I love you guys!!!!

Ok, so I know I am being sentimental since I am about to graduate (by the way, it never hit me until Friday during the McMurran ceremony.  While driving home from that, I got a little teary-eyed, not even gonna lie.)  Anyway, I just wanted to let everyone in the class know how much I enjoyed our class, our discussions, and the camaraderie.  It really has been a pleasure to be in this class, and I couldn't have asked for a better group of students to take this class with.

And of course Dr. H!  Even though I only took my first class with you last semester, I can safely say you, along with Dr. Messenger, are my favorite professors.  I feel so comfortable expressing my opinions, as I know you will always respect them even if you don't agree with them.  As Angela posted earlier, this is in no way an attempt to butter you up :)  I truly want you to know that your teaching habits have made me eager to come to your class. I have to wake up every M/W/F at 5:45 am to go to work, but I didn't dread those days since I got to partake in the class discussions in this class.  Please don't change anything, you are the bomb!

I know I have made jokes that I feel like everyone hates me in the class, but I knew I could play devil's advocate with you guys because everyone was passionate about certain topics.  It's been a fun semester, good luck to my fellow graduates!!  Hopefully I will see some of around campus next year :)

Give Me Something To Blog About :)

Yes, sorry, I had to do at least one Buffy reference this semester :) Angela's post inspired me to write a more reflective post that incorporates things I've learned all semester. We've read a lot of really great classics from Pride & Prejudice to The Sun Also Rises--texts some of us love and hate for various reasons--as well as shorter stories like "A New England Nun," Trifles, and "The Yellow Wall-paper." And Dr. H was right in class the other day when she said that she thought I liked everything we had read. Honestly, I think the only text I've absolutely hated with a passion was when I was forced to read The Hobbit in 7th grade...no offense to any hobbit-lovers out there. But I did find something valuable in everything...

- Oscar Wao will stick with me for a while. It was one of the saddest texts I've read, but I could definitely identify with his loneliness. The scene I keep coming back to--besides his death scene--was when he created the after school Sci-Fi club to get students involved with his interests...and no one showed up. It was heart-breaking to me that even the "nerdy" kids didn't want to engage with him. But on a deeper level, Oscar Wao was a great novel about cultural diversity and heritage that gives a different perspective into someone else's world and the struggles they face.

- The Awakening is something I will definitely read again. I liked Edna because she was trying to fight back against the norms of society, a world where women were shadows of their husbands and were identified by his last name. No, I don't agree with all of the decisions that she made about herself and her children, but I don't think she was a terrible mother--I've seen much worse. Having the privilege and prestige of a nanny, she simply didn't know how to fit them into her life because perhaps she never felt like a mother. However, I do recognize that her abilities as a mother could have been exercised more along with her ambitions of becoming independent.

All of the shorter works we've read in class, I have really enjoyed as well. I had never read Mary Wilkins Freeman before, nor Charlotte Perkins Gilman, two authors I have now added to my favorites list. Overall, I am able to easily distinguish masculine characteristics from feminine characteristics, and how they compell each other. Any time I think of such a debate, my mind automatically goes back to the old sporting event commercials that were popular in the 90's (Women athletes to male athletes: "Anything you can do, I can do better, I can do anything better than you.") Now imagine that saying applied to feminist writers back in the day against their masculinist critics--for any feminist, that should put a smile on your face :)

Last time, with Finality!

So this is going to be the last post. Kinda sad, but hey, last post right? This class has been a really awesome and I've really enjoyed the opportunity to discuss all of the texts with you guys.

Through the semester we have read a good number of "feminine" texts and several neutral texts but very few masculine texts. Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises was easily arguable as a masculine text because the focus is almost exclusively on the masculine issues of Jake, the narrator. The most pervasive issue is that of Jake's impotence and how that effects his relationship with Lady Bret. His war injury makes it difficult or impossible to  *ahem* rise to the occasion, and this makes a relationship with the sexually vivacious Bret an impossibility, lending to the airs of depression that happen whenever Bret is in the same city as Jake. However, whenever Jake is separate from Bret and, most notably while he is on the fishing trip, is happiest when in the company of other men.

The other masculine text is our most recent one, Junot Diaz's The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. This entry is very interesting as I would call it masculine not because of it's content but the way it is presented, partially anyways. Most of the story is told by Yunior, and his style of storytelling is completely soaked in the unique Dominican hyper-masculinity that we discussed in class. This is embodied by the way Diaz describes female bodies, with the special emphasis on breasts. This is interestingly countered by the times that the story is told by Lola, which gives the story another perspective that compliments the hyper-masculinity by showing the repressed femininity that results from the pervasive masculinity that is essentially Dominican. 

Last Thoughts…Last Blog…Last Semester

This is my final blog post as a Shepherd student.  I have enjoyed a lot of the texts we have covered this semester.  I would like to take a moment to briefly reflect on my favorites.  I love Fanny Fern!  I have read her before and always enjoy her humorous approach to the male/female dyad.  One of my favorite lines is from Fern’s “Hints to Young Wives” when she states “that too much of a good thing is good for nothing” (Fern 2101).  It is so true!  I was fascinated by Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s piece “The Yellow Wall-paper.”  I had read it before in Dr. H.’s class but was not so drawn into that time (sorry Dr. H).  This time I could visualize the room and the characters and the ending sent shivers up my spine when I pictured her “creeping” around the room and over her husband body. My favorite book for the semester was originally “The Awakening,” but then I read “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.”  Both are brilliantly written and easily readable.   I will say that I felt more pity for Beli then for Oscar (I know many disagree).  I think it is because I could relate to the young Beli.  I remember, as a young teenager, sitting outside of my parent’s home dreaming of the day I could escape.  I had unrealistic fantasies, just like Beli, and I think that is why I identify with her character so much.  It could also be that I am just more sympathetic to female characters in not-so-great situations (sorry guys).

Dr. H- I met you for the first time in Advanced Comp (Buffy class) and Intro to Literary Study.  These were two very different classes and I wasn’t sure what to make of you at first.  It was during that semester that I realized just how versatile and multi-dimensional you are!  You are an awesome professor and definitely one of my top favorites.  What I love most about your teaching style is your ability to get respect from a classroom without having to belittle students, or assert your superiority and knowledge over them.  You value and welcome everyone’s opinion even if it conflicts with yours.  You attempt to convey the value of every text we have read even when we don’t realize its value at the time.  You transmit a warmth and friendliness that puts people at ease.  I want you to know all these things, not because I want a better grade, but because I think it’s important for you to know all the things you do RIGHT!  There are a number of professors (whose names I will not mention) that could learn a lot from you on how to be a better teacher.  Anyway, before I contribute further to your cranial expansion, I want to say that I have enjoyed this class and think your choice of reading selections gave me a better understanding of Literature and the Sexes.  See you at graduation!

I hope everyone has a great summer!

Is gender on its way out?

Throughout this semester, we have been questioning texts in their male or female contexts. We've been constantly discussing role reversals and rejections as well as gender being the source of dis-empowerment. While these are all extremely interesting to talk about within their historical contexts, I wonder if the importance of gender is on its way out. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not intending to beat the "I can wear dresses and be a construction worker if I want" theme over the head. I think that there are many inequalities in our country that are based on sex differences. There is still a glass ceiling and it seems like a female's reproductive rights are on everyone's mind right now(which is totally weird hearing a bunch of old dudes discuss ovaries). This being said, I am a firm believer that throughout history and today, things get their worst before they get better.

 I feel like society is in a place right now that is very feminine focused, for better or for worse. I think that the issues of men get ignored and discounted. No one talks about how damaging things like promiscuity and gender roles are onto the men of our society. There aren't countless magaznes dedicated to how men can learn to like themselves more and break societal norms. Many women are lashing out against the stereotype of the male sex addict by trying to make it mean less to them. We've all heard the old "have sex like a man" or "do business like a man" or for God's sake "THINK like a man". These are so harmful to both genders, and I believe that like many problems in our society (race, class, sexual orientation) the only way to make things better is to stop insisting that there are inherent differences. There is no weaker, smarter, more sensitive, talented or sexually active sex. I believe that our genders and all of the things that they represent are being edged out slowly. Does anyone believe that our society needs gender roles to function?

Last (Belated) Thought on the Yellow Wallpaper

After thinking about what Kyla had said in her blog post about "The Yellow Wallpaper", I thought I'd give one last thought on the matter. I reject the reading of "The Yellow Wallpaper" as being a feminist text, particularly after hearing Ryan say that the rest cure was also prescribed for men. To my mind, Gilman's story is not about the mistreatment of a woman by the patriarchy (and unfortunately, I used that as part of my final paper--please don't fail me, Dr. Hanrahan), but rather the ignorance of the medical world at the time as well as the indifference of "professionals" to the patient's own input. Horrifying medical practices, far worse than the rest cure, have appeared throughout medical history, even (relatively) recently. The practice of lobotomizing patients, effectively killing who they were, began in 1935 (37 years after The Yellow Wallpaper was written, so there was not a massive improvement in the medical profession as a whole in that time), and electroshock therapy began three years after that.

It is worth noting, however, that women were the recipients of these practices more often than men. So, were there discriminatory practices, intentional or unintentional, against women in the medical world in those days? Most likely. Would John have treated his patient with more respect and listened to her complaints more carefully if she had been a man? Maybe. But that doesn't mean that "The Yellow Wallpaper" was written to decry the mistreatment of women. The lessons in the story can be applied to male patients just as easily as female. It seems not to argue against the patriarchy so much as against harmful medical treatment. And believe me, the medical world is still evolving, and mistreatment or misdiagnoses of patients, male and female, still occur today.

Because we just haven't talked about Beli enough

There has been a lot of discussion in class about Beli and I thought I would throw in my two cents. I am actually in defense of Beli. Most of the class has held a negative opinion of her, but I see her as a good mother; maybe not the nicest or most compassionate, but good in her intentions.

As far as her lass then kind attitude with her children, I think it all is her method of “tough love.” It’s been suggested by others in the class that Beli’s surly approach to parenting is her attempt at doing the complete opposite of what La Inca did. Because La Inca was not very strict and allowed Beli to get away with inappropriate behavior, Beli ended up getting pregnant, beaten up, and abandoned. Though it was not all La Inca’s fault Beli could have seen it that way, so her controlling manner is just an attempt to save her children, especially Lola, from her own mistakes.

Beli’s relationship with Lola is probably the most controlling between her two children. When Lola runs away to be with Aldo, it would be natural for Beli to connect that to her past when she left to be with the gangster. She wanted to save her from that future in any way possible. Also, when Beli sees Lola for the first time in fourteen months she says “Cono, pero tú sí eres fea.” (Díaz 208). This is a very harsh and disheartening statement from mother to daughter. However, was Beli’s beauty not the thing that got her in so much trouble? Possibly, she was trying to keep Lola’s self confidence low so she would not use her sexuality like Beli did.

Also, I think Beli was ultimately trying to help them deal with the fukú in their future. She knew they would have to face the curse of their family, so she tried to prepare them. Beli was not the best mother, but she was just trying the best she knew how. Did she not do a pretty good job in the end? She did put both of her children through college on a single mother’s wages. I never questioned her love as a mother, just her capability of kindness.