FINAL BLOG POST

Walking into women’s literature I wasn’t sure of what to expect. I had some stereotypical views as did I am sure most of the class. I though that this class was going to be about women empowerment and well, feminism. Ii was way wrong. This course talked about way more then women. This course brought up the issue of the struggles between yourself and society. This course I believe related to finding you. All the books had one central theme in common, the struggle between society and yourself. Precious from push had to overcome stereotypes and what every teacher though or assumed about her, Rosa had to overcome her past, each of the Maribel sisters had to essentially hide from society what they truly were. Each book related to this theme of struggle. This course dealt a lot with the human emotion and the internal struggles inside one self. Eve Ensler talked a lot about this struggle. In all three works we encountered this course Eve used this as her central theme. In The Vagina Monologues, Eve tried to use an uncomfortable subject, vaginas, to try and prove her point. Eve showed us that as a society women are looked down upon. The Vagina Monologues was all about taking back the word vagina and empowering ourselves to stand up for ourselves and not play into society, and to love your vagina. The final movie we watched was so moving. In the movie Eve followed women as they went through prison. In this movie I discovered that there was a lot more to each of these women then their crimes. This goes back to the theme of the class, we labeled each one of these women by the crimes that put them into jail but by seeing how each of the women interacted with Eve made me see past their crimes and into themselves. The title of this class I believe is like the title of one of the books we read. I labeled this class when I first walked in as a women’s study class, after the course however I learned that there was tons more to the class then just learning about women in history. I took so much out of this course and the main thing was not to let society influence what I think of others as well as not let society label me. This course allowed me to see how people’s backgrounds influenced them such as Allison in Fun Home, Precious in Push, and Rosa in The Shawl.  Women’s studies left me with many valuable lessons about society and myself and I believe it is so important to take these lessons and relate them to my life because it will make me more aware of others emotions. This course can be related to men as well as women. This course is about society as a hole.  Women’s study is so important to learn about people and their emotions, this course showed me that fist impressions are not always right and that where you come from doesn’t designate where you are going. In Two or three things that I know for sure we see how Dorothy is struggling to get through life and to not let her family define her. Dorothy forged her h=own path and we see that it defiantly wasn’t easy for her, but she made it through and she was so much happier as a result. Precious showed us all that we can defy the odds and by having one person believe in you it will make all the difference in the world. Having that one person believe in Precious allowed her to go on and get an education. Coming to terms with your past was a major part of The Shawl. Rosa had to overcome what happened to her in the concentration camps to be able to move on with her life. Rosa had to relive her past as well as understand it to be able to move on. Although our past is very important it doesn’t not define us and one needs to understand their past before they move on with their future. 

Dorothy Allison post

Two or Three Things I know for sure was a very relatable book in many ways. This book was all about Dorothy Allison coming of age and growing up and discovering who she was. I enjoyed seeing the difference in attitude between the beginning of the book as well as the end. Also in the novel towards the end of the book you can see a transformation in photographs. In the picture of aunt dot and the mother sitting on the steps you notice how miserable they were and how they almost look to tired or fed up to keep going on throughout the day, they looked as if they had nothing to live for. I feel that this is crucial to Dorothy’s growing up. Dorothy must have had it rough, she was trying to create a different path from the rest of your family and that is really hard. By the end of the novel you see Dorothy in a picture with her partner and their family. I feel as though this picture is a complete different representation of family. This picture Dorothy looks genuinely happy. I feel as though everything Dorothy did in her life is so her and her family could live differently. I feel as though Dorothy wanted to beat the odds and not do what everyone else in her family expects her too. I think that Dorothy had expectations for herself when not many people did. I think this relates directly to Push by Sapphire. In Push precious had to defeat the odds in the same way as Dorothy. The major difference between Precious and Dorothy is that Dorothy had expectations from herself and not her family and precious had no expectations from anyone other then Ms Rain. I think that having expectations within yourself dictates where you want to go, if you have no expectations you will stay where you are but if you want something you have to go for it and fight because it you don’t fight for something that you want no one else will.  “Two or three things that I know for sure, and one of them is how long it takes to learn to love yourself, how long it took me, how much love I need now.” Self love and giving yourself the love you deserve is a big step for everyone to learn because having this self love/worth allows you to fight for what you want, and this is what allowed Dorothy to live the life she wanted to live.

Two or three things i know for sure

I really enjoy the photos in the book two or Three Things I know for Sure. I think the pictures help tell the story of her life just by looking at them. Ever since I was younger I always believed a picture could tell you everything that you want to know. I think that throughout the book with each picture you saw a new part of Dorothy’s life. You see her growing up as a hopeful child and then throughout the years you see how her facial expressions as well as her wardrobe change a lot as her life progresses.  I also thing the “two or three things I know for sure” sections tell a lot about Dorothy’s philosophies.  “Two or three things I know, two or three things I know for sure and one of them is that to go on living I have to tell stories, the stories are the one sure way I know to touch the heart and change the world. I think that this is the main purpose of Dorothy Allison’s book. I believe she told the story to instill leasons upon the rest of the world. I believe she wanted everyone to see that her life wasn’t easy. “Two or three things I know for sure.” I believe is an idea Dorothy Allison wanted to show her readers that she only know two or three things but when she knew them she knew them and she wanted to share her knowledge with the world not only to tell her story but to  change other people. This autobiography is very relatable in many ways. This book allows you to relate to family, hardships, good times, as well as bad times this book shows you that, like Dorothy, you can go against the odds and against society. “Two or three things that I know for sure, and one of them is that I would rather go naked than wear the coat the world has made for me.”

THE SHAWL

Reading “The Shawl” put the word survivor into a whole new perspective for me. Rosa demonstrated that being a survivor was as much of a positive thing as people think it was. I think that Rosa had it harder than the non survivors. Every day Rosa had to live with regret and hatred and she tortured herself. Rosa lost everything in the concentration camps her family, Magda, and her relationship with Stella. Through all of that loss she also lost herself. I don’t think people think enough about the after affect of surviving such traumatic events.

I believe that the study Stella made Rosa partake in was degrading and horrible for Rosa. I think Stella only had selfish reasons. Stella wanted Rosa to stop blaming her for the death of Magda. I think looking back at her experience at the concentration camps would be a valuable thing for Rosa. I think that Rosa needs to confront her past head on and also she needs to take all of her internalized anger and tell others about it she needs to talk to release all of her repressed feelings.

I am very confused by the ending of the novella. After Rosa saw the shawl again Rosa had all of these visions with Magda. Ozick made it seem like as soon as Rosa saw the shawl Magda came alive. I believe that seeing the shawl again brought back memories for Rosa and helped her cope. I think that coping has a lot to do with surviving and having to learn how to live when everything is gone is also very important.  

The shawl

I believe that Rosa is slowly losing her mind. I feel as though Rosa is so mentally disturbed and broken from her time at the concentration camp. I feel like Rosa internalizes everything. Rosa feels like she doesn’t have a family Stella betrayed her and Magda is dead. I believe that it is obvious Rosa is slowly losing her mind. From the minute Magda died Rosa was emotionally and mentally broken. Rosa couldn’t even let anyone see her cry, for fear she would die. Rosa used the blanket as security to hide herself from showing pain. Rosa hides in her ”motel” and never settles down into a real home. I feel that Rosa thinks she doesn’t deserve a good life. I think Rosa is not only guilty but she is also losing her mind. Rosa holds things inside so much that eventually she just snaps like in the antique shop. I also believe that Rosa began to write letters to Magda to help deal with her grief but at the same time eventually she will think she is still alive because when you psychologically tell yourself something over and over again eventually you will believe it. The only outside contact that Rosa had really with the outside world is a man named Mr. Persky. Mr. Persky is a button maker. “If you’re alone too much, you think too much” Mr. Persky stated on pg. 27. This quote was said after their first meeting when he offered to walk her home. I feel as though this quote speaks for itself in Rosas case. I think this is exactly what Rosa needed to hear because she thinks too much about her “old” life and needs to think about the presence and needs to get away from the grief and the sorrow. Rosa needs someone to listen to her and talk to her and I think a lot of her problems will be resolved.

the shawl

Reading the beginning of “The Shawl” was heart wrenching. To hear the reality of what people actually went through during the concentration camps is surreal. I think its awful how malnourished the prisoners were in the camps. Rosa couldn’t even produce enough milk to feed her baby Magda. In the beginning of the book we see a vivid picture of Rosa and how food deprived she was and how she is giving any source of food or nutrients to Magda. Ozick describes Rosa’s knees as tumors on sticks and she also she described her as “someone who is already a floating angel.” Hearing the descriptions of what went on in the concentration camps is so scary and sad and it really hits home for me and a lot of people I know because we all have had family that had relatives or knew someone in the concentration camps.

I think that it is interesting how the novella started off with such vivid descriptions of what was going on in the concentration camps. I think this defiantly drew me into the book and made me want to closely read and to paint the vivid descriptions of Rosa, Magda, and Stella. I got sort of confused after the first chapter when it went into Rosa’s chapter. In Rosa’s chapter it started off with Rosa smashing up her own store and moving to Miami. I am confused about how she ended up where she is now. I believe that is important that we see that Rosa writes letters in English to Stella. I am not sure as to why she is writing in English when she and Stella were both Polish. I think Rosa defiantly has dramatic affects from the concentration camps such as reciting her name in “application form”. I think the reason she destroyed her store comes from post dramatic stress. There is no way one can go to a concentration camp and not be affected for life.

Otsuka post 2

I believe that Otsuka used vague names throughout the novel for many diffrent reasons. I believe that in the novel using "women" "boy" and "girl" it gave off the epression that everyone thinks lower of the Japenese in American Society. I feel that this could symbolize that American's thought the Japanese were all the same, and they all had bad motives. By not giving them names it showed a lack of identity which I feel that all of them feltt in the internment camps. The japensese were all singled out because of their race not becuase of anything else.
I also feel that Otsuka could have used generalities to make the story not only towards this one family but also towards the Japanese race in general. I feel that by using generalities it makes the book more relatable to others. Also I think that by making the book one big generality it takes away the connection between the characters and the author. I feel as if the author did not want to tell a story of her family or people she knew, I feel that she told this story for all affected by the internment camps to relate to. I feel that this is one of the only pieces of literature about the internment camps that i have ever heard of and Otsuka wanted to speak for the whole race to show that they all wen throught a similar tragedy.

Otsuka Post 1

Personally I have never ever learned of the Japanese internment camps in america during the 1940's. I believe that this was a huge part of american history that has been hidden and sort of a secret since it happend. I have always heard the story of pearl harbor and the history of WWII but never have I heard of these internment camps. After class on Wednesday I took sometime to ask my sororiy sisters as well as my friends if they have ever heard about the Japenese camps. One person stated that they had no idea what I was talking about, and another said "I know that America had them, but I have no idea what they were for or what happened there.' It shocks me how this event was kept secret from any history textbook I have ever read. In class we talked about this even being a stain on americas hands and they are correct. The novel gives a first hand experience of these camps. I feel that the author used generalized names for the Japenese characters in the book because she wanted us to feel how they felt. I feel that it was done on purpose to show us what Japense Americans felt at this time in history. I could only imagine how much scrutany and negative things the Japense had to face at this time. I believe that this novel was written for a purpose. I feel that this novel was written to show everyone what actually happend, as well as to raise awarness about this nearly invisible time in American History.

Push

I believe Push ended on a very sad note. I think that there are many reasons as to why Sapphire ended the novel with Preccious HIV postive. I believe that she ended this way mainley to give her another obstical and to show us that she has another tough situation but she will push through it. I believe that the author left this ending to leave it up to the reader to decide what we think Preccious is going to do from here. The book doesnt necessarly have all of a negative ending. Preccious's children are not infected with HIV which is a brighter note. I believe that if Abdul was infected the Precious wouldnt know how to handle it. By the end of the novel Precious gained self confidence because she finally had someone expect something from her. I believe that Precious had no self confidence because she never had expectations. If no one expects something of you then you will never expect something from yourself. I believe meeting Ms. Rain was the best thing that could have ever happend to Precious. I feel very bad for Precious. I feel that no child should ever have to endure this sort of abuse. Abuse happens all the time. I believe that ever child should have a Ms. Rain but in all reality that will never happen. This novel raised awarness how how the public systems fail people. This novel also gives a great moral lesson, which was if you just speak up and try to help someone you will change their life and make a diffrence.

Push post 1

I am very interested to see what happens in Push. I enjoy the fact that Sapphire writes Push spelling how Clerrice (Preccious) would write. I believe the author does this to show progression in her learning. I also believe that Push received its title becuase when Preccious gave birth to her first child the EMS said "push" I believe that the significance of the title is to show the struggles that Clarice is going through and how she pushed forward to get to where she wants to be. In the beginning of the novel it broke my heart to read that a sixteen year old has to deal with being sexually abused by her father. I dont really know why Clarrice doesnt want to learn. Clarrice is very hostile i believe becuase of her home life has alot to do with how she acts towards others. Clarrices mother isnt not supportive and she relferred to her daughter as a slut and horrible names for being pregant with her fathers baby. I believe that with such an unstable home life that it is impossible to fully live up to your capibilities. I believe that through out the novel we are going to see inspiring situations where preccious pushes through and overcomes the odds. When Preccious was younger she was made fun of and called laughing ugly. I believe that preccious takes what others say about her to heart and that is truley why she doesnt want to learn. I believe preccious's pholosophy is, if you dont try then you cant fail. I think we will see many diffrent changes through Clarrice throughout the novel.

Fun Home 2

Sexual orientation is a big part in Alison’s relationship with her father. I believe that for the longest time Alison felt distanced from her father and also felt as though he was mean and all he cared about was work and fixing up the house. Alison tells her parents that she is a in a relationship with Joan before her father’s death. I believe that this served as a way to bring Alison and her father closer before his death.  Alison and her father went to the movies and they had a discussion of his past and his sexual orientation.  In the beginning of the book Bechdels father had a secret I couldn’t quit put my finger on I felt as though he was hiding behind cleaning and making things perfect just so he could come off as perfect. I felt as though the father didn’t want anyone to know of his flaws and the fact that he likes boys. It took a lot for Alison to come out to her parents and I feel like this is a lot about self discovery. I feel like since Alison lived in a different generation from her father it was easier for her to come out because society didn’t frown on it as much as they did for her father’s generation. I feel as though Alison and her father never had a spectacular relationship but this “coming out” in the movie answered any questions and made her closer with her father right before his death. In the end Bechdels father proved he was there for her at even though she did not believe it all the time. In the end Alison’s father caught her in the pool “ He was there to catch me when I lept.” This is just a demonstration that they didn’t get along but when it was important her father was there. I feel as though it was a very difficult thing for the father to tell his past to Alison, but at the same time I feel that he did it for her and to show her she isn’t alone and he understands.

Fun Home 1

Reading “Fun Home” is a completely different experience then reading other novels. Alison Bechdel took her child hood and brought it to life. The father is very particular in the first chapter before he commits “suicide”. This family had deep hidden secrets that the father tried to mask by doing different projects around the house. The father tried so hard to make everything look so perfect just to hide the fact that everything wasn’t even close to perfect. I also think that the father worked so hard to make his house and family the way he wanted that he was trying to hide a secret from himself one that not even he wanted to believe or think about. After the funeral some of the fathers secrets started coming out. I believe the father was very unhappy when he had to move home because his own father died of a heart attack. I think that Bechdel’s father was forced into a life he did not want to be in. He became a teacher and worked part time at the funeral parlor. I think that the father was happy overseas in Europe in the army and I believe that he moved home to honor is father and he made the best out of a bad situation and that wasn’t the life he wanted but it was the life he had to live.

The name “fun home” is very ironic for the funeral parlor because it is just the opposite of that. In the “fun home” the children were surrounded by caskets and death the father even dressed the dead up for their funeral. I do not understand why it is called fun home. The only fun thing about going to the funeral home was when the children were about to go to bed the grandmother would tell stories about their dad when he was a child.

After the father’s death the children were not upset. The family all though that the father commited suicide and no one seemed to care or was upset by this. Bechdel sounded like she had a bad childhood and her father wasn’t the best but  she still talks about him highly in some instances which makes me think that they had secret bond that we don’t know about yet.

Time line Mate

·         Born 1935

·         Receives first diary at age 10 from Minerva

·         Feb 18 1946 first time she lied for Minerva

·         July 23 buried first diary

·         Dec 1953 father died and she receives her 2^nd diary fat the funeral she is introduced to the other Maribal girls

·         July 3 graduates she was forced to choose between Raul and Betro and she decided to choose neither

·         Sept 19 she leaves for the capital and goes to school with Minerva, originally going to school to be a lawyer now she changed to philosophy and this is the first time Mate tries to be her own person

·         April 28 1956 was awarded to be queen of the capital

·         Took a break from writing until 1957

·         Summer break 1957 she moves in with Minerva. She first meets Palomino when he was dropping off a package at her window. This is where she first finds out about the revolution. The next day she decides to join the revolution. While in the home Mate also mends Minerva’s marriage.

·         Oct. 14 Mate moves back to the capital after summer break and now becomes “Mariposa #2” important because this means butterfly.

·         Dec 16 Palomino and Mate confess love for each other and here is the first time they both find out what each other’s real names are. (Palomino- Leandro Guzman Rodriguez

·         Feb 14 1958- Palomino and Mate wed

·         Mate had her daughter named Jacquelyn

·         March 16 1958- Mate has been in jail for 55 days now and this is significant because she sneaked in a journal.

Life in the Dominican was tough during the 20^th century. There was a ton of violence and secrecy causing no one to feel safe. At one point during the novel Dede tells us of the time where she slammed her butterfly orchid in the car door. Dede shut the car door so hard that she relates it to a gunshot. “Any Dominican of a certain generation would have jumped at that gunshot sound.” The car door slamming so loud scarring Dede just shows us, the reader, how unsafe she felt living in the Dominican. Now a days if we slam a car door we think nothing of it but hearing how nervous Dede got just because she shut her car door hard shows us how nervous and anxious everyone must have been in that society at that time.  I can’t imagine what it would be like consistently living so nervous and constantly watching your back, I feel like that is no way to live.

i am an emotional creature

In class when we did a presentation of “Things I heard about sex” I was surprised. Reading this piece prior to class I didn’t understand it. I was very confused as to what any of these lines had to do with each other. After putting the words into a presentation it all made some sense. I feel like you have to really read deeper in this story where as in “The Vagina Monologues” everything was written right out for you, you didn’t have to think about what Eve was trying to tell you she just bluntly said it.

                I feel as though Eve purposely wrote “I am an Emotional Creature” in a poem form or just an answer for, to make us think and to use our own interpretations as well as experiences to understand the book.  

                I feel as though this book relates to my life very well. I can see me and my best friends discussing some of these same topics in the novel. “Would you Rather (II)” describes me and my friends perfectly. In this piece you have one girl talking and asking questions and the other girl doesn’t want to play at all. I and my friends have actually done this before. I feel like this piece was added because it gives a sense of realism to the book. I feel that some of these pieces are just put in to make you relate to the book and realize a lot of it is very relatable too much of female society today.

“I am an emotional creature” is inspiring. I feel like this book should be read by every girl growing up. In just the introduction I felt so empowered. Topics were brought up that I didn’t take too much time to think about. “It’s a call to your original girl self, to your emotional creature self, to move at you speed, to walk with your step, to wear your color.” This sentence stuck out to me. This book embraces differences, such as in the vagina monologues. This book is very similar, but I believed it is toned down and not so in your face. A lot of different issues are brought up in this book such as women trafficking, eating disorders, and people living all over the world in different lifestyles. This book embraces being a woman. I feel like this book was written not only to raise awareness of how society affects women it also just shows to every girl that they are not alone, which is something that everyone looks for when they want to belong. This book is so enlightening and there is controversies which every girl can relate to, including me.

Seeing the Vagina Monologues preformed and reading it was two completely different experiences. I feel that the Monologues needs to be preformed to be affective. I got so much more out of watching Eve Ensler perform then I did reading. There was so much emotion in the performance and I feel that I read it differently then what I heard. I read “The Flood” as a very sad and emotional story from an elder woman, but hearing it I heard a funny and bit sarcastic story. Eve is defiantly the only person that knows how the interviews went because she personally saw the women and had a one on one conversation with them.  Seeing the Monologues preformed gave me the emotion in the story and showed me how the story was supposed to be depicted and not how I interpreted it. Since I was able to hear and see the Vagina Monologues performed it made it more relatable because Eve told the story behind the women and gave some background information allowing us to really see that the monologues are from real women and they are people just like you and me.

The Vagina Monologues gave me an unexpected outlook on life. It made me realize that I should be more comfortable with myself and embrace who I am. I get uncomfortable talking about my sex life as well as my body; I just don’t like doing it. To read this book and see all the other women who are either uncomfortable or comfortable or curious about their body is enlightening.

While reading this book many people gave me different reactions. A lot of people knew what the vagina monologues was and a lot didn’t. I, myself was uncomfortable by just hearing the title. The book is very relatable to everyone even if you are a boy. This book is about embracing yourself and your body.  I personally would never be able to be interviewed for the monologues because I would be very uncomfortable. I have a hard time embracing myself and my sexuality because it is not the social norm. Society makes me uncomfortable with myself. Society teaches people not to be ok to embrace yourself and always wants you to make yourself better and not be happy with yourself as you are.

I don’t think that this book is not only about feminism I believe that it is about embracing you for you.

vagina monologues post 2

Audience reaction is crucial to Ensler’s overall project. Why? Why won’t she allow us to simply read without having a reaction, whether positive or negative? Why do you think she wants to push us out of our comfort zones? Which monologues resonate most strongly (positively or negatively) with you and why?

Ensler loves the reactions to her monologues. Ensler wrote the “Vagina Monologues” as a screenplay originally. If we read this piece of work just to read it we would get nothing out of it. I feel as though every writer should write with the purpose of getting a reaction out of their readers. By having a reaction to the piece of writing it not only gives the audience entertainment, but it also makes the reader stop to think about what they are reading. Ensler kept me captivated throughout the monologues because it never got boring. By being entertained I was able to think about the pieces more and to form analyses on it.

Ensler constantly put the audience out of their comfort zone. I feel like she wanted us to become uncomfortable because that is the whole point of the monologues. In “The vagina workshop” the main character was uncomfortable when she first went. The main character didn’t understand how all of these women could draw all of these creative pictures of their vagina, and she also couldn’t figure out how to find her clitoris. The teacher of the workshop told her “she told me my clitoris was not something could lose. It was me, the essence of me.” In this monologue she was very uncomfortable with herself but the more she was pushed out of her comfort level, the more she embraced the essence of herself.

The monologue that stuck out to me was “hair.” The story is not just about a women’s husband wanting to shave her vagina, and cheating on her as a result of not shaving. To me this monologue was about doing what makes you happy. The message I got from this monologue is to do what you want and to not give in to anyone one else. The women gave in and let her husband shave her vagina because she thought he would become loyal. The husband never became loyal. This story made me realize that you should do what you feel comfortable with because in the end you are the only one that needs to be happy with yourself. This story gave me a negative, but truthful outlook on society.

vagina monologues post 1

The genre of this piece of literature is drama, meaning that Ensler wrote these monologues to be performed. Why do you think she wants vaginas to be publicly performed? Why does she want vaginas to be physically embodied? What effect does this have on the way we see and think of vaginas?

I believe Ensler wrote the vagina monologues to spread awareness. Ensler wrote this play to empower women. In the forward I became very aware of the reason she wrote this novel. The forward opened my eyes to make me realize that women are afraid and even sometimes ashamed when it comes to the word vagina. “I learned that females possessed the only organ in the human body with no function other than to feel pleasure. (If such an organ were unique to the male body, can you imagine how much we would hear about it-and what it would be used to justify). This quote made me realize that if men had this organ they would embrace it and even go around bragging about it. I think this play was read and publically performed to allow women to take back their dignity and to love all parts of themselves even their vagina no matter how it is.  “Vagina” is a word that is used in jokes all the time as well as many slang terms for it. “Symbolic or real, it’s all devoted to controlling the power that resides in the female body” Ensler wants us to embrace our body and know that everyone is embarrassed or ashamed about the vagina, and that shouldn’t be because that is not right it is a part of us and that is not fair. “I wish my foremothers had known their bodies were sacred. With the help of outrageous voices and honest words like those in this book, I believe the grandmothers, mothers, and daughters of the future will heal their selves- and mend the world.” I think with awareness we can take back the embarrassment and with awareness we can also empower ourselves to not be afraid to use the word “vagina”.

Krik?Krak! Post 2

I believe that throughout Krik? Krak! The sense of hope vs. hopelessness is present.  I feel like hope is a dangerous thing sometimes. I feel like hope is dangerous because it is never guaranteed. No matter how hard you try you cannot change fate, whether it is how your son will grow up, such as in “A wall of fire rising” or hoping your child’s innocence is not lost, like in “Children of the Sea”. I think hope is the most prevalent theme in Krik?Krak! In each of the short stories Danticat gives an ending that is hopeful or hopeless. Depending how you read the story and interpret the characters each story means a different thing for everyone. The one thing that all the stories have in common is all narrarators are young haittian women coming from essentially nothing. I feel like all these women have hope that things will eventually get better but in the end a feeling of hopelessness overcomes them all.  This hope is a coping mechanism in all the stories. Like in life hope is always a way to escape. Hope is creating a better reality for yourself. Being so hopeful gives you the illusion that eventually everything, will one day get better. I feel like in the stories parents try to maintain their children’s innocence so they would always have hope. Looking at the reality of your life is difficult especially when you come from nothing, and it is very easy to escape reality and tell yourself that one day things will change. I feel once children’s innocence is lost, so is all hope, for not only the child but also the parent.

Krik? Krak! post 1

Preserving innocence is a huge role in Krik? Krak! As discussed in class in “Children of the Sea” the female readers’ innocence is trying to be preserved by her over protective father. In “Night Women” innocence is also a huge role. In “Night Women” a mother trying to protect the innocence of her son. In the story the mother is a prostitute. The mother has her clients come to the house at night while her son is asleep.  The mother dresses up at night waiting for her clients and when the son asks why, the mother says she is dressing up for an angel. I think that the mother is really embarrassed of what she does. She is very worried that one day her son will find out when he get older. I think that the mother is hiding so much from her son because she doesn’t want him to grow up faster than he has to. The mother even has a plan if the son ever sees her; she will say that it is his father. I also think she is trying to protect him about the reality of his father as well. This story demonstrates the desperate lengths a mother would go to for her son. In order to give her son a good life the mother is essentially ruining her own. I don’t completely understand this theme of giving up everything you have for your child; I don’t think anyone can understand it until they have a child of their own. This example of love is so unconditional and it shows the strong bond between parents and their children. Parents are always trying to give their child better then what they had and they will go to any length to give it to them. I think that the angel in this story is a symbol of the child’s innocence. As long as the child still believes that there is a fairy he will never know the truth about his mother.

Nye Post 2

I believe “Blood” has a lot to do with Nye and her roots. In this poem I feel as though she doesn’t know what a “true Arab” is. I think in this poem Nye doesn’t exactly know how to incorporate her “true Arab” roots into her life. As the years went on tragedies continued (ex. The war over Jerusalem) and the true Arab didn’t exactly know what a true Arab was anymore. I feel as though Nye is having an identity crisis and she doesn’t know exactly how to act. I believe this can be incorporated a lot with in society today. Today many people struggle with incorporating their lives and ideals with their beliefs. I think this poem is very versatile because not only can it be about an Arab, it can also be about a Christian or someone of the Jewish religion. Every religion has is scrutinized for their own believes. I think this poem has a lot to do with Nye finding herself and her own beliefs.

Like Nye’s father in the poem “Blood” a lot of old world people cannot relate to what is going on in present day. There is so much scrutiny and hatred towards religion and culture and general ways of life that is different now. What we are used to now, our ancestors wouldn’t even be able to fathom it. Like in the poem Nye’s father says the news is too much for him.  

I think that this poem is a lot about the evolution of religion as well as incorporating religion into society. People have a difficult time seeing that people are different, whether it is their culture, religion, or way of life. Overcoming that barrier society puts up is hard. I think it is very hard to fully disclose yourself now a day because there is so much hatred in the world. The world is not an accepting place. People commit hate crimes all of the time for no reason other than your race or your religion.  I believe in this poem Nye has a hard time becoming a true Arab because she sees that becoming a true Arab is hard in the present times due to hatred and society.

Nye Post 1

In the poem Jerusalem Nye stated “I’m not interested in who suffered the most. I’m interested in people getting over it.” This line is meaningful to me in my life and I think it is interesting because it is very relatable to life. A lot of times I feel as though people believe they have it so hard and they do not take the time to stop and think about anyone else. I see this a lot in today’s society. People walk around and say how hard their life is but they don’t stop and think about how much worse off half the world is. People, including myself, make things out to be these big productions but in all reality, in a week it will be nothing. This line in this poem makes me realize how incredibly selfish society is these days. With this simple statement a lot is put into perspective for me. A lot of times people are always interested to know someone’s problems or flaws, but what we all should be worrying about is getting over those hard times in our lives.

I also think this poem has a lot to do with finding a solution to our problems. “Each carries a tender spot: something our lives forgot to give us. A man builds a house and says, “I am native now.”A woman speaks to a tree in place of her son. And olives come. A child’s poem says, I don’t like wars, they end up with monuments.”He’s painting a bird with wings wide enough to cover two roofs at once.” These are all examples, to me, in the poem of finding a solution. Each one of the characters in the poem is faced with a problem that caused them to suffer, and not only did Nye demonstrate how they suffered she also showed how each character overcame their obstacle. The father in the poem was hit with a rock and now he will never have any hair where he was hurt. The solution to this problem was that he showed up back at his house with pears on his door step. Finding the pairs demonstrated to me, that although something bad may happen in your life, something better will come along to put your life into perspective and make you realize that it could be worse. “…Something always has a next” means to me that no matter how bad something is something better is always going to come next.