Woman

Running Head : Comparative Essay

Simone de Beauvoir 's `Woman as Other (1949 ) and Amy Tan 's `Mother Tongue (1990

Two Writings that Reveal Feminism

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April 20 , 2007

Simone de Beauvoir 's `Woman as Other (1949 ) and Amy Tan 's `Mother Tongue (1990

Two Writings that Reveal Feminism

Simone de Beauvoir 's essay entitled `Woman as Other ' and Amy Tan 's `Mother Tongue ' are two writings that depict or reveal the theory of feminism . With de Beauvoir 's `Woman As Other

, which is stated in the introduction portion of her book `The Second Sex (1949 , feminism in the feminine perspective drew in large crowds and critics during its time , especially that there were barely enough in the west that declared the oppression experienced by women who lived in the time of the modern age . It created the foundation of philosophy , feminism as well as women 's studies , as it declared that women has found its existence to be centralized in serious oppression due to its being the `other . Women have been used in defining the category of man - describing masculinity by defining the opposing force that is femininity . In the writing of Amy Tan entitled `Mother Tongue however , five decades went by , and it is evident that , by the `90s women already learned how to handle themselves despite a very different cruel and obnoxious world . Oppression cannot be hindered , and the only way to solve it would be to know how to handle it . Amy Tan has related her experiences as a daughter , as an emigrant , and as a citizen of two very different countries . Her way of speaking may be a bit off hooked to the English society , but she reveals what emigrant women in the 20th century experience , how it affects them , and how they deal with these things while maintaining their true identity and femininity

In the following pages , these two writings shall be revealed more manifestly , while we pay attention on the similarities as well as the differences that revolve around these two essays , which were written in the mid-19th century and in the dawn of the 20th century . From afar , it appears that de Beauvoir 's essay and Tan 's essay are very , very different , given the case that they reveal different time , place attitude or environment . Yet they are very similar

Simone de Beauvoir 's `Woman as Other (1949

According to de Beauvoir (1949 , in agreement with the philosophies of Hegel and Sartre , it is undeniable that man - which is under the personification of the `self ' - has to make use of the woman - which is the personification of the `other . This is in to define himself of what he really is and why he exists . As de Beauvoir (1949 ) stated

[I]f , following Hegel , we find in consciousness itself a fundamental hostility towards every other consciousness the subject can be posed only in being opposed - he sets himself up as the essential , as opposed to the other...