The death of woman Wang Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The death of woman Wang - Essay Example There were also published texts in 1673, 1763, and 1810 on the local history of the county (Cass and Spence 550). Additionally, Spence utilizes P’u Sung-ling’s text entitled â€Å"Strange Stories from the Liao Studio† in creative and unconventional ways. The data are all used to depict common superstitions and values and to draw the picture of â€Å"loneliness, sensuality, and dreams† (Spence xiv). The first part, â€Å"The Observers,† talks about the catastrophes that struck the region, focusing on the earthquake in 1668 that wiped out a big part of the population. Additionally, people were stricken with the White Lotus revolt in 1622, plagues in 1640, Machu invasion in 1643, coupled with famine, floods, and raids in the 1650s. In a matter of fifty years, the region’s population of 200,000 dropped to merely 60,000. It is obvious here that the T’an-ch’eng people faced survival crisis, misery, and demoralization during that perio d. Suicide was so common that a proclamation has to be issued to dissuade it. In Huang’s text, he mentions that when he was serving in T’an-ch’eng, he observed that people view themselves worthless due to the poverty, hunger, and several other sufferings they go through. He added that people then do not have any idea of a happy life and the joys of living (Spence 14). The moral situation of the people hit an all-time low, causing conflicts to erupt within the family units, breaking down of social orders, and abandonment of moral restraints (Cass and Spence 551).... The second part, â€Å"The Land,† explores the situation of the tax payments, quotas, and labor system. As the population fell, these established systems became more burdensome for the people, particularly the quota system. Registered lands dropped, showing the abuses in tax collections and the measures used by land owners to avoid paying the exorbitant taxes. Obviously, the established system in the land pushes the poor people more into poverty, giving them lesser and lesser hope --- which was not much to start with --- to be alleviated from their circumstances (Entenmann and Spence 269-70). The third part, â€Å"The Widow,† begins to explore the situation of the women in that region during that time. Historically, China’s view on women has been that of oppression, and they are merely treated with respect if they follow the conventional societal rules on the roles of women in the society (Cass and Spence 550). Spence here describes the burdens placed on widows, particularly by the legal code discouraging remarriage after the husband’s death. Remarriage would cause the widow to lose any inheritance from the husband to the husband’s family. However, instead of achieving the desired effect of proving the wife’s loyalty to the late husband, it merely prompted the husband’s family to put pressure on the widow to remarry. Spence however relates the story of a woman who resisted this pressure, which unfortunately resulted in the murder of her only son by her late husband’s family. The murdered was punished, but a part of the late husband’s family became the widow’s heir (Entenmann and Spence 270). In the fourth part, â€Å"The Feud,† Spence talks about a local family who runs a group of

Presentation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Presentation - Essay Example He demonstrates this by pulling a trick on the people using himself as the test for his antidote. Through an earlier worked out plan, he gets an accomplice to provide a poisonous snake that has had its venom drawn and fakes being poisoned by the bite of this snake. He goes through the throes of poisoning, only to survive when everyone has given him up for dead. This convinces the gullible onlookers of the potency of his poison antidote and there is a rush for purchasing it. Among these gullible customers are the marines and admiral of a visiting cruiser. It is during this episode that Blacaman the Bad comes in contact with a poor boy for whom he develops a fancy, because he has a face of an idiot. He pays the father of the boy and takes him under his wing. From then on the boy is a part of the fancy world of deceiving gullible people, assisting his mentor in the deceptions. The boy expresses a desire to be a soothsayer, but is found to be of no use, as he is incapable of delivering credible prophesies, and so he is put back to work at assisting his mentor in creating various devices of supposedly incredible capabilities. However, bad times soon fall on Blacaman the Bad and his incredible devices and potions are no longer selling. Blacaman the Bad decides to return the worthless boy back to his father and get his money back. Before he can execute this further misfortune falls on Blacaman the Bad. The admiral, who had bought the useless antidote for poisons, dies attempting to demonstrate its potency like Blacaman the Bad did. The marines return looking for Blacaman the bad to wreck vengeance, and so Blacaman the Bad flees with his protà ©gà ©. This flight puts them in a desolate land in which they almost die of hunger. Believing that all his misfortune is due to the boy he has taken under his wing, he puts him in a dungeon and tortures him and does not give him