Social Prejudices against Divorced Women in Modern China - Research Paper Example

Social Prejudices against Divorced Women in Modern China According to “Octday”-a story written by Tie Ning, there are prejudices of social nature against women who are divorced in modern China. China is still traditional, and most women allow themselves to be inferior to men. Some women allow themselves to stay in unhappy marriages just for the sake of the family and children. However, in this story, this main character is different. As seen in the story, Zhu Xiaofen’s parents try to persuade her to stay with her husband for the sake of the baby but she refuses and insists that sit is for the sake of the child that she is leaving.

She initiates the divorce and is okay living her life as a single mother. However, in the eyes of the society, this is not the case. To them, a divorced woman is an unhappy, miserable woman. According to that society, it is assumed that a woman must be left or dumped by her husband for a divorce to take place. An illustration is when everyone in her work place condemns Zhu Xiaofen’s husband for leaving her, without even knowing the full story or letting her explain her side of the story. Another example is when her friend from college insists that Zhu is ageing and looking sickly just because her husband left her.

When her colleagues see her jumping the rope outside their office, they all think that she is jumping to impress them and trick them to believe she is fine, so as to suppress her real feelings. In the story, another form of prejudice noted is that for a divorce to take place the woman must be the cause and she must do everything to avoid the shame of divorce. This is best illustrated when Zhu’s former principle sees her on the train and tells her that women must behave well in order to make a marriage work and avoid the shameful act of divorce.

She claims that if Zhu had taken things seriously, her marriage would work. Another form of social prejudice observed is that divorced women cannot be self sufficient. This is illustrated in the story when her friend who was a ticket-taker at the train station assumed that since she was divorced, no one would come and pick her and she even suggested asking her husband to give Zhu a lift in his cab. This is an assumption that when a woman gets divorced, she lacks the support of her husband and so she cannot do dome of the tasks on her own.

They tend to insist on helping even when it is not necessary. Another example is when her friends, who were wives to the author friends at the hotel asked their husbands to accompany Zhu Xiaofen to the swimming pool so that she would not be hurt by the sight of other couples. The character in this story is a representation of women who are not happy in a marriage and they want out. It is noted that in modern China that wanting to get out of a marriage for your own happiness is unusual. When her friends in the office call her back to work, they arrange for someone to help her open up her feelings.

They even mistake her tears for being pressed by urine as crying because of her divorce. This begs the question, is it fair for one to stick in a marriage even if one is not happy? And if marriage is between two people, does it necessarily mean that only one party can demand a divorce?Works citedTie Ning, OCTDAY;- Translated by Diana Kingsbury, 1957. Print.http://www19.homepage.villanova.edu/karyn.hollis/prof_academic/Courses/1050/Scanned%20Texts/Octday0001.pdf