Story of daughter and father continue…………..

                                          

After father’s death, Alison’s still thinking about her father’s death and talking about his passion about gardening. Sometimes, she says, he died because he probably saw the snake that she did. Then, she thinks about her dream that she saw two days before he died. She saw the glorious sunset that was visible through the tress, but when her father comes, there was nothing. Then she thinks, “If this was a premonitory dream, I can only say that its condolence-card association of death with a setting sun is maudlin in the extreme”. So, she thinks that it was a sign for his death and the list of his death reasons continue…s.  

            Her father was a big fan of gardening. He just loved flower plants/trees. From the garden to the bedrooms, it was all flowers. They can be “silk flowers, glass flowers, needlepoint flower, flower painting, where any of these failed to materialize, floral patterns (90)”. He almost had most of the flower kinds. “Our home was an efflorescence of bulbs, buds, and blooms, flowers wild and cultivated, native and imported, flowering vines and trees...”. Her father’s favorite flowers were the Lilacs. When Alison was seven, she wrote some poetry and showed to her father. Her father would add in a line that includes flowers in it. So, I think that flowers were a big part of her father’s life. Connection with gardening shows that her father was a nature person. Even though he was little disconnected with his family at certain times, but he enjoyed spring and liked nature a lot.

            I think Alison had a lot of respect for her father and always wanted to start everything with him. Even when it comes to writing her own auto-biography, her father was the one who helped her to start. “The first three words are in my father’s handwriting, as if he were giving me a jump start” (140). I think that even writing this novel was an inspiration from her father. By writing this book, she wanted to express her love for her father that she probably couldn’t express when he was alive. It could be the reason that she always tried to find out the reason that why he died through the chapters. I think that there relationship was very unique, which was sometime filled with love and sometime anger.

Fun Home...................2

                                                                                             

By reading more of the Fun Home, I found out that Alison is a lesbian and even her father had affairs with other men. I also found out about the relationship between mother and father that it was not so great. When Alison used to ask her mother that how she met her dad? Her mother would ask her to just let her do the work. I think that her father was not a good father or a good husband. Her father didn’t really respect her mother. He didn’t care about what she wanted. He used to abuse her also. “Crazy bitch or can’t you read a simple fucking map?”(71-72). After marriage her mother didn’t look as beautiful as she was before. “My mother’s luminous face has gone dull” (72). I think her mother tried her best to maintain her married life. Even though she knew that her husband’s having affairs with other men, she kept quiet. I think she was great women to scarify her happiness and thought about her household. “…But sacrifice was a principle that she grasped instinctively” (83). Alison’s father was not really good to her or her siblings. For instance; when they were carrying suitcases at the airport and Alison could hardly move it, because it was so heavy. Her father said, “I don’t care! Move! ”. Their father gave same importance or probably more to the house things than the children that if they were misplaced, he would punish the children. I think that the children always wanted to have fun at the houses, wherever they moved to, but because of the father being strict, they couldn’t make them “Fun Home”. So, when they got to play at the Funeral home, when their father was working in the back, they called the Funeral Home a “Fun Home”. I think the fact that her father liked men; it kept him away from his family and couldn’t prove to be a good father or a husband. Alison’s father died at an age of forty-four. After she mentioned about his death in the book, the story comes back to his death at certain points. She tries to find the real reason for his death. Sometimes, she thinks that he died because of hearing about the divorce and then she thinks that he died because of her being lesbian. Even though no one was upset for that long after his death, but I think Alison still want to find out about the reason of his death. That’s why she keeps thinking of the reasons that why he died. Even I’m looking forward to find out about him, more about the Fun Home, and also about Alison’s life.

Fun Home

                                           

A family tragicomic called “Fun Home” is an interesting and a very different literary novel. This book has series of flashbacks. I think the book turned out to be different than I thought. Because of the name of the book “Fun Home”, I thought it’s probably about the house where there’s always fun living in, the fun things that happens in the house, or the house is very lucky for the family, which is always a charm for them to get happiness. “Fun Home” is actually referred to a Funeral Home, which I never expected to be. I really didn’t found myself connected to the title, but I am hoping to get connected later in the book.

 This is the first time, I am reading a comic novel with all the imagery in it. I think it’s a great idea that Alison chose to write this book in this way, but I think it’s confusing sometimes. At some points, I kind of find hard to follow the commentary and pictures together. I actually found commentary little harder to follow. Author goes back and forth telling the story, which confused me a lot. The story is about the author, who lived with her mom, dad, and two younger siblings. The story is related to author childhood, teenage years, and especially to her father. Her father, who I would say is very hard working and multi – talented person. “My father could spin garbage…..  ……into gold” (p. 6). Her father considered the furniture similar to his children, which I think is not really a positive sign of perfect father. Even if the things are displaced from where he put them, he would hit the kids. I think Alison don’t think that her father is a perfect man. “Most people, I imagine, learn to accept that they’re not perfect” (p. 18). I think her father was little disconnected from the family, because he wanted to keep the dark secret away from the family, so he kept himself busy in work.  I think her father tried very hard to make everything look perfect, which was not. I think Alison’s father was not very close to the children. And because of that even when he dies, no one was very upset for long time. Alison knew that her father’s death was not a suicide, but even then no one cared. No one bothered to find out. I think Alison’s childhood or teenage years were not that great and because of that she felt that what we think is perfect, is actually not. I think it’s a good tragicomic, but little difficult to understand. I am really looking forward to find out about the connections with the topic of this book. So far the only fun thing I found in the Fun Home is that children used to play in it and heard stories from grandma about their father. I am also looking forward to know about Alison’s life after her father’s death. I think it’s an interesting and very unique comic novel.

Butterflies...............

                                         

I think the reason why Alvarez wanted to bring this story to American readers is that she wanted to let Americans know about the pain that these sisters had to go through. I think this is an incredible story that people should know about and if Alvarez hadn’t brought it up, people wouldn’t be aware of it. I think this story is a wonderful piece to learn about Domician Republic and most important the dictator Trujillo who was a curse for these poor people. I would also call this book a history book. Because it’s physically taking about a family, it keeps you more in touch with reading it. I think Alvarez want us to gain sympathy, faith, and knowledge from knowing this history about these women. She wants the readers to know that how these women struggled every moment of their life for freedom from Trujillo. When the revolution began, how these women faced Trujillo without knowing the consequences and without thinking of their married life. I think she wants the readers to feel the moments that what these women went through and think about how they went through this difficult path and how three of them ended up losing their lives. She wants us to gain the courage to fight for our own rights, just like how these sisters did without knowing the consequences. This story is not an American story, but it’s written by an American reader. This story is about Domician Republic and four sisters and their families. Because Alvarez is American, so I think because of that it’s written more like American way. I think this story is connected to Alvarez because of her parents. In the novel, some of things are written by Alvarez, which didn’t happen with the four sisters. But those words talk freedom. I think her voice is that we are very fortunate if we have the freedom and all the rights to live a happy life. And if we do, we should live it to the fullest and we should we proud of ourselves.

Minerva's History

                                                   

Story begins in 1938  

-  Minerva leaves house with Patria to go to the boarding school named Inmaculada Concepcion.

- At school, she meets Sinita, and becomes friends. Sinita tells her about Trujillo’s wrongful intentions and also that how he destroyed her family. Minerva changes her thoughts about Trujillo that he’s not a saint, he is an evil person.

1941

-  She also meets Lina, who’s a beautiful girl. Lina becomes involves with Trujillo and becomes pregnant with his child. Trujillo sends her to Miami, as his mistress, because her life was in danger from Trujillo’s wife. It makes Minerva very angry.

1944

-  Minerva and friends perform a skit on Trujillo’s birthday. Sinita aims a bow and arrow at Trujillo as revenge and shots. Fortunately, Trujillo was saved, but the girls were in trouble. Minerva made an excuse saying that it was just a part of our skit, so that Sinita can be released.

1949

-  Minerva’s been gradated from boarding school. She’s been living at home for few years. There are rumors that she doesn’t like men.
-  She wants to go to law school, but her family refused her. They want her to stay home.

- Minerva meets Lio and started to like him.

- She finds out about her father’s relationship with another woman and her step-siblings.

- She finds the letters in her father’s pocket from Lio and she never got and also the invitation from Trujillo’s private party.

- She attends Trujillo party. While she was dancing with him, she talked to him about going to law school and also tells him that she doesn’t know Lio. Trujillo misbehaves her and she slaps him. Then she leaves the party, but forgets her purse, which has the letters from Trujillo.

- Her father goes to jail, because his daughter misbehaved with the dictator and Minerva goes for questioning at the National Police Headquarter.

- Trujillo demands her to sleep with him, but she makes a bet that she wins, she get to go to law school and if he does, he get to sleep with her. Of course, she wins and goes to law school.

1953- 1957

-  Her father becomes very week from the tortures, when he comes back home from prison and as a result he dies.

- She meets Manolo, who is a revolutionary, and marries him.

- Minerva graduates from law school, but her license wasn’t proved to practice law.

1960

-  Minerva’s on house arrest, after being in jail about seven month.

- She’s overwhelmed and people look at her as a hope, but she probably had some bad effects on her mind from the prison. She starts to scare to go out to the house and also the loud noises.

- Minerva and her sister’s husband are in the jail and they are trying to get them out.

- One day after visiting Manolo, Miverva gets killed when she was going home.

Nun to Wife and a mother

                                                  

As I start reading about Patria, I felt like I was watching a movie. I think patria’s character is very interesting. Her story is a different story then the other sisters. I felt that it a lovely story. While I was reading it, I felt all the scenes in my mind. I love to read love stories and it’s a very heart touching story. I felted every moment of her story. I felt like it was happening right in front of me.  I think there are a lot of girls in this world, whose stories are like Patria. Patria was a very religious girl. She wanted to become a nun, but she also had a question that if this is really her destination, because people complemented her as a beautiful girl not as being a nun. When she went to Inmaculada Concepcion, her soul was not in peace, because she had a feeling of her love. She was waiting for someone to come and take her with him. Finally, she felts him while washing the feet of the parishioners at door of the church. She knew right away that it’s him. She considered him as her Jesus. “I had seen the next best thing to Jesus, my earthly groom. The struggle was over, and I had my answer” (49). I think she just considered him as her groom right at the moment she saw him, because she did not go back to Inmaculada. She stayed and waited for him to come. His name was Pedrito Gonzalez, a farmer. Pedrito is a person who loves his soil, village, and everything connected to him. When they got married, they had blessing from whole Ojo de Agua. She thought it’s because of her faith in God. Patria was just not a religious person, but also a superstitious person as well. “We would be on upon the Lenten season, when really it’s not right to be marrying” (51). So, she believed in the cultural and religious things that are made by our ancestors. She had two children. The third child was stillborn. Maybe because she is religious person, she had a feel that this was going to happen. But after loosing her child, she looses her faith and became more superstitious. But she proved to be a good wife, because she put her griefs aside for her husband. Although, she gets back her faith in God, when she had a sense that Virgin Mary spoke to her through a church congregation, gathered for worship. I think of her as a good role modal for a lot of the girls. If I was in her place, I would do the same as she did. All the sisters have different life stories, but I think for mature girls Patria’s story is probably more connected. I am looking forward to read further about Patria and also watch the movie. I think it a good book. I also think that it’s a good book for all age readers.  

In The Time of Butterflies

                                              

An interesting skillfully pearled fiction “In the Time of Butterflies” is a good flashback sorrowful book about the Mirabal sisters. I think this novel is an interesting novel, as you read through it; you get more involved in it. At the same time, I think it’s confusing. It’s hard to understand it if you only read it once. It’s probably somehow connected to all the families at the time, when Haitian had to go through from their bad times and suffered every moment of their lives. By reading this book, we can imagine that how bad it was. The novel starts with a very sorrowful line, which is an indication to death of three sisters. “She is plucking her bird of paradise of its dead branches (pg. 1)”. “She” refers to Dede, the surviving sister and “dead branches” refers to the three dead sisters. Dede is the one who is still not over with the tragedy that happened with her family. She is tries hard everyday to move on, but even trying doesn’t help.  As much as she tries to get over with, she gets stuck even more. Julia Alverez, the one who brought this story out to the world by interviewing Dede. Dede starts the story with recalling the time, when her father, mother, and three sisters were very happy together in their own little life. She starts out with telling about their personalities, behaviors, believes, and their dreams. Then she talks about them individually. Minerva is first sister she talks about. Minerva was more like an independent, self-centered, and stubborn girl. I think I like her character more than the other sisters. She is more like a person, who usually raise questions on others view. She likes being free without any restriction. “The four of us had to ask permission for everything” (pg. 11). Her voice is like “why”, why should we listen to others, why can’t we just be free. I think she is more of a freedom person, because of incident about a rabbit. I mean, she wants everyone to be free. May be, because she thinks of freedom a lot, it was very shocking for her, when she finds out about this Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo. Then comes Maria Teresa, the young innocent spoiled sister. She is the youngest innocent sister, so doesn’t think deeply about the situations. She likes to thinks about her pleasures, especially her clothes. Dede talks about her beauty. She says, “She’s always getting compliment when we walk on the street”.  At last Patria, who is kind of similar to her mother. Her language tells us that she is very religious. “No one had to tell me to believe in God or to love everything that lives” (44). Her language was an indication to the church or I should say becoming a nun, but her destiny was not that. She ends up falling in love with Pedrito, who she looks up to as her Jesus and got married. So, this was a little bit of introduction to these sisters. But, I really want to find out the significance of the butterflies. I mean even in the other books, I read something related to the butterflies. I wonder why authors use this word a lot. The other thing, I am looking forward to that how Dede survived and other three sisters died. I hope to read the whole novel and find this out. I think it’s a great novel. It’s a truth of someone’s life, which is very painful. I think Dede is sharing her sorrows with others, probably because it may give her some relieve form the pain. Because it’s said, “sharing helps”.

Five Cows And A Calf

According to Ensler, “to embody the wish or will of somebody other than yourself refers to “please”. In some way this book is connected to word please. There are poems and some of the stories in this book that talk about how girls should please others or how girl should look that would please others. A lot of the girls in this world do things according to others rather than their selves. Girl’s think of ways that how they should make their selves look good or prettier that would please others.  This is one of the reasons that girls have to face these difficulties in this world. They shouldn’t think about others. They should focus on what they want in life, what are their goals, and how they should make their selves stronger, so that no man can look at them evilly. Girls should be strong enough to make their own decisions and if needed show their family the right path also.

In Emotional Creature, Five cows and a calf is one of best stories. I think this story has both negative and positive phases. It a story of girl named “Mary”, who is fifteen years old living in Kenya. She tells the reader her story, when she was fourteen years old.  Her family lives on blood and milk. They keep cows. Her father is a powerful man, who has at least forty children. Her father sold several of her sisters by marrying them to old men. He sold them for cows.  Her sisters were cut with razors before they became wives. When her father became poor and the cows were dying, he thought of selling Mary. Mary was afraid of going with that old man. She couldn’t imagine being with him, so she ran away looking for the Rescue Center for girls. After walking through the wild sounds, she reached Mama Naanyo. Over there, she went to school and learned about herself. He learned that she can be anything she wants and she can do all those things that boys can do. She can make her own decisions and her father has no right to sell her. After a year, Mama Naanyo made her realize that she is strong enough and she can face her father. When she comes back home, her father looked so much older and weaker. She stood there like a strong confident girl. Everyone cried and hugged each other. Her father thanked Mama Naanyo for making his daughter respectable. Then, he was ready to accept Marry back in the family. The family was together after and they celebrated it. Then, Mary remembers that her father was selling her for five cows, a calf, and a couple of blankets. But, now that she is educated, she can earn more money. Mary dreams about building her father a house and taking care of the family. I think it was a great positive story for the reader. It’s an inspiration for the teen girls or every girl who think that she is just a burden and she let happen whatever happens with them.  This girl Mary is an inspiration for us, because instead of giving up and going with the old man, she chose the right path. The path that changed her life and showed her father that girls can do anything they want. They can take care of the family, probably in a more proper way than men. I think this story is the core of this book. Girls should be confidence and strong enough to make the right decision in their lives.

I think this is a good book. It forces a girl to think about her identity, her desires, her needs, and her capability of facing the world. Some of the poems are well written. They are the answer to those girls, who are unaware of these facts. I think every teen girl must read this book. It’s a good book to begin a new and healthy life. According to Ensler, “this book is call to listen to the voice inside you that might want something different, that hears, that knows, the way only you can hear and know. It’s a call to your original girl self, to your emotional creature self, to move at the speed, to walk with your step, to wear you color”. I agree with her. This books has great facts about girls, those will help these girls to overcome the obstacles in their lives.

I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE

                                      

The title of this book “I Am An Emotional Creature” speaks innocence. Hearing it, gives the reader an emotional touch. This is book written by Eve Ensler about the teenage girls, who are trying to find their selves in the society. I think in some way this book comes from Vagina Monologue. Ensler’s purpose of writing these monologues, stories, and poetries is to tell the reader about these innocent girls, who go through a lot pain in their little lives. I think Vagina Monologue was stronger than Emotion creature. I think book is a basic book that talks about some of the things that are already known. As much as I have read this book, I didn’t really find any strong point that was not known. I think it’s a good book for teenage girls to read and get to know their selves.  I think what teenage girls learn in their teenage days is what they carry for life. So, learning good things and reality is probably the best way to save these teenage girls from evil. I think in this book the poem called “WHAT DON’T YOU LIKE ABOUT BEING A GIRL?” is a whole story of girls life. According to Ensler,

                                                                 “Girls can’t control anything 

                                                               Boys can do anything they want”.

I think these two lines say a lot. These lines tells the reader that girls are week, useless, can’t make any decision on their own, and not capable of or achieve the goals that they want to achieve and on the other side boys are capable of doing anything. This is what our society has been carrying from years and years. Girls always come after boys. In another poem called “DON’T”, Ensler wrote,

                                                                   “My father hates girls

                                                                    He says they used to bury them

                                                                    When they were born

                                                                    No value

                                                                    No personality”.

These lines are connected to so many countries, where girls only get hate, but nothing else. For instance, India is one of them. Some of the parts in India, girls are still dying before birth. Even though, it’s a law that you can’t go to the doctor and ask if you are having a girl or boy. People still do it by buying the doctor and killing the girl if they are having one. Now days, in the population of India, girls are not even half comparing to the boys. It’s hard to find a girl to marry the boy. A lot of the get no value in the household. They don’t have their own personality.

                 There are so many other issues that Ensler talks about in this book. For instance, girls are still being sold by the parents for money and they are considered garbage, and people rape them like they have no value and they have no right to speak up for their selves. I think this book is important to read for teenage girls, because they have their whole life waiting ahead of them. For adults, it’s probably not necessary, because I think most of the adults know these facts of life and some of them have already been through them. This book is an awareness for teenage girls. I think this book is a girl, whose saying that I’m a creature who has been through a lot and trying to find herself in this world. This book is also a girl’s question, which is asking that what I really am, how should I look beautiful, how should please others, and am I really a waste on earth. I think what Ensler is really trying to let the girls know is that this book is a identification of girls and it will help the girls to overcome the obstacle from being an emotional creature.