Be clear like water Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Be clear like water - Essay Example What they see is not the real woman. This is similar with the second story, â€Å"Swaddling Clothes† whose title can be literally translated to mean â€Å"waste newspapers† (Xi, 112). Although the title may not be completely perfect, yet it ironically captures a main tension of the tale. With such a story the warm white flannel which is suggested by the English term is conflated with a dirty newspaper that wraps the first newborn baby (Howe, Irving and Illana, 89). In both stories the title is ironical. The character in the story â€Å"A Woman like Me† is barred by her job and destiny and every person around her fears her as she is very close to the dead. She is described as â€Å"pale hands†, â€Å"white cloth† and â€Å"natural look† (Xi, 102), all of which represent death. Nevertheless, her boyfriend likes that. Finally, the man disappears from her life. It can be said from this, that the man likes her but fears her job. It is ironical that in spite of her being a good woman, she is judged and left because of her job. It is ironical how she is judged by her appearance. In the second story, â€Å"Swaddling Clothes† irony is also shown through something being judged by its appearance. The baby who is in the dramatic birthing is seen throughout the story in series of tensions whereas the baby who is in clean flannel is contrasted with the bloodied paper wrappings that declares him trash, a piece of meat and a throw away life. The character in â€Å"A woman like Me† who is now in a relationship of her own is prepared for a similar fate as her aunt, and tells herself that a woman like her should not fall in love. In a scene, as she is sited in a coffee shop, waiting to take her boyfriend to her place of work, she sees her boyfriend crossing the street with a bouquet of flowers and she thinks to herself, â€Å"He does not know in my profession flowers mean goodbye† (Xi, 112). It is ironic that the woman does not