Empowerment Through Our Individualisim: February 2011

My Reaction

I first heard about The Vagina Monologues in my womens literature class in college. It amazed me of how many people actually already knew about it and how they already began to take part in the V-Day movement. Now that I've read the book I wish I had the time to see the actual monologues performed live. But, it's kind of hard being a full time student, with a full time job, and trying to maintain a healthy campus life.

My first reaction upon reading this book was an initial shock and curiousity to me. I was amazed that we were actually going to read a book about Vaginas but, it became a curiosity to me when i began to wonder what the book was going to be about as a whole. It amazed me so much that i just picked the book up a week before the class was suppose to and began reading. I was reading it in class, at work, even on the bus. It was so inspiring that i couldn't put it down. When I finally finished the book, I felt like it was so inspiring that i made my twelve year old cousin read it. She read it in an hour but, it amazed me how interesting it was to her. She couldn't put it down either. My cousin let her stay with me because she is becoming of age and she needed me to talk to her about certain things. When I got done talking to her I let her read the book and occasionally she would ask me what this meant and what that means. I would reply and realizing that she was curious and to some extent it was teaching her things that I would ever be able to teach her.

The next day i brought her to my grandmother house and all the old lady's was curious about what I was holding. When I finally let them read the book they we applaud. They told me to hide the cover and not let anybody see it. Since i already read the book I found their reaction very interesting. I felt that if they would just read the book themselves then they would understand Ensler's purpose.When I left out to go home they told me to hide the book. I shook my head and left. But, what amazed me the most was that I actually hid the book in my coat. At that moment I realized that maybe I didn't really understand the importance of the book? Maybe I should re-read the book? Then I began to think deeper; it's not the book that I didn't understand, it's the application of the context to our society that I needed to work on and trying to tear away generations and generations of history to the new era's physical morals.

I leave today asking u this: Would you walk to the bus

stop late at night with a book that says Vaginas as the title?

Does this make u more or less of a better person if u did or didn't?

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The Vagina Monalogues

Question #3

Ensler's two goals of celebrating vaginas and raising awareness for women violence was set on both aspects throughout The Vagina Monologues and in the real world. I believe that it played an important role in both goals because Ensler thought outside the box and actually performed the monologues in front of live audiences; thus creating a personal connection through emotion and language. Tone most likely played an important aspect as well because usually when u hear someone’s tone change it makes it easier to create your own personal connection to the story that is being told. Ensler went even further and created something called The V-Day Movement. The V-Day Movement is a movement that demands violence to stop (pg. 174) it is usually most popular around February. Ensler uses her monologues to justify the importance of how crucial the violence of women can be; thus raising awareness. Ensler believes that "by taking V-Day worldwide, we can have the opportunity to use this powerful work as a catalyst for shifting our view of our personal relationship to violence and what is possible in a civil society" (pg. 176). Evidently V-Day must be effective because "In just three years, V-Day has raised and donated more than a million dollars to grassroots organizations that fight violence against women worldwide." (pg. 174)

I feel as if these two goals intertwined because if Ensler is trying to promote V-Day through women violence then a connection is made between vaginas due to the fact that it supports women in general. Although, there is a difference in the way she delivers these messages. When talking about vaginas Ensler delivers this through her monologues and during her monologues you can see through her language and through others people body language, tone and presence she celebrates vaginas. Throughout the monologues she actually gives facts about vaginas, in which I found very interesting. My favorite story was "The Flood", because at the end of the story the lady became upset, turned her body away and then u felt a sense of relief in her when she say, "You know, actually, you're the first person I ever talked to about this, and I feel a little bit better." (pg. 30) At this point in the monologues it became clear to me and this is when everything began to tie into each other and I finally learned the importance of The Vagina Monologues.

Reading the monologues all as one piece give you the full effect of the monologues itself because u tend to understand Ensler's style of writing better when you keep reading it. I personally read the book in one sitting because it interested me that much. During this sitting I had to read certain monologues over and over again and sometimes I even had to flip back to stories I already read while I was in the middle of a monologue because I wanted to put certain pieces of the puzzle together. This book was really great and I wish I would've participated in the actual play when it came to our campus because I feel like only then I would've got the full emotional aspect of the monologues. I recommend this book to any and everyone no matter what the age! A+...

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The Vagina Monologues

Question #1

The genre of this piece of literature is drama, meaning that Ensler wrote these monologues to be performed. (Jennifer Guarino, click sentence for citation) I believe that Ensler wants vaginas to be publicly performed because through emotion, tone, presence, and public speaking people are able to gain a pesonal connection to what others are trying to portray. In Ensler's case she wanted the audience to except vaginas in the public eye; that's why she included "Vagina" in the title. Vagina is a word that is so unspoken of that we are become uneducated about its importance. We become so uneducated that it effects us women emotionally and physically to the point that we become unhappy, mute, and sexually frustrated; thus rendering us from life itself. This is part of the reason that Ensler wants The Vagina Monologues to be hear to everyone, male or female.

In a males case, she wants them to understand the importance of a vagina in a woman's life, no matter what age they maybe. Throughout the novel Ensler has a common thread of sexual abuse toward women all around the word and each story she told about sexual abuse included males. I feel that if males understand the importance of the negativity that they have caused to some of these women then they wouldn't do them the harm. In a women's case Ensler wants them to understand much more. She wants them to know that their vagina is a beautiful thing and that it should be treated as if it were. It must be treated physically, mentally, unconsciously, consciously, as well as physically spoken, in its correct manner. I get the sense that through this a women can receive self actualization; giving the ability to relax and confide in more important things in life while not holding to so much animosity toward themselves, others, and their vaginas.

If we as humans can see our Vaginas in a positive manner instead of a negative manner then it would cause positive energy, which makes others around us happy, and making others happy makes the world a better a place to live. During reading The Vagina Monologues Ensler tries to get women to open up to her about the word Vagina in general. You see it hard for women to express this and except the word. But, once they do u notice how at ease they are and relaxed that they could confide in someone about their unconscious negative stimuli. You also see their new perspective on the word as well. But, the stories and the people in them are not the only ones who perspectives actually changed; Ensler and the reader (me) has changed as well. (I personally thought of the word vagina as negative too) Not only does my newly profound insight of the word change but the way I perceive my vagina (and hopefully other readers) changes as well. Through various occasions in Ensler shows through visualization how the vagina looks, smells, feels, etc. And it can't make you help but wonder about the things u never wondered before. Which leads to why she wrote the monologues in the first place; she wanted us to understand and except this concept.

So, my question to you is:

"If you could dress your vagina what would it wear?" (The Vagina Monologues)

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Krik? Krak! (Motherhood Thread)

Kirk? Krak!, was a very inspirational book to Haitian's and Women. The most influential part to me though is the common thread of motherhood. Edwidge Danticat tends to tie this thread through a Madonna a lot. A Madonna is actually another name for Mary, the mother of Jesus. When you usually see or hear of a Madonna who is holding a baby (as you do several times throughout the book) it is referring to Mary holding Jesus. Thus, meaning a mother’s love and dedication to her child. In the short story Nineteen Thirty-Seven it talks about the Madonna a lot. In this story it symbolizes the ownership of a mother. Manman is using the Madonna as a remembrance and replacement of the love and belonging of her mother who was brutally killed in the 1937 Massacre while she escaped with her child. When Manman dies at the end of the story she tells her daughter to use the Madonna to hopefully always have a mother with her.

"When I am completely gone, maybe you will have someone to take my place. Maybe you will have a person. Maybe you will have some flesh to console you. But if you don't, you will always have a Madonna."

With this topic I could go on and on but I don’t want to focus on the Madonna too much. Motherhood is my keep topic therefore in every story Danticat told she mentioned a mother figure. Every mother in almost every story gave their daughter history, obedience, loyalty and some since of words of wisdom that they too should pass onto their future children. One example of this would be in The Missing Peace:

“That I already have posterity. I was once a baby and now I am an old woman. That is posterity.” (pg. 108)

Page 120 links to the previous quote and shows that the young girl actually learns from her grandmother:

“We already had posterity,” I said.
“When?”
“We were babies and we grow old”
“You’re still young,” she said. “You’re not old.”
“My grandmother is old for me.”

These examples that I have given you are only a very little bit of the vast knowledge through motherhood that Danticat is trying to portray but there are very more. If the class called for a five to ten page essay on just this one topic then I could most definitely keep on writing but, it doesn’t. So I hope you guys keep on reading!

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Night Woman Analysis

Night Woman was truly an inspirational story to me; it showed the innocence of a child as well as the care and loving of a mother through hard work, sacrifice, and dedication.

When reading this story I got the feeling that although the mother was sleeping with all these men to make ends meet, she was also doing it to fill a void in her. Maybe it was the loving and belonging of a male figure in her life.

"For a brief second, I almost mistake him

for the ghost of his father, an older

lover who disappeared with the night's

shadows a long time ago." (pg. 88)

"Should my son wake up,

I have prepared my fabrication...

I will tell him that his father has come,

that an angel brought him back

from Heaven for a while." (pg. 88)

Although I truly feel this way based on these quotes I also know for a fact that she doesn't really like what she is doing to herself; she opens up her story by saying:

"I cringe from the heat of the night on my face.

I feel s bare as open flesh.

Tonight I am much older than the twenty-five years

that I had lived.

The night is the time I dread

most in my life. Yet if I am to live,

I must depend on it." (pg. 83)

She talks about how much she hates it and then closes the paragraph off by saying that she must depend on it in order to live to show that she needs to do it to take care of her family (son). Based on the bible, as a woman you are the one to take care of the house; cooking, cleaning, loving, etc. Danticat expresses this throughout various writings in Kirk? Krak!

Another thing that Edwidge Danticat does in this short story that I liked very much was the imagery that she placed in the story. It's almost like she painted a picture of son like a goddess or of the highest person known. This is how you know that the character is suppose to be focused on more therefore the innocence of a child. I'm only going to give one example of this:

"It doesn't take long before he is snoring softly.

I listen for the shy laughter of his most

pleasant dreams. Dreams of angels skipping

over his head and occasionally

resting their pink heels on

his nose." (pg. 87)

When reading this passage you can actually image how pure and innocent the son must look if the mother envisioned angels dancing around his face while he is sleeping. Sleeping is another aspect of the story that shows innocent due to the fact that when most people or sleep they are in an unconscious state and their true selves are revealed and capture as majority of the time innocent and pure.

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19 Varieties Of Gazelle

When it comes to poetry there is always a higher meaning in what the author is trying to portray; Naomi Shihab Nye portrays this very well in her writing of 19 Varieties of Gazelle. She introduces us by saying that,

“poetry slows us down, cherishes small details…We need poetry for nourishment and for noticing, for the way language and imagery reach comfortably into experience, holding and connecting it more successfully than any news channel we could name.” (xvi)

If you read between the lines Nye wanted her readers to take her poetry serious and realize the effects that 9/11 had on her culture as well as American’s culture, especially in her case seeing that they both intertwined. Nye also wants us to see that though poetry we tend to take our time and add a personal connection to it, that’s why she states that “it more successfully than any new channel we could name”. When people use poetry it’s almost never a politician or a person of higher authority therefore it’s usually the common folk. That’s what makes it so special to others because it’s someone they feel equal to and have a sense of companionship.

Throughout my reading of this book I couldn’t help but wonder, “Why would Nye name this book 19 Varieties of Gazelle?” As you read you slowly understand why she does this. The number nineteen does represent anything in particular but a bunch, therefore when you visualize 19 different varieties of a gazelle’s you get the sense that none of them are the same, yet at the same time they are of a group that are all called one name. This is very significant in this reading because Nye tries to portray a since of peace and equality amongst EVERYONE, not only the Palestinian’s and American’s. But she focuses on these two cultures in general because she herself and media has made them an issue due to the 9/11 tragedy. It is also significant because not only are humans of different varieties but we are all named as one “humans”. If this is true then you can’t help but wonder “Why can’t we all live in peace?” That’s way Nye’s sole purpose is to try to bring peace amongst everybody and not let a few bad seeds bring down a whole nation. Nye tries to portray this in many themes; some of the common ones are media, violence, contradictory, innocence, culture, language, knowledge, peace, hope, and stereotypes.

Nye’s poetry all has a personal connection with a least one of her readers therefore my favorite poem in 19 Varieties Of Gazelle would have to be Flinn, On The Bus. I feel like this is my favorite poem because out of all her poems when I was doing my analysis on them, this is the only one where I pulled out the most information every other poem after that only added on to the mystery of whom she was and her personal beliefs. This poem touches everyone in both Palestinians and Americans. It shows the innocence of a man getting out of jail and how naïve he is to what is happening around him due to the fact that he has be secluded to a confide jail cell. And how he focuses on just himself and how he is going to better himself. On the other hand the other character is stuck in wonderment of how beautiful that can be and studies Flinn. Flinn faces a sense of freedom that Nye is trying to convey to her readers and shows that through her text.

“Flinn looked at his free hands more than fields, turned them over in his lap”

You see but these things are the obvious in her text. One thing that I noticed in Nye’s text is that although she wants to convey peace amongst people she knows that it will be a hard then for some to grasp. In this poem she shows that throught Flinn:

“It was not hard to nod,

to wish him well. But could I tell

what had happened in the world

on his long awaited day

what twist of rage greater

than we could ever guess

had savaged skylines, thousands of lives?

I could not. He’d find out

soon enough. Flinn, take it easy.

Peace is rough.” (xi)

This raises the question on how would his life in rage after he hears about 9/11? So, maybe that’s why the passenger sees him off with “peace is rough” because it’s going to be hard to refrain emotions and emotions must be released in order to maintain peace and happiness. Revenge, rage, and peace are common threads through this piece of literature which shows a correlation of negativity and how it has to come to a halt in order to maintain peace so it could turn into love, happiness and belonging.

There are two significant people in Nye's life which consist of her father and her grandmother. They both played a significant role in her life as well as her writings. Her father played a more mature yet innocent role that affected her greatly throughout her life and writings. He embedded culture in her through his storytelling, the significance of a fig tree, and language. His storytelling often related back to their culture through there gods and heroic characters.

"In the evenings he sat by our beds

Weaving folktales like vivid little scarves.

They always involved a figtree.

Once Joshua was walking down a road

and he saw a fig tree.

Or, he tied his camel to a figtree and went to sleep:

Or, later when they caught and arrested him,

his pockets were full of figs."

The figtree plays a significant part in her father’s life because it reminds him of his childhood in a sense. Almost like a freshly baked apple pie for Americans or the fresh summer breeze for people who live in the country. He also shows an innocent sense of enthusiasm through the poem especially when he calls Nye about his new fig tree in Texas; a place where he finally found home.

Her Grandmother on the other hand played a different type of role in her life and writing. It's almost like a motherly figure. She shows a sense of wisdom and encouragement. Just like almost anybody's grandmother who is always there and understands everyone and everything that is going on around her at all times. Her grandmother kind of reminds me of a MeMa. The Southern type of grandmothers that don't really exist anymore. Someone you could run to in the time of need but was once enslaved so she knows that struggle that she doesn't want her future generations to see. Another thing that her grandmother reminds me of is a wise witch. By witch I mean someone who practices healing powers, almost like an oracle or something of that matter. She knows what others do not know due to the fact that she is wise and has an open mind. Majority of people know in days are narrow minded and this makes it hard for them to see the big picture of what is going on around them.

Overall, Nye shows her dedication to family, peace, love, culture and poetry through her 60 writings in 19 Varieties of Gazelle, and I hope that everyone can get a sense of the peace that she demands from the world as well as the misinterpretation that the media has set on her culture. Which I believe could be very influential to various people if they just take the time to read her work and open up their minds.

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