1. Sojourner Truth seems to be a very different and smart woman for the time she lived in. In her empowering speech “Ain’t I a Woman?”, images of strength and power take over my mind. Her voice seems loud, proud, and fierce (in a good way). This speech gave me an image of a very strong independent woman living a tough life. When she says “Nobody helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman”, I picture her saying this with attitude. This quote stands out to me she is being dewomanized just because of the color of her skin. Like we talked about in class today, being old or not having the perfect body does not make you any less of a woman. Sojourner is standing up for herself and for other black people during this time and that in itself is very brave and powerful of her!
2. The poem “When I was Growing Up” by Nellie Wong gave me an image of a girl in today’s world feeling like an outcast because she does not have the “perfect body” like the magazines and media show. It made me think of how young children grow up seeing these false and unrealistic things and think they have to be a certain way to be liked or popular. Also, I liked the part when she says “when I was growing up, I felt ashamed of some yellow men, their small bones, their frail bodies…” because it connects to what we talked about in class regarding the poems we read. Except, this time, it’s a woman talking about a man being frail and not the other way around. I found this very interesting and different from what we usually see.
3. “The Thirty Eighth Year,” was a depressing poem. The image I got by reading this was of a woman who is unhappy with herself. She is unhappy because she “expected to be smaller than this, more beautiful, wiser in Afrikan ways, more confident, [she] had expected more than this”. I don’t like that the author is so hard on herself. Every woman is different and unique in her own way, but the woman in the poem has convinced herself that she can’t be happy until she is thin and beautiful. What is ordinary? The author doesn’t touch on this, maybe it is because ordinary is not a positive word and she does not feel positive about herself.
I felt the same way reading "The Thirty Eight Year," and how she is so depressed about how she looks now, it makes me think of how a lot of women struggle growing old, they feel its necessary to do anything to remain young instead of aging gracefully.
ReplyDeleteFrom your response, I have started to realize that women writers had so much more than gender equality to worry about. Their writings demonstrate the differences between genders, generations, races, etc. It seems as though women almost couldn't focus on just one social justice issue; they were touched by too many. I also find it interesting that their struggles with multiple social justice issues carry over the decades. It makes me think of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. The fight for basic human rights seems to never end. We still examine what was written in these documents and try to make sense of our world. I see that same thing happening here. We can look at these old pieces of writing and still relate to the struggles that were present during that time of the past. It gives the struggle for identity and women's equality a universal feel, which demonstrates its enduring importance.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the connections you made in "When I was Growing up." I hadn't thought of the poem as any thing more than feeling inadequate because of race, but it totally pertains to many other aspects of life. I especially liked how you connected it to the image of a "perfect body."
ReplyDeleteI like the way you looked deeper into what sojourner truth was saying. I especially lik the way you made it pertain to other things such as age and not having the perfect body you brought it all together well.
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