The Working-Girls of New York, Summary and analysis

Written in 1868, The Working-Girls of New York is extracted from the original essay, Folly As It Flies, by Fanny Fern. Notably, the setting of the essay is in the mid-nineteenth century New York when Industrial Revolution has struck the northern states of America.

The author illustrates women’s suffrage in living in this period whether or not they were married, rich or poor. Women with large income husband were left at home to keep the house when her husband was busy doing businesses outside. Rarely did he have time to care for his family. Whereas the poor working girls, they also had to live a hard life which were affected by Industrial Revolution. The author stresses the working and living condition of those working girls. They could hardly satisfy their basic needs. They had to share a small, dirty, stuffy room; they never had a properly cooked and nutritious food. In addition, their clothes were of low quality and torn. Talking about their workplace, it’s a ‘black-looking building’ where hundreds of working girls had to stand working in the assembly line from seven in the morning till six in the evening but received low wages compared to men. The machinery was deafening which a visitor to the factory would never be able to bear with more than five minutes.

The author sympathizes the young working girls who had to work like a machine. Although they were young in the age, they were almost like an adult in their look and their share of responsibilities in their family.

To conclude, the author intended to criticize the effects of Industrial Revolution had on the society, especially on women. This essay is to call for notice and reform to the prevalent issues happening in industrial workplace such as overcrowding, poor working conditions, sweatshops, child and women labor, and long working hours.

Late Again!

I don’t like being kept waiting. It would frustrate me in some ways when it is time and the person hasn’t shown up yet. To me, a punctual person is responsible and reliable.

As I’ve observed, some people tend to be late on purpose. They may not intend to keep others waiting, but they believe that the rest are late. They simply do not want to wait for others, so they think they don’t have to be in a hurry to arrive on time. As these ideas preoccupy them, coming late unconsciously becomes the person’s habit or happens as a common custom of the place or among that particular group of people. For example, students go to class late on purpose because the teacher is also a ‘late-comer’ whom the students imitate the same attitude. In another case, the students may follow one another when the teacher is not strict enough to punish those who are usually late. Sooner or later, the classroom becomes anarchic; students go to school just to wait for the teacher or other students, and ultimately they learn few things from a session because the study process is slowed down and disturbed by late-coming students and the ‘busy’ teacher.

In terms of schoolwork, a number of students usually procrastinate till the last minute to do the assigned tasks. Some even ask for permission to complete them when they come due. Perhaps the tasks are submitted on time because of their ‘determination’ to stay up late the night before the day in which it is collected; I’d say, however, that they will not be well graded. This learning attitude can be widely found in universities.

Coming late tends to be a culture for Cambodian people. It is not only students who go to school late, but also the working class people, especially the governmental officials, when the disciplines are not strictly or seriously enforced. In daily appointments, when people arrange time to meet, one would suggest quarter or half an hour early as a reserve for those who come late. Why don’t people arrive on time?

‘Late better than never’ seems to be a good excuse of being late. It might be argued that at least we will get something although we are late. But why don’t you come on time or even before time to grab the whole? In fact, many good opportunities and benefits are waiting for the first comer, the most hard-working one, and the last leaver—as we have always heard of ‘First come, first serve’.

My Sunday with Ha Gao

It was a special Sunday yesterday when my mother and I, for the first time, trying to make Ha Gao, a kind of Hong Kong dim sum. Ha Gao is made of shrimp and some paste pork as the fillings which are wrapped with the special skin made of Ha Gao flour. It was a mess when I was trying to mix the flour with my two hands. What is difficult was that the flour was too sticky and tough that I had to use all of my strength to squeeze and mix it. It was very funny when we (my mother, my younger, and I) were wrapping Ha Gao because we cannot make them in a good shape as we used to eat in restaurant. Those we made appeared in different shapes. Therefore, I didn't take any pictures of them, fearing you all will laugh unceasingly. Fortunately, the taste was marvellous!

The picture shown here is taken from Google images. Do not think that I made them, for I don't have that ability. However, we are planning for another try in the near future. I expect that there will be, at least, some improvements.

A Woman at Forty, From Woman in the Nineteenth Century, essay summary

‘A Woman at Forty’ is an excerpt taken from the Part III of the essay under the title ‘Woman in Nineteenth Century’ which was written by Margaret Fuller in November 1844 and published in 1845.

The author starts with the admiration of the accomplishment of ‘Female Authorship’ which has been constantly increasing; especially, women have been doing several things which they were previously supposed to be unable to. Many women had been gaining fame and recognition from the society and because of this many presumptions against women have been removed.

Girls were able to go to school to acquire knowledge as boys. However, the author believed that the education system was not good and appropriate enough to expose them to the new subject matters in the society. What the author thought is that they should be taught by those who ‘had experienced the same wants’, meaning who had the same experiences and understood what they really wanted. Although some women were given the position as the head of education institution, they still had problems in organizing a new system to respond to the needs and wants of general women. However, at least women were now educated which could broaden their views and take them out of the ‘home circle’. In addition, the author claimed that women had intellect which needs to be developed. Therefore, they should not stop after they had little recognition in this point of time.

After women had successfully struggled for right to education, people argued that women were educated so that they would become ‘better companions and mothers for men’. Fuller strongly opposed to this idea. Women should not study for the sake of others but themselves. The purpose of woman’s education is to develop their talents so that they are honored by the society. To be a better companion and mother for men simply means women still could not get out of the home circle.

Besides, the author had a sense of respect towards unmarried women who wanted to depend on themselves rather than on men although the society gave less value to them. Normally, a woman at forty is rarely able to remain their beauty when especially she has been devoted herself to household chores and her family. The author, however, still gave value to marriage, as she raised the idea that ‘We must have units before we can have union’. What is important is that there should be improvement of equality in the roles of the husband of wife.

On the Equality of Sexes, essay summary

This essay is an excerpt from an article ‘On the Equality of the Sexes’ published in Massachusetts Magazine in 1790. Judith Sargent Murray, the author, is a feminist writer who strived for the right and recognition of women from the society of her period.

Throughout the essay, the author compares woman’s and man’s ability in imagination, reason, memory, and judgment. She believed that women are surrendered to use their imagination. If fact, if they are allowed time to imagine, they are able to invent wonderful things and write good books. However, this ‘fertile brain of a female’ has been ‘despoiled’, that is, it has been damaged because of the society’s confinement. Women have been supposed to stick with ‘needle and kitchen’ which wastes the intelligent parts of women. Anyway, it’s said that women are lacking of the ability in reason. In fact, they are denied the opportunity to reason. Talking about the ability to memorize, the author prefers the idea that both sexes have equal ability. What is more, people, regardless of sex, by nature are equal in terms of every faculty, but what makes the difference is the after-birth’s education which is essentially influential on their abilities. Girls and boys are exposed to ‘contrary modes of education’; boys are taught to be ambitious and seek to attain goals; girls, on the other hand, are inculcated with domestic work. To sum up these ideas, the author takes the view that women’s and men’s minds are by nature equal but it’s custom that makes up the gap.

The author gave an example that if an uneducated girl marries an educated man, she will experience a feeling of ashamed and inferior which fills her with deep sadness. If, in another case, she marries an uneducated man the same to her, she will be even worse-off. Therefore, proper education for women is vitally important for the determination of their own fate and the formation of a happy family. With good education, they are able to make good judgments and choose a good partner for life. Also, there is a possibility that women will become an expert in what she learns. Besides, the author raised a question that 'Will the achievments of women take the place of their domestic works?' The answer was that women could do both things well if they are willing to.

So far, many females, as males, have used their powers of nature to win recognition and applause. There are many ‘robust masculine’ women and mentally weak men. Thus, women are persuaded to use their mind power as a kind of strength to be equal to man’s physical strength. Finally, the author appeals to the readers that we must struggle with the preoccupation of the society to gain the advantages stated above.

The author intends to make us, especially all women, regardless of space and time, beware of and revolutionize these discriminations for the sake of themselves and other women on the purpose of gaining recognition and respect. Personally, I totally agree with the author’s viewpoint that women should not be confined to domestic work; rather, they should be given chance to absorb knowledge from school and perform professional jobs. But what is important is the women themselves who must have ambitions and strong determination to tackle with the societal burdens for real equality.

This essay gives us, as a reader, the idea of equality of sexes. We learn about the lower value and role of women in the author’s time and that women were not given equal right and opportunity for education and work as men were. In this case, women were always inferior to men in terms of not only physical strength but also intelligence. We also realize that many women have been struggling with the social burdens so that women today receive rights and better opportunities for edcuation and jobs in the society. As a new generation, we should also continue to promote women's right and value so that men and women are equally treated.

The first day of 2010

I could not remember what I did on January 1st last year, but this year it was quite special and memorable that my friends (Nareth, Nith and Thida) and I went to City Mall, a newly established shopping center in 2009.

It was a real window shopping because we didn’t spend even a cent on the goods being sold in the market except for taking photos by the photo machine which, surprisingly, we spent more than an hour on posing and adjusting the photos. Whereupon, we went to Olympic Stadium to have a view of the sunset and of the people who were doing evening exercise. Perhaps it’s the first time I’ve ever seen the sunset in a wide place, I felt that the view was quite impressive and beautiful. We returned home after eating something there.

This is a delayed Christmas gift for me made by Nith, a student of architecture. Can you see what it is? It's a rabbit shape garden with a tree and table and chairs for relaxing. To see more models of houses, go to http://yeehaha.blogspot.com/2009/12/modelling-houses-and-happy-new-year.html