... Although Islam had roots in Africa before the beginning of colonialism, the introduction of the transatlantic slave trade and the start of Islam social movements began a new campaign toward religious reform in Africa. The novel Segu by Maryse Conde, shows how these Islamic movements brought both hope and fear into the lives of the men and women in the Bambara society. In particular, this new emphasis on Islam brought fear into the lives of many women; fear of leaving the traditions they had followed their whole lives. Whereas Segu focused on changes, The Concubine, by Elechi Amadi, took a more timeless approach, focusing solely on the traditional religion of the Igbo society and its effects. Although these novels are very different, each author effectively shows the significant social, emotional, and physical effects of religion particularly on the lives of women in both the Igbo and Bambara societies. The Concubine, provides insight to many traditional concepts of the Igbo society such as its village democracy, beliefs in spirits, and, most importantly, the way women are viewed in society. Village democracies, as defined by Britannica, are democracies with a chosen group, usually the elders of a society, chosen to rule for their people. Amadi shows how villagers interacted with these elders by seeking their advice...
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...the text notes that Sarah does something in Hagar’s eyes (16:4) usually translated along the lines of, “was lowered in her esteem” (NJPS).” It is stated that “Sarah’s plan works, it tell the reader that the whole thing was Sarah’s plan. Having her husband sleep with her slave or helper for the purposes of conceiving a child. “The translation “concubine” stems from Speiser’s treatment of the phrase connecting it to the Akkadian cognate ashshatum, which he argues may signify either “wife” or “concubine”. If he is right and it could mean wife then Sarah would have planned to make Hagar become Abraham’s wife. Or it could mean concubine, ether way it is huge ability that Sarah is able to do. Sarah is still submissive to Abraham. However we also...
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...Patricia McFarland Michelle Smith ART 101 13 October 2012 Themes of Art Critical Essay In ‘The Turkish Bath’ painted by Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres, is a glimpse into what the western world believes a harem to look like. The painter never actually visited a Turkish bath, and his painting is purely conjecture. With that stated, one definition of a harem is a sphere of women. The painter chose to use circular lines in almost every point in this painting. He created circles within circles, with the round bodies and rounded faces, and rounded trim on the alcoves and furnishings. All of the bodies are very curvy, voluptuous, sensual, and soft. Most of the concubines have rounded eyes, with very curved faces and bodies. Even the breasts and nipples are circles within circles, as are the stomachs and navels. The entire room seems to be a circle and the view that we have is as though through a key hole or hole in the wall. All of the five senses are represented in this piece, touch, smell, sight, taste and sound. They are represented so that each sense is saturated and the power of the sultan is quite obvious. There is truly a celebration of all five senses in this painting. Touch seems to be the most obvious. Many of the women are touching in some fashion, from merely lying next to each other, to fondling of another woman’s breast. The touching seems to be quite accepted and relaxed, indicating there are no inhibitions connected to touching. There is touching...
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...Empress Wu Empress Wu, more formally known as Wu Zetian, was born on February 17, 624 A.D. in Guanyuan, China. She was born into a wealthy family. She was the only female emperor in China’s history. Empress Wu was a harsh, strict leader who was not well liked. She ruled during the Tang Dynasty. While Wu was just fourteen, since she was so beautiful, emperor Taizong selected her as one of her concubines. Wu started her royal duties by doing the laundry, but one day one Taizong was alone, she began talking to him about Chinese history. In fact, she knew so much about Chinese history that he took her out of her laundry and made her his secretary. Wu’s beauty attracted another young man by the name of Prince Li Zhi. Li was the son of emperor Taizong. Soon...
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...the current emperor when Cixi was born. (Haldane, 1965). This northern tribe, was very progressive, women did not have to fold their feet to make them appear smaller, which was a very common Chinese practice, giving them a very elegant posture while walking (Haldane, 1965). Her family was well off, but then as stated by X. L. Woo (2002) they lost all their fortune due to a robbery. At a young age, she was part of a contest to become the emperor’s concubine. With her charm, beauty and distinct smell of Orchids, where she got the name of Yehenara, she was chosen to be part of the emperor’s concubines. Surprisingly she got selected for a very low range inside the court of concubines. However, in the Chinese society of these epoch, just the fact of being selected from that contest was an enormous accomplishment, for the contestant and her family, she was now going to be living in the Forbidden city. The forbidden city, with the luxurious and clustered spaces, was created only for the Emperor’s use and in some cases for the concubines (Seagrave, 1993). A place where women were seen as objects that had only goal, fulfill the emperors need. Some historians such as the Seagrave and Richard Cavendish both supported this argument by portraying common practices inside the walls of the forbidden city. However, Cixi’s situation drastically changed, she became pregnant with the only son of the emperor. This secured her future and stability, she was the empress now. Afterwards, the emperor...
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...“Three-Inch Golden Lilies”- Concubine to a Warlord General (1909-1933) This story talked about the experiences of the narrator’s great-grandparent and grandparent’s past. The story began by bringing up facts about the setting, which is in a town called Yixian. The narrator’s great-grandfather named Yang Ru-shan, who was born in 1894, married a woman named “Number Two Girl” because she was the second daughter. He was only fourteen at the time. The great-grandmother was six years older than the great-grandfather, and it was an arranged marriage. In Chinese tradition, falling in love was considered a disgrace. If one was lucky, he or she could fall in love later on in the marriagement. In the following year, the narrator’s grandmother was born. At least this time, the grandmother had a more decent name, which was Yu-fang (Yu meaning “jade”, and fang meaning “fragrant flowers”). The grandmother was very beautiful; her features were well-defined. One of her greatest features was her “three-inch golden lilies”, which were her extremely small feet. Her feet were bound as a child and she went through much pain. When she was fifteen years old, General Xue Zhi-heng came to Yixian for a visit. General Xue was well-known because of his great deeds as a warlord. The great-grandfather wanted to arrange a marriage between Yu-fang and General Xue. He had to approach General Xue in an indirect way. He did this by making his daughter go to the temple to pray at times of the day in which...
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...Saturday, June 16, 2007 Concubinage Meaning: Commonly refers to a relationship between a man (usually of higher social status) and a woman, where the man has an “official” wife, and possibly more than one concubine. Concubines had limited rights though any children are acknowledged, though their status is second to that of children born unto the “official” wife. Concubinage was usually an “exclusive” arrangement between two parties. Biblical: With the tolerance of polygamy, a concubine was only defined in terms of her disparity in position or rank with the principal wife. A legitimate spouse, of an inferior social grade or a bondwoman, is often given the appellation of concubine. This term did not invalidate her marriage, it did, however, indicate that she was not equal to her husband in rank, nor did she share in her husband’s property or in the administration of his household. From Genesis 21:9-14, we see that the dismissal of a concubine and of her children was permissible. Ancient Greece: Concubines were permitted in ancient Greece and their children were legitimate if recognized by their fathers. Roman Empire: A concubine was recognized by law in the absence of a legal wife. She was usually from a lower social rank than her husband, and her children, though not considered the equals of those of the legal wife (uxor) were nevertheless termed natural (naturales) to distinguish them from spurious offsprings (spurii). The father of these children was required...
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...After Songlian's marriage into the wealthy Chen family, she later realizes that not all the concubines in the household receive the same luxurious and royal treatment of foot massages, choices of meals, most respect from servants, brightly lit red lanterns, and a visit from the husband Master Chen. Matter in fact, only Master Chen decides which concubine he gives the treatments to, based on whom he will spend the night. This obviously causes competition between the three concubines who are continuously seeking Master Chen's attention and affection. Through this, we can see that men, most notably Master Chen, simply took in the three concubines only to satisfy his male sexual appetite. In sense, Master Chen essentially owned them and ensured obedience for his own pleasure, not caring how the women themselves felt. We can further see the devaluing of women from the First Mistresses's point of view. Being nearly as old as the Master Chen and having had bore a son, she seems to accept the fact that she will live out her later life forgotten and passed over in favor of the younger concubines. Furthermore, we can see another saddening event unfold through the Second Mistress, where she says that her daughter was "worthless", due to the fact that she was a girl instead of a boy. As depressing as these may all sound, it transpired heavily...
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...home-makers, in addition to being subservient towards men, Empress Wu Zetian had proven herself to be in a league of her own when she succeeded the throne during the Tang Dynasty. She had been and still is the only female who had ruled China - no small feat despite the controversies of how she achieved that status. As it would apply to her, the ends did not justify the means. Empress Wu was born in 624 A.D. during the Tang Dynasty (618 A.D. - 907 A.D.) to an aristocrat family in Wenshui County of the Shangxi province. As a young child, Wu was well educated by her father and was taught to read Chinese classics, write and play music. (Jiang, 2003) Not surprisingly, she was selected for her astuteness and beauty at the age of fourteen to be a concubine to Emperor Taizong. Traditionally, during this era, women from nobility had their foot bound to not only represent their wealthy background and their freedom from manual labor, it was also a symbolism of the women’s chastity as such women with bound foot was largely restricted to the confines of her home. With all its “charms”, bounded foot women were sexually desirable to men. These women were required to take small steps, which made it seemed as if they were swaying. These sways were also known as the Lotus Gait, and they were extremely sexually stimulating to the men. In addition, it was thought to be that the way in which the women with bound foot had to walk strengthened the walls of her vagina and made it more narrow, thereby making...
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...Contrast the moral and responsible behavior of the Israelites between Judges 16-19 and Ruth 1-4 Even though God’s people are unfaithful to him, he would still be faithful to them. In the book of Judges there are twelve individuals who are considered saviors. They save their own tribes or a number of tribes from these invaders or tribes that were not intended to be in control of Canaan. However, the Israelites allowed them to control those sections of Canaan. Those that delivered the Israelites were called Judges, meaning they delivered the Israelites from their oppressors. In Judges Chapter 16, Samson is an example of a person who was initially faithful and obeyed God and was a savior and deliverer of Israel. He became unfaithful to God in disobedience but then God is faithful to him. Samson’s strength was symbolized by his hair, however, a prostitute was sent to seduce him in order to find out what actually gave him strength. In disobedience to God, Samson conveys his secret to her which leads her to cut off his hair and causes him to be taken as a prisoner and blinded. This was a result of Samson’s punishment on the account of his obedience to God. Because Samson is weakened from the lost of his strength, his tribe is left without defense and they’re oppressed. After so many years of his repentance and confession of sin, he is now placed in a situation to deliver the Israelites from their oppressors. With God’s strength provided to him, Samson was able to destroy the leadership...
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...The main women in the story are Pan Jin Liang (Gold) , Li Ping Er (Vase), and Pang Chun Mei (Plum). These three women form the core of the novel, and the four way romantic escapades with Ximen Qing, along with jeolous, lust, and betrayal. All three women are Ximen’s top 3 concubines from the 13 concubines he proudly owns in his mansion! He is the legendary womanizer and pimp of China! Ximen Qing is a successful business owner of a pharmacy shop in town. No one dares to go against him, because Ximen has political and business connections with the top officials, even the police! So basically, Ximen can steal away a man’s wife or girlfriend without incident! Ximen Qing would have been the perfect man for the TV show Cheaters! Read more in Classics « Tragedies of Shakespeare: Timon of AthensRomances of Shakespeare: Cymbeline » Ximen therefore is both good and bad. Good, because he gave the young woman the best intense sex she ever experienced! Bad, because Ximen was an adulterer. In this novel, the bad outweighed the good in the long run for Ximen Qing. The English translation is long, around 2,100 pages. But if you like erotica novels, this one is a classic! The English translation is graphic with numerous sex scenes rich with pornographic details! A daring novel to write back in ancient China. That is probably why the author remained ananymous. He or she would have been executed by the Emperor at the time! Even today, Chinese people of...
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...As adults, the performers are seemingly rewarded for the fruits of their labors as children in the brutal opera training troupe once they become renowned adult opera performers. The title of the film is derived from the eponymous play performed in the play first by a middle aged Sitou and Douzi who originally learned it, as we see later on, as children. This play sets up Shitou and Douzi in their dual roles as the king and concubine. Shitou, who is portrayed by the actor Zhang Fengyi, is assigned the role of the masculine king and later on becomes known through the stage name Duan Xiaolou. Douzi, portrayed by the actor Leslie Cheung, is assigned the role of the female concubine in the “dan” role and later on becomes known through the stage...
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...another’s culture based on our own culture. In a sense, reading a book by its cover based on our own bias. Multinational corporations have many different interactions, touch points, between diverse markets, individual, and employees. Ethnocentrism should be considered when evaluating how it judge individuals, society, and multinational corporations based on our own experiences. At the individual level, ethnocentrism, can shape and influence multinational corporations, and a person’s culture simply from the process of immersion. I choose to watch “Farewell my Concubine” to gather further insight to ethnocentrism. Farewell My Concubine explores the effect of China's political turmoil during the mid-20th century on the lives of individuals, families, and groups, in this case, two stars in a Peking opera troupe and the woman who comes between them. Let’s discuss ethnocentrism and its effects, centered on Farewell my concubine. As individuals we have a tendency to draw on one’s own personal experiences to understand others’ motivations, especially others cultures. We will automatically act as judge and jury based on our own experiences and how the other culture is portrayed. When I watched the movie my first thought was that China was a barbaric nation, incapable of emotion, due to...
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...Sun Tzu “The Art of War” The story that struck me the most was the first story of Sun Tzu of the concubines of the Han dynasty. Through strict demonstration Sun Tzu was able to discipline the concubines who were considered useless in a war. This was not to train them to be a warrior but through this test, Sun Tzu was able to prove himself. This shows that an action speaks a thousand sound words. By proving his capability he was able to get the position of a general. This can be applied to our current life where in it is important to prove our worth through our actions and results. The most important principle of Sun Tzu for me is to attack an enemy’s weakness not to go head-on with the strength of one. This is practical in a way that by avoiding contending with the enemy’s strength, a business is able to save resources which would have been wasted in doing so. By attacking the weakness one can save resources and clashing with the contender. It allows you to properly allocate limited resources and maximize profit which is a business’ primary purpose. This is also the way I think, example would be a Korean who is able to speak English as fluently, which is my case. Instead of going to an English speaking country, I plan to work in a country with less English and Korean speakers, such as Taiwan. By working in such a country, I will be learning their language and will still be able to use the other two foreign languages which will be to my advantage that others cannot. It is...
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...It was overwhelming to read about it, and I recounted this subject again, in my history book: “ The custom had begun centuries earlier when fascination with ballerina of the court led many young women to desire tiny feet, no more than three inches long, known as “golden lilies” (Schoppa 75). “Footbinding began in the Song dynasty, probably in the late eleventh century. Although the big toe was not bound, the rest of the foot was wrapped in long bindings. A woman’s feet became a private body part, to be seen only by herself, her mother, and later her husband” (Schoppa 76). According to a story, an emperor had a favorite concubine, a dancer who built a gilded stage in the shape of a lotus flower. When she bound her feet into a hoof-like shape and danced on the lotus, the practice became very trendy; she was the emperor's favorite concubine and the other concubines attempted to imitate her in order to gain the emperor's favor. So foot binding started with the royal court and then spread throughout China, beginning in the south of the country and soon reaching the...
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