Pleasure Mouse example essay topic

Women during the time that A Visit from the Foot binder was written were willing to accept pain to fulfill society's concept of beauty and to keep their position in society. Women's role in this society was one in which they lacked any sense of power and they were therefore fully dependent on men. Hence, they were willing to suffer through the excruciating torture of crushing their toes under the weight of their own bodies in order to make themselves desirable enough to attract a wealthy husband. The roles of men and women in this story are quite rigid, therefore allowing women little room to go against society. This is due in part to the economy, which does not permit much movement for neither race nor gender. Therefore, when one is born into a class they must conform to its standards.

Women are generally given more rights and freedoms if they provide a direct economic function in society, such as owning and managing property to produce goods. Most of the property was passed down from father to son, though, and women had no rights. That is why the fathers had to decide on a dowry to marry off their daughters. Economically, men fulfill the "important" roles while women work "behind the scenes", raising children and taking care of the household. These "simple" jobs that women perform cause them to be dependent on men, and relegate them into a subordinate position. Society's attitude of women being weak and dependent, while men are strong and in control, stems from the roles they are obligated to fulfill.

Women are restricted to these roles because the idea of what a "good" woman or man should be becomes so ingrained into the culture. Society condemns that which is different, mainly due to fear, making it difficult for anyone to go against its belief systems. In the story, both the men and the women are really against the idea of the foot binding deep down. When asked if it will hurt, Tiger Mouse tells Pleasure Mouse that perhaps "the pain is so great that one's sentiments are smashed like egg shells" (Prager 50]. Warm Milk, the concubine, fell in front of Pleasure Mouse's door one night and said, "It is my legs. They are swollen like dead horses in the mud.

And as for my feet, well, they " re no longer of this earth", and then she says "They cannot bear the weight of two, Pleasure Mouse, but never say I said so. Promise?" [Prager 60]. The women are not the only ones against it. When Pleasure Mouse goes to see her friends in the gardens for the last time, Fen Wen cries and tells her that they will see her no more because she will be unable to walk. Though "no man could do a thing like" crippling their daughters' feet for "no man could bear it" (Prager 66), Pleasure Mouse's father eventually submits to the beliefs of beauty and allows it to continue. Change is slow not because there are not people who are against the institutions, but because they do not summon the will to challenge the traditions in which they are based upon.

Traditional roles, prejudices, and beliefs are kept because no one chooses to challenge. Society is so strong that women are willing to bind their feet and suffer such great pain that "one cries out for death and cries unheeded, pines for it, yearns for it" (Prager 50). In the case of Pleasant Mouse, a girl like any other of her class, she must conform to society's standards if she wishes to continue her comfortable life. She must suffer the pain of bound feet in order to live in a life of luxury. She really has no choice, for she is of the upper class.

Only the lower classes in which women have to work are feet left unbound. These were the ways of time in which this young girl lived. Society can be harsh, and in this case the victims were the women..