Day It Happened
The Day it Happened did a very good job in conveying its theme, establishing its characters, and using setting and symbols to convey a meaning important to human experiences. In this short story it is clear that the theme is continual domestic violence against women in some cultures. This is important to human experience because domestic violence in some cultures has been happening for many years, and society seems to know about it but doesn’t take it as seriously as it should be taken. In general society always had unfair laws where men take over their wives. Josie has been through great abuses from her husband, Ramon. In the story it appears that the whole community is aware of this form of mistreatment. The neighbors treat her beating as
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I come from the Bantu culture where women have fewer rights than men and are subordinated to male authority. A man in this culture makes all of the household decisions making it seem like his wife is his servant. Bantus believe that a woman has to be obedient to her husband; if not, their husbands were entitled to beat them. This specifically related to the “Day it Happened” when Josie was beaten by her husband because he thought he was entitled to that right. A wives contact with people outside the family is restricted upon her husband’s wishes, which even gives men in this culture more power and to be even more abusive to their wives if she doesn’t go by his commands. This also prevents a woman from getting a job, so that she is emotionally and economically dependent of her husband. In the short story, Josie had the courage to leave her husband and escape her agonizing marriage. On the other hand, women in the Bantu culture have to ask for a compromise meeting, arranged by members of the couples’ families, so that a settlement for the divorce may be reached. Many times the family members will not let the divorce happen. The decision then makes it harder for women to leave their advantageous husbands. Also women in this culture cannot get a divorce unless their husbands cooperated. In contrast, a husband is able to divorce a wife anytime and that gives him more
I come from the Bantu culture where women have fewer rights than men and are subordinated to male authority. A man in this culture makes all of the household decisions making it seem like his wife is his servant. Bantus believe that a woman has to be obedient to her husband; if not, their husbands were entitled to beat them. This specifically related to the “Day it Happened” when Josie was beaten by her husband because he thought he was entitled to that right. A wives contact with people outside the family is restricted upon her husband’s wishes, which even gives men in this culture more power and to be even more abusive to their wives if she doesn’t go by his commands. This also prevents a woman from getting a job, so that she is emotionally and economically dependent of her husband. In the short story, Josie had the courage to leave her husband and escape her agonizing marriage. On the other hand, women in the Bantu culture have to ask for a compromise meeting, arranged by members of the couples’ families, so that a settlement for the divorce may be reached. Many times the family members will not let the divorce happen. The decision then makes it harder for women to leave their advantageous husbands. Also women in this culture cannot get a divorce unless their husbands cooperated. In contrast, a husband is able to divorce a wife anytime and that gives him more