the husbands appreciation and affection. However, she had played the role of a wife without any appreciation. She requests that she be thrown into the sea instead of being buried. In case of Fumiko, she realizes she is not pregnant but is still unhappy since she has not fulfilled her husband’s desire of having a baby. Conclusively, Tomo and Fumiko demonstrate the role of women in Japanese society. The two women are submissive and strive to please their husbands at their own expense. They end up unhappy since they have to sacrifice their happiness for their husbands to be happy. Read More