essay on postmodernism, feminism, context ect with related: Poisonwood Bible, Nervous Conditions and The Piano. I did this essay in prelim and got 100% so hopefully it will help some people with their notes =] (2600 words)
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Studies of Postcolonialism has been gaining recognition since the 1970s and the growing exchange of the term "postcolonial" was strengthened by Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin’s book The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures. The book was concerned with the world’s existence during and after the period of European domination and the effects on contemporary literature. Although there is considerable debate over the precise boundaries of this subject and the definition of the term "postcolonial," in a very general sense, it is the study of the interactions between European nations, the societies they colonized in the modern period, and the effects that resulted. The European empire is said to have assumed influence over more than 85% of the rest of the globe by the time of the First World War, having united its control over several centuries. The extent of the European empire and its disintegration after the Second World War has led to pervasive interest in postcolonial literature and criticism.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Postcolonial critique allows for a wide-ranging investigation into power relations at large. The impact of colonization on postcolonial history, economy, science, and culture, and feminism and postcolonialism are some broad topics addressed concerning postcolonial studies. the existence of postcolonialism produces debatable questions and issues concerned not only with the binary of Europeans vs. native peoples, but man vs. woman, India vs. Africa, and English vs. native tongue. Postcolonialism brought about many movements within politics and literature around the world including feminism and postcolonial feminism, dealing with inherent issues of gender equality. The balanced interrelationship between the woman and her community was disrupted during colonialism and that disruption added to women's second class citizenship and the boundaries placed on them. The three texts The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga and the The Piano produced by Jane Campion all explore the concerns of postcolonialism, the position of women in postcolonial settings and the various forms of oppression and abuse that is placed on them.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']The Poisonwood bible by Barbara Kingsolver addresses the [/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']role of political powers in colonial and post-colonial Africa, the tragic voilance and hunger caused by these powers and the racial and gender opression and inequality. the novel is set within a Congo in which an American family (the Price family) are led to Africa by their father and husband, Nathan Price, on his mission to grant christian salvation upon the african people. Through her own experience of living within an African congo and the “real extreme look at what it’s like to be a minority.” Kingsolver developed a taste for social activism. After gaining knowledge on the U.S’s sabotage of the [/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Congo's hard-won attempt at independence during the 1960’s,[/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif'] [/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Kingsolver,[/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif'] outraged by her country’s acts of greed, formed the idea to write a novel exposing and dealing with this crime.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Kingsolver constructs the novel into more than an indictment of the colonialization of Africa by creating parallels between the political disturbance in The Congo and the abusive situation the Price girls are placed in by Nathan. Nathan is the personal embodiment of the European powers, symbolising both the European exploitation of Africa and, the self-righteous authority of the strong over anyone or anything too weak to prevent it. The novel is narrated from each of the females in the Price family, each representing different opinions and personas evident in society. Also through each of the girls we are given an answer or option to one of the themes that Kingsolver planted in her novel, how to deal with guilt. "Given that this is what we did as a nation in Africa, how are we to feel about it now? How do we live with it and how do we move on? Given that this is our history, what do we do with it? One thing is very clear, there isn't a single answer - there's a spectrum of answers." This is why Kingsolver choose to have the story told by five separate narrators, each narrator represents a different answer to the question. Consequently through the death of Ruth May we are given this spectrum of answers. The different reactions and coping methods within the girls exemplifies this theme, which reflects the main underlying ideaoligy within the novel; how, as individuals part of a nation, can the American people deal with the guilt that their government’s actions has forced upon them. Kingsolver found this important to deal with herself and thus formed a life as a social activist and created this novel to draw attention to these political and social issues. [/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Within the Poisonwood Bible Kingsolver uses symbols and motifs to enhance the meaning of the text. Throughout the book, the motif of vision is used to emphasize ideas of cultural arrogance and understanding. Nathan's inability to see outside of his narrow world view, is evoked repeatedly with images of blindness and poor sight. He has a damaged eye, which leaves him with poor vision on the left side. This wound can be seen as the physical expression of his metaphorical blindness to anyone or anything outside of himself and the conception of his divine mission. His good right eye is temporarily damaged within the novel when he arrogantly ignores Mama Tataba's advice and continues grappling with the poisonwood tree. Leah always supported and admired her fathers beliefs and practices, but when finally sees her father clearly, as a cruel, delusional man, she notices that "his blue eyes…had a vacant look" (Bel and the Serpant: Leah). Contrastingly, Adah, who never views the Congolese as inferior to Westerners, has amazingly alert vision. She is able to see words backwards and forwards equally well, ringing double meaning from any phrase.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Another motif within the novel is that of language. Each of the Price daughters has a distinctive relationship to language. Rachel consistently and unapologetically misuses words, Adah reads them backward, Ruth May cheerfully invents her own language in which to communicate with the local children, and Leah uses language lessons as an excuse to spend time with her future husband, Anatole. Each of these linguistic personalities mirrors the deeper personality of the girl: Rachel is self-involved, and wholly inward looking, ignoring the larger world around her; Adah is a brilliant and perceptive observer, seeing more in a glance than most could see in a lengthy examination; Ruth May is adventurous, confident, and playful; and Leah's relates to the world through her boundless capacity for love. This again reflects the individual personas of the girls that exemplify the different personas within society. Also Lingala, the language used in the region of Congo that the Prices dwell in, also has its own linguistic personality. Most words in the language have opposing meanings, and the intended meaning must be indicated by subtle differences in tone. Adah is the first to pick up on this fact, and Leah and Orleanna follow soon thereafter. Nathan, however, never catches on, and therefore preaches every week that Jesus is a fatal Poisonwood Tree, when he means to declare that Jesus is dearly beloved. This lack of understand on Nathan’s part may also reflect his naivety in his intentions, and his absolute lack of willingness and ability to understand the Congolesse culture and the damage of colonisation at large.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']The novel Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga unfolds in colonial Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the late 1960s. the novel reflects survival tactics for postcolonial woman and the challenges that a young girl faces in her efforts to break free of her impoverished background and acquire an education. British education, for women in Postcolonial Africa, is a necessity, not an option if they wish to acquire a better life. Nervous Conditions and the events that shaped the life of the character Tambu was largely developed from Dangarembga’s early years and her experience as a women of Postcolonial Africa. Although Dangarembga was born in Rhodesia, she spent several years of her childhood in Britain and began her education there. Upon returning to Rhodesia at the age of six, her education was concluded in a missionary school, yet later she returned to Britain to study medicine. Her determination to obtain an education is reflected through the character Tambu as she pursuits her escape from an oppressed destiny, battling the obstacles of race, class and sex to acquire an education. Education is used as a type of power by many characters in the novel, most importantly Babamukuru, Tambu’s uncle who can provide hope of a brighter future for Tambu’s family. Gender inequality and sexual discrimination form the backdrop of all of the female characters’ lives. In the novel, inequality is a crippling attitude that kills ambition, crushes women’s spirits, and discourages them from supporting and rallying future generations and other female relatives. [/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Throughout the novel Nervous Conditions, Dangarembga uses motifs to emphasise the themes and ideologies of the text. Emancipation is a term that appears as a motif in [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Nervous Conditions[/FONT]. Usually, the term is related with being released from slavery or with a country being finally free from the colonial power that once controlled it. These concepts shape into the underlying ideoligies of the novel, as Rhodesia’s citizens struggle to unite and declare their identity as a people while still under British control. When the term [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']emancipation[/FONT] is applied to Tambu and the women in her extended family, it takes on new associations. Tambu sees her life as a gradual process of being freed of the limitations that have previously overwhelmed her. When she first leaves for the mission school, she sees the move as a temporary emancipation. Her growing knowledge and evolving perceptions are a form of emancipation from her old ways of thinking. By the end of the novel, emancipation becomes more than simply a release from poverty or restriction but is associated with freedom and a claim of personal liberty. Another motif that that emphasises the restrictions placed on her as a female African and the determination she has for a btter life is that of geography. Physical spaces are at the centre of the tensions Tambu faces between life at the mission and the world of the homestead. At first, Tambu is isolated, downgraded to toiling in the fields and tending to her brother’s desires during his infrequent visits. When she attends the local school, she must walk a long way to her daily lessons, but she willingly undertakes the journey in order to receive an education. When the family cannot pay her school fees, Mr. Matimba takes Tambu to the city, where she sells green corn. Tambu’s increased awareness and knowledge of the world coincides with her growing physical distance from the homestead. The mission school is an important location in the novel, a provider of possibility that becomes the centerpiece of Tambu’s world and the source of many of the changes she undergoes. At the end of [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Nervous Conditions[/FONT], Tambu’s life has taken her even farther away from the homestead, to the convent school where she is without family or friends and must rely solely on herself. Yet she has battled the boundaries placed on her and freed herself from the imprisonment of the homestead.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']In chapter 10 Tambu speaks of her desired advancement, winning a scholarship to the convent school, but she begins to question what it has cost her sense of self and her ailing mother, who is disappointed that another of her children will change at the hands of western education. “Quietly, unobtrusively and extremely fitfully, something in my mind began to assert itself, to question things and refuse to be brainwashed, bringing me to this time when I can set down this story. It was a long and painful process for me, that process of expansion”. Her use of the word [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']brainwashed[/FONT] indicates a radical shift in her thinking. Tambu urges herself to no longer be passively influenced by the people and institutions around her. This quote coincides with the concerns with colonisation and the effects it has on a culture. Those who conform to western culture in order to seek freedom and success lose their sense of heritage and ability to integrate with their original culture.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']The Piano[/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif'] by Jane Campion is a film that [/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']draws attention to issues of discrimination of nationality and sex and the boundaries that are placed on women. Campions exploration of ‘female cinema’ through exploring female desire and sensibility reflects her persistent concerns with gender politics and the disempowerment of women. Campion’s films have been enthusiastically taken up by feminist film critics for their depiction of strong female characters rebelling against the roles expected of them by patriarchal society. Campion's heroines are characterised by their refusal to conform to these roles, which often results in a stubbornness that leads them into direct conflict with husbands, fathers, brothers and other women complicit with the patriarchal order. This is evident within the Piano as the main character, Ada, rebels often doing things her husband forbids her to including her infedelities with a neighbour. Consequently her husband physically and emotionally abuses her. Ada is a stubborn character who rebels not only against her husbands wishes but also her presumed role and conformity. The piano itself acts as a symbol of the boundaries and oppressions forced upon women, their rights to decisions and their talents. Mr Stuart, Ada’s husband, forbids her to obtain her piano which is solely her verbal expression and emotional release, the only time she is granted access to the piano is through sexual favours for George, thus she is still bound to the discrimination of her gender. It is not till George freely gives Ada the piano that she is granted a small sense of freedom. Campion’s life in New Zealand also influenced her to address the discrimination against the Maori people as a result of Postcolonialism within her film.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Campion’s use of motifs emphasises the themes within the film. The motif of the axe firstly addressed in the story of Bluebeard exemplifies man’s oppression and discrimination against women. As within the story, bluebeard oppresses his wives within his house and removes any of their rights, if he is not pleased by them or they rebel against his wishes he cuts their heads off with an axe. The use of this story and the motif of the axe presents us with the underlying ideology of gender discrimination. When Ada rebels against her husbands wishes and attempts to contact George, the neighbour whom she fell in love with, he consequently chases her with an axe and chops one of her fingers off, alike Bluebeards punishments. Campion also uses camera techniques to emphasise this motif. Her use of close ups focuses on the axe multiple times. Originally in a demonstration one of the characters pretends to chop a maids hand off, this is supported by a closeup of the axe. Coinciding with this when Mr Stuart chases Ada with the axe we are presented with close-ups to emphasise and even foreshadow what his intentions are. When Mr Stuart ultimately cuts off Ada’s finger we are again present with a closeup of the axe.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Through studying the three texts The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga and The Piano by Jane Campion one may draw extensive conclusions that context of culture and values of a composer highly influence the contents of a text. All three texts stress the ideologies of gender inequality and oppression and the discrimination of culture in a colonial and postcolonial setting through the narrative of the texts and the delivery of women’s perspectives, as they all fight the boundaries that are placed on them within society.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Studies of Postcolonialism has been gaining recognition since the 1970s and the growing exchange of the term "postcolonial" was strengthened by Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths, and Helen Tiffin’s book The Empire Writes Back: Theory and Practice in Post-Colonial Literatures. The book was concerned with the world’s existence during and after the period of European domination and the effects on contemporary literature. Although there is considerable debate over the precise boundaries of this subject and the definition of the term "postcolonial," in a very general sense, it is the study of the interactions between European nations, the societies they colonized in the modern period, and the effects that resulted. The European empire is said to have assumed influence over more than 85% of the rest of the globe by the time of the First World War, having united its control over several centuries. The extent of the European empire and its disintegration after the Second World War has led to pervasive interest in postcolonial literature and criticism.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Postcolonial critique allows for a wide-ranging investigation into power relations at large. The impact of colonization on postcolonial history, economy, science, and culture, and feminism and postcolonialism are some broad topics addressed concerning postcolonial studies. the existence of postcolonialism produces debatable questions and issues concerned not only with the binary of Europeans vs. native peoples, but man vs. woman, India vs. Africa, and English vs. native tongue. Postcolonialism brought about many movements within politics and literature around the world including feminism and postcolonial feminism, dealing with inherent issues of gender equality. The balanced interrelationship between the woman and her community was disrupted during colonialism and that disruption added to women's second class citizenship and the boundaries placed on them. The three texts The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga and the The Piano produced by Jane Campion all explore the concerns of postcolonialism, the position of women in postcolonial settings and the various forms of oppression and abuse that is placed on them.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']The Poisonwood bible by Barbara Kingsolver addresses the [/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']role of political powers in colonial and post-colonial Africa, the tragic voilance and hunger caused by these powers and the racial and gender opression and inequality. the novel is set within a Congo in which an American family (the Price family) are led to Africa by their father and husband, Nathan Price, on his mission to grant christian salvation upon the african people. Through her own experience of living within an African congo and the “real extreme look at what it’s like to be a minority.” Kingsolver developed a taste for social activism. After gaining knowledge on the U.S’s sabotage of the [/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Congo's hard-won attempt at independence during the 1960’s,[/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif'] [/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Kingsolver,[/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif'] outraged by her country’s acts of greed, formed the idea to write a novel exposing and dealing with this crime.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Kingsolver constructs the novel into more than an indictment of the colonialization of Africa by creating parallels between the political disturbance in The Congo and the abusive situation the Price girls are placed in by Nathan. Nathan is the personal embodiment of the European powers, symbolising both the European exploitation of Africa and, the self-righteous authority of the strong over anyone or anything too weak to prevent it. The novel is narrated from each of the females in the Price family, each representing different opinions and personas evident in society. Also through each of the girls we are given an answer or option to one of the themes that Kingsolver planted in her novel, how to deal with guilt. "Given that this is what we did as a nation in Africa, how are we to feel about it now? How do we live with it and how do we move on? Given that this is our history, what do we do with it? One thing is very clear, there isn't a single answer - there's a spectrum of answers." This is why Kingsolver choose to have the story told by five separate narrators, each narrator represents a different answer to the question. Consequently through the death of Ruth May we are given this spectrum of answers. The different reactions and coping methods within the girls exemplifies this theme, which reflects the main underlying ideaoligy within the novel; how, as individuals part of a nation, can the American people deal with the guilt that their government’s actions has forced upon them. Kingsolver found this important to deal with herself and thus formed a life as a social activist and created this novel to draw attention to these political and social issues. [/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Within the Poisonwood Bible Kingsolver uses symbols and motifs to enhance the meaning of the text. Throughout the book, the motif of vision is used to emphasize ideas of cultural arrogance and understanding. Nathan's inability to see outside of his narrow world view, is evoked repeatedly with images of blindness and poor sight. He has a damaged eye, which leaves him with poor vision on the left side. This wound can be seen as the physical expression of his metaphorical blindness to anyone or anything outside of himself and the conception of his divine mission. His good right eye is temporarily damaged within the novel when he arrogantly ignores Mama Tataba's advice and continues grappling with the poisonwood tree. Leah always supported and admired her fathers beliefs and practices, but when finally sees her father clearly, as a cruel, delusional man, she notices that "his blue eyes…had a vacant look" (Bel and the Serpant: Leah). Contrastingly, Adah, who never views the Congolese as inferior to Westerners, has amazingly alert vision. She is able to see words backwards and forwards equally well, ringing double meaning from any phrase.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Another motif within the novel is that of language. Each of the Price daughters has a distinctive relationship to language. Rachel consistently and unapologetically misuses words, Adah reads them backward, Ruth May cheerfully invents her own language in which to communicate with the local children, and Leah uses language lessons as an excuse to spend time with her future husband, Anatole. Each of these linguistic personalities mirrors the deeper personality of the girl: Rachel is self-involved, and wholly inward looking, ignoring the larger world around her; Adah is a brilliant and perceptive observer, seeing more in a glance than most could see in a lengthy examination; Ruth May is adventurous, confident, and playful; and Leah's relates to the world through her boundless capacity for love. This again reflects the individual personas of the girls that exemplify the different personas within society. Also Lingala, the language used in the region of Congo that the Prices dwell in, also has its own linguistic personality. Most words in the language have opposing meanings, and the intended meaning must be indicated by subtle differences in tone. Adah is the first to pick up on this fact, and Leah and Orleanna follow soon thereafter. Nathan, however, never catches on, and therefore preaches every week that Jesus is a fatal Poisonwood Tree, when he means to declare that Jesus is dearly beloved. This lack of understand on Nathan’s part may also reflect his naivety in his intentions, and his absolute lack of willingness and ability to understand the Congolesse culture and the damage of colonisation at large.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']The novel Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga unfolds in colonial Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) in the late 1960s. the novel reflects survival tactics for postcolonial woman and the challenges that a young girl faces in her efforts to break free of her impoverished background and acquire an education. British education, for women in Postcolonial Africa, is a necessity, not an option if they wish to acquire a better life. Nervous Conditions and the events that shaped the life of the character Tambu was largely developed from Dangarembga’s early years and her experience as a women of Postcolonial Africa. Although Dangarembga was born in Rhodesia, she spent several years of her childhood in Britain and began her education there. Upon returning to Rhodesia at the age of six, her education was concluded in a missionary school, yet later she returned to Britain to study medicine. Her determination to obtain an education is reflected through the character Tambu as she pursuits her escape from an oppressed destiny, battling the obstacles of race, class and sex to acquire an education. Education is used as a type of power by many characters in the novel, most importantly Babamukuru, Tambu’s uncle who can provide hope of a brighter future for Tambu’s family. Gender inequality and sexual discrimination form the backdrop of all of the female characters’ lives. In the novel, inequality is a crippling attitude that kills ambition, crushes women’s spirits, and discourages them from supporting and rallying future generations and other female relatives. [/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Throughout the novel Nervous Conditions, Dangarembga uses motifs to emphasise the themes and ideologies of the text. Emancipation is a term that appears as a motif in [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Nervous Conditions[/FONT]. Usually, the term is related with being released from slavery or with a country being finally free from the colonial power that once controlled it. These concepts shape into the underlying ideoligies of the novel, as Rhodesia’s citizens struggle to unite and declare their identity as a people while still under British control. When the term [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']emancipation[/FONT] is applied to Tambu and the women in her extended family, it takes on new associations. Tambu sees her life as a gradual process of being freed of the limitations that have previously overwhelmed her. When she first leaves for the mission school, she sees the move as a temporary emancipation. Her growing knowledge and evolving perceptions are a form of emancipation from her old ways of thinking. By the end of the novel, emancipation becomes more than simply a release from poverty or restriction but is associated with freedom and a claim of personal liberty. Another motif that that emphasises the restrictions placed on her as a female African and the determination she has for a btter life is that of geography. Physical spaces are at the centre of the tensions Tambu faces between life at the mission and the world of the homestead. At first, Tambu is isolated, downgraded to toiling in the fields and tending to her brother’s desires during his infrequent visits. When she attends the local school, she must walk a long way to her daily lessons, but she willingly undertakes the journey in order to receive an education. When the family cannot pay her school fees, Mr. Matimba takes Tambu to the city, where she sells green corn. Tambu’s increased awareness and knowledge of the world coincides with her growing physical distance from the homestead. The mission school is an important location in the novel, a provider of possibility that becomes the centerpiece of Tambu’s world and the source of many of the changes she undergoes. At the end of [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Nervous Conditions[/FONT], Tambu’s life has taken her even farther away from the homestead, to the convent school where she is without family or friends and must rely solely on herself. Yet she has battled the boundaries placed on her and freed herself from the imprisonment of the homestead.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']In chapter 10 Tambu speaks of her desired advancement, winning a scholarship to the convent school, but she begins to question what it has cost her sense of self and her ailing mother, who is disappointed that another of her children will change at the hands of western education. “Quietly, unobtrusively and extremely fitfully, something in my mind began to assert itself, to question things and refuse to be brainwashed, bringing me to this time when I can set down this story. It was a long and painful process for me, that process of expansion”. Her use of the word [FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']brainwashed[/FONT] indicates a radical shift in her thinking. Tambu urges herself to no longer be passively influenced by the people and institutions around her. This quote coincides with the concerns with colonisation and the effects it has on a culture. Those who conform to western culture in order to seek freedom and success lose their sense of heritage and ability to integrate with their original culture.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']The Piano[/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif'] by Jane Campion is a film that [/FONT][FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']draws attention to issues of discrimination of nationality and sex and the boundaries that are placed on women. Campions exploration of ‘female cinema’ through exploring female desire and sensibility reflects her persistent concerns with gender politics and the disempowerment of women. Campion’s films have been enthusiastically taken up by feminist film critics for their depiction of strong female characters rebelling against the roles expected of them by patriarchal society. Campion's heroines are characterised by their refusal to conform to these roles, which often results in a stubbornness that leads them into direct conflict with husbands, fathers, brothers and other women complicit with the patriarchal order. This is evident within the Piano as the main character, Ada, rebels often doing things her husband forbids her to including her infedelities with a neighbour. Consequently her husband physically and emotionally abuses her. Ada is a stubborn character who rebels not only against her husbands wishes but also her presumed role and conformity. The piano itself acts as a symbol of the boundaries and oppressions forced upon women, their rights to decisions and their talents. Mr Stuart, Ada’s husband, forbids her to obtain her piano which is solely her verbal expression and emotional release, the only time she is granted access to the piano is through sexual favours for George, thus she is still bound to the discrimination of her gender. It is not till George freely gives Ada the piano that she is granted a small sense of freedom. Campion’s life in New Zealand also influenced her to address the discrimination against the Maori people as a result of Postcolonialism within her film.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Campion’s use of motifs emphasises the themes within the film. The motif of the axe firstly addressed in the story of Bluebeard exemplifies man’s oppression and discrimination against women. As within the story, bluebeard oppresses his wives within his house and removes any of their rights, if he is not pleased by them or they rebel against his wishes he cuts their heads off with an axe. The use of this story and the motif of the axe presents us with the underlying ideology of gender discrimination. When Ada rebels against her husbands wishes and attempts to contact George, the neighbour whom she fell in love with, he consequently chases her with an axe and chops one of her fingers off, alike Bluebeards punishments. Campion also uses camera techniques to emphasise this motif. Her use of close ups focuses on the axe multiple times. Originally in a demonstration one of the characters pretends to chop a maids hand off, this is supported by a closeup of the axe. Coinciding with this when Mr Stuart chases Ada with the axe we are presented with close-ups to emphasise and even foreshadow what his intentions are. When Mr Stuart ultimately cuts off Ada’s finger we are again present with a closeup of the axe.[/FONT]
[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']Through studying the three texts The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga and The Piano by Jane Campion one may draw extensive conclusions that context of culture and values of a composer highly influence the contents of a text. All three texts stress the ideologies of gender inequality and oppression and the discrimination of culture in a colonial and postcolonial setting through the narrative of the texts and the delivery of women’s perspectives, as they all fight the boundaries that are placed on them within society.[/FONT]