Final Paper

                                               

First of all I would like to thank the person who asked me to take this class, then of course my professor Guarino, who chose these incredible books and novels full of adventures and true facts about our society’s women. After taking this class, I feel like now I really know the reality of the women who have suffered everyday but still they didn’t give up and give their selves a new identity. By taking this course, I learned that there are many different ways to read books, novels, and poetry. I learned that how a one paragraph, a stanza, piece of commentary, or just a photograph can be looked at in different ways and how we can talk about it in long discussions. Before taking this course, I never really looked at any book that deeply, but now I know that how much importance a book holds. To appreciate the author’s talent, we should go deeply into it and gain a lot from it.

I think this course has just changed my way of thinking about women. Now I see myself at a different angle. I feel much more educated about women. The things that I learned about women in this course, I never even imagined before. I learned that how a woman sacrifices her own happiness for the sake of her family. To raise her child, she can do anything no matter how shameful or how stoop it is. “Krik? Krak?” is a best example to explain a “mother”.  The story “Night Women” was a story, which showed that how a mother prostituted next to her sleeping son to raise him. For her child she didn’t think about the society, all she thought of was her child. She didn’t even think of the consequences of her son getting to know about the truth.

I also learned that even though women do so much for their families, but men are always given more importance. The biggest facts that I learned about women were from the books called “Vagina Monologue”, “I’m an Emotional Creature”, “Push”, and the movie called “What I want my Words to do to You”.
                                    “GIRLS CAN’T CONTROL ANYTHING

BOYS CAN DO ANYTHING THEY WANT”

These two lines from “I’m an Emotional Creature” said everything to me. These lines show me the positive and the negative sides of human beings. Girls can’t control anything mean to me saying that they are useless, weak, and just a waste on the earth. Boys are the world. They can do anything they like and even use women in the way they like. I think these lines were the core of the course. But we have proved them wrong. Because as we read these books, we found out that women in the books didn’t give up. They faced the problems and society and overcame. “Vagina Monologue”, I think this book is not just a book; it’s a woman who is speaking for all the women. Reading this book is awareness about women. Yet it’s very uncomfortable to read at times, but like its said truth is not easy to be heard. I would it’s a very strong book and being a woman, we should all read it. “Push” is another book that was just an incredible book. I felt this book was a torture, but also a hope for women that if Precious can come out of her grieves and move on with her life then why not us. “What I want my Words to do to You” was also an incredible video to watch. It was a great chance to learn about these women in the jail, who have killed their spouses. Before taking this course, I haven’t seen a one video that what these women in the jail have gone through and how their life is now. Taking this course has helped me learned about them too.

            This course was also a great chance to go back to the history of the camp’s women and their lives after surviving. This course has taught me a lot about women. I’ve gained a lot more knowledge about them. I learned that how important education is in women’s life. If they are educated, they can fight for their rights a lot batter or I would say education makes women fearless about men. This course has proven the society’s views about women not being able to control anything. Women can do anything and can go very far in their lives leaving the men behind.

                                                                    Thanks very much, Prof. Guarino

                                                                                               

2 Or 3 Things

I think why authors write their biographies, is that they want to let the readers know about the real world. What they had to go through, how bad the situations were, how they were tortured by their own family, and how they suffered every moment without any food. Some authors write to let the reader know that how they came through the bad situations and made their own identity in the society. Some writes, because they want the world to know that they do exit and are famous people who survived out of the crises. The readers who are far from the reality, biographies give them the sense of understanding the situations of the real world. I would say biographies are awareness.

“Two or Three Things I know for Sure” written by Dorothy Allison is a biography of her life with her real life pictures in it. I think it was a good idea to put the real photos of the family in the novel, because pictures do speak. It’s a known fact that you can read a person face by looking at it that what this persons’ life like. Having the photos in novel, you can tell by looking at them that how the people in the family or relatives changed as they grew older. How their expressions or the way of living changed. I think photos connect you more to the novel. They give you extra interest to read. If you look at the picture, it gives you thinking and makes you read more. You look at it and say who this would be and why this person looking like this, why this person is happy or sad, or why he/she is holding this or that. So, I think it’s definitely a great idea to have the real photos in the novel.

“Two or Three Things I Know For Sure”, I think  is a very detailed biography. I think it’s little confusing if you read it once or not give much attention to it while reading it. To read this book, you really need some alone time to focus. I think it’s a very detailed and unique novel. I think she did good job by putting all the stories together that happened in her life with different people. This novel has some things similar to the other books that we read. In this novel, Allison when she was little girl, she also got sexually and physically abused by her stepfather. It’s just not few women in this world that say that someone raped them, there’s a lot like Dorothy Allison. “The man raped me. It’s the truth. It’s the fact”. It’s a fact of many women’s life. Some don’t tell they just consider suicide the better way to end the matter. Some, I would say are very courageous women who go through it and still comes out crystal clear. They face the world, face the facts and make their own identity. I think all the books/novels that we read, sexual and physical abuse was always there. I think it’s one of the top issues now days that need to be fixed. Men should be ashamed of their selves that whatever they are doing with these women is not right. They are all like their mothers and sisters except the ones who they will marry to or are married to. I think telling the stories through novels/books is the best way to make readers aware of these types of men. By reading it, it can help the girls to stay alert from the men and save their selves.

I think Dorothy Allison is just not a good writer, but there’s also truth in her writing. I think there are a lot of writers, who write just to make you believe on their made up stories and make money out of it. Whatever I read so far in my life, I never read anything like this author wrote when she was ending her story of life. She says, “I can tell you anything. All you have to believe is the truth”. What I got out of it that you only have to believe what you think is right, not what other say. I don’t know if I’m right, but I think it’s true. You should have trust in yourself first, then someone else. Because you know yourself better than the person in front of you who is telling you stories. I think it also applies to the safety of women from getting sexually and physically abused. If you know yourself completely, you know the world. You can protect your own self. Novels and books like “Two or Three Thing I Know For Sure” are also there to make you aware of your own identity and be aware of the world.

2 or 3 Things I Know For Sure

“Two or Three Things I Know For Sure” was somehow confusing for me to read at the beginning to till I read. I tried to remember two things and forget the third, if I remember the third I would forget the other two. So reading this book for me is just like its title. I kind of look at this novel as the other novel that we read called “Fun Home”. Just like in Fun Home, how author was going back and forth while writing the story, this book is kind similar to it. Fun Home was a tragicomic with all the imagery in it; this novel also includes real life photographs. The way of writing, imagery, and expressing the story are little different in these books, but the idea is same. I easily get confused while reading the stories where author changes the story a lot or goes back and forth in the timing of story. So, these two books are kind of like that. This story is based on author life, who is Dorothy Allison. It’s a story of Gibson women, who’s her mother, sisters, cousins, her aunts, and the men who loved them or married them and abused them. I think one of most important part of her life was her mother. Her mother was a beautiful woman and men wanted her. At the age of fifteen, her mother became pregnant with her by the boy her mom loved. But he deceived her mother and left them all alone and after that her mother stopped trusting men. “When he ran away, left her to raise me alone, she never trusted any man again”. I think that was the moment, which turned her mother from beautiful, ignorant, proud, happy and hopeful girl to a bitter, hard, tired and ugly woman. I think this is just not a story of her mother, it’s a story of every other woman who trusts the man of her dreams more than herself and at the end all she gets is deceive by that man and left all alone in the field. Allison grew up be different than her mom. I think because of her mother she chose to be different than her. She thinks herself as crispy, efficient, and a kind of person who do things that are necessary to do. But her aunt Dot says, “You mean and stubborn and completely Ruth’s daughter”. Her aunt describes her as a mean, stubborn, and an ugly girl. But Allison doesn’t care about what other say, she stay in her own world, so that she wouldn’t have to go through what her mother had to. She says, “I don’t hold grudges. I kick butt and keep moving”. She had a good bond with her mother. I think her mother was a kind of person who keeps a lot secret in their hearts. When Alison used to shuffle through the pictures in mamma’s box, there were so many faces with a lot stories. So, her mother was keeping a lot in her heart. I think by looking at her mother and also by what she had to go through in family, she didn’t want to become like her mother and that’s why she tries to do or be different than her mother. I mean she was abused mentally and sexually by her own family, which is a big obstacle that comes into a child’s life that keeps you away from moving on. I am just wondering that what else she will do in her life to move on. I looking forward to read more and find out about it. I think it’s an interesting story and also in some way it’s a story of every girl’s life, who’s abused physically, mentally, and sexually.

A Latter to Magda

There were some places, where I couldn’t figure out who Rosa really is and why she does what she does. The story of Rosa’s life has been changing for me from the beginning to the end, but there was one place where I could really understood her. It was the letter that she wrote to Magda about her true self, which really changed my point of view about her. After reading it I was really able to understand her situation that why she acts in the way she acts. I think she is a very true person. Whatever she did or acted like was all a part of her and her family’s reputation. I think she is one of the persons, who carry their true and very own identity, not the one that society likes. She was just being very responsible to carry on the life after all the suffering she went through that her cast or her high society would do. She comes from a very high and reputated family and I think that’s what motivated her to live with her past. She is the one, who remembered her past and lived with it while living in the American society. I have actually become a fan of her, after reading her letter. In the letter she talks about how people (Stella) change after happening all that. She talks about how much Stella hated/jealous of her daughter. Even when she sent her the shawl, she didn’t even bother to send it by registered mail, which probably tells that Stella is a very selfish and very irresponsible woman. Rosa writes to Magda, “She didn’t take the trouble to send it by registered mail! Even though I told her and told her. She has no heart”. Rosa reveals that Stella is a big layer. She lies for everything, even to live in the society. I think Rosa is a true person, because she didn’t care about the society. She smashed her store, because she thought people don’t care about the reality. They just live to show off.  She even left Stella, because she didn’t want Stella to say that she takes care of her. Rosa says that she can’t pretend that she is living a very happy life and forgot her past. So, if she can’t why she would do things according to Stella. Stella is a layer herself without any true identity. It was Stella who accused Magda of being an illegal child, even though she knew that she was not. Rosa was engaged to Andrzej and Magda was their legal daughter. Stella knows everything, but she always finds way to put false accusations on Magda. Rosa writes to Madga, “Stella has a naturally pornographic mind; she can’t resist dreaming up a dirty sire for you”. By reading this letter, I think Stella is not a person to trust. She can’t keep up her own identity. She changes and lies to live. On the other side Rosa, she the one who lives for herself, her daughter, and with her past. This letter really forced me to look at Rosa in a different way. Now, I don’t think Rosa punishes herself by living alone. I think she lives a life that makes her feel comfortable, not guilty. She kept up with her own identity, which makes her a unique person.

The Shawl cont......

‘The Shawl” is not very a positive story to read for the reader. I haven’t finished the book yet, but it really seems hopeless that Rosa Lublin will ever change. I think the story of Rosa is very lifeless. I means she just don’t want to move on in her life. She’s just sticked to her past. She just can’t leave it behind. I think her destiny is really giving her good opportunities to get out of her past, but it’s like she don’t want to have them. She just wants to punish herself by not having any kind of happiness in her life. Sometimes, she tries but she just can’t get over her grieves. I really think that she has become mentally challenged or it could be that no one can really understand her situation that why she do things that she do.

After getting out of the camps and smashing her own antique store, she went to Miami, Florida. She is living their all alone. Her niece is in New York. She has on one else to live with. She is still all alone in her grieves of her daughter Magda. “She had no one but her cold niece in Queens, New York”. She makes her life live in poverty. She just stays in her room and only gets out to do any important work like “laundry”. Her destiny gave her another chance to move on in her life. She meets this seventy-one years old man named Simon Persky in the laundry. Somehow, they get into conversation and talk about their selves and their past. They found out that they were both from Warsaw and meeting in Miami. I think this was not a coincidence that they met, but it was Rosa’s luck that was giving her another chance, but I don’t think that she really wants it. In the laundry he helps her doing her laundry and put her cloths in the carriage. He asks her to help her with the cart to her house and anyhow she agrees. She does make excuses to get rid of him, but he handles it well. She says, “You got internal warning about talking to a stranger”. In replies he tells her his name and makes himself not a stranger anymore. He tells her about his life and then she tells him about her life. She tells him how she smashed up her own store, because she like the people or I would say she just want to give herself more pain. Persky realizes that she is living in her past and she needs to move on. So he advices her, “You can’t live in the past”. But Rosa probably didn’t head him. Then in way he asked her to come to self-serving cafeteria and she agrees. I was really surprised about that how come she agreed. For while, I thought that she is probably interested in him and want to move on with him. But, it was my dilution. In the cafeteria, they had conversation about themselves and the family. After a while, she left all alone just like before and past life comes back. When she gets home she receives Madga’s shawl from Stella. And she goes wild again by kissing it and by crying over it. So, no matter what happens in her life, she comes back to where she starts off. I really thought that Persky is the one who will change her life, but not really. I think no one can change her till she decides to change herself. I hope that the ending of this book will be hopeful. I’m really hoping that she change, if not I don’t think it’s going to be a positive story for the reader.

"The Shawl"

“The Shawl” is a very small, unique, and extremely powerful story written by Cynthia Ozick. It’s a small story, but there are so many details that are hard to follow. I found it hard to keep up everything in my mind when I was reading it. It’s a very emotional story of a mother, her daughter, and her fourteen years old niece. I would call this story, “a Magda’s story”, because it’s really about her life and death. Rosa is Magda’s mother and just like every other mother she was trying really hard to protect her daughter from the guards. Magda is only few months old and a very unique child. She is a good child, she wouldn’t cry at all and also I think she had some sort of disabilities and because of them she didn’t act like a normal child. “Rosa believed that something had gone wrong with her vocal cords, with her windpipe, with the cave of her larynx; Magda was defective, without a voice; perhaps she was deaf; there might be something amiss with her intelligence; Magda was dumb”. Even then, I think Magda was a good child and because of her innocence she survived for some time at the camps. Rosa loved her daughter a lot just like any other mothers and that’s why she always had fear that Magda was going to die soon. Fear of Magda’s death was making her really weak. She couldn’t take care of herself. “She was afraid to fall asleep; she slept with the weight of her thigh on Magda’s body”. I feel really bad for Rosa, who lived a life of fear of losing her child. She knew that if the soldiers find her baby, Madga’s dead and that was the reason that she would always keep Magda wrapped in the shawl, which has been protecting Magda for months. But, she didn’t know that her own kin will deceive her. Stella who was always jealous of Magda and wanted to be wrapped in the shawl that Magda was wrapped in. She was the one of the reasons that caused Magda’s death, because she took the shawl away from her. Because Madga didn’t have the shawl around her, guards found out about her and threw her into the electrified fence. Even Rosa couldn’t do anything, because if she had gone to save her, she would’ve ended up dyeing also. She was not able to do anything. So, she took Magda’s shawl and put it into her mouth and tried to feel her Magda in it. “She filled her mouth with it, stuffed it in and stuffed it in, until she was swallowing up the wolf’s screech and tasting the cinnamon and almond depth of Magda’s saliva; and Rosa drank Magda’s shawl until dried”. I think Rosa suffered a lot. She was a very helpless mother, who couldn’t even do anything else rather than feeling Magda in the shawl. “The Shawl” which was probably the savior of Madga, but at the end it was also the reason of Magda’s death. I think the author called this story “The Shawl”, because the shawl was the protector of Magda, but it was also the reason that took a daughter away from her mother. Overall, I think it a good story. It has a lot innocence of a relationship of a mother and daughter. Even though they were in the camps, but they were very close to each other. It was the reason that Magda’s first word was Ma. It shows that no matter where you are, a relationship of a mother and a daughter is always strong.

HoPe CoNtInUeS…………..

                                      

The time went by and finally back at the house in fall. “Fall”, which I think refers to the family’s situation also (mentally, physically, and economically). Just like in fall all the leaves fall, grass turns brown, and sign of winter, snow the bad time of year comes. I think the family’s situation was very similar to it. I think this novel has connection with everything. Just like fall, the family was all broken/fallen by all the bad times they had to go through. Coming back for them was very fortunate, but at the same time for society they were not respected people at all. They had lost their identity, marked people, and they were very mentally disturbed also. They were not considered in high/mid level society at all. When they tried to get friendly with those same people who were nice to them, they would also ignore them. “Now when we ran into these same people on the street they turned away and pretended not to see us”(115). I think society should help them come out of their grief, but they wouldn’t because of arrogance. I think this family is very brave. They still have hopes and they are trying to get over with their past and move on with their life leaving the past behind. They are not thinking about what they lost, but what they have to gain. They are happy to be home. They feel that they are lucky that they have home to come back to, because there are a lot of other people who had nowhere to go. “Many people who had come back with us on the train had no homes to return to at all”(109). They know that their house is not in good condition, but still they have a hope that they will make their house just like it was before. They will sleep on separate beds all alone and they will have good food to eat. They will go back to school and make up for the years they have missed. They will dress like other students and they’ll change their name. They will have good food to eat again. Their mother started to work at other’s houses and bought her children new dress, house things, and good food, etc. She even worked when she had a day off to get some extra money for her family. “On her days off she took in washing and ironing to make a few extra dollars” (129). I think their mother is the bravest character in this novel. Because even being mentally and physically, and economically disturbed (cheated by Milt Parker), she didn’t give up. She tried her best to give her children the best life she can. When they came back home, there was hardly anything left in it, but still by working hard she bought the things that they needed to live. I think this family is very strong. I also think that in some way it’s a happy ending story. This family has high hopes. They know how to leave the past behind and look for good future. I think moving on in life is the only way to have a better life and this family has proven that. They are moving on with a lot of hopes, which is the only way one can come out of his grieves. I think this story is very powerful for the readers who are also emotionally and physically disturbed. It can be a good way for them to find a right path and move on with their lives. I think Julie Otsuka has done a great job writing this novel.

When the Emperor was Divine 2…….

                                       

I look at “When the Emperor was Divine” as a dream of hope and freedom. I think Julie Otsuka uses a lot of description in this novel, which is very fair. I think without the description of places, people and things, the reader can’t have the feel of how everything was or how bad it was. I think she tried her best to make the reader believe or imagine how everything looked like or settled. I think she describes it really well that how people lived in those barracks and the dessert that was so hot without any trees or anything else to look at it. We discussed in the class that in Julie writing, there is a lack of emotions I think the reason why she didn’t put emotionsinto it, because she knows the story of those poor people, who went through a lot. And it could be the reason that her heart turned into rock and she didn't want to put her pain in front of the reader. She wants to hide her emotions and let the readers feel the pain.  I felt really sad while reading the description of those barracks and how people try to make it feel like home. I feel very sad for those people, who were all shattered and left the hope of getting back to their houses. I felt really bad for children, who lost their childhood in those barracks. They did had chance to play, but everything was just so restricted. The fun, the freedom, or the feel of home and family that we have while playing at home or school, barracks can’t give that to those children who spent those years in there. I think while living in barracks, there is still a hope of getting back home. People, especially the kids and elders are trying to remember their houses by looking at the paths that are going to their houses and the children by playing the games that they learned at home. “Mrs. Kato, who talked to herself night and day. The boy often saw her standing in her doorway with a small wicker suitcase, trying to remember the way home” (55). So, the hope of freedom is everywhere. The boy who wanted to see the horses and wanted to become a jockey tries to find freedom everywhere. Whenever he gets a chance, he tries to make the situation feel like as he’s living his dream. “On the train ride into the desert he had slept with his head in his sister’s lap and dreamed he was riding an enormous white horse by the sea” (52). I think not just the boy, but everyone else is also living their life of freedom or following the goals in their dreams, because they don’t know if they are going back or not. So why not make the dreams our life. I think that the boy has a feel of that he’s not going back home, because when his mother tells him that her face cream is finish and she should’ve brought two. The boy replies her saying that “Maybe three”. So, I think at some points the boy is broken and he’s trying to make the dessert and the barracks his home by playing checkers and other Chinese games. The condition they were living in were really bad, especially the “dust”. “It made your nose bleed, eyes sting, voice away, gets into hairs, shoes, pants, mouth, and your bed”(64). I would say all these people who lived there were really very brave. The conditions that they had to go through were really bad and we can’t even imagine them. I thank God from all of us, who are far away from those conditions and pray that no one else would have to go through all that ever again.

               

When The Emperor Was Divine

“When The Emperor Was Divine” is a great novel. I think it’s well written and easy to stay connected with. I think Julie Otsuka has written this novel very straight forward. She just comes to the main point or I would say just what exactly the reader needs to know.  I like to read stories that just tell you what you really need to know, not the things that are just extra added to them. This novel seems like it’s going to be one of favorite novels of mine. I have heard about Pearl Harbor, the war, and little bit about American Japanese, but I never heard anything about the Interned Camps and what happened in them. I think this novel and class discussions are going to help me a lot learn about them and I am really looking forward to it. The novel starts with a story of a mother, who is living with her children in America. This family’s living style’s a lot like American families. The children like to play baseball and piano, which is very American and also they only speak English. The mother is trying very hard to give her children the best life she could. I think she is trying to make her kids to be like American and live like American, so that no one would harass them for not living like American, while being in America. Her husband is away from her at Fort Sam Houston, because government thought he could be a traitor or spy, so they arrested him. “She had not seen her husband since his arrest last December”(10). She is only there to take care of the kids and the house. She plays different roles in the house, including the role of husband as her children’s daddy. I think she is very strong to take care of her family as best as she could do. She’s very religious too. When she was putting the pictures in the box, “she made sure to put Jesus on top”. Believing in Jesus also represents of her living as an American. The whole family was going, but they didn’t know where they were going. “She did not know where they were going or how long they would be gone or who would be living in their house while they were gone” (8-9). I think she was happy and hopeful that she was going out, but she didn’t know the consequences that what’s about to happen with her family. I think she killed the dog before she left, because she loved him. I mean he was old and she probably thought he might die after she leaves, so why shouldn’t I kill him now that way he won’t have to suffer. By setting the bird free, I think is a significance of freedom. I think she wanted everyone in the house to be free before she leaves. I think she good mother. She’s trying her best to save her children from the taunts by making them live like Americans. I am really looking forward to find out about what’s going to happen with them and how the mother will take good care of her children and her husband.

In His Beauty I See My Own

                                      

Lack of someone’s attention and love were the two main things that kept Precious Jones behind from the other kids, scared of her parents and not raising her voice against the violence that she was tolerating. Till she met Mrs. Rain, she was always scared of her parents. There was no one else who could help her to raise her voice against them. Her mother treated her like she was her slave. Her mother considered her the reason of snatching her husband away from her. She never cared about her needs. Even when precious had her baby and she had pain in her shoulders and she felt like she was going to die, her mother made her cook the food and made her eat, even when she was full. Her mother took advantage of her. The check that Precious and her little mongo used to get, her mother would keep it. I think if Abdul and Mrs. Rain haven’t come into her life, her life would’ve been different. Mrs. Rain taught her the lesson of learning and not considered her self a waste. Precious thought that because is overweight and black nobody loves her, if she had been white, people would like her. But, Mrs. Rain made her believe that she is beautiful and she and her son love her. When precious had son, she was more mature than she was for Little Mongo. Because she couldn’t do anything for Mongo, she decided to take care of Abdul and not let her mother take advantage of them. “My muver took Little Mongo but she ain’ taking this one”(64). Mrs. Rain was the one who force her to learn and be independent, and her son was her motivator to live and love him. It was only her son, who she wanted to live for, be educated, and do a good job. When he was born, she also started to take care of her self, because she had to be healthy enough to raise him. “I feed Abdul. My body is his breakfast. I gotta get something to eat myself” (78). I think Abdul is very important in her life. If she hadn’t had him, she probably have had ended her life. She lived for him and saw her beauty in him. “He my shiny brown boy. In his beauty I see my own” (139). The life that she couldn’t live, she wanted her son to live. If her son lives his life to the fullest, he would also live her life as well. She wanted him to give all the rights and happiness that she couldn’t get. He was only her hope, to live her rest of the life as a normal happy life. I think by giving him the attention that she couldn’t get from her parents, her soul was in peace that at least she tried her best to be good to her child. Her name is Precious, but it’s not just her name, she is a precious woman. Even after going through all that she gave her son the best life that she could. I just hope that when her son grows up, he would do the same for her. This would make her feel that she is really precious. It will be her victory over her parents that she is nothing like them.

In His Beauty I See My Own

"PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE

                                                      

 “PUSH” by Sapphire is a very shocking novel. It’s also an awareness to the reader about all those women who have been sexually and physically abused. I think the novel speaks innocence and the pain in precious life. While I was reading it, some of the moments were like I wanted to cry. I was not able to read any further, but I had to with a hope of whether Mrs. Precious Jones will get what she deserves or not. I can’t believe that Mrs. Precious Jones has been through the things I can’t even imagine. I mean how your own father can do that to you. Your father is the one who teaches you about your life and all the right principals to live in a society as a good human being. Your father is like a second God for you, who direct you to a right path of life. A child has a lot of expectation from his parents. Parents are the one, who love a child as their only precious thing. A child means everything to them. They are always willing to do anything for their child. The only goal in their life is to give their child a best life they can. But Precious Jones, she never had that good moment in her life. Her mother and father always disrespected her by abusing her sexually and physically. Her father got her pregnant, when she was only twelve. “Twelve”, when she was child herself. She did not even know, what it means to be pregnant. But, her father never cared. He even asked his own daughter to marry him. I think he is biggest destroyer of her life. Being a good father is far enough, he couldn’t even respect the relation of a daughter and father. “I’m gonna marry you, he be saying. First he mess up my life fucking me, then he mess up fucking talkin. You my daddy, fucking me illegal” (24). I mean it’s unbelievable to even think about. When I read this part, I felt like I wanted to kill her daddy. He’s a biggest stain on this earth and he got no right to live. He got her pregnant again, when she was sixteen. A second baby from her father was a feeling like someone’s pushing her into the kiln. I think only a husband has the right over a women’s body, but for Precious it was her father.

 Another fact that was lacking in Precious life till she was sixteen was education. She went to school, but no one pay attention to her. I think the biggest thing Precious was lacking in her life was “ATTENTION” and “HOPE”. No one pay attention to her needs. At home or school, no one cared whether she is getting what she needs in her life. She did wanted to learn like other kids, but she never found someone who could direct her to the right path. “I always did like school, jus’ seem school never did like me” (37). Because of appearance and being black, she could never make any friends. I think because no one helped her, God was there for her. I think God was the one who helped her to go through all the bad times and gave her courage to not to end her life, but live through those sorrowful circumstances that a normal girl can never live, which makes Precious a special or a precious girl. I think her name says everything. Her name in just not a name, it’s a signal for the world that she is really a precious girl, who is chosen by God and very unique to him. That’s the reason she met Mrs. Rain, who showed her a different path of life. Who taught Precious, her ABC and made her aware of the world. Mrs. Rain was the first person, who Precious liked. “I want to hug kiss Miz Rain. She make me feel good” (55). She didn’t even love her children as her own children. She considered them raped children, but because of Mrs. Rain she did took care of Abdul as her son. She couldn’t love him, but she also didn’t hate him. She gave/taught him all things that she couldn’t get. When he was hardly talking, he knew his ABC, which tells us that Precious was very good at heart. She didn’t left him considering he was from her father, but she gave him a batter life then her own. I think that Mrs. Rain is also responsible for that. I considered Mrs. Rain as her mother, who actually forced her to do what was right. Precious needed someone who can respond back to her questions, who she can share her feeling with. That was Mrs. Rain; she shared everything with her, which makes me think Mrs. Rain as her mother. Mrs. Rain was the reason, who made Precious like to write. “I mean thas what had made me really like writhing in the beginning, knowing Mrs. Rain gonna write me back when I talk to her” (94). I think I’m very lucky to have good parents and teachers. I can’t even imagine being on Precious place. It shivers me when I even think about all the circumstances that she went through. I thank God for giving me good parents and the teachers who have put to the right path of life. I just hope, whatever happened with Precious Jones, would never happen to another Precious Jones.

FUN HOME………..4

                                       

My overall response to “Fun Home” is kind of in the middle. It was not that great experience reading it, but a good experience trying to follow the pictures with the commentary. I don’t think that it has a very strong message. It was definitely a great idea for Alison to write her story as a graphical novel. I think her idea of writing the novel with pictures in it was to show the expressions on family’s faces. Pictures tell the reader a different story than reading the commentary alone. Alison’s family is very different than a normal family. Through the pictures, you can see their moods changing. Some pictures show a perfect and a happy family, and some shows like it’s not a family, like they don’t know what a normal family is. This story is little about the family, but more about a daughter and her father. I think in some ways, they were same. Alison probably denied that her father was not a perfect man, but some how she followed his foot step. It was probably that her father’s image was unclear to her. Her father’s changing characters probably took her away from him, but still she was very connected to him. Even though he was not that nice to the children at most times, but still he cared about Alison. He showed his rights over her. He used to give bath, dress her, and teach her how to do things. Just like a normal father, he would scold her when she wouldn’t follow what he asked her to do. When he didn’t see the barrette on her head and Alison made an excuse by saying that it fell out, he said, “I don’t care! Next time I see you without it, I’ll wale you” (97). So, I think he was not a bad person, but probably the circumstance in his life made him in the way he was. I would call him a multi-character, who doesn’t live a one character life. By reading this novel, I felt that it was only her father, who she was close to, because I really didn’t see any deeper connection with her mother or her siblings. I think she was just confused about her father, but really admired him. After her father’s death, she probably realized what he really was and published this novel for him. Overall, it was a good novel, but the title really disconnected me from the book. I wish it was a different topic.

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.