Club Jacobin

"My mother’s small feet and illiteracy made it easy for me to identify her as the “oppressed.” When my father blamed my mother for trivial things like forgetting to sew a button back onto his shirt and uspet her, I would protest to my father. “Stop oppressing Mom, Dad! This is the new society. Dad should not oppress Mom anymore.” … Sometimes I would try to instigate my mother to revolt. “Mom, don’t be afraid of Dad. Men and women are all equal. Mom should say this sentence to Dad loudly.” But Mother smiled at me with a little embarrassment. “I don’t know how to say those words,” she said. “I have a clumsy mouth."