Again, a good collection on pieces for this session. Lots of good insight in class as well.

As a way of sparking discussion, perhaps one could consider that theme of cultural assimilation/integration in these selections. What aspects of lifestyle, culture, or behaviour are charaters/narrators/etc asked to give up in the process of assimilation? How do they negotiate this process?

See you on Tuesday for Catch-22  . . .

Cheers,
Adams

In Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl," it seems that the mother/narrator plays a more central role than the girl in the title. She is instructing her daughter about all the ways she must act in the "new" colonized society, while also trying to instill in her the traditions of her own culture. There is a struggle, within the narrator, between the mother she wants to be- the one who is a vessel to pass on heritage and culture- and the mother she feels she must be- the one that must help her daughter negotiate this new society.

My Question: What kind of effect might this dualistic mothering have on the "girl?" Does she have any hope of developing a unified identity or is she destined to live in the small space between the two worlds?

I think the mothering being given to the girl is going to push her away and cause a schism between the two.  The mother cares little to none about the girls emotional needs, and focuses more on her physical carrying-ons and how she ought to behave. 

The girl has no hope of developing a unified identity with regards to a few things.  The "dualistic mothering" already mentioned sits heavy with conflicting values.  There is a strong pull in two different directions, and there are some inconsistancies there-in, but all of what is given disregards where the girl is at.  If all she is told are these conflicting rules with no sense of reconciling them in the girls mind (she asks questions, trying to make sense of it all), then what is very likely to happen is that she will turn into the *** that her mother has warned her against becoming.  Nothing is done to stop her from becoming one.  No encouragement or leading in the right direction is given.  Instructions are given, but they are being hurled at a girl from someone that won't give her the time of day.  The girl is living between her childhood and the adulthood that her mother seeks to push her.  It won't be until she reaches "adulthood" that she will even perceive or live out the differences between the old and the new societies.

 

Q: With regards to "Still I Rise," is the poem didactic or is it merely informative?  How can we absorb what is being presented to us and make it our own?  How are we affected by Maya's poem?  Possibly... how does this help us to rise?

I know we failed to discuss "Family Affair" by Jeanne Cavelos in class, but this story was rather intriguing.  What is the significance of keeping the secret if "secrets can destroy us".  And why is the secret written in a mathematical equation?  Lastly, why the heck is Billy Crystal a relative??  

Well, considering that the secret is that "she" hurts people, I would say that is a pretty good explination as to why secrets can destroy us. 

As for the math equation, this is what I think:  people who are good at English are not good at math.  To an English major, math is pointless, lame, serves no point in the world, and as such, should not exist.  Based on that, the secret can be written in a complex mathematical equation signifying how pointless, lame, and useless secrets are in the world.  Since at the end of the story Cavelos writes "it had never been a secret", I think that proves the point.

Billy Crystal is a relative because it is a crazy story with purple drowned bodies and hills that crush people with math equations on napkins.  Why wouldn't he be a relative??

 

That is not my question.  Here is my question:

In the same story, what sort of family structure is embellished, and how is that related to the crumbling, deteriorating walls in the beginning? 

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~*~ Don't forget to floss! ~*~

In response to Stephanie's question:

What I pulled from this story that a controlling, conniving mother is at the helm of this family, and the two sisters and father are subservient to her.  In relation to the crumbling walls, I get the feeling that this mother has broken every family member to the point where there is no family unit, just a crumbling structure.  This leads into my question:

With "Family" and Kincaid's "Girl", the role of a mother in control is portrayed as negative. Looking at each story from a specific author's viewpoint is one thing, but as a whole, do you see this as a positive or negative impact for feminist lit?  Are women in control being viewed as a negative?

in regards to jeff's question i feel the poem is didactic because of her conflicting morals. i also liked the question: what effects does this have on the girl? so i guess the question i would ask is this: what would you say the new role of women in the postmodern era; has it changed, why or why not?

So Stephanie's question...

"With 'Family' and Kincaid's 'Girl,' the role of a mother in control is portrayed as negative.  Looking at each story from a specific author's viewpoint is one thing, but as a whole, do you see this as a positive or negative impact for feminist lit?  Are women in control being viewed as a negative?"

Well, well, well, good question.  It is no doubt that the mother in Jamaica Kincaid's Girl is the awful, nagging mother (or perhaps the stereotypical mother-in-law? I'm Just saying...).  In regards to the feminist perspective, a feminist would want the woman to have a voice, so having her speak out, telling her daughter what she should/shouldn't do is in a sense giving power to the woman.  On the other hand, having the mother insinuate that the daughter will turn into a *** is not empowering.  So she is using the feminist voice, but doing quite the contrary with her chosen words.  She is perhaps taking the patriarchal view of the woman.  Does that make sense?  It makes sense in my head...ha...sorry if it was confusing.

With "Family" and Kincaid's "Girl", the role of a mother in control is portrayed as negative. Looking at each story from a specific author's viewpoint is one thing, but as a whole, do you see this as a positive or negative impact for feminist lit?  Are women in control being viewed as a negative?

I don't know that it is so much that women in control is what is portrayed as negative but more the ways that women have to go about getting control is shown to be negative. In Kincaid's "Girl," the mother is trying to teach her daughter how to survive and come out on top of the two worlds that she must try to balance herself in, the one belonging to herself and her people and the one belonging to the colonizers. The mother treats the girl as she will be treated by those who are in power where she lives, the colonizers think that she is an uneducated "savage" (maybe) who will sleep with whomever comes along, be "the *** that [her mother] knows she is so bent on becoming." The only power her mother has had is to manipulate the system- to be herself with her people, singing benna when she wants to but being as "white" as possible when around her colonizers at places like church. She is teaching her daughter the way she has had to survive and though she does not seem to be doing this out of kindness, I think the critique in the work is laid more on the arrangement of power with the colonizers and not on women.

My question: How does the poetry of Sandra Cisneros show a blurring between high and low literature?

By Michele Goedinghaus

In "Girl," the mother's litany of advice, warning, and condemnation also contains a string of confusing and contradictory messages about the daughter's relationship to her African heritage and culture. On the one hand, the mother insists on warning the daughter against integrating African folk culture into her Christian education. "Is it true you sing benna songs in Church?" the mother asks, benna songs being African folk songs. The mother's question aims to warn the daughter against maintaining cultural practices derived from her African heritage. But on the other hand, the mother's list of advice contains rich elements of this African heritage, which she clearly intends to pass on to her daughter. Why the flip-flopping? Why does she present this dichotomy?

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Sincerest and warmest of regards,

Sean C.

"How does the poetry of Sandra Cisneros show a blurring between high and low literature?"

I think the language she uses does this. Her form is very classical, but her language rarely is. Cisnero's poetry is what rap thinks it is.

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Sincerest and warmest of regards,

Sean C.