Beauty Perception & Cultural Appropriation in 'The Good Earth': O-lan & Wang Lung's Perspe, Appunti di Letteratura Angloamericana

Scarica Beauty Perception & Cultural Appropriation in 'The Good Earth': O-lan & Wang Lung's Perspe e più Appunti in PDF di Letteratura Angloamericana solo su Docsity! 8° lezione 30.10 SLIDE CH. XVIII O-lan and beauty Another important theme is the theme of BEAUTY. How important O-lan and her role in defining gender politics and issues concerning cultural appropriation. How do we perceive O-lan and how is her character filtered in the narrative. Wang Lung is the centre of consciousness, focalizer of this entire novel. It represents a turning point. Wang Lung is now rich and for the first time he indulges himself and starts behaving as if he were an oriental landlord. In this chapter, he looks at O-lan from a different perspective. Quote “He saw..” Adjective found many times “dull, common creature”. He sees that she is not beautiful. SLIDE AS IF SHE UNDERSTOOD That was not the priority of his perception of his wife. Does he ever understand that she is a smart and quick woman who actually plays most important part and crucial role in difficult moment? No, he never realizes it and we keep reading the story following its development from Wang Lung’s perspective only. How does he perceive O-lan? Quote. As if she understood: he’s never sure that she actually understands what he’s saying to her. SLIDE O-LAN, BEAUTY, FOOTBINDING Wang Lung realizes that she is not beautiful enough for him and starts criticizing her. Quote Her reply is: she is ashamed of her feet.  role of SHAME. She is ashamed only because he values the submissiveness displayed by O-lan throughout their marriage. the element that he values in O-lan is her faithfulness, but she’s compared toa dog. The notion of beauty which was shared and prevalent in culture in China is at the centre. It’s a very different concept of beauty from that we find in western culture. But there is no judgement. Even the notion of beauty so different is described only through Wang Lung’s perspective. we learn of O-lan’s reaction and she tries to apologize for the fact that she has big feet. This is the second time we find this remark. O-lan is frightened. She reacts with fear and not anger. Footbinding becomes the issue that separates the couple. SLIDE Footbinding is the crucial element in defining the notion of beauty. SLIDE AS A The perception of O-lan never changes. He knows that through hard work he could never have achieved the wealth that he is now able to enjoy. He remembers that he owes everything to O-lan and this makes him the more angry. He is aware but he still denies it. She behaves as a child and not as a smart woman.