Literary Analysis Of Faith Ringgold : God Bless America

“Women and Gender in Islam” by Leila Ahmed was published in 1992, at a time when research on Arab women was a young, newly emerging field of study. Leila Ahmed is an Egyptian American writer and feminist. Her text “Women and Gender in Islam” targets proclaimed feminists, both western and non-western, as the intended audience. The text is involved with the discourse of gender, the discourses of women, the discourses of feminist, and colonial and post-colonial discourses.

Aisha bint Abu Bakr was a leader, a woman, a wife, a theologian, a scholar and a political activist. She was precocious, loyal, brave and remarkably intelligent. These aspects of her humble life have allowed her to make a powerful impact on the development and expression of Islam that “no woman [has] reached”[1]. Not only did she influence the position of women in Islamic society, Islamic ethics, and the understanding and interpretation of the Qur’an, but she also modelled these qualities for the men, women and children of Islam.

Artworks featuring the American flag can have different meanings, for example, Faith Ringgold's God Bless America and Jasper Johns Flag. The painting God Bless America was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s it’s an expression of the emotional and physical agony of African Americans, it’s also a comment on bigotry. It shows a woman behind bars, the bars being the red and white stripes of the American flag. The star on the woman's shoulder represents a sheriff's badge. The art is contradictory because it's both patriotic and racist. The painting Flag is more patriotic. It’s made out of an ancient Egyptian painting called encaustic which leaves lumps and smears asking viewers to consider the work of art and to ponder its meaning.

One of these incidents occurs when Marjane is in art school. When the students were told that they needed to wear longer headscarves, Satrapi immediately responded that “as a student of art…I need to move freely to be able to draw.” She further questions “why is it that I, as a woman, am expected to feel nothing when watching these men with their clothes sculpted on but they, as men, can get excited by two-inches less of my head scarf?” here Marjane questions the restrictiveness of the veil and comments on the injustice in Muslim society and the gender inequality. The veil represent the repressions and the gender injustices in Iran. By revolting against the veil Marjane is able to protest the repressions. On hearing Marjanes complaint, the school administrators asked Satrapi to design her own veil. Marjane accepts this offer while still in the confines of the veil. Marjane designs the veil to suit the needs of the students and

“Art is the most intense mode of individualism that the world has known.” -Oscar Wilde. Women are wild, sensitive, magnificent, mysterious, and above all: individual. Art’s many different medias allowed artist throughout the ages to capture women at both their strongest and most vulnerable points. It has the power to capture a woman: as a naïve, young girl clutching her brother as they are painted into a lasting portrait, a golden statue of an angel sent down to Earth to help a saved man take his first steps into an eternal life with God, to the powerful goddess, Artemis, transforming a hunter into a deer and having his hunting dogs tragically attack him. The six pieces of art chosen express the individuality of each women who has walked, walks, and will walk the earth.

Adopting a tongue-in-cheek tone, they list the so called ‘advantages’ faced by women artists in the 1980’s, such as “working without the pressure of success” and “knowing your career might pick up after you’re eighty”. The Guerrilla Girls demonstrate their strategy of using humour and sarcasm to break down discrimination within the art industry through this artwork. It reflects how discrimination is experienced by all kinds of women, both within and outside the art industry. The poster highlights not only the difficulties of being recognised as a female artist, but also the difficulties of balancing a career and personal life in a society that undervalues women’s contribution. The Guerrilla Girls wanted female artists to recognise that they are not the only ones being discriminated against, women all over the world, not only artists, can identify with this. The public are confronted with the hard truth that it isn’t just women artist being targeted, but all women in the world are discriminated against, and it isn’t right. The audience are supposed to look at this piece and feel challenged. They are supposed to tell the Guerrilla Girls what they are writing is wrong, but they can’t, because what is said in this piece is what is really happening in their society. The Advantages of Being a Woman Artist is successful

Very few weaknesses exist within Kirsten Buick’s article. Because of the divisions in the article, there is no clear thesis. Each section in the article seems to have its own thesis statement. Additionally, Buick’s conclusion paragraph, only two sentences long, does not adequately wrap up the article. Despite these minor flaws, the article is very well written and organized. Buick provides more than sufficient data to back up her argument. She provides quotes from other writers and columnists, art historians, and Edmonia Lewis herself. When discussing Lewis’s sculpture Hagar in the Wilderness, Buick provides text from the Bible on Hagar. After providing a visual analysis of each sculpture mentioned, Buick explains their cultural significance. For example, Buick mentions the relationship between mother and child in Lewis’s The Freedwoman on First Hearing of Her Liberty and explains, “with the end of slavery, mother and child were no longer property that could be

In a modern society, race is no longer the determining factor of one’s place in the social hierarchy. Instead, the wealth and fame a person possesses captivates the world’s attention. However, race is still a controversial topic in the United States. Thus racial tensions continue to exist in certain sections of the country. The literal and metaphoric foundation of this currently powerhouse of a nation is built on slavery, the backs of immigrants and people of color who received little to no recognition for their efforts and contributions. The barbarous treatment of African slaves, especially in the South with its large cotton plantations further embedded hatred and hostility between colored people and white people. It took over a decade and a Civil War between the North and the South before the slavery was abolished. However, slavery was merely replaced by Jim Crow laws and segregations that continued to divide the colored from the white. Finally, the Civil Rights movement urged citizens to evolve from racist views. Yet even still racism plays a big part in our culture and is still heavily discussed; our current political climate only fuels the discussion. In Zora Neale Hurston’s novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, both racism and colorism are touched on both a symbolical level as well as a literal one through the trials and tribulations of the protagonist, Janie. Despite not having a theme centered around racial issues in the novel, Hurston highlights them throughout the

Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi is a graphic novel that provides insight into a young girl living in Iran during the hardship of war. Persepolis takes place during the childhood of Marjane Satrapi. It gives a background of the Islamic Revolution and the war in Iran. Satrapi attempts to guide herself in a corrupted world filled with propaganda. She tries to develop her own morality concerning religion, politics, and humanity. Satrapi was blessed enough to have high class status and parents who had an open mindset about the world around them. Thanks to her slightly alternative lifestyle, she is able to reconstruct gender norms that society has set by depicting the different ways women resist them. “Do Muslim Women Really Need Saving? Anthropological Reflections on Cultural Relativism and Its Others” by Lila Abu-Lughod is an essay detailing the misconceptions surrounding the veil. Through this essay we can see how colonial feminism, the form of feminism in which western women push for a western way of living on their third world counterparts, has shined a negative light on cultures all around the world - particularly Islamic women. The essay shows how women who don’t conform to American societal structures are labeled as women who urgently require saving. Through this essay one can develop a thorough understanding of the veil itself and the many representations it holds to different entities. Although in Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood Satrapi

One of the most controversial topics concerning Muslim women’s rights is the idea of the veil. It is believed by some Muslims that the veil is an Islamic obligation that all Muslim women must adhere to. But nowadays, the veil can have different meanings that are not necessarily religious. In her article “Reinventing the Veil,” Leila Ahmed addresses some of the different meanings that the veil can have. Marjane Satrapi explores one of those meanings in her animated autobiography Persepolis (2008). In Persepolis, Marjane tells the story of her rebellion against the Iranian Islamist regime that takes over Iran, oppresses women, and forces them to wear the veil. What was interesting to me was seeing Marjane wear the veil without being oppressed, although she does not believe in it, and is being forced to wear it. In Persepolis, Marjane Satrapi escapes being a subject to the Iranian Islamist ideology by establishing her individual identity through transforming the veil from a means of oppression into a means of feminist rebellion.

Abayas, shailas, burkas, and chadors: all are forms of veiling in the Middle East, and all are perceived as symbols of oppression and patriarchy by the West. The veil worn by a Middle Eastern woman is striking and beautiful in its simplicity and elegance. The hijab, the most common form of veiling, leaves only the face visible with the neck and hair completely covered. Onlookers are in awe at the mystery and symbolism associated with the many veils created out of fine, exotic silk. But such notions of oppression and patriarchy often associated with veiling are not only inherently biased and ironic – it would be interesting to explore the symbolism behind a mini-skirt or a pair of five-inch heels, no? – but they are also inaccurate. Although veiling has most definitely been used in the Middle East as a “mechanism in the service of patriarchy, a means of regulating and controlling women’s lives” (Hoodfar, 5), it has also been used as a mode for rebellion and self-expression. Marjane Satrapi, an Iranian woman who grew up during the Islamic revolution, resisted the regime and the universalizing nature of the veil in the hope that she could maintain her individual identity whilst communicating her political ideologies. By examining the way in which the veil is represented in Satrapi’s graphic memoir, Persepolis, while also considering the history of veiling in Iran, it will become evident that the veil is not just a political tool used by male chauvinists; it also presents an

Faith Ringgold’s God Bless America is an expression of the emotional and physical torment of black Americans prior to and during the Civil Rights Movement. This piece of art movement had a lot of cultural ties to the population during the 1960’s that also can be applied today in the year 2001. Through the description of medium, subject matter, form, and style I will relate this piece of history and the signfigance of what this composition means to me today.

The poem “ Barbara Frietchie,” by John Greenleaf Whittier, is about an old lady who flies a Union flag. When the confederate army comes rolling into town, they want to tear down the flag. But Barbara told them that she would rather die rather than her flag get down down showing love, loyalty, and respect to her beliefs of her side and it shows that the general ( Thomas Jonathan Jackson) respects Barbara by letting her keep and making sure his soldiers stay away from her so the soldiers wouldn’t kill her. The reason why Barbara Frietchie is a respected lady throughout history is because she showed loved, loyalty, and respect to her beliefs. The reason why people respect Stonewall Jackson is because he showed respect, kindness and showed mercy to Barbara Frietchie. Barbara Frietchie is a great role model is because she showed bravery, stands up for her beliefs, and she said that she’d rather die than her flag get torn down

Because of their beauty ,women are underestimated , in this case Miss Rehana,. People used to think about beauty women that they are weak and incapacitated to do the same thing that men do. This sexist theory unfortunately is still used in our days to play down the figure of women in countries like Pakistan. We believe that S. Rushdie uses this way of think to break in the end our expectation about Miss Rehana , and highlight more the independence and freedom of women.

Feminist art sought to elicit a response from its audience in order to get people to acknowledge and discuss feminist issues so that society as a whole could move toward change. By challenging the norms of patriarchal structure – not only within the art community but in everyday life as well – feminist art worked in parallel with the core objectives of feminism. A key component of feminism is confronting the oppression of women, and feminist artists addressed this in many forms, one of which was bringing light to violence perpetrated against women. This theme in feminist art helped to foster a dialogue that forced viewers to talk about violence against women and inspire involvement towards a less complicit society. Feminist art is particularly powerful because it worked to educate its viewers on the extent of this problem, as well as empower and heal victims.