Final Blog

 From what we read as well as discussed in class, Women’s Literature seems like it was a way for those women to finally tell their stories, whether it was a personal or just how they felt during a specific time in their lives. These women felt that the events in their lives were life-changing enough that they decided to share them with other women as well as men, maybe thinking some man or woman could relate to them.  Basically Women’s Literature is a way for women to use their voices, women back then were basically not as vocal as they currently are today. I think women’s literature is meant to teach today’s women that everyone has a story and that they should not be afraid to tell it, because you never know if someone out their can relate to your story or not. When reading through the authors each one taught us something different, from Precious teaching about the abuse, (both physically and emotionally), clearly uneducated, and then finally finding a way to a better life for herself and her son; too Allison Bechdel who struggled with identity and sexuality.  Women’s literature also teaches us about history, personally for me I never knew very much about the story of the Japanese internment camps, the holocaust, and even Alvarez ‘s story of the four Maribel sisters. Without these ladies telling us what they went through during those awful times I may have never learned about any of these historical events as well as life changing. Also with these particular authors we got to read about their side, (the woman’s side of the story), told from their own experiences. Though these authors are telling us a story, they are also letting us know that through life’s struggles can have some type of positive outcome.

            It is important for women to their stories because for them it finally gave them a voice that they never had. It is important to understand what women when through during historical events and also how they were affected. Also reading through the stories I found it easier to relate to, well at least sympathize with the women. Though I physically was not there during the time of these stories you cannot help but feel for what these women through. For example, the Maribel sisters who were “killed” because they were sick of sitting back and watching their families being destroyed at the hands of a dictator, so they decided to take a stand but in the end their voices is what killed them. However for Bechdel and Allison they felt as though their stories were a way of release, and once they told their stories they were able to break free from all the pain and suffering they endured all those years, and found some form of happiness, you can say that they had a hopeful ending. Every story that we read was different, I feel that through such stories like the ones we read helped to pave away for woman authors today. If you take today’s women authors they too are beginning to write about there personally stories; stories about what affected them growing up, through past experiences or stories of a specific event that they feel might be important to share with other women. It is important for women to understand, is that through their stories it allows us to tell our stories and to keep on using voices and to realize that we are not alone. As long as these women continue to write and share their stories maybe it will help influence many other women to do the same. It is important for women to know that they are not alone, there is always someone out that have heard it all as well as seen it all.  

2 or 3 things...

In Friday’s class we were asked to write about a 2 or 3 things… so for my last blog I choose to do the same. I choose Two or Three things I know for sure and one of them is that telling the story all the way through is an act of love.  I think Dorothy wrote this particular piece because for Dorothy, she finally felt that sense of relieve. She was able to tear away the broken piece that had affected her for all those years. Dorothy refers to her life story as if it was wall, “my story was on this wall. I stood in front of my wall. I put my hand on it. Words were peeling across the wall, and every word was a brick. I touched one. “Bastard,” (page 92). As she began tearing away the wall, a piece of her past was going away, she was able to release built up regression for everyone who treated her the wrong way. Once the bricks went away the first time she “saw” her mother, felt her mother, then another brick broke away she remembered another piece of her life, another and another would fall and Dorothy’s story would become just that a story.  Throughout her life Dorothy heard it all, seen it all, and most importantly experienced it all. After reading Dorothy’s story I get that feeling of release, it is almost as she finally felt whole again, she could move forward. Though she might have felt relieved in a way, she will always have those awful memories that will stay with her forever.  In the end Dorothy writes, “I can tell you anything. All you have to believe is the truth.” I think Dorothy wanted her readers to know was that if you are honest with yourself, then everyone else around you will believe in you too. 

2 or 3...

In class we were asked to analyze some photographs of Dorothy Allison’s, so for my blog I choose to analysis the photograph on page 87, the one with Dorothy, her longtime partner, her son, and the family dog. In class we briefly discussed that Dorothy seemed to be much happier with her life now then when she was growing up. Clearly Dorothy did not have the best childhood, she was abused physically, mentally, and even sexually. Though family members surrounded Dorothy throughout her life, she still seemed to be alone. She never really had support form her family. Her mother knew that her stepfather was abusing her, but chooses not say anything, or gets her out of that situation. Even her own aunt would put her down, for example, she writes “My aunt turned me around and smoothed my hair down, looked me in the eye, smiled, and shook her head, “lucky you’re smart.” For me who recently became an aunt, I could never imagine saying something like that to my niece, it is so hurtful and can be very damaging to a child. However what I found interesting is that in most of her childhood pictures Dorothy seemed very happy, happy as a young child can be. Though at a young age most children are awkward and “growing into themselves” but for Dorothy she was hiding something much deeper. However Dorothy started to grow up she began to figure herself out and tried to better understand the “whys” and “how comes” that she went through all those years. As she began to figure her life out, she would meet her lifelong partner in the process, that she did not clearly see coming.  So that brings me to the photograph on page 87, I think the birth of Dorothy’s son helped her change and helped her to move on with her life. I also think that the birth of her son, finally allowed her to tell her story, maybe he gave her a sense of confidence and strength to tell her story and making her able to move forward with her new life. I think that once she began to tell her story she felt a huge weight lifted off her shoulders, or maybe she told her story to share with her son one day. Whatever the reason being I felt that once she wrote this particular book, she felt relieve of anger, pain, and frustration after all these years. 

"Dr. Tree"

n class we briefly discussed the connection between Dr. Tree and Rosa. Dr. Tree is not an official doctor but he is interested in Rosa’s story as well as others like Rosa. At first Rosa does not understand why this doctor is contacting her or even interested in her life. Maybe Dr. Tree was trying to “help” Rosa in away, “help” her to understand what she was going through or went through years ago. However Rosa did not see it that way, according to Rosa she was not just some statistic and that is what Dr. Tree was making her out to be. Dr. Tree was conducting a study about Repressed Animation. In his study he wanted to better understand the  “wide range of neurological residues (including in some cases, acute cerebral damage, derangement, disorientation, premature senility ect.) as well as hormonal changes, parasites, anemia, thready pulse, hyperventilation.” (P.36). Dr. Tree believed that these issues were coming from years of stress from being incarcerated, exposure, and malnutrition. Also Dr. Tree considers Rosa “diseased”  and refers to her as a survivor, however Rosa does not see herself as a survivor, though she survived the holocaust and what happened her, it seems as though Rosa would have rather died there with her daughter Magda. Dr. Tree is trying to get into Rosa’s head, as well as others like Rosa, in hopes to figure out why Rosa is the way she is and why she could not let go of years of repressed anger and sadness. However Rosa rejects his efforts and basically wants nothing to do with him and ideas. Rosa does not feel like she is “diseased” she is who she is because of everything she lost and suffered thirty years ago. Rosa would later realize that Dr. Tree is connected to Stella, Stella sent him in Rosa’s direction. Rosa says, “it comes from Stella, everything!” (p. 38) Even the death of Magda Rosa blames Stella and continues to blame Stella for everything that has gone wrong in her life. Rosa basically wants nothing to with Dr. Tree as well as Stella at this point in her life. In the end, I think Rosa is suffering from a mental break down, and though she wants no help from anyone, it does hurt to let some of that repressed emotion go. 

"Crazy"

One of the professor’s questions was; is Rosa crazy? I feel that Rosa is crazy in certain ways.  Rosa went through hell during her time in the concentration camps, and once she was finally released she was able moved on. During our class discussion we discussed that Rosa might have turned “crazy” because she felt some type of guilt for succeeding after everything that she went through, she could not handle the fact that she was moving on with her life, when way in the back of her head she remembers what her and her family went through in those camps.  Rosa basically knew one way to live and that was the way she grew up in the camps, I think once she realized she was moving on and succeeding it got to her and she went “crazy”. After reading Rosa’s story she clearly went insane, by smashing the entire store and started living as a dirty bum in Florida. It is almost as something snapped in her, something was telling her that succeeding in life was a bad and that she does deserve it because of who she was and where she came from. Although Rosa experienced “voices” in head, I feel that it was something much more powerful coming from within Rosa herself, she just could not let go of what happened to her as well as her daughter.  Rosa was fighting demons all over, and it seems that the only way for her to come out on top was to regress back to what she knew, live the way she grew up. Rosa’s story is important to tell because I feel that are many people out that wondered what happened to the survivors of the holocaust. To be honest I knew of the holocaust and how people were treated but after reading Rosa’s story and seeing what she went through, with watching her daughter die in front of her eyes, and just seeing how affected she was by all the pain and suffering she went through, and never really was able to let go of what happened to her in the past. Even though I have not finished the book and Rosa’s story I have hope for her, that she would be able to heal herself. 

First Reaction

My first reaction to The Shawl was here we go again another monotone story, another historical piece of fiction that will not keep my attention for to long. However once I started reading the story of The Shawl, I felt it was going too different, a different kind of story to tell. The first part of the Shawl got off to a slow start, I could not quite get into the story, so I continued reading, I realize that this story had a bit more emotion then the previous one we read, it is almost as if mother was calling out to us for help. During this particular time many men women and children were confined to concentration camps, where they were imprisoned too one location of the camp, and where they suffered from exhaustion, starvation, and exposure. While reading Rosa’s story she was clearly a prisoner in of the concentration camps, and were she was trying to protect her daughters from the camp guards. The shawl represents how Rosa used it to feed as well as protect her daughter Magda from the prison guards. Rosa made her daughter suck on the shawl, with hopes it would feed her, I believe with Magda’s salvia is what she is feeding on, the more she sucked on it the more liquid she would get because Rosa’s body (breasts) dried up so Magda was getting nothing. The shawl also represents protection; she was trying to shield her daughter from the guards, until Magda got loose and ran, to be later shot down but the guards. I could never image watching my little girl suffer, that image would last with me for a long time, and I have a feeling that is what Rosa is suffering from. Once I began to read Rosa’s story it is clear to me that Rosa never really healed from what happened to her during that point of her life.  

Hope/Hopeless

To be honest I am not quite sure what to blog about for this blog post, so I decided to write about my final reactions to When the Emperor was Divine. Well first, in our class discussion we discussed briefly about if the book has a hopeful ending or a hopeless ending. After reading through the end of the book a few times, I think that for each character the ending is different. If you take the mother first, when she left the camp she was clearly not in the right state of mind, but once she left she started to turn her life around, for example with getting a job of her own. However, I think the camps affected the mother in many different ways, she was happy to be out, she got a job, but she still lives with the pain and suffering that she endured during that time. The same pain and suffering followed her out of the camps, but I think she hid it. I do not think she can let go of what happened to her and it will begin to take over her life, and I feel it is what kills her in the end. Now for the father, he just gives up, he does not fight for what he knows is right, he just confesses saying he did. There is no hope for the father, by him confessing he is saying, “I am done, and I give up.” It is almost as he knew that he would never win, so that is why he gave in. The only hope I see is for the children, the daughter might have a tougher time because of her age and she understands what was going on, but I think she will be able to work through the pain and suffering she endured during the camps, and she will grow stronger through her experiences. The son as well as because like the professor stated in class he entered the camps with a sense of innocence and came out with somewhat of that sense of innocence. He too will grow stronger from this experience and will live to prove everyone wrong, like his sister they will fight to prove they are “not the bad guys” they are good people. So as for hope, I have hope for the children but the not the parents, the children will live to tell their stories!