Property can be viewed as something “that serves to define or describe its possessor.” Anna is clearly the possession of Jim in this novel. Her purpose is to have sex with him, bare his children and take care of his house. When Anna attempts to exert some autonomy and refuses to have sex with Jim, he rapes her. Anna implores, “don’t Jim, don’t. It hurts too much. No, Jim, no.” Jim responds: “cant screw my own wife. Expect me to go to a whore? Hold still.” Anna’s role of defining Jim must be adhered to, even if the use of violence is necessary to accomplish this. Woman as the property of man is a universally and historically significant concept. In The Piano, a young American mute woman is a mail order bride and is purchased by a businessman in New Zealand. Her only way of communicating is by playing the piano. When she falls in love with another man and refuses to have sex with her husband, he chops off her finger with an axe and threatens to do it again if she does not behave the way he thinks a wife should. Interestingly, he does not cut off the finger with the wedding ring, which serves as a reminder of his ownership. She must define her possessor according to his desires or continue to be mamed.
The hardships and tragedies that the women in Yonnondio endure transform them physically and spiritually.
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