Khadijah Munajj

The vignette I chose for this discussion is “Beautiful & Cruel”, as the courses of time the definition and gender roles of women have become less strict and less attainable to the male gaze and desire. Some women still carry the traditional habits and thinking of what a women, wife and mother should be and try to project that onto their children or other women. Just like Esperanza’s mother who says “her dusty hair will settle and her blouse will learn to stay clean” but Esperanza is coming into her womanhood and denying that stereotype of being like the “others who lay their necks on the threshold waiting for the ball and chain.” By “threshold” and “ball and chain” I think Esperanza was stating that most women wait for new stages in their life to begin which mostly means the awaiting of men and marriage. She states she will act like a man and not conform to traditional women ways and doing things her and on her own time, which men have the freedom to experience without judgement.

The Vignette that resonated with me so deeply is “Chanclas” because as a ballet dancer I always had bruised and blistered feet, and when I wore sandals or any open toe shoe it made me so self conscious and introverted just how Esperanza was. In contrast between the two vignettes “The Family Of Little Feet” where the shoes almost get Esperanza and her friends in trouble. Esperanza, Lucy and Rachel basked in the silly attention they were getting from men, thinking that what they wear get them the most attention and compliments. In “Chanclas” Esperanza was so defeated and shy about her big brown shoes she got every year or so, she refused to get up and dance with her cousin by first communion and also declined dancing with her uncle, until he kept tugging at her and gave her a compliment of “you are the prettiest girl here.” Although, Esperanza knew that was a lie she felt obligated to get up and dance the music away with her uncle and everyone applauded her. She felt so much pride and joy she finally knew what it meant to get good attention, “He watched me dance” right then she understood it wasn’t what she has on materialistically, it’s her true self that shines through and gets recognition.

The short story “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates is a story composed of a few major problems; lack of love from Connie’s mother, superficial and vainness, and too much trust. Connie only cared about her looks and what was deemed perfect, as the story described that she would look at peoples faces to make sure she was perfect. Her focus on the superficial things in life put her life in danger. Connie trusted Arnold and it was hard not to trust him, he was sweet and swept her off her feet and that was the biggest manipulation tactic he used to trick her and make her vulnerable enough to attack her.

In “How To Read A Poem” one of the biggest instructions that helped me read and understand poems clearly are “Talking Back to a Poem” talking back to a poem is something I noticed I did unconsciously, I would faintly question what the author or poet is trying to say and represent. After reading this article, I made sure to be intentional with my questions so that I can understand the poem in its entirety, after asking myself “what does this line mean?” “what is this poet trying to say?” it makes me further read the poem deeply over and over. The poem “My Last Duchess” at first was a very hard poem to understand at first, I had to ask myself over and over what each paragraph was trying to convey, and I had no choice but to understand fully so that I could answer the questions through each paragraph on Commonlit. This poem is about The Duke feeling betrayed and belittled by his first wife, The Duchess. He described her as “trifling” simply because she was pleasant to most that she had laid her eyes upon, and The Duke’s ego was not going for that so he killed The Duchess. Later on in this poem he reveals that he wants to marry a Count’s daughter.

Whenever I read poetry it wasn’t always understood completely, either I haven’t gone through any experiences to understand the meaning of a poem or I simply just did not understand how the said words were meant to be taken. Although, I had some misunderstandings I always appreciated poetry; the way a speaker speaks poems and the way I could just envision the poet speaking their words. In Week 11 readings I was able to understand every poem, the preparation steps truly helped me to analyze and interpret the poems. Activity 7 was my favorite poems which contained “How Do I Love Thee?” by Elizabeth Barrett Browning and “Why Do I Love You So Much?” by a poet who is not named. I adore stories about undying and infinite love, and that is exactly what these two poems represent. The title “How Do I Love Thee?” confused me a bit, because I took it too literal thinking it meant “How do I love this person?” but it’s more “This is how much I love this person!” Browning goes onto explain in every way and any circumstance her love is so deep and strong for this person. In “Why Do I Love You So Much?” is kind of the same level of extreme as brownings poem, the poet goes onto say that they trust this person more than anyone else, that they look for that person to guide them to happiness.

In the story “Story of An Hour” by Kate Chopin, the wife Mrs. Mallard of course mourned her husbands death in such sorrow, weeping in her dear sisters arms for comfort of her loss. When she was finally alone in her room staring out the window she mourned a little more, until she felt a sense of freedom come over her. She no longer felt trapped in the hold that marriage has, especially at that point in time. the wife in “Story of An Hour” and the wife in the poem by Emily Dickinson “The Wife” correlate; “She rose to his requirement, dropped The playthings of her life To take the honorable work Of woman and of wife.” Those lines are so powerful, because they emphasize on what being a wife meant, having to let go of your own sense of self to dedicate yourself to a man, a husband. Those words in “The Wife” is what Mrs. Mallard had to do in her marriage, once her husband had passed she knew she would be free from being dutiful to a person other than herself.

When reading “A good Man Is Hard to Find” on a surface level it is a story about a family that faced a very unfortunate event. The exterior of this story is that the family is dysfunctional and they encounter an “unlucky” situation with a criminal, Misfit. At the root and internal point of this story is so much deeper and somewhat philosophical. The Grandmother has the upmost character and moral compass flaw that leads her character to be hypocritical, manipulative and egocentric. One could say she is stuck in her own arrogance, she believes she is a Christian like woman while her actions prove otherwise. With her character flaws contradicting with how she sees herself, I don’t know if she truly believed that she was a perfect person. The Grandmothers’ encounter with Red Sam made her feel understood and heard, that is something she did not feel very often. She disregarded how Red Sam acted toward his wife, but awarded him with such respect and gratitude that he were polite to two strangers that needed gas. I think that was something she needed to feel good about herself. When the Grandmother and The Misfit meet, The misfit explains how he views no one is truly good or that it is extremely rare to come across genuine people. The Grandmother pleads for her life, possibly not truly understanding what he is saying, she tried to lead him to god and even tried to console him. Even though he felt some emotion towards her words to him, he knew this was a manipulative tactic to get him to have mercy on her life and not out of genuine concern or sympathy for The Misfit.

Oedipus cared about power and dominance, not the people or Thebes. To kill the previous king for his own benefit of becoming king is one thing, but to then scout for the kings killer whilst knowing it is him who had done it is treacherous. The chorus was blinded by Oedipus’s hero image, that he conquered the Sphinx’s riddle. When Oedipus seeks for the priests and prophet’s help, he is boastful, but still seeking for an answer he already knows. He speaks of his own power he has gained, but praising the knowledge and profession the priest and prophet has. The prophet, Teiresias, and Oedipus had an intense conversation. Teiresias tried his best to keep quiet and not speak of what Oedipus already knows, but Oedipus started to put the blame on Teiresias and belittling his profession. That made Teiresias speak his truth, more than he had to, revealing that he knows Oedipus killed the previous king, Laius, and that his marriage to Jocasta is of sin. Oedipus and Creon are now rivals, Oedipus thinks Creon spoke ill of him to the Teiresias to make him say the things he said. He wants Creon dead and out of sight. He doesn’t want Creon to have an ounce of power or leadership in Thebes. Oedipus is focused on ruling that he would lose the friendship of the man that handed over his wife, he is willing to belittle and gaslight the higher entities that he asks for help, just so he can cover his tracks.  

Araby by James Joyce is far from a love story, it’s about infatuation, obsession and what it means to find light in the darkness of ones surroundings. The young boy’s environment was cold, somber and mostly quiet, until the Christians Brothers’ school was out of session. He explored his home a bit, revealing that the previous tenant had passed in that home, in the drawing room. He found old papers that have no relevance, books that were shriveled and moist. He explored the garden, that wasn’t being tamed or looked after. The boy’s home was even depressing. He and his friends played in the cold and somber streets, which there’s a high chance that the young boy felt joy laughing and running around. Joy that he did not get at home or school. The streets were so dark that the lights from people’s houses filled his area with light. The young boy would hide if he had ever seen his uncle turning the corner, he would hide in a dark spot with his friends until they have seen his uncle go inside the house. But, when the young boys friend Mangan’s sister was to ever call out for Mangan, the young boy did not feel inferior. He felt intrigued and delighted to be near her, even if they never spoke, her presence was enough for him. The young boy described her so elegant and soft, that her figure was defined by the light of the house, her dress swaying with her when she moved and her hair so soft, moving side to side. He watched her, he sought for her. As if she was something that made him light up inside. He could not stop thinking about her, even in times there was nothing about what he was doing she […]

The short story “The Lesson’ By author and advocate for African American and women’s rights, Toni Cade Bambara included nine characters. Eight of which are adolescents and one adult. The emphasis of this story in my eyes were put on Sylvia and Miss Moore, two other supporting characters are Sugar and Mercedes. Sylvia had a rotten and bitter attitude towards most things, especially anything that Miss Moore had to say or do. Sylvia wanted to control everything around her, she despised the idea of not being in charge. I think it made her feel belittled and not much of anything other than a young black girl that felt poor and helpless, she needed her ego to drive her to feel of importance, apart of her being headstrong made her a good leader, but not always a good student. Sugar was her right hand girl, they were “the only ones just right.” Sugar followed behind Sylvia most of the time. Mercedes was a little different from all the other characters, she had more than what they had to settle with and her outlook on the division between her African American community and the White American community differed. Miss Moore was an educated black woman, a neighbor that felt responsible for the children in her neighborhoods education. Although, the parents talked poorly of Miss Moore at times, they knew what she could do for their children’s futures and success. Miss Moore took all the children to a toy store, unfortunately it was not the children had hoped. It was a lesson, not a shopping spree. Mercedes thought highly of the rich and white, she wanted to reach that level of success. What she did not realize is that there was a separation of her community and the other communities, that what she […]