Women in the Family and Community - Essay Example

Women in the Family and Community Family and Community is an introductory theme on page in The Mercy Reader. This sparks an interest to me. Reading the first paragraph made me feel inferior and yet for quite sometime within the last two years I have felt very strong. It is true that in our society, the ideal concept of the family is easily inferred from television situation comedies, where it forms the basis for most of the jokes. There is prejudice in some of the jokes. While these jokes are for entertainment purposes, I disagree with it. It angers me to know that I live in a society where people are judged and joked about when in fact the scenarios are meaningful and true. Why are we joking about this? It is taking away from everything we are striving for. Why is it that the media, especially television, still picture women as cooks, cleaners, housekeepers and filling gender-specific roles. This disturbs me no end. I thought all along that we were trying to be a more open-minded society where women are known to be strong, able to occupy powerful positions and at times be even superior to men. (example of irony) Ever since Eve led Adam away from Paradise and made things comfortable for him on earth, woman has come to be regarded as a symbol for home and family. (Eve is the archetype for womanhood) We must never underestimate women. Remember Joan of Arc and how she led the French army in the war against the English and winning? Wasn’t it a woman- Cleopatra and not a pharaoh who ruled Egypt successfully for a time until the snake was her undoing? And today, we have women invading areas of human endeavor where men heretofore held sway. Most modern families have mothers who are both housekeepers and breadwinners at the same time. We now have women astronauts, company CEO’s, doctors, professors, etc. In American politics, Nancy Pelosi heads the House of Representatives, Condoleeza Rice is the U.S, roving ambassador and doing a wonderful job of mediating with the leaders of countries all over the world. And Hillary Clinton is running for the Presidency. Is America breeding a race of super-women? In the field of entertainment, both screen and stage, American actresses take the lead. In Religion, there are more nuns than priests; however, we still have to see the fairer sex wearing the Fisherman’s ring. (This is a metaphor wherein there is reference to St. Peter, the first Pope, the first one to wear the Fisherman’s ring.) There are still things which women can do better than the men and other things which only women can do and no man can. God meant for women to conceive, carry babies in their wombs and give birth. Then they create a loving and nurturing environment for the children and teach them proper values. We must not rely on sitcoms on TV to point out to them the difference between right and wrong. To the preschooler especially, Mother and Father are God to the child and it is easy for him to obey. (Personification) Once they learn to make the right choices, then we as parents are keeping them safe from harm. They will surely be exposed to many dangers and temptations throughout life and they must make wise decisions in order to survive. Parenting is best accomplished with husband and wife – man and woman, as a team. A good husband and wife partnership is like a good basketball team. Both make for winning the game. (This is a simile wherein there is a comparison between a husband and wife partnership and a basketball team with the use of the word like) There is a dark message found in the news media and the social sciences where the family is pictured as a collapsing institution, a dangerous ramshackle place where everyone receives emotional wounds and fatal misunderstandings of life that lead later to failures in relationships. Hopefully if husband and wife cooperate and faithfully do their respective jobs in rearing the family and caring for the children, all will be well. It is useless, therefore to continue the debate as to who can do the job of maintaining the family – man or woman? To each his own, I say. We can derive a valuable lesson from the poem, “The Mountain and the Squirrel”, when the latter tells the former: “If I cannot carry forests on my back, Neither can you crack a nut.” Sundry Effects of Fairy Tales on Children After exploring the fairytale section of the library, I felt compelled to write about the effects of fairytales make on children. I have never really considered them seriously until now. Fairy tales are a source of fun for children and even adults. They provide comfort in a world riddled with dire news (this is a metaphor in which the world is likened to a person’s body punctured with e.g. bullets) of the sinking economy and an ecology spelling doom and disaster. They provide companionship for a child deprived of playmates and give him something to do on a rainy day. Reading a book of fairy tales prevents boredom from setting in and in the process, develops the child’s vocabulary and other reading skills. In the typical fairytale, there is always good that is rewarded and evil that does not go unpunished. Let us reminisce over the fairytales most people are familiar with. Most of these fairytales have an evil stepmother or witch to serve as villainess in contrast to the virtuous heroine. Take the tale of Snow White. She fell victim to the machinations of the vile snake of a stepmother, the Queen. (This is another metaphor in which snake and stepmother are compared). The story teaches the young reader not to be vain and self-conceited but remain humble and innocent and sweet like Snow White. Remember “Mirror, mirror on the wall?” The story also teaches little girls to be industrious, cheerful and hardworking like the dwarfs who took care of Snow White. It teaches children to love and appreciate the kind things people do for us, just like the dwarfs who were grateful to the princess for being their housekeeper until she ate the poisoned apple given by the Queen who was disguised as an old woman. Then we have the immortal story of Cinderella. Again, we have a cruel stepmother, the Queen. Cinderella, however, was lucky to have a fairy godmother to protect her end enable her to win her prince (although this is not always the case in real life). This fairytale teaches the child the value of promptness, of punctuality, or at least, to be conscious of time, which turns out to be an asset in the business world. (In the narrative, Cinderella was so engrossed in her Prince that she forgot all about the time. At the stroke of 12:00 midnight, she changed bak into the cinder maid she was before the ball and left, leaving her glass slipper behind.) Forgiveness and generosity are two virtues we learn from Cinderella who, in the end, forgave the stepmother and her two devilish (metaphor comparing daughters and devils) daughters who created so much mischief and heartache for our heroine. The children can learn not to shun menial jobs as the one Cinderella had – poking among the ashes as she did. And not to be envious as her stepsisters were of her or anybody else, for that matter. Then there’s this perfectly beautiful story of the giant who refused to share his garden with the children but eventually did and never regretted it till the day he died. The Little Engine that Could is an amusing tale of a talking train. The story offers the child a certain amount of fantasy, and although Bettelheim suggests that such stories merely give the child an escape, I beg to differ. They imbue the child with positive encouragement and a strong belief in himself. These two attributes are priceless they could mean success or failure for the child while growing up as well as when he reaches adulthood. By way of contrast, we have Rapunzel in the story of the same title who had so little control over her life. Her long hair was her only hope and the key to future happiness. In this day and age, whoever heard of young women pinning their hopes on their hair, long or short? (This is another metaphor. Long hair is directly likened to key; door to future happiness.) Of course there are certain warning signs that may not be ignored. The child may not be allowed to withdraw completely from reality for it could prove dangerous . Then sometimes the formula “good has its own rewards and evil is punished in the end” doesn’t always work. In which case, justice must be sought. If justice cannot be had, then the individual has to have the patience to endure what must be endured. Everyone has a dream that just isn’t very realistic – dreams like wanting to marry a celebrity or becoming a millionaire. The child must be told that we may never complete these dreams although in fairytales, they always do. But I’m all for fairytales – Rapunzel, Rumplestiltskin, Alice in Wonderland – the whole lot of them! May they never disappear from children’s reading lists and may they continue to give joy to all the children of the future as they gave joy to me in my own childhood! Read More