Interpreting Political Texts

As we read political texts, we know from the Free Dictionary that political texts are basically texts that bring up an issue relating to, or dealing with the structure or affairs of government, politics, or the state. This kind of texts deals with social problems like population increase, infanticide, women’s education, racism, inequality in gender etc. that play a big part in the political structure of a nation or the world. So, whenever a reader sees such issues that bring up a global problem, the text is a political text. Political texts are somewhat confusing to readers at times due to their discussion of complex issues. It becomes easier for the reader to understand the writer’s message when the text is written point by point.
As an instance, we can take the article “Women’s Capabilities and the Right to Education in Bangladesh” by Mary Arends-Kuenning and Sajeda Amin into consideration as an ideal epitome of political texts. The organization of the text is point by point as follows: Introduction, Approach and Methodology, Women’s schooling and Marriage capital, The Effect of women’s education on Women’s well-being and agency, Education and Bargaining power, Women’s education and Traditional social structures and conclusion. The text has five major points that discuss about the issue while the introduction creates the lead in and the conclusion presents a brief overview of the issue discussed in the major points. Again, in Amartya Sen’s text “More than 100 Million Missing Women” we see that he has categorized the important points of discussion with numbers rather than giving a short reference to what he is going to talk about in the text. But still the text is clear to us as he imposes the question “How can we understand and explain these differences, and react to them?” (Sen 1) in his introduction and ends it with this question. The reader becomes aware of the fact that he might be presenting possible solutions to the question that he has posed.
In addition to this, political texts stand mainly on statistical evidences which make the reader understand what the author is trying to prove. For example, in the text “Women’s Capabilities and the Right to Education in Bangladesh” the authors try to draw the reader’s attention to the condition and reason behind women’s education in Bangladesh. In order to gain credibility, the authors provide statistical evidences such as statistics from interviews conducted in two villages in order to see people’s thoughts about the expenses and welfares of education (Arend & Amin 129).Again, Sen in his article talks about the ratio of women to men surviving in the world as he coins the term “Missing women” to refer to the difference in the ratio of women to men surviving of the total population. The author thus gets attached to the reader’s emotions as he states his evidences to prove his claims. The author addition of analysis gives the text a more vivid understanding.
Thus, a political text is based upon methodical writing, statistical evidences, author’s ability to gain credibility and effective analysis of the text. Also, a reader needs to read the text more than once to understand what the text actually means and what message the author is trying to convey.

Arends-Kuenning, Mary and Amin, Sanjeda, “Women’s capability and right to education in Bangladesh .” International Journal of Politics and Society, Vol. 15, No.1, September 2001. Print
Sen, Amartya. “More than 100 Million Missing Women”
“Political”. The Free Dictionary. 7 April 2013.
http://www. The Free Dictionary thefreedictionary.com/political

Education Influencing decrease of female mortality rate

Nobel Prize laureate Dr. Amartya Sen used the term “missing women” in the article to describe the large number of women throughout the world who succumb to death due to social circumstances, family neglect and discrimination. He considers two factors responsible for the neglecting of women one of which is the cultural contrasts between East and West and the other is stages of economic development (Sen 2). In point 5, second paragraph, Sen Claims that “gainful employment is not the only factor affecting women’s chances of survival. Women’s education and their economic rights—including property rights—may be crucial variables as well” (Sen 5). By this he means that besides gainful employment opportunities, women need proper education and financial support to live better lives and increase life expectancy.
Sen has provided statistical evidences to support his claim. He has used Kerala, a state of India as an example to prove his claim to be correct where he compares the literacy rate of the rich state Punjab and the poor state Kerala of India. He mentions that even though Kerala is a poor state, it has high rate of education of women but still the death rate of women is low compared to that of Punjab which is a rich state. He states that Kerala is not deficit in women as he provides the ratio of women to men in this state as 1.03. He also provides the ratios of women to men in Europe (1.05), China, West Asia, and India as a whole (0.94) (Sen 5). He claims that the literacy rate in Kerala is remarkable as he say –“What is exceptional is Kerala’s remarkably high literacy rate; not only is it much higher than elsewhere in India, it is also substantially higher than in China, especially for women.” And he compares the literacy rate of women in Kerala to that of China. By these evidences, he tries to prove the impact of education besides improvement of economic condition for raising the life expectancy of women folks.
Sen uses Kerala as an ideal state where women have high rate of living as they gain rights to education. He gives a possible solution to the question that he asks at the very beginning as “How can we understand and explain these differences, and react to them?” (1) by stating education as a factor to increase the life expectancy of women as he points out cultural differences between the East and the West and economic development as two major factors of women going missing.

Virginia Woolf’s Portrayal of Middle-Class Women through a Fictitious Character

In “A Room of One’s Own” Woolf states about the women of Elizabethan era where she claims that the prominent women figures in history were some ladies that inherited power, mostly Queen or ladies from elite families but about the middle class women she says “But by no possible means could middle class women with nothing but brains and character at their command have taken part in any one of the great movements which, brought together, constitute the historian’s view of the past” (Woolf 41). She cited the fictional character of Judith Shakespeare, the sister of William Shakespeare, as an example of middle class women during the time Shakespeare lived when women were never appreciated even if they had great potential and talent. They are mentioned nowhere in the pages of history. Woolf’s fictional character Judith seems to have equal talent as her brother Shakespeare but wasn’t provided with the same facilities as her brother like education, freedom to marriage. She is shown as adventurous, imaginative and agog as her brother (Woolf 43) but she was not given the write to be educated. She was rather forced to learn to do household activities and she was forced to agree to get married by her father even though she did not want to get married. In order to fulfill her desire to join the theater, she escaped from home and she wanted to act in the theater. But unlike her brother, she was laughed at and mocked as women during that time were considered unable to act and she came up from an ordinary background. Ultimately her life had a tragic end unlike her brother where she killed herself. Woolf stated Judith’s character in order to show the degrading condition of middle class women during Shakespeare’s era. Women from the Elizabethan era that we see in the pages of history were elite women. We do not know about ordinary women in history as they were not considered important and they were considered a cripple part of the society despite their talent during that time. Woolf thus portrays ordinary middle class women of the Elizabethan era through the fictitious character of Shakespeare’s sister Judith Shakespeare.

Works Cited
Woolf, Virginia. “A Room of One’s Own.” Fort Washington: Harvest Book. 1981. First published 1929.

Gender & Sex : Two Different Terms

Generally people misinterpret the term “Gender” with “sex” due to its regular use in day to day life. “Gender” and “Sex” are two very different terms which do not equal in meaning. “Sex” refers to the biological and physiological characteristics that define men and women.”Gender” refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, activities, and attributes that a given society considers appropriate for men and women (WHO). In other words, sex categories include “Male” and “female” while “masculine” and “feminine” are gender categories. In Judith Lorber’s “Night to His Day”: The Social Construction of Gender, the author has tried to portray the difference between the term Gender and sex in an effective manner by explaining the terms giving examples. In the first paragraph the author claims the talk about gender among the common people equivalent to fish talking about water which means that a fish, whose life is centered within water and who is dependent on water for its life. Although gender is often assumed to be natural, it is an all-encompassing social institution that has power over people.
The author mentions the term “does gender” to show that gender has real consequences for everyday life. According to the author, everyone does gender without cognitive thought. Moreover, the application of gender is seen in the way people tend to see a male and a female in the society. The author stated that men taking care of kids are nowadays normal in the New York City by which he meant that usually women are the ones expected to take care of their kids rather than men and when they do so, they are noticed and appreciated by people. She gave an example where she stated about two men she saw, one on the subway and the other on a bus, carrying their baby child. She said that both were stared at and smiled at appreciatively. Then she stated that it was hard to understand whether the baby was a boy or a girl. But as she saw the baby wearing “the gleam of tiny earrings in the child’s ears,” (Lorber 54) and “the little flowered sneakers and lace-trimmed socks,” (Lorber 54) she came to realize that the child was not a boy but a girl. Through this example, the author tried to show the influence of gender in our everyday life. People are socialized through parenting practices and life experiences that teach us how to behave. Gender is not biologically recognized rather the social statuses and meanings assigned to men and women is “gender.” Lorber claims that “Gender” is socially constructed and affected by race, class, sexuality, and nationality.

Works Cited
Lorber, Judith. “Night to His Day: The Social Construction of Gender”.New Haven:Yale University Press, 1994. Print. 18 Feb. 2013.
World Health Organization. Gender, Women and Health. 2013. Web. 18 Feb.2013.

Feminism & Plato: Based on Modern Defination &”The Symposium”

The question whether Plato is a feminist or anti-feminist has always been a confusing question to people. Plato’s views presented towards women in the Symposium are confusing and does not provide a direct answer to the question: Is Plato a feminist? Although, if we look at the time period while Plato was writing, we can say that Plato was a feminist, as women during that period had very few rights and Plato mentions about women through the character of Diotima in the Symposium. However, the modern definition of feminism does not define Plato as a feminist. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, feminism has been defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes. The term feminist derives from the term feminism which according to Dictionary.com is stated as the person advocating social, political, legal, and economic rights for women equal to those of men. So, Plato cannot be categorized as a feminist from modern definition of feminism and feminist. Though Plato mentions about a female character “Diotima” in the Symposium, the character is more attributed to men than women. Moreover, the character of Diotima in the Symposium represents an ideal woman personality which is different from the general women of the time Plato lived.
In Socrates’s speech in the Symposium, he talks about Diotima. Socrates mentions Diotima as a priestess and mentions her speech about love in his own speech as an interpreter. So, we see that Diotima does not have her own voice rather her voice is projected through Socrates’s speech. In her speech Diotima uses female metaphors to talk about forms of beauty and love. Diotima states that reproduction brings eternality and happiness. Though this consideration of her seems like Plato is presenting feminist views, he ultimately gives importance to men through her speech. Diotima states that not only women but men can also become pregnant; pregnant with ideas and they ultimately give birth to wisdom which is more preferred than human child. She states “when someone has been pregnant with these (seeds of wisdom) in his soul from early youth, while he is still a virgin, and, having arrived at the proper age, desires to beget and give birth, he too will certainly go about seeking the beauty in which he would beget; for he will never beget in anything ugly” (Plato, the Symposium, 209b-c). Diotima giving importance to giving birth to wisdom than human child states, “everyone would rather have such children than human ones.” (Plato, the Symposium 209d ). In her speech Diotima gives more importance to giving birth to wisdom by a man more than giving birth to a human child by a woman. So, we see that, although Plato mentions about Diotima’s thoughts through Socrates’s speech in the symposium, he focuses on the role of man regarding love more than that of women. Moreover, though Socrates states his idea based on Diotima’s speech, he is seen to have all the praise rather than Diotima. Although, Plato is not completely pessimistic about women and his views are advanced than other philosophers of his era, I think that Plato cannot be called a feminist as he never mentions about woman’s equal rights as man.

Works Cited
“Feminism.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2013. Web. 9 Feb 2013.

“Feminist.” Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 09 Feb. 2013.
<Dictionary.com <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/feminist

Plato. The Symposium. Plato: The Complete Works. Ed. Cooper, John M. Cambridge: Hacker Publishing Co. 1997.

Critical Analysis of Alcibiades Theory about Love

Plato has addressed Love from different viewpoint in the Symposium. Alcibiades speech in the Symposium gives a perception about “Platonic love” which according to Plato is the kind of love that involves affectionate relationship between men without sexual intimacy. In the Symposium, Alcibiades enters into the symposium completely drunk and tries to flirt with Socrates and Agathon and gives his speech. It seems like Alcibiades praises Socrates rather than love in his speech. He compares Socrates’s qualities to that of the Gods Silenus and Marsyas and tries to portray Socrates greatness. Alcibiades admired Socrates for his wisdom and not for his beauty as Socrates was not a physically attractive man. Alcibiades wanted to seduce him in order to gain mortal love and exchange Socrates’s wisdom in order to make himself as a better man. But he never succeeded. As a younger, handsome man, Alcibiades expected to be the loved one of Socrates and he expected Socrates to chase him in order to gain sexual satisfaction as we see from Phaedrus’s speech that no young man could derive greater benefit than from a good lover, and no lover could derive greater benefit than from a young loved one. He remains unable to fulfill his desires and ends up switching roles, where he becomes the lover in quest of Socrates. Even after trying so much, he failed to provoke Socrates and indulge him. This made him feel dishonored, baffled, and approving of Socrates.

In his speech, Alcibiades goes on describing the good qualities of Socrates, his unique heroism in battle, his invulnerability to fear. He even saved Alcibiades’ life on one occasion but refused to accept honors for it. Socrates, he concluded, is exceptional in his ideas and deeds, incomparable by any man; but he tried to warn Agathon not to fall in love with him which in turn showed his jealousy and desire to gain Socrates’s love. Socrates’s and Alcibiades’s speech contradict in the sense that they define love from different angles. Socrates while defining love gives importance to Diotima’s views and defines love centering Immortality of the soul, wisdom and good; where as Alcibiades asserts importance on sexual desires. Thus, Alcibiades, through his speech shows the difference of views about love from Socrates.

Works Cited :
Plato. The Symposium. Plato: The Complete Works. Ed. Cooper, John M. Cambridge: Hacker Publishing Co. 1997.

“Barbie Doll”: A Hypothetical Commentary

The poem, “Barbie Doll” by Marge Piercy revolves centering the life of a young girl who is exposed to society’s expectations of a perfect figure from the moment she is born. As she moves from her childhood to the stage of puberty, things start to change and fall apart and her physical appearance starts to seem important to people. Although she is intelligent and healthy, she is not appreciated because of her being unattractive and having a big nose and big legs .she tries to fit her in the society by trying to change her by undergoing surgeries to look attractive. But she realizes that what the world perceives to be beautiful is too much to bear for a woman who does not look attractive in appearance. As a result she gives in and with that she gives in her life too. And her life is what costs her to turn beautiful to people.
The poem is a marvelous representation of women’s infrastructure in the society. The author uses Barbie doll as a metaphor in the poem which we all know is a beautiful doll and considered to be the symbol of a perfect woman who is beautiful, intelligent and expert in all kinds of activities. The expected flawlessness of a woman that is considered in this poem cannot be achieved in reality and only a few numbers of women would survive to the standards set for them. The poet continues her poem as the girl goes through puberty and contrasts between a Barbie doll and expected ideal female role in the society to bring up the faulty nature of societies thoughts about the impossible standards of beauty.