The Perception Of Women In Bone Meat By Taeko Kōno

During the post-World War II in Japan, women were submissive — they were obliged to listen to the demands of men and the way society wanted them to act. The lives of women in Japan was more revolutionary after the war and their depiction changed within time. In the story “Bone Meat,” Taeko Kōno argues that women are fragile and compliant in which Kōno tells a story about a woman with those characteristics that makes the reader percept of women as submissive and show the differentiation between gender roles regarding relationships. The roles of women change through the years in events that have impacted not only women’s perception, but the world as well. In Bone Meat, Kōno expresses the woman to seem dependent of the man she loves after

Men want to keep the roles of women worthless to make themselves seem superior and be dominant. Edwin O. Reischauer explains the relationship between Japanese men and women — “In Western eyes, husbands frequently treat their wives coldly and even with disdain.” (Reischauer, 175) Men mistreated women and considered them inferior since they did not have same dominance as men [the way society viewed women/girls] and were scornful of women in the household. The role of Japanese women was hard with being a daughter, wife, and mother. They had many responsibilities as women yet were mistreated for being submissive and weak. Women were forced to learn how to cook, sew, take care of the household, and invests time on attending their husbands and children too. For a single person to have different tasks and to be discriminated every day of their low worth was hard job for a woman. Mothers were responsible for the education of their children that were boys and for girls to learn the qualities to be a “good wife, wise mother.” David Cozy explains the change of women’s role in Japan through the years and how impactful it has been to women, “...but it is also true that more than a few Japanese women have embraced the role with pride. The creation of a happy, peaceful home and the raising of successful children is…” (Cozy) Japanese women have struggled and have been discriminated on the standards men expect of them