Final Blog Post

 Throughout history, women have been portrayed in history as being on a lower level then men. Especially in the history of this country, women were not seen as equals to men. Women originally had no rights and were only in the background of society. As most of us know today, women are a huge part of our society and the reason that the world still spins today. Without a woman, we wouldn’t be able to reproduce, we wouldn’t have a mate, as men we underestimate the power of a women.  The readings in this class showed me as a man just how powerful women are. They gave in depth perceptions as to what a women feels, how they think, women empowerment and also a look into a women’s self-identity. Each novel showed a woman in her time of struggle or success and how they came to overcome the hurdles placed in their way.

In, The Vagina Monologues, author Eve Ensler put together a collection of women’s stories that showed the struggle of a woman finding her true identity and thoughts of themselves.  Most women could relate to at least one of the stories told in the novel having been through the same type of situation or having felt some of the same feelings.  After breaking down the novel, it is seen that the word “Vagina” in the title is used to symbolize a women..  In this drama, Eve lays the groundwork for women’s thoughts and feelings. She expressed women empowerment through her use of the world “vagina”. Instead of the words having been used as a sexual term or a term used only to describe a body part, she used it to be used as person, speaking for all the women out there. “The clitoris is simply a bundle of nerves: 8,000 nerve fibers, to be precise." This fact found in Woman: An Intimate Geography, by Natalie gave even more thoughts of power to women when Eve quickly compared the male reproductive system versus a women’s saying, “ who needs a handgun when you have a semiautomatic”. The novel, Push, also showed the empowerment of women.  Even through everything she faced in her lifetime, with a little push from someone who truly cared, she was able to turn her life around. Instead of becoming something that she always thought she had to be or fit the mold of, she became exactly what people didn’t expect her to become.  Most women have that strength to push but fall into the view of what society wants or expects them to be. In most cases, this stops the women from being able to do or be what they want.       

As we all know, it is true that women are very openly emotional. Unlike men, women wear their emotions a lot more then men. Society tells us as men that it is not manly to show all your emotions. Based of that fact, women are seen as more emotional then men because society says it is ok for them to show their emotions.  The feelings that women convey give a sense of direction as to where their identity lies. As society puts it, women are only allowed to feel but not to act. In the story, Krik Krak, the author speaks on how writing for women is dangerous, that women shouldn’t be the writer but be the storytellers. “Two or three things I know for sure and one of them is that to go on living I have to tell stories. Stories are the way to touch the heart and go on living.” This quote from the novel, Two Or Three things I Know for Sure, shows exactly why these women are story tellers. Each novel was written by women but only in the purposes of telling a story. In each individual story, the women expressed how they felt in every situation. The hardships that these women faced in the stories gave the reader a sense of exactly what was going on and how It felt to be there. In the novel, The Shawl, the reader got the chance to feel the feeling of being a mother, losing a child and also the feelings of being in a concentration camp during the holocaust. These are feelings that no one would be able to either see or feel unless they were there. Even in the story of, When the Emperor Was Devine, the reader was able to feel what it was like to be a Japanese-American woman after the affects of the world war. Going from being a regular American, to being discriminated against by their own people.

For these women, the writing and stories helped to move on or to find themselves. Through their emotions, empowerment and finding of self identity, these women were able to move on with their lives. The writing played a huge role in these women being able to move on with their lives from some dramatic experience that may have changed them o r shaped them differently. In this class, we learned that what society says about women is false. Those women are a very important and crucial part to the society. Also those women are just as important or more important to society then men. 

I'd Rather Wear My OWN Coat

"Two or three things i know for sure and one of them is that i'd rather go naked then wear the coat the world has made for me." After reading this quote in the story, i began to think about what it really meant and my connection to it. Society expects certain people to act certain ways in certain situations. Especially in many minority societies, citizens are expected to act a certain way because of what the statistics or stereotypes say. I could directly relate to this quote by Dorothy Allison, in my life i have experienced this "Coat" in which society tries and gets me to wear. In the simplest form, this quote is stating that Dorothy would rather be an outcast then live by what society expects her to live by or expect her to feel. In the pictures we spoke upon in class, we could see that Dorothy felt this way. In two of the pictures we see her playing with and shooting a gun, which, as she stated earlier in the novel, wasn't something considered lady like or something women should be doing. In my life, i have been doubted, stereotyped and even mislead and misheard because of the color of my skin or where my family has came from. Many people assume for me to act a certain way or do certain things because I am African-American. I have been denied , mislead and unheard throughout my years and have had to strive for everything that I've wanted. Many people said i wouldn't make it to college, but here i am. Others said i would never be able to do the things i am doing today, but once again here i am doing and living these things many said i couldn't do. The statements of doubt and "cant's" helped me to strive to achieve more. I also did not want to wear this cloak or coat that society wanted me to wear. I fi would have worn it, today, i wouldn't be writing this post or even be reading any of these novels expanding my horizons. But this quote doesn't just only fit for minorities, it exists for everyone. In some way, everyone can relate to this quote with things that society expected them to do which they didn't want to or see fit of themselves.

Motherhood

Women are a very vital part to the succession of life. Granted, it takes a man and women to create life, it may only take a women to raise a person. Throughout the stories we have read, motherhood has been a very important aspect.In the novel, Push, becoming a mother was one of the reasons that the main character was able to move on in her life.  In the novel, When the Emperor was Devine, the mother played a huge role in keeping the family together in a time or sorrow and disproval. Rosa, in both the Shawl and Rosa showed exactly just how important and hard being a mother is. Becoming a mother changes the way a women thinks and her identity as a whole. Instead of being able to think about yourself as a women and your needs, a mother must not only think about herself but also her child's needs. In all cases, the child's need must be put before the needs of herself as a women. In the first story Shawl, we could see this exactly when Rosa risks her life to keep Magda alive and with her. Knowing that if Magda was found they would both be shot and killed, she still made the sacrifice to keep Magda. When food was scarce in the camps, Rosa made sure that Magda was the first fed even if her own stomach was empty. At the time it says that Rosa was breast feeding Magda, but the scarceness of the food made her milk less nutritious for Magda. Having a child changes a persons identity in the fact that they must change their whole point of view on life. It makes the person realize the true importance of some things in comparison to others. Since motherhood was so important to Rosa, once Magda was killed by being thrown against the fence, her whole life changed again. Having had to shift her lifestyle to become a parent, moving on from having a child to now not having a child was virtually impossible to Rosa, as we can see through the story Rosa. It was hard for her to move on in her life without thinking what could, should or would have been with Magda. Everyday she felt a sense of guilt that she was a bad mother to her child because the fact that she didn't and wasn't able to help Magda survive. At that point in her life, Rosa's main duty was to make sure of the survival and health of Magda. With Magda's death, it made Rosa feel as though she failed as a mother. This was the reason she wasn't able to move on with her life because she felt that she failed at the only job she had, being a mother.

Social Classification

Rosa's views of herself and society were  a huge factor in her progression to letting go of her past and moving on the the future. Before the Holocaust, Rosa's family held high status in the community. In her letter to Magda, she speaks about her past and the life she she once had. Rosa recalled how she felt or was told to feel about the people around her. The other members of society were looked down upon by Rosa and her family because of the type of slang polish that they spoke. Because of the fact that these citizens didn't speak proper Polish, Rosa felt that she was better then them. Also, as she said in her letter to Magda, she didnt consider herself Jewish. When she was in the concentration camp, Rosa said she recalled seeing all the people in the camps who were too religious. She described them as being to religious and dirty in the camps, feeling as though she was not  part of that society. Also, she recalls times in the camp where she could see those same people that she once looked down upon outside the barbed wire  fences riding by paying no attention/ turning a blind eye to what was actually happening behind the camps. In her letter to Magda, we could see exactly why Rosa wasn't able to let go of the past. With her social status before her entry into the concentration camps, Rosa could only think to herself "why her". As she said, she didn't think that she was the same as the rest of the people in the camp. Not considering herself jewish, feeling as though she didn't belong and also seeing these other people as "lesser" then her were all the reasons to why the camp took such a toll on her. At the same time, this was the reason that Rosa was able to move on. She realized after writing this note that the same reason she felt she was better then the people in the camp was the same reason that the Nazi soldiers put her into the camp. They looked down on her, felt as though she wasn't equal to their status. After writing this letter to Magda and realizing all that, she came to realization that the people in the camp were just like her, that for the reasons she felt she didn't belong were the same reasons that she did belong. Also, she realized that for her to be mad because of her once acclaimed status would only be making her the same as the people who put her into the camps.

The Shawl: From Beginning to End

      A seen from the beginning of the novel, the Shawl represented a sense of life and preservation of life to Magda, Rosa's daughter. It was her keepsake, the thing that kept her quit and satisfied. Also, the Shawl was a protector of Magda. It was used to protect her from the harm of the Nazi soldiers during the time of the march, and was used as a comforting protector against the cruelness of the camps. After Magda was killed in the camp by being thrown against the fence, the shawl acted as only a memory of her life for Rosa. By the end of the second story, the Shawl lost all its importance. As Rosa began to move on, the shawls began to mean less and less. Instead of it being something that was bright and vibrant filled with life, it became dull and quiet. The meaning that it once had diminished by the end of the novel.  When she opened up the box which held the shawl, it was said that it looked dull and didn't automatically give Rosa the power of Magda to come alive. Instead it took a while for the feeling of Magda to come to life from the shawl. This began to show the death of the shawl and the moving on by Rosa from the past to the future now. For the first time since the Holocaust, Rosa wasn't able to recall the thought and life of Magda immediately form the shawl. It had lost most of its power by this point but not because the shawl was old or dull, it was because now Rosa was ready to move on. She had an internal reckoning that helped her to be able to move on. Before this, Rosa turned her phone back on, which also showed her want to connect with the outside world, as we discussed in class. We could  clearly see from this last section of the novel that Rosa was ready to move on and making changes in the direction. The shawl, representing her past, lost life but everything in her present gained life. She turned her phone back on, met with Mr. Persky and even took time out to call Stella. After Rosa wrote the letter to Magda explaining her past, she had a boulder lifted off her shoulders and was able to move on which was signified by the statement of the phone ringing, Mr. Persky coming up and Magda fading away.

The Shawl

Throughout the stories we have read in this class we have seen many different types of people go through many different hardships in life. From growing up in a poverty stricken area to being placed into a camp because they are different from everyone else, we have seen all sides. In the story, The Shawl,  we see three Jewish women who are about to be taken into a concentration camp during the time of the Nazi rise. It isn't blatantly expressed that these characters are Jewish but the subtle hints of the symbols Nazis used to separate and tag these people are shown. The title, The Shawl, represents a deeper meaning then what is seen in the word "shawl" as have all the other stories read in the class. the webster dictionary defines a shawl as a piece of fabric worn by women over the shoulder or head or wrapped around a baby. By the definition we see what the shawl can represent in the story, and the importance of it. By definition it can be a piece of fabric used to cover a baby which is important and signifies comfort, warmth and care. The Shawl in the story represents the same idea of a piece of comfort in these desperate times of much needed comfort. One of the women, Rosa, has an infant which she loves dearly. As any parent would, she puts her daughter, Magda, in front of any and everything she has or wants during these times. The shawl is a material object in the book which Rosa gives to her daughter to give her a sense of comfort. Instead of Magda showing emotion when she felt sad, hungry, or uncomfortable she would go back to the shawl in which her mother gave her. Even when she felt times of hunger or thirst she would go to the shawl and suck on that to get satisfaction instead of shedding tears. Overall, the shawl represented a crucial aspect to Rosa and Magda's relationship and also a crucial aspect to the story as a whole within the Holocaust. It represented, in the story, the sense of home and comfort that these people were stripped of when being brought to these camps because of their beliefs.

Devine Emperor: Minimalist?

In the case of When the Emperor Was Devine, the author would not be considered a minimalist. The tone of the novel follows the plot of the book. The way the author approaches the writing is more of a poetic view to the writing by expressing the feelings of the actions written throughout the words in the words and the arrangement of the story. For example, at the store with Joe Lundy in the beginning of the story, the tone of the conversation the women had with him was kind of mellow and sad. It was like the tone of the writing expressed the tone of the conversation and the situation. By reading what was going on you could feel the tension like you were in the room. The author, Otsuka, uses this  style in her writing of this novel to express the feelings of what is really going on. When you read the novel, there is a weary feeling like a feeling of overcast and mist among the situation in the novel. The feeling that something is being hidden or that their are some underlying events that aren't just blatantly put in the readers face. In the case of the U.S government, this is true. That feeling is given to all the citizens of the U.S when it comes to WWII and the things that happened during the war. Its like the facts are hidden somewhere deep in a vault which everyone knows is there but pretends to act like it doesn't exist. For the purposes of the story and what was supposed to be told, the voice of the novel was perfect. Otsuka is a minimalist in this instance because if she wasn't muting the fact of the story then the reader wouldn't be able to get the feelings that the characters have in the novel. The way she wrote the novel gives the reader that feeling that the main characters also have. In a way the tone of the story helps to get the reader to relate to the characters, which in this case, is hard because most of us "readers" wouldn't be able to place ourselves into their shoes.