Close Reading Blog #2

"After I left you, those boys came in there and took my milk. That's what they came in there for. Held me down and took it. I told Mrs. Garner on em. She had that lump and couldn't speak but her eyes rolled out tears. Them boys found out I told on em. Schoolteacher made one open up my back, and when it closed it made a tree. It grows there still." (Morrison, 19/20)

   As Paul D comes back to visit Sethe after Sweet Home, she is reminded of all the terrible things that haunt her. They speak of how Sethe was the only one who was able to nurse her daughter, and how she had to get to her as soon as possible. Everyone knew that she was so worried about getting to her child, and these men decided to molest and rape her.
   Previously in the book (12), it was stated that when the men had no one to satisfy them, they used cows. Because she was the only girl on the farm, many of the men lusted over her, thinking of her as nothing more than an animal or a cow, just a sexual object.
   There is an extreme issue of gender inequality demonstrated in this passage. The fact that a nursing mother was pinned down, molested, and had her milk stolen as if she were a cow, is horrible. On top of everything, it states that after telling Mrs. Garner, she was punished and whipped making a "tree" scar on her back. If a man were to do that to a woman now, he would be sent to jail for many years and be labelled a sexual predator.
   Although our society has become more restrictive on crimes like this, the choices of a woman are judged brutally everyday. One may not be whipped and left with physical scars, but the choices that women make are branded on them forever. For example, if a girl decides to wear a revealing shirt, short-shorts, or a small skirt, she is tainted with brutal names such as "whore" or "slut". While if men do so, it's just boys being boys. Women are set to a much higher standard to the world, having to prove themselves, while men believe that they have already proven themselves allowing them to do whatever they please. Some men who haven't evolved even believe that because women dress this way, that they are asking to be raped, and that it is their fault. This is the problem in our world. People should be taught not to hurt others, not to walk on eggshells their whole life trying to please everyone.
   Of course, this does not apply to all men and I am not trying to stereotype them. I am just stating how the world views the differences between men and women.
  It's a present conflict throughout the book that Sethe struggles with her self-image, and how much confidence that she has within herself. Although it wasn't as an accepted belief that women are equal to men, I hope that she will learn over time that she doesn't need anyone to prove herself. I am excited to read through the rest of the book and see how she develops as a character and how her experiences have changed her.

I chose the psycho analytical lens because I am interested in how people think and what makes them act the way that they do. Looking deeper into one’s personality in this lens will allow me to better understand the connection between characters. I am more interested in human interactions than any other lens about history, racism, or gender. All of these lenses are related to the psycho analytical lens because they all show their characteristics through the other lenses and has an effect on the way that they act. I’ve never looked into the psycho analytical lens so I am excited to look deep into it and compare what I see to what other lenses see. I believe that everyone makes decisions for a reason and are the way they are from past experiences. I will be able to see if this is actually true by looking through this lens. Another lens I was considering was the post colonial lens because it is easy to point out when racism is being an effective factor of the happenings in a story. I chose not to do the post colonial lens though because racism actually contributes to the psycho analytical lens, along with the other lenses that contribute just as much. I am hoping to become a better reader from this project and hope effectively be able to analyze a lens - discovering reasons for events throughout the book.

I decided to pick the New Historical lens because I know that this book takes place in a different time period. This lens interests me because I think that the choices and reasons that are made in this book has to do with what time period they are in, which interests me because the way things are today are completely different from the way things were back then. I can also see how there could be some similarities to the way things were back then to way the things are today. Another lens that I considered was feminism because during this time period men were seen as the workers and women were know to stay at home and not work. One thing that I’m hoping to get out of this project is to really understand the background of the time period Beloved was written and understand Toni Morrison’s story from her point of view.

Femina-Feministe-Feminist

Once said by the young activist, Malala Yousafzai, “We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.” This is true in todays society where women are seen as inferior to men, and not allowed to live to their  full potential. For this project I chose the critical lens of “feminist.” My runner up choice was Marxist lens. Marxist lens allows you to see how money and and power can influence men and woman. It examines the differences between the classes; higher or lower class and the impact of that. However,  I chose feminist lens because I believe that in today's society women are not seen to be as powerful as men are. I have read books where woman are considered objects to men, or seen as “stupid” housewives, when they could be learning in schools or having jobs. For example, in the book we recently read in class, “Hamlet,” by William Shakespeare one of the characters named Ophelia was seen as very weak. I  personally feel when woman model for Calvin Klein covers for example they are seen as objects of sexuality, instead of beautiful models. Women are objectified and when a man is seen with his shirt off, he is seen as a powerful man. If a woman were to do this in todays media, they are only seen as objects  of sex. Feminism can be applied to women being seen as objects, or woman being inferior to men, or woman not having the same equality as men. My personal belief is that all woman are capable of so much more, and if the world could see how brilliant woman are, woman would start to believe in themselves more as well.  For example if we had a woman president, maybe the world would see how capable a woman is in power. In the past women were treated a lot worse than women are treated today. It is nice seeing the change that has occurred, but I believe that there is still needs to be more change in order  for woman to be completely equal. What I am hoping to get out of this project is being able to see what woman were treated like back in the olden days and compare it to how woman are being treated today. I hope to make connections and inferences and show the world how much more woman are capable of.

Why I Chose the Feminist Lens

I’ve always noticed that gender equality is a big issue in the world. Whether it concerns voting, getting a job, being in a relationship; almost anything you can think of involves the issue of gender equality. It isn’t as common as it was before, but it was accepted that women aren’t equal to men. They were expected to stay at home and do all the housework while the men were bringing in all the money. I’ve never been in a situation where I have personally been discriminated because of my gender, but in my own household I see it everyday.

Gender equality is something people don’t think about, it happens everyday. Women aren’t given jobs because they are believed to be lesser than men. In fact, women weren’t even able to vote before the 1920’s. It’s an old time tradition to believe that women are lesser than men, and it won’t ever be completely solved,  slowly but surely it will be.

In my English class, we are reading a book called Beloved. The book is written in the 19th Century, meaning that there will most likely be lots of gender inequality and I have decided to read and analyze the book through the feminist lens.