Intimate Apparel Essay

The summary of the play includes the insight of multiple characters’ lives, all within the Hispanic community of Manhattan’s Washington Heights. One story includes a street market owner, Usnavi (Steven Pego), who’s in love with a girl named Vanessa (Lexi Marta) and is encouraged to make a move by his co- worker, Sonny (Edwin Rivera). Vanessa works at a beauty shop owned by Daniela (Goldera Surles) AND struggles to pay her, all while being bullied at work. Benny (Makay Johnson) and Camila (Kimmy Paltz) are a happily married couple who owns a business, while their daughter, Nina (Lauren Guerra) struggles in school but is in love with Benny who works with her family. Their love is forbidden by Nina’s father because he wants her to finish her education. The town’s grandma, played by Deidre

The play first reveals the shortsightedness of stereotypes made by Westerners, when the submissive Asian woman is awaiting a dominant Western male. Throughout the play, Gallimard is reliving his experiences that he has shared with Song in prison so he flashes back to describe his story of the perfect woman. Gallimard first flashes back to the German Ambassador house in 1960’s where he first meets Song. Gallimard and Song end up conversing about the opera Madame Butterfly that Song was performing in. Song thinks the opera is ridiculous, but Gallimard likes the opera. Gallimard tells Song how she did a beautiful job as butterfly and how her character was very convincing. Song argues with Gallimard, stating that this opera is only beautiful to Westerners. He asks if “it’s one of your favorite fantasies, isn’t it? The submissive oriental woman and the cruel white man” (17). After hearing these words, Gallimard turns rather defensive; despite his own stereotyping of Asian women, he does not want to be trapped in a stereotypical Western mindset. Song effectively trashes this stereotype by using his devious skills to manipulate

As a result of the weak action made by Lennie, Candy and Crooks in the novel, the theme is revealed. The events that were taken place and the responses from the characters showed that they were weak and couldn’t handle situations. Weakness which cannot be improved until they are

The way someone acts or makes decisions says a lot about a person because it shows their personality, and defines a character. Grandmother plays a very large role in the family's life. Love and care is constantly displayed throughout the story, especially since their grandmother lives with them and makes strong connections which builds their relationships. Through the story the character of the grandmother

The theme of the story is under some circumstances people can be blind to the truth. Character Edie determines the style of the story by talking about the circumstances of her life as a fifteen year old girl and as an older woman. She retells the stories of those that she has known, and the man that she believed she loved deeply. Sometimes the things we want to happen may not be the things that life has for us. We need to be open to all the opportunities in life that are different from what we believe.

When all the men went into town, she started to spending time with characters whom she believes that are “weak”: “They left all the weak ones here”; They are Lennie, Candy and Crooks. by hanging out with them , she feels that she has power over them. When Crooks ordered her to get out of his room, she had threatened him and reminded him that he’s a negro and she is the wife of the boss’s son. The author wants us to know the position of white women in the society in that time generally.

To begin, important theme that runs through the novel is the idea strong female characters like Taylor and Lou Ann. Furthermore, Taylor does not care about a man in her life and tries her best to do everything in her

Clothing in the 1930s was very particular, especially for ladies. Women wore form fitting but modest clothing to help draw attention from possible employers and others: “The clothes were modest, mid-calf length… making women ideal silhouettes” (Sessions). These clothes kept women covered. Clothes focused more on making women ideal than real, and thus women who dressed “smart” or wore certain clothes were more likely to be given a better position. In addition, women, specifically African American women, were expected to look their absolute best no matter the conditions they were working in; “Tight budgets were no excuse…. was a woman’s duty to look smart” (Martlin). A woman’s duty was to look smart, key emphasis on “look”. Society didn’t care if women were actually smart, only if they looked it. If women didn’t look smart, dress worthy or not, their job was immediately seen as beneath others. According to Hurston, “The other women had on percale and calico” (Hurston, 39). These are types of handmade clothes. So therefore, Janie wore the wine-colored store-bought dress because no one could look better than the mayor’s wife. Tony Taylor describes her when he says, “She couldn’t look … no nobler if she wuz de queen uh England” (Hurston, 39). This demonstrates her status in relation to her appearance. As a final point, clothing seemed to control a woman’s social life and expectations. Martlin stated

The author of A Pair of Silk Stockings explores female roles based on what other people believe due to stereotypes. In this short story Mrs. Sommers finds $15 which is a sizable about of money to her in New York. She and her family are on the poorer side of New York. At first Mrs. Sommers has no clue on what she should do the money she had just come to. She is thinking about her children and that they could use new skirls because she had seen a beautiful new pattern in a market window, or caps for her boys and sailor-caps for her girls (Chopin 1). She thought of them due to the fact that that is what mothers and wives do in the 1800’s, they but their children and husband before thinking of themselves. She thought back to the time when she wasn’t

The Bell Jar teaches us that every opportunity a woman had received in the 1950’s was a gift and should be taken immediately. Women had certain expectations they must meet and ways they must look in order to be accepted by society. Women were compared to the look of models, they were expected to look just as good as they still are nowadays. For example, “ A model named Bettina was known for her tall, slim figure, youthful movements, short bobbed hair, shapely eyebrows and bright red lipstick” ( Sherrow, Modeling and Models). This shows how women were expected to be slim, with youthful energy and have short hair. Esther was one of those women who were expected to look like this. She used to have youthful energy, but events over her life started to take away that energy. Women in the 1950’s had to compete with the model’s image, women were especially compared during beauty competitions. “Women in Beauty Pageants were judged basis of physical appearance and named best looking or most beautiful” (Sherrow, Beauty Pageants). The idea that people would be considered

Intimate Apparel recounts the story of Esther, a 35-year old African American lady who moved from North Carolina to look for her wealth as a sewer in New York. There is much to respect in Esther's character. The play starts in a rooming house, where Esther has been living for a long time. When she came to that house, she learned how to sew intimate apparel from an old resident, and that’s where the title of the play comes from. Esther's mom passed away when she was 17 years of age. After her incredible loss, she worked her path north to get away from the Abuses the south brought to African Americans. Furthermore, the play shows several themes. One of which demonstrates how life is not generally reasonable and fair. That theme appears when Ether

When a company produce an advertisement or commercial, their main goal is to sell their product. To sell their products in market, they use different methods such as, using an actors or actresses, wrestlers, soccer players or a super models. No matter who they use, their purpose is to get their audience attention and sell their products. Victoria’s Secret is the largest American retailer of women’s lingerie, which was founded by Roy Raymond in 1977. According to the websites, ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria's_Secret ) it says that more than 500,000 people uses Victoria’s Secret products. The products in Victoria’s Secret are not only design to sell their products in a market place, but to help

The main theme expressed in the play is change and the characters' inability to cope with this. Like many working-class people from this time the characters in the play are fairly uneducated

Mimi and Madame Laurence are both seamstresses in a small, French garment company, directly after World War 2. There is a hierarchy amongst the women of the workroom, with Madame Laurence and Mimi at the top. Throughout the play, these two women have an antagonistic relationship in which Mimi fights to take both Madame Laurence’s physical position near the window and her social position by teasing and taunting the other woman. Madame Laurence usually responds with outbursts of frustration and scolding, or will storm off. Additionally, the character’s personalities clash one another, with Mimi being very suggestive and free-spirited, while Madame Laurence is more conservative and is easily offended.

Cross Dressing has been at the center of debate for many years. There are conflicting opinions concerning the origin of the behavior and individuals that behave in this manner. The purpose of this discussion is to research human sexuality of cross dressing as it relates to psychology. We will investigate the findings published in several books and journals concerning cross dressing. The research will also focus on the treatments that are available for individuals that cross dress and their families. Let’s begin our discussion by defining cross dressing and the psychological factors that can lead to the behavior.