Angel of the Slums

The second half of The Good Woman of Setzuan by Bertolt Brecht is a little more serious and teachy than the first half. But there was one thing that I found a little humorous. On page 57, Mr. Shu Fu states that Shen Te in known as the “Angel of the Slums.” I found this to be humorous because, just a few days ago, Shen Te was a prostitute that they looked down upon. And now they call her an angel. Now that she is giving them things and has cleaned up, she is an angel.
Before, they would not have taken time to get to know her. They would have had once glance at her and have made their judgment. It is ironic how the people of Setzuan consider her holy and congregate against Shui Ta to get her back, but only a little while ago. They had considered her dirt. The family that expected her to house them had, themselves, kicked her out when she had no where else to go. Now, the people were demanding so much of her. They thought her to be some saint.
The only person that calls her bad is the one person she puts above everyone else: Yang Sun. “And since you always do the wrong thing, it's lucky your cousins coming...”(66). It is crazy how the person that just received two hundred silver dollars from this girl says that she always does the wrong thing. If there is anything that she did wrong, it was falling this guy.
Although Yang Sun is the only person who seems to out and out show his lack of respect and appreciation for this “Angel of he Slums”, the other people of Setzuan seem to disrespect her and feel that they have some sort of entitlement to her charity. The family are the main ones. They are continuously rude to her. She gave them a little, and the nearly make her undone. The question that is risen (and that we discussed in class) is: Was it a bad thing for Shen Te to be so good to people? Shui Ta tells Yang Sun, “She is a human being, sir! And not devoid of common sense!”(56) The people seem to forget that she is a human being. She needs to provide for herself and her shop. She can only do so much. But they seem to not consider this and abuse her kindness. If she is an angel, shouldn't they all aim to please her, instead of disrespecting her?


Work Cited
Brecht, Bertolt, and Eric Bentley. The Good Woman of Setzuan. Minneapolis, Minn.: University of Minnesota, 1999. Print.