Doma

The vignettes from The House on Mango Street that personally affected me the most was “What Sally Said” and “Linoleum Roses.” Unlike Esperanza, who doesn’t have external problems for instance she has more loving/stable family. However, Sally in my opinion is less fortunate in that aspect. As seen in “What Sally Said” (Cisneros) she gets physically abuse by her father. “But Sally doesn’t tell about that time he hit her with his hands just like a dog, she said, like if I was an animal” (Cisneros.) In “Linoleum Roses” (Cisneros) we see that she is married at a young age; however its also revealed that she did it just to escape the abusive father. Sally even after her marriage is not save. Her husband constantly keeps her in watch and doesn’t let her go out. “She is happy, except sometimes her husband gets angry and once he broke the door where his foot went through, though most days he is okay. Except he won’t let her talk on the telephone. And he doesn’t let her look out the window. And he doesn’t like her friends, so nobody gets to visit her unless he is working”(Cisneros.)  This specific vignettes affected me the most because I felt Sally didn’t deserve all of that. It was heartbreaking for me read about her.

Which vignette from “The House on Mango Street” surprised you in some way, and why? The vignette from “The House on Mango Street” that surprised me the most is “Marin” where a teenage girl dreams of running away with her boyfriend from Puerto Rico. Marin’s longings can be surprising yet not unexpected. Which vignette intrigued you and why? The vignette that I found most intriguing is “The Three Sisters” as it talks about the three older sisters of her neighborhood who were befit to have magical powers. Which vignette puzzled you and why? “Those Who Don’t” is one of the vignette that puzzled me the most as the author talks about different people in her neighbor hood.

The other reading that resonate with the writing style of Raymond Carver’s “Cathedral” is “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara. Both the stories uses first person narrative. They are narrated by a single character who talk about their experiences. Furthermore, the writing style of Carver is similar to that of Bambara since both the writers uses simple, day to day language. In the story “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara our narrator, Sylvia, who lives in a poor neighborhood uses simple language to talk about her experiences, as she learns about the economical equality and social injustice face by her people. “So we heading down the street and she’s boring us silly about what things cost and what our parents make and how much goes for rent and how money ain’t divided up right in this country” (Bambara.) Sylvia uses day to day language to narrate the situation, and avoids using complex vocabulary. In this sentence, she repeatedly uses the word “and” which means the writing seem like a regular conversation. “She wanted to talk. They talked. He asked her to send him a tape and tell him about her life. She did this. She sent the tape. On the tape, she told the blind man she loved her husband but she didn’t like it where they lived and she didn’t like it that he was a part of the military-industrial thing” (Carver.) In this narration of a conversation/memory between the wife and the blind man the author writes in a way that makes it seem like the narrator is having a conversation with a friend.  

Most people argue that fairy tale are problematic and not good for children. However, I believe that people see what they want to see and it all depends on perspectives. Personally for me, cinderella was a kind soul and a hardworking character and all she wanted was to go to the ball. She never went there in the hopes that she will talk to the prince let alone marrying him. The topic for my Research essay is “Fairy Tales are Myths.” I decided to write on this topic because I feel like there are various kinds of fairy tales, not just about princesses waiting for their prince charming. I believe that we should be open different fairy tale genre and their moral vales. I would also love to add some points on childhood development. How a child is being affected mentally, physically and socially. Honestly, ever since I was little I have never read a fairy tale book but before writing this discussion I’ve for the first time watched the cinderella movie, read about little red riding hood and read some reddit post on fairy tales.

Bruno Bettleheim’s psychologically Oriented reading of “Snow White” interprets that the story is a young girl’s maturity and self discovery. “Snow White’s story teaches that just because one has reached physical maturity, one is by no means intellectually and emotionally ready for adulthood, as represented by marriage. Considerable growth and time are needed before the new, more mature personality is formed” (Bettleheim.) On the other hand, Anne Sexton’s interpretation of  “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” represents a darker and more complex perspective. “Meanwhile Snow White held court, rolling her china-blue doll eyes open and shut and sometimes referring to her mirror” (Sexton) “as women do.” Sexton’s poem delves into themes of societal expectations and the societies beauty standards. Unlike Bettelheim’s focus on personal development and fairy tale concept Sexton’s version offers expectations imposed on women.

In “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, the surface plot revolves around a family’s ill-fated road trip and their encounter with a criminal called The Misfit. However, the real depth of the story lies in its interior, where Flannery O’Connor explores profound themes of chance, grace and spiritual blindness. The story from the interior is not what lies on the external surface but what’s within. The characters, for instance the grandmother sees herself as a righteous and devout person however she is egocentric and racist from the inside. The author wants the readers to understand that the real depth of the story lies in its interior, the moral of the story being the characters inner conflicts and their search for meaning.

“Reading a poem is part attitude and part technique.” This quote from the reading “How to Read Poem” by Edward Hirsch reveals that to read a poem we require a sense of mindset and skills to interpret it. The poem that I most resonate is the poem “The Lake Isle of Innisfree“. For most people when they first read the poem they might find it easy to interpret it. Some might know it from the title itself and what the narrator is talking about. However, for me I didn’t know what Innisfree was so initially when I first read the poem I thought that the narrator must have wanted to go somewhere far. Far away from humans, away from everyone and everything. The afterlife or the haven I thought. Maybe it was meant to be a depressing poem. Nevertheless, after reading the lines again and discussing the poem together with classmates I found out that it was the lake the lake isle of Innisfree where the narrator wanted to visit. A place where he will find peace and joy “And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made” (Hirsch). After the pandemic I’ve learned or should I say enjoyed my own company so time to time I’ll think about building a house far away in the woods which is impossible right now so whenever I feel burnout I try to go to a quite place like the lake down the block, where there are few people and try to reset my mind. “And live alone in the bee-loud glade. And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow” (Hirsch). 

The greeting card lyrics in “Why Do I Love You So Much?” and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s sonnet “How Do I Love Thee?” both talk about love but use different words and styles. The greeting card as compared to the sonnet uses words that are simple and direct, focusing on love and trust in a relationship. The lines are short and don’t follow a particular pattern, making it sound like a regular conversation. “Because I trust you  more than anyone in the world  to listen, to help me through  to remind me how to laugh  when times are trying”. However, Browning’s sonnet is more complex. It uses fancy words and lots of comparisons to show deep and endless love. It follows a special pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables called iambic pentameter and has a structured rhyme scheme. it sounds like music to the ear. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach when feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace” (Browning). Unlike the greeting card the sonnet also uses metaphor such as a simile to compare their love “I love thee freely, as men strive for right”.

While reading the story of “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles some of the timeless human experiences and behaviors that I’ve noticed are blindness and pride. Oedipus is blind to the truth, both literally and metaphorically. As he refuse (the second behavior being his pride) to see what was right in-front of him, the truth, the divine prophesy. Oedipus’s literal and metaphorical blindness shows how we as humans can sometimes be “blind” to the truth, even when it’s right in front of us. The second timeless human experiences or behaviors being pride. Just as one puts it “For pride is spiritual cancer: it eats up the very possibility of love, or contentment, or even common sense” (Lewis). Oedipus’s pride in his ability to control his own fate ultimately served to fulfill the prophecy leading to unintended consequences and a tragic ending. His excessive pride led to his inability to see the truth.

COVID 19 was a plague that affected the modern world. Countries like the US and India faced lots of challenges during the pandemic. I was in India when the deadly virus was infecting majority of the population. We were in quarantine with limited supplies and boundless restrictions. The country as a whole faced rapid spread of the virus causing storage of oxygen and ventilators. Due to large number of population in India people living in populated areas were unable to get beds in hospitals which led to people dying before getting any treatment. Likewise in the play “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles the people of Thebes were facing a plague. “King, you yourself have seen our city reeling like a wreck already; it can scarcely lift its prow out of the depths, out of the bloody surf. A blight is on the fruitful plants of the earth. A blight is on the cattle in the fields, a blight is on our women that no children are born to them;” (Sophocles). Due to the rising number of cases doctors and scientists questioned the core cause of the virus and acted immediately (to create a vaccine). In the same way the people of Thebes especially Oedipus were determined to find the cause of the so called cursed the kingdom was facing. “With what a plague our city is afflicted. My lord, in you alone we find a champion, in you alone that can rescue us” (Sophocles) In both cases, the parties were looking for the cause, a solution that will solve the problem faced by the people.

“Reading makes immigrants of us all. It takes away from home, but more important, it finds homes for us everywhere” (Rhys). This quote reveals that literature helps us understand things that are unknown or “immigrants” to us. It opens new doors and perspectives. The story I’ve read a few weeks ago called “The Lesson” by Toni Cade Bambara relates to this quote by Jean Rhys. In the story, Sylvia, our narrator faces something similar as she, her cousin and some of her friends visits an expensive toy store. When she first visits the city she is an immigrant to the world outside of that her neighborhood. “So we. . .And then she gets to the part about we all poor and live in the slums which I don’t feature” (Bambara). Inside the store she finds a toy that cost $39 and a toy with a $1000 tag on it. As a result she questions herself if they lived in the same world as the people who shop there do. “Who are these people that spend that much for performing clowns and $1000 for toy sailboats? What kinda work they do and how they live and how come we ain’t in on it?” (Bambara). Sylvia learns about the economic inequalities they face and the different worlds they live in. Furthermore, the story highlights how literature can take both Sylvia and her cousin away from their home but more importantly, help them find new perspectives everywhere.

As I was reading the writings of this week “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin’s and the poem “The Wife” by Emily Dickinson’s both address the theme of women’s roles and their boundaries in the 19th century. The theme in the nineteenth century Emily Dickinson’s poem “The Wife” echoed in the story “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin in the sense of how women were treated as someone who was expected to meet their husbands needs as the poem reads “She rose to his requirements” (Dickinson). The poem highlights the idea of a woman being nothing but a wife. Similarly Mrs. Mallard in the story “The Story of an Hour” grieves by listening to her husband’s tragic accident she realized that she was now free “She said it over and over under her breath: “free, free, free!” (Chopin para10). She was filled with excitement and joy for becoming free from being merely a wife”.

“Literature adds to reality; it does not simply describe it”. From the very get go of the story Sylvia our narrator introduces us to Ms Moore using these very descriptive details about her. “Back in the days when everyone was old….and she not even related by marriage or blood”. (Bambara para1) The description doesn’t simply describes Miss Moore but somehow adds reality to it, fascinating how we could imagine what everything that was being conveyed to us. Similarly, by drawing a comparison between two things the author creates additional meanings (like) in line 6 of paragraph 2 the narrator mentions something to the line of Fat Butt already wasting his peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich like the pig he is. Fat Butt isn’t really a pig but the narrator uses a form of literature here simile to describe how his friend had already fished his food comparing him to a pig (pigs are usually known for eating too fast).

Despite growing up in a Buddhist family I can somehow relate to this week’s story. I was five when my parents moved to Nagaland, India. I attended a Christian school for 14 years. Unlike other states in India majority of the people in Nagaland are Christians, therefore you could imagine I was surrounded by Churches, retreats, revivals, fellowships and etc. When I was a junior is middle school I had to attend the summer retreat program. A lot of different people had come from different places including foreigners, to worship God, to pray and to talk about their stories of salvation. I vividly remember the last day when it was time for the prayers, people in the corners started screaming and crying. “And he held out his arms to all us young sinners there on the mourners’ bench. And the little girls cried. And some of them jumped up and went to Jesus right away. But most of us just sat there”. (Hughes para3) Similar to Langston Hughes I was one of the people who just sat there feeling ashamed of myself or more so nervous to how my friends will perceive me. Like the narrator in the story Araby I also had a crush on this cool senior in high school. I would stalk his IG and Tiktok until my data was over (back then we didn’t have wifi) but It felt like I was more so like a fan observing her Idol. My story is rather different than the narrator’s story, however like the girl was the only light in his gloomy world I think my admiration for my crush was the only reason I went to school. “I thought little of the future. I did not know whether I would ever speak to her or not or, […]

When I was reading our first short story “The Handsomest Drowned Man” written by Gabriel García Márquez, I was hoping the story will take a different turn then what it was actually portrayed. Nevertheless, the story had a very deep and profound meaning to it. According to me we were assigned this astonishing story “The Most Handsome Drowned Man” as our first story as we will be able to learn about the change and transformation. A change that could benefit you as well as the people around you. How a superficial thing could constrain change in someone’s life for good. As explained by Rena Korb, a professional writer, children book author and editor, change in honor of Esteban is not simply for the moment but forevermore: “The lives of the villagers will continue to change over the next twenty-four hours and on into the future.” (overview of “The Handsomest Drowned Man” para 5).