For wanting to go to a ball at the castle. Even though I was an English minor, lit is not my favorite subject. I very much prefer Shakespeare, or late 20th century writers.
For being born a girl not a boy? The lord wanted a boy to inherit his estate, when his lady gave birth do a daughter she was abandoned.
Yeah, Stefan got it right, she (the new girl) was punished for being a girl. The 'father' says so right away: So when the mother gave birth to a girl, she sent her away from the house to be raised. The girl, on her own accord, then returns to her 'family' to see who/what they are like, but due to having been outcast by them, sneaks in as a scullery (a cook).
It seems like I have failed to present my point. I wan't asking you about the story, I knew what it means. My point was that an innocent person can often be punished unjustly. It wasn't her fault that she was born a girl, but yet it was her who was punished. What are your thoughts concerning this?
I think you are taking the example out of context and to different extremes. She didn't exactly commit a crime, nor was she punished in a manner that was excessive. Growing up, for all she knew, she was with her family. Again, not enough real information is presented to draw many conclusions. As far as 'unjust punishment', with out opening a can of worms, no system is fool-proof and you can look just about anywhere and find cases of false imprisonment, or cases where some one got a slap on the hand for a crime while some one else was imprisoned for an identical crime. In an ideal world, there is no injustice. Sadly, there is not an ideal world. Also, since this can and will be a touchy subject (for obvious reasons) you (aka anyone who responds) has been Warned! Keep things civil!
The quote you posted deceived me into thinking she was killed. but the story later ends like this The website I found it in mentions that the story seems oriental in origin. IIRC from my high school World Cultures class in ancient China it was perfectly acceptable to find a new wife if the former had not produced a male heir by the second or third child. That said, I do not know which century the story originated, but depending on the time frame and region, such things were perfectly acceptable. Unfortunately people of the past did not have the same morals we have now. All we can do is to be thankful we have progressed past such things.
Well, for one thing it isn't a true story (though this kind of situation isn't unheard of throughout our own history, look at Henry VIII for example). Secondly, people are punished all the time for things that aren't necessarily their fault, be it kids who are bullied at school or victims of racism, sexism, homophobia and various other forms of discrimination. It isn't a fair world, such is life. To be honest I'm not entirely sure what you are asking, are you asking what we think of the treatment of the young girl in the story? In which case, of course it's unfair. It wouldn't be much of a story if the father said 'I want a son' had a daughter and said 'ahh well, daughters are pretty cool too!' Are you asking about the wider ethical questions of the punishing of innocents? In which case yes, it happens and yes it's sad, we should do what we can to stop it. What more can one say?
There's so many different directions to go on this, for instance, in The Man Behind the Iron Mask, a pair of twins is born to a king. To prevent a civil war, one son is raised in privilege,while the other is treated as the worst kind of prisoner. Some people feel they are born gay. They spend their entire life in search of something they'll never find-acceptance. Because of AIDS, they'll never find acceptance. Tolerance, they will find, but acceptance-never. Some people, like me, grow up as a true minority. They are punished because their skin is the wrong color. They have to leave the area they grew up in to find employment. The real challenge here is not to be bitter about it. I could go on and on, like Stefan said "life isn't fair". I was 14 when I left home (long story). After a couple of months I was struggling. I was given a piece of advice:"You make your own breaks." Since then, I have.
Based on the true story of a prisoner in a French gaol who was cut off from external contact and forced to wear a black velvet mask. In 'The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later' Alexander Dumas suggests he was the twin of Louis XIV however there isn't much evidence to suggest this really. Much more likely he was someone close to the court who found out something that was embarrassing to the government/monarchy (or was involved in a scandle) and so was locked away. So to cut a longer story short, he might have been punished for a crime. I would also venture to disagree with your views on homosexuals, in many communities and societies they do find acceptance (and I would argue it is more to do with ignorance than AIDS) however it is a good example of people who are punished for something that isn't necessarily their fault. That said, how are we defining fault? Ok, so you can't determine your gender at birth, how about nationality? We punish people all the time for being born in a different country, following a different faith etc, is it a terrorists fault that he believes a certain interpretation of a major religion? My point is this, if someone is misguided, misled, in the wrong place at the wrong time (or they just can't get out) is it necessarily their fault?
All who answered .. answered you query. There is no one answer. Who's to say her life wasn't better in other ways besides the money/Royalty thing you suggest she was deprived of. Many of the rich are clueless, arrogant, helpless snobs. Look at Obama. A good thing "daddy" left him behind, or he would've died in a car wreck in Kenya. Not an originally better idea but, abandonment can be for the better. To avoid abuses that have yet to reveal themselves. Feudal times & before & some places after practiced this "man-child" thing all the time. It's not that way any longer, so we may be crying over ... "Spilled Milk"? I can't get all squishy over "Drama", especially if it's fiction. Those who do ... cry in front of their TV sets during "Soap Operas".
For once I pretty much agree with you SW, but I am ill so that might be it One thing worth remembering is that the 'one child policy' was in force in China until relatively recently, leading to a fair amount of infanticide with unwanted daughters.
That makes two of us. I was kicked out from my home when I was 14 because my stepmother had some difficulties accepting me. But now, six years later, I realized that my experiences have made me into a much stronger person. Even if I had the opportunity to go back in time and live my childhood years the easy way, I wouldn't. All those life lessons that I had to learn the hard way changed me as a person, and I would not trade the intellectual wealth those experiences have given me for anything.
