Before this semester I had never really put much thought into woman’s literature. Now, after a full semester of it I think I have an idea of what it may be. To me, woman’s literature is the stories and the real experiences of what it means to be a woman. Throughout this semester, the readings showed us a woman’s responsibilities, fears, maturation, wants, needs, and most importantly struggle. We read about women being jailed, beaten, raped, neglected, and used. All of these things led us to learning about another important thing and that is a woman’s strength. There were stories where we saw women raped as in PUSH, and 2 or 3 Things. In both of those stories we see the female characters pick themselves up and use their experiences to better themselves and to move forward. There were stories where we saw women dealing with a loss by death as in the Shawl, Butterflies, and our first book, 19 Varieties of Gazelle. Rosa watches Magda as she’s killed by a guard, Dede loses her father, though they were not close, and Naomi reflects of her grandmother and her thankfulness for her. A major subject we see a woman dealing with in these books is being a mother. We read about the love from a mother, the sacrifices a mother must make, the responsibilities of a mother, and how a mother can be reflected in their child. In PUSH, we see Precious is neglected, beaten, and used by her mother. She is never shown any love and is never appreciated. Her mother even uses Precious as a ploy to receive welfare. Precious’ mother never took her responsibilities as a mother seriously and that led her to allow Precious to be raped and to miss out on an education until Precious took it upon herself to find a way out. Because Precious felt and remembers what her mother did to her and made her feel, she promises that her kids will be a priority to her. Because of her responsibility as a mother, Precious takes her education more seriously and tries to put her and Abdul in a better position in the future. My favorite book was by far The Vagina Monologues. Eve Ensler uses a perfect mix of humor and emotion to portray the reality of a woman’s experiences and maturation. One story I will remember most from the Vagina Monologues is the story about the young girl and her first experience with menstruation. I think that these monologues are most prominent to me because of how they tell a story of something so frowned upon to talk about…to men at least. As a man I never want to read of hear about a woman and what they experience during that “period”. It’s something you just don’t think about. Ensler makes it bearable and actually interesting to read about because of the quotes she uses like “Twelve years old. I was happy. My friend had a Ouija board, asked when we were going to get our periods, looked down, and I saw blood.” Things like that don’t make it so gruesome.
- What is important to women in history, relationships, education, their bodies, self-identity, progress, and expression?
Education/Progress: Education is important to women because it shows motivation, it shows a sense of wanting to better ones self and to be in control. We see this most in PUSH. In push we see that when Precious tries to move forward and earn a better education that her mother tries to stop her. Her mother seems as if she is jealous that Precious may have more opportunities or taken advantage of more opportunities than she was able to. Precious uses education as a way to propel herself out of the hood. Education is progress to women.
Relationships: Relationships are important to women because like anyone else, women need to feel a sense of belonging. Look at the women from the Eve Ensler film we watched. In prison, these women rely on one another to get through their days and many of them will rely on each other to get through their lives. They have all been through terrible experiences and because of that they can relate to one another and cope with one another.
Body: The female body we see and read about in the Vagina Monologues. Ensler connects woman’s personalities and experiences to their Vaginas. Through the monologues Ensler emphasizes the importance of the vagina to the woman as a whole. She shows us that the Vagina is one of the many things that makes a woman so special, so unique, but also so vulnerable.
Identity: Identity is something that is also very important. We see this with Dorothy in 2 or 3 Things I know for sure. Dorothy sees what her older female family members have become. She sees how unhappy they are, how they are like a door mat for men, how they just take a back seat. She also sees how they treat her and it’s not lovely. She takes her life into her own hands and creates her own identity, not the one that her family has all just fallen into. She teaches herself to love people and to be open. She is a passion woman and hasn’t followed in the footsteps of her family members.
As this class comes to an end I have learned in this course the importance of woman’s bodies, their minds, and their experiences. This course overall, emphasized on the sensitivity and also the strength that it takes to be a woman…
Sorry for the length. I became a little carried away. There was so much to about. Thanks You!
