Kristin Goehri 06/09/10

Kristin Goehri's Response to the reading due 06/09/10

The Yellow Wallpaper: The part in the text that struck me the most was on page 47. It reads, “And dear John gathered me up in his arms, and just carried me upstairs and laid me on the bed, and sat by me and read to me till it tired my head. He said I was his darling and his comfort and all he had, and that I must take care of myself for his sake, and keep well”. As I first started reading this section, I thought to myself that John was being extremely sweet to her; he is doting on her and taking care of her in the best way he seems fit. Then, the author reveals that his seemingly sweet intentions are not so much for her benefit, but more for his own benefit. John views her health as something separate from her and more attached to him. He makes it sound as though she owes him something. She doesn’t need to recover for her own comfort, but for his comfort. He needs his wife, but in an extremely selfish way. For me, the contrast in John’s sweet, loving actions and the motivations behind such actions is shocking. It is almost unbelievable that he is more concerned with his own well-being than hers. It reminded me of the Helen Hunt movie that we discussed in class. The man tells the woman that he needs her, so she overlooks any character flaws that he may possess.

Ain’t I A Woman: This speech never gets old for me. Sojourner Truth raises so many valid points about gender equality, racial equality, and socioeconomic equality. One of my favorite parts in this piece happens when she says, “If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back” (442). I saw this as Truth acknowledging the identity that men give women (the cause of Original Sin) and taking strength in this acknowledgement. Instead of denying this view men held, Truth points out the sheer power that women held in order to accomplish that feat. She goes even further to say that this power can and will be used by women to gain equality. This ideal that she has of women is so powerful because it takes a negative view of women and turns that view around to empower the gender. Truth’s message brought to mind the song “Independent Women” by Destiny’s Child. The whole song is about the ways in which women provide for themselves. They don’t need a man to accomplish a goal; they can do anything on their own.

When I Was Growing Up: Right off the bat, the lines that captured my attention were on page 295: “when I was growing up, my sisters/with fair skin got praised/for their beauty, and in the dark/I fell further, crushed between high walls”. To me, the high walls represented the high expectations that society has for the ways in which a woman should look and act. These expectations are crushing the self-esteem of the women who feel as though they are not meeting these standards. I see this as a universal struggle that all women face. We seem to constantly compare ourselves with images from the media and the women who are in our own lives. This reminded me of the young adult novel “Uglies”. At a certain age, you are allowed to transform your natural appearance into something prettier and socially acceptable in terms of beauty. Girls who are not yet old enough to change are left feeling rejected by the world in which they live. This concept of society ripping down women, rather than building them up, seems like an extremely common occurrence and one that is not changing for the most part.