Part I: Resistiendo la cultura que me empuja hacia lo liminal Between here and there, we embody the conflicting reality that we live in, in which patriarchal paradigms reign. In given world women are suppressed via culture. But it is the woman of color who carries most of the burden, for she is typically separated from her homeland and marginalized in Western society. Nevertheless, she is known for her resistance, not her captivity. In “Movimientos de rebeldía y culturas que traicionan,” Gloria Anzaldúa discusses; cultural tyranny, liminality, and resistance, all of which are highly relevant topics in both of Sandra Cisneros’ stories; “Woman Hollering Creek” and “Never Marry a Mexican.” According to Anzaldúa, cultural tyranny shapes our beliefs
Moreover, Anzaldúa emphasizes that women’s future was chosen by their culture; there are three directions that they could turn into: “to the church as a nun, to the streets as a prostitute, or to the home as a mother” (17). There was no such future for women as working or educated women in her culture. Women were forced to be as what their culture wanted them to be without rights to
In The Woman Warrior, Kingston develops the theme seed of strength and how Mulan demonstrates it to lead an army against the emperor in order to illustrate why Kingston looks up to Mulan for finding her motivation to go against the Chinese norms that follow her family to Chinatown. When Kingston enters the world in America, her mother immediately puts regulations on her so she will not be able to follow her dreams. At an older age mother repeatedly tells Kingston her future occupation when she gets older, a wife or a slave. Straight A Kingston refuses to have her dreams crushed so she looks to Mulan for inspiration to succeed in the Chinese culture. Mulan was a woman who lead an army whose purpose was to overthrow the emperor in the capital of
Kingston/Fa Mu Lan says: “I never told them the truth. Chinese executed women who disguised themselves as soldiers or students, no matter how bravely they fought or how high they scored on the examinations” (Kingston 39). Thus, by putting on male clothes and the choice of silence, she becomes a strong woman (Parrott ). Unfortunately, silence as a powerful discourse and “weapon against her enemies” (Parrott ) only seems to work in the fictionalized tale of Fa Mu Lan. Towards the end of the second chapter, Kingston realizes that she cannot use silence as a weapon in the real world.
Discursive Weaknesses in Anzaldua’s Borderland/La Frontera In Anzaldua’s Borderland/La Frontera, she emphasizes on the need to recreate identity and a sense of radicalism in Chicanas (Mexican American) women. This sociopolitical movement was sparked due to the injustices that Chicanas among (others especially) people of different race, gender and class, who have been oppressed by the forces of racism, imperialism and sexism. However, Anzaldua’s feeble attempts to involve male participation in this movement have provided various shortcomings in her novel. This reveals her presumptuous prediction that the reign of male domination is at its end, expecting men to scoot aside allowing women to ultimately rule. Masculinity in Borderlands/ La Frontera serves as the precepts of discussion as it relates to male participation in re-writing religious history, formulating the identity of the new Mestiza, advancing the feminist movement and negating the power structure that emanate power to males in society.
Neel Khanna Mrs. Meahl IB English III August 11, 2014 Beginnings in The Woman Warrior The Woman Warrior is a collection of memoirs in which Maxine Hong Kingston writes about the people and events which help shape her thinking and her girlhood growing up as a Chinese-American. Kingston discusses these most salient events and idols in five separate chapters, including the first chapter in which Kingston reveals the fate of her father’s sister to place the reader in the midst of things, effectively grabbing the reader’s attention. The chapter progresses forward with the introduction of the themes of fear, bravery and the Chinese culture, all of which resound throughout the book. By beginning her book with an important moment in Kingston’s
I say, "And so she trudged up the wooden stairs, her sad brown shoes taking her to the house she never liked." (Cisneros,1984). The ability of Esperanza to make her life a story is the reason she can bare everything she goes through and a way to find maturity and her identity. We can see how Esperanza tries to become more independent and how she is able to identify the barriers that most of their family members have. She tells us about how her great-grand mother (whose name is Esperanza) have lived contemplating the view from the window like looking for some escape.
The only way they would receive some kind of respect was midwifery. Centuries later women began to gain courage and stand up for what they believe in. Just like till now our courage keeps going, for example some women felt like wearing a bra should be an option and not a requirement. Therefore many women stood up for what they believed in and the point is that you have to fight for what you want and what you believe. Babe Ruth once said ,“Never let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the
It centres round the trials and tribulations that she goes through because she dared to live life on her own terms. A young Muslim girl that grew up on the film sets watching, appreciating and learning the art of acting and dancing. When she becomes a teenager she performs a song in one of the films which infuriates her father making him taking the decision to marry her off to his best friend’s son. After struggling and rebelling she ends up accepting her father’s wishes. On the day of her child birth, because of a fight between her father and the father-in-law, Zubeidaa gets a divorce from her husband.
Nyasha is trying to adapt to the Shona culture since she is from Europe. Tambu is slowly drifting away from her old self when she got to the mission. Both of them suffers from the influence of colonial rule and gender inequality. In Nervous Conditions, African women are trying to free themselves from colonial rule, they also fighting against the effects of patriarchal traditions in the history of their culture. In the first of chapter of the novel, we have been introduced to the issue of gender inequality.