|
| |
Relationships
Having a relationship is a very exciting and sense of belonging thing. A relationship
between a man and a woman can have extremely great times and also can bring out the worst
times. There are just certain things that you have to do and believe to have a
relationship work out right. Times are changing rapidly, and so are relationships. Both
people in the relationship need to have the same feelings, or else things just do not work
out.
Before, women in the relationship were expected to do all of the housework and take
care of the children. These days, women just do not normally do this by themselves. Our
modern women believe in the 50-50 type of lifestyle. In Josephine Miles'
"Housewife," the narrator is talking about a woman who basically is very
unhappy. "Occasional mornings when an early fog/ not yet dispersed stands in every
yard/ And drips and undiscloses, she is severely/ Put to the task of herself,"
explains how this woman gets up, before it is completely light out, and is already working
on her daily work. (Pg. 285 lines 1-4) She does not get to sit and relax first thing in
the morning, she goes straight for her chores, which she probably continues nonstop the
whole day. "But when the fog at the glass pauses and closes/ She is put to ponder/ A
life-line, how it chooses to run obscurely/ In her hand, before her," is basically
showing how she wants to do something else with her life. (lines 9-12) She is wondering if
she will ever be able to do something besides take care of the house and family.
Many people, not as much today, are set up with their future husbands/wives. In royal
families and certain cultures, the parents pick who their child's spouse will be. This
obviously in most cases will lead to a very unhappy married life. How could you spend your
life with someone that you do not even love? Why should someone get to choose your mate
for you? There are also what they call "mail order brides." These women usually
come from poor communities, who just want to get away and come to the United States or
elsewhere and make a better life for them. Cathy Song's poem, "Picture Bride" is
about this type of marriage. "Did she simply close/ the door of her father's house/
and walk away," shows that the husband is questioning the type of life that his bride
had. (Pg. 299 lines 4-6) Was it that bad at home that she would just get up and walk away,
or was she being forced to go? "What things did my grandmother/ take with her? And
when/ she arrived to look/ into the face of the stranger/ who was her husband,/ thirteen
years older than she,/ did she politely untie/ the silk bow of her jacket," is
telling how this man's grandmother married the same way. (lines 22-30) He was wondering
how she felt when she saw her husband for the first time. Did she just open up to him
right away and act like she had known him forever? Marriages like this just do not seem to
have any love in them.
As mentioned in the introduction, relationships can be the best times and the worst
times of your lives. Octavio Paz's "Engaged" shows love and devotion, what a
real marriage should be full of. "Stretched out on the grass/ a boy and a girl./
Sucking their oranges, giving their kisses/ like waves exchanging foam," just set you
in the scene of a boy and a girl, laying together and relaxing. (Pg. 287 lines 1-4.) They
are just spending time loving each other's company. In the end, the poem says
"Stretched out underground/ a boy and a girl/ Saying nothing, never kissing, giving
silence for silence," is showing that they are both dead, but they are still
together. (lines 9-12)
There are many things that I believe should be in a relationship. I believe that men today
need to believe also that it is not only the women's responsibility to run the house and
take care of the children. I also believe that you cannot just be forced into a marriage
with someone that you do not love. Marry someone because you love him or her, not because
other people do. Couples need to have an extreme amount of love and devotion for one
another. Nothing is better than knowing how much someone loves you and loving them that
much in return. Sixty percent of America's married couples today end up in divorce. People
are marrying for the wrong reasons and are just not happy. Love and marriage is a great
thing and should not just be something that is thrown around.
Postscript
This paper was really difficult for me to write, because I did not agree with many of the
poems in this section. They all seemed to be kind of opposite beliefs of mine of what a
relationship should be like. After I began writing the paper things started to flow a
little smoother for me, and I really got into the paper when I was writing it. It took me
a while to write the paper, but for how much trouble I was having with this section, I am
glad how my paper turned out.
Works Cited
Miles, Josephine. "Housewife." Bridges: Literature Across Cultures. Pg.
285. McGraw-Hill. Inc.
Paz, Octavio. "Engaged." Bridges: Literature Across Cultures. Pg. 288.
McGraw-Hill. Inc.
Song, Cathy. "Picture Bridge." Bridges: Literature Across Cultures. Pg.
285. McGraw-Hill. Inc.
|