ipl-logo

The Romance Of The Harem Analysis

1308 Words6 Pages

Anna Leonowens as a Travel Writer: Her Perspective on the Harem Travellers often have stories to tell of their journeys. According to Chtatou, travel writing is “literature that records the people, events, sights and feelings of an author who is touring a foreign place for the pleasure of travel.” The author’s encounters and experiences while travelling can often change their perceptions, thoughts and beliefs and inspire them to write about their journey. In The Romance of the Harem, Anna Leonowens writes on her perspective of her experiences as an English woman in Siam, presently known as Thailand. Leonowens came to Siam to be an English school teacher, teaching the many children of King Mongkut. Leonowens is an educated, intelligent woman who tends to critically view certain aspects of the native culture of Siam. She writes of her thoughts and feelings towards her experiences in Siam. This essay will discuss Leonowens’ encounters …show more content…

According to Merriam-Webster, a concubine is defined as “an unmarried woman who has sex with a man and lives with the man and his wife or wives.” Polygamy is defined as “the state or practice of being married to more than one person at the same time” (Merriam-Webster). King Mongkut is accountable for participating in concubinage and polygamy by having multiple wives and partners. Anna Leonowens also writes of gender inequities in the harem of Siam. Women are taken advantage of as physical and sexual slaves. Leonowens focuses her writing on women as slaves, and rarely discusses men as being slaves. This could be due to the concubinage and polygamy exhibited by King Mongkut, in which he can easily utilize his wives to do whatever he orders, physically and sexually. He also has the control to bring them to trial and sentence them if they don’t follow his expectations. The women in this situation have little or no

Show More
Related
932 Words | 4 Pages

Rhetorical Précis In her rhetorical essay “From Fly-Girls to Bitches and Hos” (1999), Wesleyan University graduate and feminist Joan Morgan claims that if a man cannot love himself, than he is incapable of loving women in a healthy matter, and it is up to women of color and the African American community to change these threads. Morgan supports her claim using ethos by questioning artists such as B.I.G and their aggressive lyrics, with logos by providing statistics from the U.S Census Bureau in regards to the decrease of the number of black two parent household, and also with pathos by providing a personal example of her family friend. Morgan is hoping to improve the music industry by examining hip hop and rap lyrics in order to raise awareness instead of censoring the industry. Morgan's tone is disdainful, concerned and disappointed in order to establish credibility with her audience, which consist of women of color, feminist, and hip hop artist.

Read More
353 Words | 2 Pages

Mary Wollstonecraft employs various rhetorical strategies in her travelogue "From Letters Written in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark" to both fulfill and transcend the travel narrative genre. Throughout her writing, Wollstonecraft offers commentary on the social systems she encounters in her travels and provides ranging use of imagery which allows the reader to visualize the extent of her travels. By utilizing these rhetorical devices, Wollstonecraft effectively surpasses the typical expectations of the travel narrative genre. Wollstonecraft employs the use of vivid, descriptive language and imagery to create a sense of place.

Read More
322 Words | 2 Pages

(Gordon 58). The house chores that would usually be saved for the women of society was shunned by Arab women in a response to their sheltered status shoved on them by Islam. Before Islam, women were writers, historians, nurses, and warriors. But with Islam their rights were stripped away and they were placed in harems-the women quarters of the Islamic household (Gordon 58). The harem usually consisted of up to four wives, concubines, slave girls entertainers, and domestic slaves (Lewis 74 and Segal 38).

Read More
1157 Words | 5 Pages

Name Course Professor Date A Response to the Article: "Reader, She Married Him – Alas" By Theodore Dalrymple In this article, the author puts up an argument on the current nature of multiculturalism and what multiculturalists imagine the future will be like. He starts by talking about a future whereby several restaurants in the biggest cities across the world serve all the cuisines of the world, Thai on Monday, Italian on Tuesday, Szechuan on Wednesday and many others without any problem. Basically, his main point is that according to multiculturalists this kind of development would be a great way to embrace multiculturalism worldwide.

Read More
1246 Words | 5 Pages

Love tends to effect each character’s action differently. For example, love is what motivated the plot of the story “The Valley of Girls” by Kelly Link. For instance, the Olds observed society and performed actions to make sure their children are aligned with success. Love and social status is what makes these people relate, or correlate with each other; it reminds me of a government politically develop by love and society. In “The Valley of Girls” by Kelly Link, from Teenagers and Old are motivated by two specific motives, which are love and social status.

Read More
991 Words | 4 Pages

In the novel The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao women play an important role. The three main women Beli, La Inca and Lola help to define the novel. Throughout the novel women are seen as sexual objects to men. The dictator Trujillo makes it seem like it’s okay for men to objectify women. Women are portrayed as inferior to men because of how powerful the dictator is.

Read More
1024 Words | 5 Pages

George Saunders first published The Semplica Girl Diaries in The New Yorker in 2012 and then again in his collection of short stories Tenth of December, in 2013. The main characters are a middle aged, unnamed man and his family (a wife, two daughters and a son). In an interview Saunders admitted that the inspiration for this twisted story came from a dream which explains the origin of a strange concept in it— Semplica girls, women from underdeveloped countries paid to hang in rich people’s gardens, connected to each other by a wire in their brains. However, the main message is a conscious writing choice. This story explores the struggles deprived people go through and choices they make when facing them.

Read More
1222 Words | 5 Pages

The late 19th century was a monumental era for the city of Paris. As the city kept growing and increasing in popularity around the globe, the city itself was being modernized from its dated medieval layout. These modernizations had a direct impact on the culture of the city, the lifestyles of its inhabitants, and the prominence of the city across the world. Paris’ inhabitants were as social as ever, and often enjoyed themselves at cafés and bars. This modernization acted as a perfect catalyst to support the surging wave of capitalism across Western Europe.

Read More
500 Words | 2 Pages

In the painting, Kiss Me and You’ll kiss the ‘Lasses, Lily Martin Spencer used a woman holding a spoon and the title to demonstrate the beginning of challenging gender roles which relates to John Steinbeck’s cynical tone about gender roles and stereotyping in The Grapes of Wrath, thus proving that despite how far society seems to have come when it comes to gender equality, people still endure discrimination and stereotypical pressures today because of the sex they were born into. The woman in the picture is smiling at whoever is painting her or whoever is looking at her. The person, most likely a man, is tempted to kiss her but she warns, with the title, that if he does so she’ll hit him with the spoon she has in her hands. Also it’s ironic that the lady who

Read More
1663 Words | 7 Pages

The Wife of His Youth is a love story with a happy ending. Desiree’s Baby is a love story with a tragic ending. The protagonist in The Wife of His Youth is named Mr. Ryder. He is a bi-racial black man who joined a group unofficially called The Blue Vein Society.

Read More
726 Words | 3 Pages

In the beginning, women were treated badly. The sultan loved his wife, but once he finds out that she was unfaithful he then kills her at the break of dawn. Although, he marries a new woman each day, spends the night with her, and then kills her in the morning. His actions show us that the women were seen as deceitful, and the lives of women were meaningless shown in how many

Read More
1651 Words | 7 Pages

‘Daddy’s little girls’ is a touching movie. The movie incites sadness in its viewers, the anguish felt by the protagonist and his children is one that many can identify with and understand. The central character Monty was an ambitious young man who grew up in an inner city community, he had three beautiful girls with is former partner, Jennifer. Monty’s daughters remained his priority throughout the movie and he fought tirelessly for the benefit of his children. Monty had to endure the selfishness of Jennifer, her poor parenting skills and her bad ill sense of judgement.

Read More
534 Words | 3 Pages

In the story Gilgamesh by Stephen Mitchell, I have learned that women was recognize as powerful objects. The story tells me in ancient Mesopotamia that men based their perspective on women for what we have and not our mind set. The women in the story are mention when you first open the books and is continue throughout the entire story line. The first woman was a prostitute name Shamhat, who was sent on a mission to change the life of a beast named Enkidu. In the story, Gilgamesh called Shamshat “one of the priestesses who give their bodies to any man, in honor of the goddess” (p.12).

Read More
1205 Words | 5 Pages

This piece of literature demonstrates the roles for men as the dominant gender and women as submissive, which are obsolete stereotypes. Shakespeare portrays the roles of the dominant males when Egeus tells, “as she is mine, I may dispose of her, which shall be either to this gentleman or to her death, according to our law immediately provided in that case” (1. 1. 42-45). He states this to let readers know that Hermia will not marry Lysander, and he gets the final decision. He gives her options, which are to marry him or die.

Read More
3094 Words | 13 Pages

Every year forced marriage sentences millions of women and young children to a life in slavery. It’s a crime that’s widespread, but rarely spoken about – a crime that flourishes in the shadows of society. The UN says that forced marriage is likely to increase in the coming years unless major changes occur. Due to stigma and lack of awareness about forced marriages, many people do not report cases of forced marriages. We can help ensure that people at risk and their families know that forced marriage happens, forced marriage is illegal and activists around the world are taking a stand to end the practice forever.

Read More

More about The Romance Of The Harem Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document