Aunt Rosanna's Rocker

Cisneros creates the conflict of love between Cleofilas and her husband, Juan Pedro, in which they struggle with because of the constant mistreatment he exerts upon her. Although love is an intense feeling that is often expressed through affection and intimacy, Cleofilas believes that love is always physical, and when conveyed, it is also painful. As she watches her current favorite telenovela Tu o Nadie, (You or No One), she begins to think the way one should live there life is by only wanting one person and nobody else and that “To suffer for love is good” (45) and “The pain is all sweet somehow in the end” (Cisneros 45). Because of her lack of female guidance and better representation of a realistic relationship between a husband and wife, she automatically assumes that her husband’s beatings towards her are love, when they are undoubtedly, domestic violence. Furthermore, Cleofilas consistently thought that “If any man were to strike her, she would strike back” (48). However, that was not the case when Juan Pedro hit her for the first time. After He slapped her twice, Cleofilas stood in shock and “Did not fight back, break into tears, or run away” (47). Regardless of her lack of self defense, the slaps left her speechless because it took her by surprise,

Cleofilas feels that she could not do much, but she becomes hopeful about her situation. For instance, Cleofilas has to remind herself why she loves her husband when she is changing the baby’s Pampers, or when she is mopping the bathroom floor (Cisneros, 1991, p. 249). Cisneros emphasizes that many women who are controlled and abused often feel that they need to remind themselves why they married their husbands. Cisneros points out that when an individual loves someone they should not have to ask themselves why, nor worry so much about getting hurt.

Society is often seen to have different biases or perspectives on topics such as the role and perception of women. The short story, “Girl” by Jamaica Kincaid, consists primarily of a catalog of commands and instructions, the purpose of which is to make sure that the mother’s daughter is constantly in check and not getting into any trouble. Jamaica Kincaid utilizes a wide range of techniques such as symbolism and diction in order to showcase the theme of how the depiction of women rely mainly on how they present themselves in the public and how they are so easily described as impure or filthy.

Sexism is a challenge almost all women face. In a way, sexism can be beneficial because it can motivate women to defy society's standards and anything holding them back. However, in The House on Mango Street, author Sandra Cisneros, shows both sides of sexism, and how it can motivate women. Sexism can also make women give up and not accomplish anything. While Cisneros has the protagonist fight off sexism, Esperanza runs into many cases of sexism where the women just give up. Similarly, with The Help, author Kathryn Stockett, also shows both the positive and negative side of sexism. Skeeter, the protagonist fights off sexism to gain freedom, and in doing so she finds that all her friends don’t want to change the roles they have. Both

“Girl” is a short story in which the author, Jamaica Kincaid, unofficially presents the stereotypes of girls in the mid 1900s. Kincaid includes two major characters in the story “Girl”, they are the mother and the girl. Although the daughter only asks two questions in this story, she is the major character. The mother feels like her daughter is going in the wrong direction and not making the best decisions in her life. The whole story is basically the mother telling her daughter what affects her decisions will have in the future. The mother believes that because her daughter isn’t sitting, talking, cleaning, walking or singing correctly it will lead her to a path of destruction. “Girl” is a reflection of female sexuality, the power of family, and how family can help overcome future dangers.

Ariel Levy, a staff writer at the New Yorker, and author of the article “Female Chauvinist Pig” has brought up a very interesting topic about Raunch Culture. Now, what particularly is raunch culture? Raunch culture, in my own words, I can say is defined as a culture which allows a woman to participate in male-dominant cultures of raunch that deals a lot with sex in a way that is meant to be funny. Women who participate in this culture have to reject some of the things women are known to do, which they consider “girly-girl”. Although some things that they wear or do are considered “girly-girl”, women still have to embrace, acknowledge and accept certain male stereotypes in order to participate in raunch culture.

During the nineteenth and twentieth century there was a number of changes made in America. Woman were looked at as less than back then and to a certain degree they still are today. There was a number of women that died or went insane because of the standards that they had to meet in order to be considered good women. In this research paper I will talk about the experience of the narrator of The Yellow Wallpaper and Blanche DuBois from the story A Streetcar Named Desire. It will be shown within these pages how the moral and societal standards for women were far different than they were for men, and how the standards changed over the years. Furthermore it will be shown how this effected the women of those two stories.

him, therefore, she lives with her sister and his husband as a result. This shows the mother’s priorities

Zilia has obtained happiness throughout her journey by learning another cultures beliefs and values. It is very important that she knows that there is more in the world than just one culture. Zilia learns that the world is not perfect and you cannot control everyone’s actions and pass your own culture onto them. She is very willing to learn all she can because she is amazed by how the French culture can be so different than the Peruvian culture. She values friendship greatly, such as her friendship with Deterville. It is unfortunate that Deterville and Zilia do not end up together because of Zilia’s lasting love for Aza. However, the meaning of friendship to Zilia is very important and should be a great reward to Deterville. “You will find in my heart, in my friendship, in my feelings, all that compensate you for the ravages of love” (Gaffigny 174). After being captured and taken out her home Zilia continues to stay positive and hold her values and beliefs, even with a broken heart.

In Jamaica Kincaid’s story, Girl, a mother is talking to her daughter about all the proper things she must do to be considered a good girl to her family and to the public, and when she grows up, a proper lady. She must follow the rules that are given to her by her own mother and by society. The mother also teaches the daughter how to act when things don’t go her way. She is told that along with being a proper lady, she must also be able to get what she wants and be independent. This story was written in the late 1970’s and gender roles, for women, back then were not being “followed” because women wanted equal opportunities (Women In the Workforce). “Gender stereotypes are beliefs regarding the traits and behavioral characteristics given to individuals on the basis of their gender” (Deuhr). This essay will discuss the gender roles that were given to women in the story, during the late 70’s, and in today’s society.

For centuries, women have had the role of being the perfect and typical house wife; needs to stay home and watch the children, cook for husbands, tend to the laundry and chores around the house. In her short story “Girl”, Jamaica Kincaid provides a long one sentence short story about a mother giving specific instructions to her daughter but with one question towards the end, with the daughter’s mother telling her daughter if she had done all the instructions to become a so called “perfect” woman, every man would want her. Kincaid’s structuring in “Girl,” captures a demanding and commanding tone. This short story relates to feminist perspectives. The mother expects a great deal from her daughter to have a certain potential and she does not hesitate to let her daughter understand that. As a matter of fact, the story is about two pages long, made into one long sentence - almost the whole time the mother is giving her daughter directions to follow - conveys a message to the reader that the mother demands and expects great potential in her daughter. The daughter is forced to listen and learn from what her mother is telling her to do to become the perfect housewife. Throughout the story, Kincaid uses the symbols of the house and clothing, benna and food to represent the meanings of becoming a young girl to a woman and being treated like one in society. Women are portrayed to appeal to a man to become the ideal woman in society, while men can do anything they please.

puberty bring with it a complex tradition of restrictions and behavioral guidelines. Kincaid’s poem reveals the rigidity and complexity of the social confines the girl is expected to operate underl. A girl is an induction into the women community as well as an orientation into the act of womanhood (Walkerdine et. al.). The lectured instructions given to the silent girl child vary from the housekeeping, “this is how you sweep a whole house”, to dealing with intimate relationships, “this is how a man bullies you; …how to bully a man” to medicine, “this is how to make good medicine (to abort)” (Kincaid).The inane patriarchal society expects gender stereotypes to prevail. The mother is tasked to give her daughter instructions on how to be a good woman in the stereotyped society. The advice the mother gives to the daughter cements the gender stereotype and portrays limitations on a woman (Bailey and Carol 107).

After marriage, the father’s control was transferred to the husband. Cato not only controlled his wife’s life by making her only take approved medicines, he also forced her to nurse both her children and slaves, an undesirable

Throughout history and today, we women are constant victims of stereotyping from our society. Certain “rules” have to be followed and certain “ideal” women images have to be kept. We are raised in a way to fill certain position where the society wants us to be and as a result, the opportunities are always limited for us and ideas of our importance in the society are diminishing. Even though women gained some independence, where women can work and take various position in society, the society’s idea of typical role of women never seem to change.

Without a spouse in the home, Bernarda takes on a patriarchal role and enforces her daughters to do the same. While Bernarda constantly suppresses her daughters to focus on household, patriarchal chores, their emotions shift