Discussion Questions For Chinatown

More often than not, analyses of John Rollin Ridge’s Joaquín Murieta interpret the novel as a demonstration of male bravery, and regard the female characters as counterparts that exist to remind the violent men of their humanity. However, an analysis that only considers women for their roles as sentimental beings is one that fails to detect their true significance in the work. Instead, it is essential to recognize that the female characters of the novel diverge from traditional, confining expectations of womanhood, and embody traits of masculinity as a response to their social situations.

Modern day Chinatown is a vibrant and bustling community full of bright colors and Chinese characters adorning buildings as far as the eye can see. Chinese elders roam around the narrow and unkempt streets while children frolic around from store to store with wide smiles, riffling through toy stores as store owners look on. Mothers scurry from store to store searching for the most tender meats to buy for the night's dinner or for the next day's lunch. Tourists from nearby downtown drift into the heart of Chinatown with large and expensive cameras, posing for pictures with Lion head statues and continue on, buying cheap Chinatown goods along the way. Everywhere there are signs of the Chinese immigrant's sweat, labor, and collective efforts

To analyze the impact of women in the picture, one must examine Philip Marlowe, the hero and epitome of masculinity. Throughout the novel, Marlowe displays the admirable qualities of a man: intelligence, strength and justice. Additionally, Marlowe’s role as the hero of the film creates an example to which all men should strive. He represents the goals and desires of men, and as such his behavior helps define the position of women. Women constantly throw themselves at Marlowe, allowing him to pick from a fairly wide selection. His choice of Vivian holds considerable weight in determining the traits that make a woman popular. Marlowe’s interactions with all women help reveal the complexities of 1940s feminine attraction.

First, Glaspell uses conflict to show the inequalities of women in the 1900’s. One conflict in the story is between the groups of investigators (The Sheriff, Hale and The County Attorney) who were there to gather clues of the murder and the woman who came to with them (Sheriffs Wife and Mrs.Hale). The men entered the house and “go at once to the stove” (8) and leave the girls standing at the entrance close together.

Susan Glaspell’s one-act play covers issues regarding female oppression and patriarchal domination. The play still exists as a fascinating hybrid of murder mystery and social commentary on the oppression of women. When Margaret Hossack was charged with the murder of her sixty year old husband John, the man she had been married to for thirty three years. Killed by two blows to his head with an ax, John Hossack was thought to be a cold mannered and difficult man to be married to, but he didn’t deserve his

These three brides represent the femme fatale, the fatal woman. The over sexualised women whose charms ensnare her lovers in bonds of irresistible desire, often leading them into compromising, dangerous, and deadly situations. These women serve as monstrous reminders of what happens if the boundaries of proper behaviour and traditional gender roles are crossed. These women, although beautiful, possess the wrong type of beauty, one of which brands them as evil, openly sexual and seductive women. Who, in addition lack the chaste passivity and fragility of the ideal Victorian lady, thus making them deserving of some form of punishment in order for them to be returned to their pure, innocent, albeit dead, human form.

As one of the most famous hard-boiled crime fictions, The Long Goodbye enjoys its reputation not only for the story itself, but also for its delicate social criticism. In fact, this novel is representative of how female characters are formed in the noir world. There are basically three main female characters in the book: the victim Sylvia Lennox, her sister Linda Loring, and the criminal (or villain) Eileen Wade. These characters show the typical roles that women play in the noir world – women can be very emotional, and thus commit crimes. Compared with men, who may get involved with crime for money, revenge and other issues, women seem to have more emotional desires, which in most cases involve love. In The Long Goodbye, Eileen, the representative of “Blonde,” somehow also portrays the “femme fatale” image that would often appear in noir fiction, while Linda Loring, who is pure and innocent and who falls in

It shows how Jake is persistent and dedicated to his job, even if it always seems like he is in over his head. Jake, however, also departs from the film noir tradition when he lets his emotions get the best of him. The greatest example of this is seen during the exchange between him and Evelyn when he is trying to find out the truth about Katherine. Resorting for the first time to violence against a woman, the near desperation with which Jake pushes Evelyn to confess is an expression of his fears and anxieties about being completely lost amidst the lies that surround him. The result is the humanization of Jake Giddes’ character. He simply is not perfect, and ultimately fails to see the bigger picture of what he is involved with until .

Her most discernible feature is the fact that she has been married five times. In those marriages, she admits that the husbands she preferred were the ones that were rich and old. Using intimacy, or the lack of it, as her power, her husbands would give her what she wanted (usually money) to satisfy his need for intimacy. Within these marriages, she falls into the stereotype of greedy and manipulative. Her marriages were for the money and she would receive more money when she decided to be creative and tease or guilt-trip them. However, just because she uses her sexual lifestyle to earn more money, does not make her lustful. Instead, it makes her cunning because she understands what she needs to do to make men dance to her tune and she makes it her strength. She becomes a master at using sex as a bargaining tool and is proud of it. The societal niceties of her era that say the amount of marriages she has and how she manipulates her significant other is disgraceful, but she is not ashamed of it. She is more than a pretty face and a stereotype. She is a proud woman and with the desire to live a comfy lifestyle, she stays unwavering to the slander she must face. Her character is brought to life written in between the lines. Behind her obvious characteristics holds depths and reasoning a real person could empathize

Chinatowns always are the popular place for the visitors because there have many tasty Chinese food and many different Chinese stores which sell the unique Chinese stuffs. Also, Chinatowns are a very important places for the new Chinese immigrants because there are many Chinese American who can help them in this new country. For many new Chinese immigrants, they can find cheap apartment to rent in Chinatown. Also, they can find many Chinese restaurants and supermarkets to buy the food they used to eat, and there are many organizations to help them settle down in the United stated and find them a job. In general, Chinatowns are very important to the new Chinese immigrants, and they like to live in Chinatowns too. However, there are some Chinese

Glaspell develops the theme of gender roles by what Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters fret about at the crime scene. For instance, the first concern that Mrs. Peters voices revolves around Mrs. Wright’s fruit preserves and implies that the women are housekeepers. Both the Sheriff and Mr. Hale remark about how the women are “worryin’ about her preserves” and “worrying over trifles” (Glaspell 3). Later, when the men go upstairs to look for evidence, the women decide to bring Mrs. Wright’s apron, fruit, shawl, and quilt for her in prison. To further establish Mrs. Wright as a domesticated housewife, Mrs. Peters suggests that Mrs. Wright wants her apron “to make her feel more natural” (Glaspell 5). Because of what Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters discuss at the crime scene, Glaspell verifies that the women play the role of housekeeper and cook.

Once Jake starts investigating the murder of Hollis he runs into physical violence and ends up accusing Evelyn of the murder after finding his glasses in her backyard pond. The murderer turned out to not be Evelyn, but the picture comes together for Jake in solving the murder. This part of the film creates the second plot point, or even plot

Survival of the fittest is a famous phrase of herbert spencer which describes the idea that there is competition to survive and reproduce. Charles Darwin first used Spencer's new phrase "survival of the fittest" as a synonym for "Natural selection". It's a metaphor just like other phrases such as struggle for existence and natural selection. But what did Darwin really mean when he popularized the "survival of the fittest" phrase? What he did not say is, perhaps, revealing. He did not say "survival of the smartest" nor "survival of the biggest." No, instead he said, "survival of the fittest." Others might tend to interpret Darwin's "fittest" as physical fitness, or physical superiority, in other words, to

Welcome to East End Chinatown, a site that aims to educate you in the history of London’s Chinatown.

On the left we have a cartoon in which Darwin explains how the natural selection works to a hostile alien who claims that he would take the Earth in virtue of the survival of the fittest (Spencer, 1864). This catchphrase was coined by sociologist and biologist Herbert Spencer and actually was used by Darwin later, but always in the context of the reproductive success (Darwin, 1868). Actually in the long term the natural selection equals to the reproductive success. If an individual is the “strongest” but it cannot leave descendants, his fitness will be 0.