My lens on the world would have to be my South
ern upbringing. Born and raised in a small, close-knit, Cajun town in southern Louisiana, I have learned the traditions of a Southern Woman. This mainly has to deal with how I interact with other people, regardless of their upbringing. I have always been taught to say “Yes, Mam” and “No, Sir” to anyone older than me and that it is the woman’s responsibility to cook, clean, and look like you love doing it. My southern roots almost force me to greet everyone I see out of habit. I guess I see the world through quixotic approach rather than a cynical one, but as time goes on and I learn more about others in the world and myself, I find myself being able to see better both sides of spectrum.
This affects how I see Conrad’s novel because in some ways I can relate to how the women in the novel are seen as in an illusion of the world. Sometimes I like to (idealistically) think that the world is a good place rather than a bad place, although history provides a strong counterargument.
“It’s queer how out of touch with truth women are! They live in a world of their own, and there had never been anything like it, and never can be. It is too beautiful altogether, and if they were to set it up it would go to pieces before the first sunset.”
This passage is different now than a 1910 approach because after years of struggling for women’s rights, there have been strong gains for feminists. However, I still feel like there are some women that would rather have their blinders on and bake cookies all day. That doesn’t mean they are stupid or anything like that, I think that some women are fainter of heart than others to make a stand against the ego of the male-dominant parts of society. Now I’m not exactly sure where I fall in this subject. I like to think somewhere in the middle, leaning towards learning about the world in order to have informed opinions and an objective outlook on life. But I must admit that sometimes it would be easier to block out the bad things in the world.
As a fellow forward thinking feminist, I think that not only women experience a need to block out the bad things in society. I think people as a whole try to ignore some of the tragedies in the world. How else would they come up with crazy conspiracy theories of whether or not certain events in history may or may not have occurred. Conrad has a skewed vision of women, at least for women of this day and age, but it is very possible that women in his time were the perfect stereotype. That being said, I do enjoy domestic jobs like baking and cleaning, but living in an all female house most of my life, well someone has to do the dirty work. (And it certainly isn't a man)
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