Issue Paper Draft 2

English Composition IIA

        Professor: Mei-Ya Liang

Sue Lee 991002024

October, 5 2011

(October, 13 2011)

Eligible Bachelor and Worthless Bachelorette?

Issue Paper Draft 2

        In general public’s stereotype, people usually think that a man unmarried is more valuable than a woman in the same condition.

Take the classic novel Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen, 1813) as an example; the mothers in the story always want their daughters to get married as soon as possible. Because they know while the girls become older, they will have lesser chance to marry the men with better economic condition. On the contrary, the male characters in the story are judged by their property. The point is: it is those men who seem to have the right to choose who they want to marry or not. In recent years, there are more and more singles. Women are more independent now. They have high education, and have the ability to earn their living. The thought is changing; marriage is not the only purpose for women anymore. And because of these reasons, men become more difficult to find a woman to tie the knot. However, the concept of “eligible bachelor and worthless bachelorette” seems to be unswayable. Two years ago, there is a popular Taiwanese drama called My Queen (2009), which is a story about a thirty-three-year-old unmarried woman who finds her love. In this drama, the main female character is a successful woman, and she is very independent. However, her friends and people surrounding her are laughing at her that she is an unattractive woman so no man wants to fall in love with her. No matter how perfect she does on her work, she is thought to be a loser as usual. Finally, she finds someone to love and has a happy ending. I think this drama still presents the idea that a woman has to find her mate then she is a really successful woman. Is single such a bad thing?

        On the other hand, man over forty years old still can be considered as an ideal partner. For example, another classic novel Gone with the Wind (Margaret Mitchell, 1936), the main male character Rhett Butler is a middle-aged man. He is rich and wild, although he is not young, he is still thought to be attractive and he marries Scarlett O’Hara who is twenty years younger than him. If he owns a lot of possession, regardless of how old he is, he is a good consideration of marriage all the same. Just like what Miranda, one of the main characters in the American series Sex and the City, says that, “Why do get stuck with old maid and spinster and men get to be bachelors and playboys?”(Season 5, episode 3, Luck be an Old Lady). Therefore, in these situations, men may want to be single is because they are not worried about older age will make them become lesser popular. They want to have girl friends freely rather than wives who always keep a watchful eye on them.

        Because of these reasons above, the meaning of single has difference in gender. As time goes by, people do not change the concept of single man and woman. I think people have this kind of stereotype deeply is because we live in a world which dominated by capitalism and male chauvinism. Therefore, we should break the traditional rules; women also have the equal right to pursue the lifestyles they want.

Note: I try to make the comparison of old days and nowadays impression of singles and also try to explain that I think people’s concept of eligible bachelor and worthless bachelorette do not change a lot as what I mention in the last paragraph.