Analysis Of Monique And The Mango Rains

1. The Bite of a Mango by Mariatu Kamara and Susan McClelland, is a powerful story about the experiences of young Mariatu Kamara, a Canadian refugee from Sierra Leone. The culture of Sierra Leone during the 90’s and 2000’s impacted Mariatu’s life and how she ends up in Canada. One aspect of the Sierra Leonean culture is that young girls get married and have children at a very young age. When Mariatu was only 12 years old, an older man named Salieu wanted to marry her, but she rejected him. After that, while Mariatu was all alone at her house, Salieu came in and raped her, making her pregnant. She later gave birth to a baby, Abdul, who died due to malnutrition. Mariatu getting raped by an older man shows how the Sierra Leonean culture impacted her life because, in the West, this would not be acceptable, and Salieu would have been punished, although in the book, he is later shot by rebel soldiers. Next, another culture aspect of Sierra Leone is that a civil war is going on during Mariatu’s time there. Rebels and soldiers alike were attacking and destroying the country. One day, Mariatu had to go to a nearby village to get food, where rebels captured her

Infant mortality is a major issue the world struggles with. Today, with advances in medicine and technology, the infant mortality rate decreases every year. However, in the past and in other developing countries, access to resources necessary to having and raising a healthy child are not available. In the article “Death Without Weeping”, the author, Nancy Scheper-Hughes, discusses about her time spent at Alto do Cruzeiro, Brazil. Hughes goes on to explain why the infant mortality rate was high in Alto do Cruzeiro. She also discusses how the women and children are treated in the community.

Sally married young, “not ready but married just the same”(101). She grew up fast and traded her youth for a safer place, free from her father’s belt buckle. On Mango Street, we see many girls give up their childhood trying to move up in the world. When Esperanza takes a job to help support her family, she is sexually harassed at work. Sally loses her innocence in the Monkey’s Garden, kissing all the boys to get her keys back. Similar to Eve in the Garden of Eden, Sally can’t resist the opportunity to act older, so she gives up her adolescence. Many of the girls on Mango Street make this trade because they believe that to get out of the slums, they need to grow up and attract a man. When Esperanza explains Marin’s appeal, she states that, “Marin is already older than us in many ways”(27). On Mango Street, youth is often thrown off the boat first when girls are trying to lighten the load and stay above the water.

Imagine feeling like you don’t belong and never will, or that the odds of your success is a slim chance to none. The House on Mango Street written by Sandra Cisneros, leads us into a world of poverty, broken dreams, and slithers of hope. The House on Mango Street follows the life of a young girl by the name of Esperanza Cordero, who occupies her childhood in an indigent Latino neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. The books expresses her dire need to have a place where she can call home, and escape the harsh reality of her expected life. Though, her life on Mango Street is bearable with help of her little sister Nenny, her two best friends Rachel and Lucy, and her other friend Sally. On her journey to adulthood, Sandra Cisneros will show how Esperanza assimilates into a mature young lady, who truly find her identity, and develops emotionally as well as physically.

The documentary Babies by Thomas Balmès is a film that takes place in four very different locations around the world. The documentary follows four babies and their families from when they are first born as they grow up and are able to walk. We watch Ponijao grow up in Namibia, Bayar grow up in Mongolia, Hattie grow up in San Francisco, and Mari grow up in Tokyo. Because the babies are from such different places, the documentary allows us to see what it is like growing up in cultures that we are currently unfamiliar with. The film opens up your eyes to the various forms of living in other areas around the world. In this paper, I will discuss the universal themes I noticed, my personal reflection of the film, the various

In America, everyone is supposed to be equal. People are supposed to be able to have the “American Dream” and have a successful career as well as support a family without any trouble despite race, age, gender, or any other factors. In Ma and Sourdi’s eyes, however, they have seen their traditional culture and are still tied to those beliefs instead. Nea is much more Americanized than the other two women. Ma works very hard to support her children and in an effort to give Sourdi a better life, she makes

Monique and the Mango Rains is a memoir about a friendship that develops between Kris Holloway, and a midwife in the village of Nampossela, Mali. Kris Holloway served in the Peace Corps and was assigned for 2 years to be stationed in Mali. Kris was trained to “give health demonstrations, repair wells, build fuel-conserving stoves, plant trees, and protect the shoots from the ever hungry mouths of goats” (11). Kris meets and assists Monique Dembele in her struggle to improve health care for the women of this village and surrounding areas. Monique, having apprenticed for two years as a midwife, and studied for nine months in a health services program, is the only health worker in the village. She

The author shows a great example of the power these men had against these women in the village. In the time period this story took place, it was amazing to the author to witness that gender inequality was still a very big issue in some places. The author described how shocked she was when she found out that these women were not allowed to

“Where is the Mango Princess”, written by Cathy Crimmins, is the journey through her husband’s, Alan’s, brain injury. Alan was hit on the head by a speedboat, and from which, he suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Eventually, awakening from his coma, his recovery took his wife and child on a roller coaster ride of emotions. This story explores the heartbreaking and frustrating experiences of a caregiver to a patient recovering from TBI. Crimmins uses slight humor and honesty to welcome the reader into the chaotic life of caring for her husband. This book has darker themes like most, so it is important that the atmosphere is kept light and airy through humorous attempts. It is the most admirable trait that Crimmins has, in my opinion. I’m not fond of reading, so the humor kept me occupied; I really enjoyed the humorous aspects of this story. This book also focuses on educating the beholder about TBI and the effects of severe brain damage. Though Alan had recovered physically from the accident, his mental recovery was still an on-going process in which rehab was required. She went on to describe the accident as: “One day, you and your family are hiking across a long, solid plain, when out of the sky comes a blazing meteor that just happens to hit one family member on the head. The meteor creates a huge rift in the landscape, dragging the unlucky one down to the bottom of the crevice it has made. You spend the next year on a rescue mission, helping him climb to the top,

In the novel, The House On Mango Street, women face numerous challenges in their lives. Women face abuse, objectification, and oppression. They are also subjects to the societal roles that hinders them from being free and successful. Cisneros utilizes metaphors to reveal the theme of society’s gender roles restricting the lives and sexuality of women.

People from all over the world change, change in either mentality, thoughts, maturity, physically, mentally, appearance, feelings and etc. What causes the transformation of that person is important, but how much did it affect them is also crucial. In Sandra Cisneros novel, entitled The House on Mango Street,the story depicts a Latina girl who transform throughout her time being on Mango Street. The girl named Esperanza is to faced obstacles of female oppression that she witnesses in the life of women on her street who they depends on men to bring them out of the street. In The House on Mango Street, Cisneros uses characterization to express the

This “preview” to the overall bigger picture that the story is trying to tell demonstrates the power of abortion and the ripple effects that it can have. The authors utilize ethos, pathos, and logos in this example. The purpose of this portion of the chapter is to “preview” the main idea of the chapter, even if the reader does not know it yet. The author’s also use a historical example to help establish precedent and to help establish credibility for themselves – a prime example of ethos. The emotional appeal in this portion of the chapter is certainly present; one cannot help but feel for the parents and children living under the harsh conditions of Ceausecu’s regime. Whether or not the reader knows it at the time, this “preview” section is used to establish the main idea of the entire chapter in a unique way.

The article, “Mother’s Love: Death without Weeping” by Nancy Scheper-Hughes is about mothers in the Alto do Cruzeiro and how the mothers take the death of an infant. The mothers have been thought not to morn for their babies and to not become attached. They do this because the high rate of mortality because the infants are left at home while the mother is at work. No one is there to tend for the babies and the mother cannot take the babies to work with them. No funerals are done with the death of these babies some of the babies never even got a name because the mothers are thought not to get attached to the child until they know the child will survive. This is all due to the malnourishment in the children because the mothers are in poverty

Maya Angelou said, “To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow” (Wanderlust 1). The relationship a mother has with her child transcends all other relationships in complexity. Maternity largely contributes to the female identity in part because the ability to sexually reproduce is uniquely female. With this ability often comes an unparalleled feeling of responsibility. That is, mothers experience an inherent desire to protect their children from the world and guide them through life. Serving as a child’s protector then transforms a woman’s perspective, or the female gaze. While these protective instincts often arise naturally, they are also reinforced by the ideas society’s perpetuates about motherhood. Globally, women are expected to assume the roles of wives and mothers. The belief that motherhood is somewhat of a requirement assists in the subjugation of women and reinforces a plethora of gendered stereotypes. While some women enjoy the process of childrearing, others feel that having a family comes at an irreparable cost: losing sight of oneself. In response to the polarized views surrounding maternity, several authors have employed different writing techniques to illustrate the mother-child dynamic. Through the examination of three narratives, spanning fiction and non-fiction, one is able to better define maternity and the corresponding female gaze in both symbolic and universal terms.

Given their location in remote parts of the eastern Congo, the help that victims had access to was unprecedented. The movie showed resources such as the women’s farm, which allows women who were shunned by their villages to come together and still be productive members of their community. The hospital also gave many medical resources to women who caught diseases like HIV/AIDS and served as a support group for these victims. On top of these, the girls’ school was also a resource to provide an education for young girls to prepare for the world. Outside of these groups, there were also individuals working to make their voices heard. The most prominent of these was the fifteen-year-old girl who did public artwork to show the value of women and protest the continuing rapes in the country. The teacher depicted in the girls’ school also served as an individual advocate, decorating his room to let the girls know that they were valued and speaking out in this film about why women are important to the community, the Congo, and Africa. To have this many resources and supporters in such a remote part of the world is absolutely