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The Wise Old Woman Summary

Decent Essays

“The Wise Old Woman”
Have you ever taken your grandparents and elderly for granted?The theme of the Folktale “The Wise Old Woman”, by Yoshiko Uchida, will change the way that you regard the elderly. The theme was to commend the elderly for their wisdom. Yoshiko Uchida uses conflict and point of view to help readers understand a larger lesson about life, and learn more about human nature.There was a village that didn’t hold the elderly in their respects, so the arrogant young lord of the village said a decree that banished the elderly to the mountains to die. An elderly woman solves all the problems that cause a commotion in the village, but she does so in secret until the son reveals that she was the one solving all of the obstacles of the village. Therefore, giving the rightfully deserved esteem to the elderly.

Yoshiko Uchida uses the conflict in her folktale “The Wise Old Woman” to showcase the different sides of human nature.When the egotistic young lord casts his decree on his people. He thinks that this was an excellent consecutive decision, when in reality it did more harm than good. In paragraph 2 it says “I have no use for old people in my village.’” This shows that he no longer wants to have the elderly in his village because ,”They are neither useful nor able to work for a living.” (paragraph 2) So he decides to send all elderly to their deathbed in the mountains, far away from home. This shows that humans can be very cruel once they hold positions of power.In paragraph six it says that the old woman is going to have to face the wrath of the young lord’s decree. This conflict means that the farmer would have to abandon his mother in the mountains just to stay alive. However, the farmer does not send his mother to the mountains because of a compassionate gesture made by the mother. In paragraph 13 it says “‘I am just marking the way so you will not get lost returning to the village.’” This shows that even when you were about to die you would still do anything you can to help your loved ones. Humans can be harsh but they can also be very loving at times. Humans can also show signs of their nature through their points of can mean different things, but many associate the word point of view with how

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