The Representation Factor

Analogies were always one of my strong suits in elementary school, so here’s one for you. Helen’s language barrier is to Cindy’s past and lower class status. They are factors of disadvantage that held them back in ways others could not fathom. It is true that these two eventually prove wrong those who judged and pitied them at first, but there were countless struggles before Keller was able to recreate her technique for language and before Cindy became accustomed to working in a place where she knew no one and was forced to accept, even glorify, a new culture.

A large part of what they face is also a result of misrepresentation. “Representation serves as the operative term within a political process that seeks to extend visibility and legitimacy to women as political subjects; on the other hand, representation is the normative function of a language which is said either to reveal or to distort what is assumed to be true about the category of women” (Butler, 2). Cindy is epitomized as a hardworking Chinese teenager who wants to teach Westerners about her culture and become westernized herself. At least, her bosses seem to want that for her and make her appear that way too, what with the training and direction she receives. There is one part in particular that bothered me during the film and it was where we see Cindy crying as she does the dishes. I wasn’t sure if she was feeling just one emotion or if her breakdown was a result of the compilation of frustration, loneliness, confusion, and fatigue, but I would guess the latter. Being forced out of her home, away from her family, and sent to work for a large cruise ship company would not be my ideal childhood.

Keller, on the other hand, was represented as a deaf and blind woman who was unable to communicate effectively and therefore needed assistance around the clock. You and I and the boy next door all know that this is not true, that Keller was able to surmount unsurmountable obstacles and become a quite literate person. This just goes to show how misrepresentation happens and reflects the interpretations of the world that become our identities.

I think that this is something that Cindy really struggled with in the beginning. Her culture and way of life seemed to be left behind and she was forced to take up a new identity and represent new ideals. Butler noted that subjects are “formed, defined, and reproduced in accordance with the requirements of” (Butler, 3) political structures. As a result, it can be difficult for citizens of a country, especially one like China, to identify with a certain representation if they feel threatened by the political system or government officials. This also demonstrates how society in China might be moving too fast for the people’s comfort, besides honestly moving too fast for the landscape and people to keep up. The narrator of Up the Yangtze says that “tourists come to see “old China” before it disappears, but I [he] fear[s] it is already gone” (Yung Chang, Up the Yangtze).

Butler also observes how there is a problem with the term “women” denoting a common identity. All women are different, just as all men are different, and no two snowflakes are the same, but she mentions that the term as become one that evokes anxiety. “If one ‘is’ a woman, that is surely not all one is; the term fails to be exhaustive” (Butler, 4). This, however, begins to really sneak into the realm on sexism.