All posts by Jesus Ayala C.

Marriage Proposal

Chekhov, Drama/Theater

Marriage Proposal

            Is the “marriage proposal” an outdated commentary on marriage, on gender roles, and on how the perfect proposal should be? Or is still reflected in culture today?

            In my opinion, I think that marriage proposals are still reflected in culture today. Working as a nail technician at a nail salon in Staten Island. I often had excited clients coming to the nail salon to get their nails done for this special occasion. Some of these ladies were my regular clients and others were people who were just looking for a nail salon to get their nails ready for the proposal.  With regular clients, we built relationships in which we get to know them well just like if we were best friends. We know when they have boyfriends, when they break up with them, when their relationships are long and serious, and we also know when they are going to be proposed.

            After being proposed and when it is time to get a new manicure, clients return to the nail salon. This nail appointment is very interesting and exciting too, because we get to know all the details of the proposal ceremony. Some clients get proposed on a cruise trips, on the beach, at a nice dinner in a fancy restaurant, at a dinner home, etc.

            I believe that marriage proposal will never be a thing of the past. I feel that nowadays marriage proposals are more common, and gender diversified in terms of gender of sex. Unlike a century ago, marriage proposals were only a man thing. Today, females can propose males, males can propose males, females can propose females.

Mine Eyes Have Seen

Drama/Theater, Dunbar-Nelson

What Mine Eyes Have Seen

In “Mine Eyes Have Seen”, the play does not teach piety and virtue. Instead, it teaches what Plato depicted as “hold the mirror up to the nature”. The play teaches amoral citizen behavior such as crime and racism. For instance, this family move to a new city where they were being harassed by white people, who did not want them there just because of the color of their skin.  In “Mine Eyes Have Seen”, Dan says “notices posted on the fence for us to leave town because niggers had no business having a decent home.”

In “Mine Eyes Have Seen”, the play also teaches crime and unpunishment. The house of this newcomer family was burned by the racist people and with that the family goals and plans were literally destroyed. Dan says, “To see them go up in the smoke of our burned home” referring to their plans. Their father was also killed and the person who committed the crime was never incarcerated. Chris says, “Must I go and fight for the nation that let my father’s murder go unpunished.”

What it means to say Phoenix, Arizona.

Alexie, Fiction

In “What it means to say Phoenix, Arizona”, I think the colonization affected Victor’s friends and family economically and socially. I think they were affected economically because they were no jobs and no resources for them. Victor’s father moved to Phoenix probably to find a job so he could live better. Perhaps, because he was indian he was never hired and ended up living in a trailer. When Victor’s father died, Victor called the Tribal Council for help but all he could get was 100 dollars, this makes me think that they do not get funds from the Government. I think they were affected socially because they were isolated in the Spokade region of Washington.

Marxism in the thirteenth night.

Fiction, Ichiyo

In the thirteenth night the Oseki who came from a low-class family and married Harada Osamu who belongs to the high class. Oseki’s relationship with her husband changed after she had her son Taro. Oseki’s husband started to abuse her verbally, calling her boring, worthless, etc. I think Oseki felt obliged to remain in the abusive marriage because she was economically stable, and probably did not want her son to grow up without a father. Oseki was thinking to leave her husband and when she found out that the man pulling the rickshaw was her old school classmate, she was so excited, she was asking him many questions perhaps she was hoping that her classmate progressed and was economically stable to start a relation, but he was poor and did not have a place to live. She chose to stay in the abusive relation for the rest of her life.

Feminism in Ichiyo

Fiction, Ichiyo

In the thirteenth night, during the Meiji era, women were allowed to go to school just to learn how to read and write. I believe only very few women had the opportunity to school for higher education like Ichiyo did. Women were probably be forced to get marry at a young age to have children and to stay home to cook for their husbands, clean the house and take care of the children. Women had to obey their husbands. I do not think women were allowed to work like women do now. I believe men and women are equal and should be treated equal. Although we are in 2022 but feminism still exist in some parts of the world. should be completely eradicated!

Chopin and Race

Chopin, Fiction

Does the writer’s race matter when the narrative deals with issues of race?

I do not think the race of the writer matters when the narrative deals with issues of race, because I believe that anyone can be a target of racism. Nowadays no one is exempt from racism or racial crimes. Racism against people of color is a thing of the past. An example of racism in the past can be found in Desiree’s baby short story. Desiree’s baby was born with dark skin, when Desiree’s husband Armand noticed that the baby had different color skin, he said to her “that child is not white; it means that you are not white” (Chopin 3). This racism thing caused Desiree’s marriage to fall apart. Desiree’s husband assumed that Desiree was not white, but it turned out that he was not white. He found a part of an old letter that Armand’s mother work to his father saying, “I thank the good God for having so arranged our lives that our dear Armand will never know that his mother, who adores him, belongs to the race that is cursed with the brand of slavery” (Chopin 5). In the 21 century I would like to say that there is not slavery and that interracial marriages a more common.

Chopin, Kate. “Desiree’s Baby.” Gothic Digital Series, 1893.