严歌苓小说中的女性形象(3)
In The ninth widow, Wang Putao is a fearless, adventurous and stubborn woman. She doesn’t take fortune and reputation into account. When the Japanese besiege Shi Tun village and force these village women to identify their own husband in order to find out Eight Route Army fighter hidden in the crowd, Wang Putao does not refuse and truly recognize and bring out her husband. Her husband is then killed by traitors, and she becomes "the ninth widows" after eight heroes’ widows. Wang Putao is fearless. Hence, even when the Japanese soldiers invades the village, she still the only one who fight against the Japanese soldiers in order to get back her own staff. She desperately fights with the nationalist soldiers just for her pot. She argues with people who say her father-in-law is a landlord and bully.
Wang Putao never attaches herself to any man and follows her usual way of doing things no matter what others say in the traditional and feudal village. She tries to change the man-dominated society where women cannot do anything but be the loyal slaves of the absolute power of men and finally wins in the battle. She doesn’t think men can change her mind and future. Hence, when her lover Sun Shaoyong wants to control her and is confident that Putao will follow what he says, he fails and finally is changed by Putao. He gets his kind traits back and repairs the damaged relationship with his father. In front of Putao, men are not omnipotent dictators, but children who need love and tolerance. She helps Mr. Piao in the Cultural Revolution and becomes his reliance as he says that he feels himself like a baby when Putao stays beside him and only in this way can he find safety. (Yan Geling, 2006) Finally, due to the great traditional feminine traits of Putao, men in the stories are willing to be changed, refresh their minds and transfer their position from ruler to the dependent. Wang Putao dares to challenge the tradition that widows must preserve chastity after the death of their husbands and she is always honest to her physical desire although it means she has sexual relationships with seven different men. People always have a stereotype that widows must be bored, weary, bitter and enclosed. Hence, Putao is definitely a weirdo in the eyes of the world. However, she is the first happy widow in the literature because she never limits herself with her nominal marriage but lives freely like a young girl with endless enthusiasm. Men used to appear in a show of overwhelming force while women mostly are requested to submit themselves in the rule of men through sex. Yet, it seems to make no sense for Putao for that she thinks sex is used to meet her physical need than please men. She doesn’t think she is a victim in the sexual relationship and she regards men and women as participators in the relationship who need to please each other and share the same pleasure.
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