WHAT ARE YOUR VALUES?

According to Wikipedia, value is “the degree of importance of some thing or action, with the aim of determining what actions are best to do or what way is best to live, or to describe the significance of different actions”. Identifying and understanding your values is a challenging and important task. I would like to tell you about life values by giving examples of female characters in literature, because literature is a mirror of community and country, it gives the image through the various narratives women in the novels. Although, we have different views or beliefs, but we are united by the most sacred values, represented in Ukrainian, Russian, English and Turkish literatures.

I’ll begin with Ukrainian literature. In the play by Ivan Kotlyarevsky “Natalka Poltavka”, Natalka as the main heroine embodies the best characteristics of Ukrainian women, such as sincerity, humility, kindness, loyalty and profound respect to her family. Her highest priority is love, female happiness, so Natalka fights for her love.

In Russian literature Tatiana Larina (Eugene Onegin, Pushkin) has become an icon of Russian morality. The Pushkin's creation of a woman of intelligence and depth in Tatyana, whose vulnerable sincerity and openness on the subject of love has made her the heroine of countless Russian women, despite her apparent naivety.

In English literature, the ideal woman is a lady. Maylie Rose in “The Adventures of Oliver Twist”, Florence Dombey in “Dombey and Son” and Agnes in “David Copperfield” in the works of Dickens are virtuous, kind, passive. The main values in English culture are sincerity, humility, naturalness, innocence. A new type of strong and sharp woman who fights for her happiness is presented in the novel “Jane Eyre” by Charlotte Bronte. But in the Shaw’s plays this ideal lady is dispelled. The good example is the image of Eliza Doolittle in “Pygmalion” that has become a parody of the word “lady”.

We can determine the moral values of women in Islam, and trace the cultural diversity of the world's Muslim population. Women in Islam do not tend to forget about their traditional role of a woman as a homemaker and mother, and motherhood itself. At the same time they want to be professional and well-educated with a high social position and a good income. This kind of woman we make certain of Feride, the main heroine of the novel “Çalıkuşu” by Reşat Nuri Güntekin.

Thus, the values previously mentioned are close to me. I believe that the most important thing is a happy family, in which woman plays a major role. Other values such as love and health are provided as a priority. But equally important are self-determination, ambitions, career and good reputation. Indeed, the following moral values must be presented in every person: kindness, honesty, morality, loyalty, because the man himself is a great value.