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Summary Of Ban Zhao's 'Lessons For A Women'

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"Lessons for a Women" by Ban Zhao is an insightful telling of life lessons and clever advice that any young women can apply to their life. The author is Ban Zhao who is seriously ill and not sure if she 'll live so she feels the need to teach her daughters things they have not yet been taught. "I am now seriously ill, life is uncertain." The author is writing because she wants to inform her daughters, before she dies, of proper manners as well as how to be a good wife and women in general. "But I do grieve that you, my daughters, just now at the age for marriage, have not at this time had gradual training and advice; that you still have not learned the proper customs for married women. I fear that by failure in good manners in other families you will humiliate both your ancestors and your clan." Zhao wants to teach her daughters to be honorable women and to put others first. Zhao wanted women to not shy away from their duties as the women of the household, for the women in this time were required to clean and do all the other chores necessary to keep the household running. Ban …show more content…

The author in this piece is trying to reach and address her daughters. Multiple audiences could learn from the message that Zhao wrote. This would be considered accidental considering Ban wrote it because of her daughters. I don 't really think the author was trying to get a reaction from people, I believe it was solely for people to learn from it. I think the piece could be read from multiple perspectives because everyone is different and will feel a different way about it. I think people from different time periods and experiences will differ because of the beliefs of the time in society they grew up in. Girls today might view these rules as super old-fashioned and plain silly while older generations believe they are important. "Lessons for a Women" is a really interesting read and makes you think twice about how you should act. I would recommend this piece to any young women

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