In
class this week, we read one of our first short stories called "There is
no unmarked woman" and it led to a great discussion to what we really
perceive the world to be. The first thought that comes into my mind when
we refer to people as "marked or "unmarked" is markers. These
markers, when we were younger, gave us colorful insights to spread our
imagination further. When we think of the word "marked", the colors
that would symbolize it would be blue, red, yellow, green and so on into the
endless swirls of hues. Alternatively, the word "unmarked" associates
to us nothing on the page, indicating white. While the "marked
category" was categorized as endless colors, the unmarked is characterized
as the single color of white. This is exactly what Deborah Tannen tries to
distinguish between men and woman. But I strongly clash with this perception.
Why do we have to classify people into groups when everyone is
distinctively different in some way? For example, everybody is born in
different shapes and sizes with different physical features. Why, then, do we
have to classify men as unmarked and women as marked? All men do not look the
same so why would portray them all as the color of white? Moreover, why do we
have to focus on the differences of men and women regarding fashion, surnames
or chromosomes? Shouldn't we
classify them by their personalities? That is often to be the most intriguing
and decisive part of a human because it shapes who you are in the future. Your
fashion, for example, will not keep up with you in the future because everybody
will grow old. Nobody will really care about how you look but instead focus
more on your personality and how you act. If you only care about how you look
on the outside and ignore your real feelings inside, when you become old you
will be isolated from your peers. Overall, everybody has a different charisma
which makes every single person different, so we should not characterize
certain people as one color like white but instead characterize each as one of
the uncountable colors of the universe.
Hey anish! I really liked this blog post, very well written. I agree with your belief that "There Is No Unmarked Woman" should not classify people as purely marked/unmarked, because there is just so much more to people than that black/white viewpoint. Keep up the insightful posts.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with the judging people based more on their personalities. Your point of how we all grow old in the end and become wrinkly and undistinguishable is a good one. People should focus more on how they act instead of how they are being perceived lookswise.
ReplyDeleteThis post really opened up my eyes. I think your use of actual "markers" is extremely clever, and an effective way of conveying your point.
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