I'm at the end. Now what?

The ending of the book made Mr. Yang Sun look even more scandalous than he had before. They are not getting for love Mr. Yang Sun wants to be able to get the money that he can get from being with her rather than marrying her because he loves her so much. She’s naïve at one point thinking that he loves her so much and is marrying her because of that. Everyone seems to know what he’s marrying her for. His own mother is telling him that he shouldn’t marry her if she won’t sell the tobacco shop for him. From one source I read, it talked about satire using irony as an instrument for getting the point of the satire across (Blackwell Reference Online). If this is the case, then I think irony of the way the play ends could be a type of satire if I understand correctly. The fact that the play ends kinda in the middle of things and the problem isn’t really resolved could be situational irony because the play ended the opposite of the way I expected. I expected there to be a conclusion to the ending of the situation.

From talking about satire and irony in class, I think I have a little bit of a clearer idea of what it really is. I know that I still have trouble detecting both because I struggle with tone and have always done so since middle school. Maybe the fact that I can’t pick up tone contributes to the fact that I have trouble with reading comprehension, which is linked to why I have trouble finding the satire in the play that we are reading. Also, I was having trouble understanding whether or not the whole play was a satire of something or if individual parts of the play made the play considered a satire or containing satire. Tracy brought this up in class as well. I was confused about whether or not we really need to try to see the whole play as a satire or read the play as a normal play and see if we detect satire in the individual parts of the play. As a whole, this play has definitely been a challenge for me. Even now that we’ve finished the play I still don’t think I understand the satire. Does anyone else get it???

Pavlovskis-Petit, Zoja. "26. Irony and Satire : A Companion to Satire: Ancient and

Modern : Blackwell Reference Online." Blackwell Reference Online: Home. Web. 19 Apr. 2010. .

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

Why two people?

In Bertolt Brecht's play, The Good Woman of Setzuan, we are introduced to a prostitute named Shen Te. At the beginning, we see that Shen Te is very kind and she basically lets people run over her. She does everything to please others including allowing many of her relatives to come in and stay in her very small and crowded tobacco shop. But, then she sort of disappears and a new character is introduced -- Shui Ta, her cousin. Shui Ta comes in and sort of just takes control of everything and is basically the complete opposite of Shen Te. Later, when Shui Ta is accused of murdering Shen Te and trying to take over her business, we see him confess that he is Shen Te. Shen Te had simply dressed and created an alter-ego. But, why?

On page 103, Shen Te gives this long explanation as to why she fabricated the story of having a cousin. She says, to the Gods,

"But to be good to others/And myself at the same time/I could not do
it/Your
world is not an easy one, illustrious ones!/When we extend our hand
to a
beggar, he tears it off us/When we help the lost, we are lost
ourselves/And
so/Since not to eat is to die/Who can long refuse to be
bad?"

Through this, Brecht tells what I believe is the whole point of his play. No one can avoid being bad. Even if someone tries to be perfect and good, something inside of them is always going to be bad. People are always going to somehow be prideful, lust what others have, and lie to get their way. As the story developed, it was hard to understand why Brecht would choose to make one woman seem crazy by having two personalities but then I realized what he was trying to do. I believe that his use of an alter ego was his way of using satire to prove a point. Although at first I didn't understand the satire in it, I then understood that it was that people have to create different personalities to live in the world. We don't need two personalities though. Everyone has both already. Sure most people prefer to be "good" rather than "bad" but everyone has their moments. The purpose of this play was to show that there aren't just bad people and just good people. Everyone has a little of each inside of them, you just have to accept it and learn to live with it to survive in this world.

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

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ariannameli/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Who Is Good?

Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan is a very humorous play. The idea of three gods in search of a good person in order to prove that religion still exists is hilarious, especially when the gods say that this dispute is being held in heaven as well. What raised the bar, however, is the fact that the only “good” person they can find in several towns is a prostitute and she is the one that is giving the gods hope that there are good people still in the world. The whole idea of a prostitute carrying out gods will makes for a good plot, especially when the gods know her profession.
FIRST GOD: ... You proved that good people still exist, a point that has been disputed as of late—even in heaven.

SHEN TE: Stop, illustrious ones! I’m not sure you’re right. I’d like to be good, it’s true, but there’s the rent to pay. And that’s not all: I sell myself for a living... I should love to stay with one man. But how? How is it done? Even breaking a few of you commandments, I hardly manage.

FIRST GOD (clearing his throat): These thoughts are but, um, the misgivings of an unusually good woman! (10)

It is as if the first god wishes to quickly leave before they find out that Shen Te is not a good woman after all; they’re willing to settle for “good enough” and quickly leave before they can change their minds. Then they are stopped and obligated to give her money, even though it is not allowed of gods. The first god, after throwing money in her hands, that “...there’s no law against it! It was never decreed that a god musn’t pay hotel bills!” (11).

The satire continues as we are introduced to characters who are only concerned about themselves. Shen Te does good with the money, although she is often accused of letting people walk all over her. She decides to invest in a tobacco shop (apparently people need their cigarettes when the economy’s down). When Shen Te needs someone to vouch for her reputation, a lady off the street helps her concoct a “cousin” to put all the weight of the business on. But Shui Ta, the invented cousin, turns up on the doorstep of the tobacco shop. He turns out to be very harsh compared to Shen Te and ends up kicking them all out just to have Shen Te welcome them back with open arms soon after.

This is a funny play that can go in any direction. Shen Te does appear to be good, but I wonder what will happen when she marries. She claims that she is in love, but she only just met the man. When she was under the tree with Yang Sun, he caressed her cheek and said,” You’re easily satisfied, I must say” (36). Shen Te is good in the eyes of the gods right now, but she may not be able to keep it up for long.

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

I thought God took care of us?

Growing up in a Christian household, my family always made it seem as of God was this amazingly rich higher being. They always told me that he had a palace waiting for me in heaven and that his huge kingdom had golden roads and crystal waters. As a young girl I was obviously excited and couldn’t wait to get to heaven so that I could finally be rich. But, at the beginning of Bertolt Brecht’s play, The Good Woman of Setzuan, the Gods exchange a few words that confused this long time belief.

SHIN TE: But everything is so expensive, I don’t feel sure I can do it!
SECOND GOD: That’s not in our sphere. We never meddle with economics.
THIRD GOD: One moment. Isn’t it true she might do better if she had more money?
SECOND GOD: Come, come! How could we ever account it Up Above? (11)

The first thing that came to mind when, on page 11, the Second God mentioned, “Up Above,” was heaven. But, the way they said it made it seem as if they didn’t have very much money to spare and that they stayed away from everyone’s finances. This was nothing like what I had been taught when I was younger. It really confused me at first because I kept asking myself, “Isn’t God SUPPOSED to take care of us?!” But, then I remembered that my AP English teacher, Susan Davis, told us that this play was a satire when she handed it out. But growing up, my parents always told me that it wasn’t right to “play” with things about God. So, why is Brecht doing it? Is it okay to say these things about God? Or am I just misinterpreting Brecht’s writing when he’s not really doing that what I’m accusing him of?

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

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lexrex/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

I don't think I get it

As I read the play and tried to understand the plot, finding the satire in the things the characters were saying got more and more difficult. I did not understand what the satire was. So to begin, I looked up what the word satire meant and how it’s used in most cases to understand more closely. Satire is defined as “a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack.” The definition made me understand what the meaning of satire was a little more but it didn’t make me detect any of the most obvious satire in the book. The only few things that I could find that appeared to be remotely satirical was the way the gods treated the people as they went through the people to find out who was the best person. One particular part was when Wong says, “You’ll be staying with a single girl—the finest human being in Setzuan!” and the third god says, “That’s nice.” I thought with this line Wong was ridiculing the fact that the gods are trying to find the finest human being. The rest of the book seemed normal conversation to me. I didn’t detect any satire in the rest of the things people said. Overall the book seemed like a normal story to me. I never detected any satire and I think I probably just don’t fully understand what satire is.

"Satire." The Nellen Family Jewels. Web. 14 Apr. 2010. .

Brecht, Bertolt, and Eric Bentley. The Good Woman of Setzuan. United States: S.n.], 1957. Print.

The satire of love

On page 45 after Mr. Shu Fu hurts the man's hand he happens to gaze upon Miss. Shen Te as she passes by. He looks at her and then turns to his audience and says, “ It surprises me how beautiful Miss. Shen Te is looking today! I never gave her a passing thought before. But now I’ve been gazing upon her comely form for three minutes! I begin to suspect I am in love with her. She is overpoweringly attractive! Be off with you, rascal!” What I found funny was the fact that he has just met the women for the first time really and he already thinks that he is in love with her after 3 minutes. That kind of love is not even shown in the movies.
Right before Mr. Shu Fu is another interesting part. It starts at the bottom of page 44 and continues at the top of page 45. Here Shen Te is talking about her day and going into to town she says, “How wonderful to see Setzuan in the early morning!....Good morning, Wong, I’m quite lightheaded today. On my way over, I looked at myself in all the shop windows. I’d love to be beautiful”. This is not the first thing that we would suspect for a person to say when they say they looked in all the shop windows. You would think they would say they saw something that they wanted to buy or a cute pair or shoes something closer to that. Instead she says how she wishes that she was beautiful, and what’s even more interesting is that right after that Mr. Shu Fu says how Shen Te’s is so beautiful looking and that he has fallen in love with her in the first 3 minutes of seeing her.