Women's Final
Eva Luna
"As long as you're untouched, you're worth something, she would say; but when you lose it, you're nobody. I did not understand why the part of my body that was so sinful and forbidden could at the same time be so valuable. "
Real Durwan
"Boori Ma's mouth is full of ashes. But that is nothing new. What is new is the face of this building. What a building like this needs is a real durwan."
Eva Luna
"Consuelo was seduced by the idea of being born in the midst of all that fear, in spite of the rumor that babies born during that period were abominations and would remain so years after the comet had faded from sight as a ball of ice and stellar dust."
Eva Luna
"Do you touch yourself with your hands"? "Yes..." "Often, daughter?" "Every day." "Every day! How often?" "I don't keep count...many times..." "that is the most serious offense in the eyes of God!" "I didn't know Father. And if I wear gloves, is that a sin, too?" "Gloves! But what are you saying, you foolish girl? Are you mocking me?" "No-no," I stammered in terror, at the same time thinking of how difficult it would be to wash my face, brush my teeth, or scratch myself while wearing glove
Nervous Conditions
"I strutted along beside my cousin, imitating her walk and the set of her head so that everyone would see that we were a unit" (94)
Nervous Conditions
"I was not sorry when my brother died. Nor am I apologizing for my callousness, as you may define it, my lack of feeling."
Eva Luna
"In their hearts they knew that from that moment they would try to forget, to tear that horror from their souls, resolved never to speak of it, with the hope that time would erase it. Finally, slowly, exhausted, feet dragging, they returned home. Last came Rolf Carle, walking between two rows of skeletons, all equal in the desolation of death."
Nervous Conditions
"It's bad enough . . . when a country gets colonized, but when the people do as well! That's the end, really, that's the end."
Nervous Conditions
"My father was greatly tickled by this. He annoyed me tremendously by laughing and laughing in an unpleasantly adult way."
Nervous Conditions
"Nor was I impressed with her consideration for me, steeped as I was in the greater virtue that I believed was mine; a virtue which her behaviour had instigated and which Babamukuru's homily had nourished." (88)
Nervous Conditions
"The problem is the Englishness, so you be careful!"
Nervous Conditions
"What it is," she sighed, "to have to choose between self and security."
Socio-cultural oppression
(colonial traditions, artforms, social institutions and mores impressed upon colonized -- what is lost in the process)
Economic oppression
(divide between rich / poor often aligned with colonizer / colonized)
Political oppression
(inability of colonized to shape / participate in political function of region)
Psychological oppression
(internalizing colonial status)
Setting
- is where the story takes place; the author can focus on various aspects such as the exterior/ interior setting, how it serves as a backdrop, atmosphere, situation, motive, metaphor, and how it lends to authenticity; these ideas can sometimes bleed together.
Lucy
1. I wondered if ever in my whole life a day would go by when these people I had left behind, my own family, would not appear before me in one way or another.
Girl
1. [A]lways squeeze bread to make sure it's fresh; but what if the baker won't let me feel the bread?; you mean to say that after all you are really going to be the kind of woman who the baker won't let near the bread?
Lucy
2. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't my fault. But nothing could change the fact that where she saw beautiful flowers I saw sorrow and bitterness.
Lucy
3. The times that I loved Mariah it was because she reminded me of my mother. The times that I did not love Mariah it was because she reminded me of my mother.
Lucy
4. I used to think that just a change in venue would banish forever from my life the things I most despised. But that was not to be so. As each day unfolded before me, I could see the sameness in everything; I could see the present take a shape—the shape of my past.
Lucy
5. I could write down only this: "I wish I could love someone so much that I would die from it." And then a great wave of shame came over me and I wept and wept so much that the tears fell on the page and caused all the words to become one great big blur.
Sex vs. Gender
: Sex- describes the biological identities of women and men. Gender- the socially constructed behaviors and characteristics that are associated with each sex. Sex is biological; Gender is cultural
Jhumpa Lahiri
A Real Durwan
Bildungsroman
A coming of age story that normally starts with someone who is inexperienced. the person then encounters some tramtic event, or incident that pushes them to change. We then see the difficult journey they must face to finding their success, which normally happens at the end. Example: Nervous Conditions, Eva Luna, and also Lucy.
Rolf Carle
A journalist who develops a skill for making documentaries that catch the attention of the masses and win him fame and fortune
Gender Norms
A set of "rules" or ideas to how women and men "should" look or behave.These are not derived from scientific research, but from societal standards. EXAMPLE: men cant do feminine things, they are not emotional, they are strong. Women cook and clean, they are to be skinny and pretty, they are to act lady-like
Gender Roles
A set of societal norms dictating what types of behaviors are generally considered acceptable, appropriate or desirable for a person based on their actual sex. This also allows for one gender to be superior over another and to have entitlement of being in charge.
Post-colonialism
An approach to literary analysis that particularly concerns itself with literature that represents either British or American viewpoints and concentrates on writing from colonized or formerly colonized cultures
Lucy
An au pair for a wealthy American family, and the novel's protagonist and narrator. More than anything, wants to escape the influence of her native land, a British-ruled Caribbean island, but her homesickness and difficult relationship with her mother stand in her way
Colonialism
An extension of a nation's rule over territory beyond its borders; sovereignty over the colony is claimed by the colonizer
Bildungsroman
Coming of age
Professor Jones
Consuelo's employer, is a highly intelligent but focused man, who often misses what is occurring right under his nose.
Isabel Allende
Eva Luna
Global Feminism
Feminist action concerned with the development of women's rights on a global scale. Seeks to dismantle the currently predominant structures of global patirarchy. Concerned not only with direct laws that discriminate, but also social structures and the denial of equal opportunity.
Eva Luna
How we've changed! No, don't look at me like that. I'm not gay, I'm a transsexual." "A what?" "I was born a man, but by mistake, and how I'm a woman
Odysseus
Husband of Penelope is gone for a long time
Grimalkin
I stopped identifying with white feminism
Challenging the literary cannon
LC has always been white, male, privileged writers; challenging by getting more women's texts, etc, into it.
Hegemony
Leadership or dominance, especially by one country or social group over others. The ability of dominant groups in society to exercise control over weaker groups, not by means of force or domination, but by gaining their consent, so that unequal distribution of power appears to be both natural and legitimate.
Jamaica Kincaid
Lucy & Girl
Annie Potter
Lucy's mother. Left behind in Lucy's homeland, makes no physical appearance in the novel, but she nonetheless has an immense presence in Lucy's life. Often portrayed as godlike, holds a place in Lucy's heart as her first
Lucia
Ma'Shingayi's sister. is a mysterious, strong-willed woman who is feared by many and said to be a witch. Shrewd and sexually promiscuous, is the object of gossip and rumor and is said to have had many affairs with rich men.
Penelope
Main character in Penelopiad who is in Hades telling her side of the story
Flazia Dzoden
My feminism with be intersectionality or it will be bullshit
Tsitsi Dangarembga
Nervous Conditions
Chido
Nyasha's brother, son of Babamukuru and Maiguru. is tall, athletic, and handsome, as well as charismatic, intelligent, and highly educated.
Zahra
Protagonist and narrator of Year of the Elephant. Became involved in the Moroccan independence movement
Feminism
Range of movements that hope to achieve, define, and establish equal social, economic, cultural, personal, and political rights from women. (The definition has expanded to include intersections of gender, race, class, and ethnicity (and to recognize the term as plural, ie: "feminisms" to take account of differences)
Women Rights as Human rights
Regardless of gender and/or culture people are entitled to basic human rights, which should be ensured and protected by the government.
Maiguru
Tambu's aunt and Babamukuru's wife. is a strong, educated, and successful professional woman and thus stands out from the rest of the women in her family.
Nyasha
Tambu's cousin, daughter of Babamukuru and Maiguru. is silently observant with an often unsettling intensity.
Jeremiah
Tambu's father and Babamukuru's brother. is naïve, ignorant, and superstitious. He seems barely concerned with the future and success of his children and grows increasingly detached from his family. In Babamukuru's presence he is servile and fawning, lauding his siblings' accomplishments.
Ma'Shingayi
Tambu's mother. Initially, is portrayed as a hardworking figure who has toiled and sacrificed so that her son can have an education.
Babamukuru
Tambu's uncle. is highly educated and successful headmaster of the mission school. A patriarchal and authoritarian figure, he uses his power and position to improve the lives of his extended family, but he does it out of duty, not love.
Margaret Atwood
The Penelopiad
Multiculturalism
The endeavor to understand, accept, and celebrate the cultural diversity between and among groups of people.
The Mother
The mother of a preadolescent daughter, and the main speaker in the story. The mother dispenses a long string of advice to her daughter to teach her how to properly run a household and live respectably.
Tambu
The novel's narrator and protagonist. An intelligent, hardworking, and curious fourteen-year-old girl, is hungry for an education and eager to escape life on the homestead.
The daughter
The preadolescent daughter who listens to her mother's speech. The daughter says little, speaking only to defend herself against her mother's accusations
Gender Socialization
The process of learning the social expectations and attitudes associated with one's sex. Example: the clothes, shows, and toys children are exposed to. When a baby is born it is often that boys are dressed in blue and girls in pink. Shows often are geared towards one gender; princess movies for girls, superhero shows for boys. Toy sections in stores are often sectioned by gender; girl's play with barbies, boys play with action figures.
Single Story
The same story gets told over and over again, and individuals get a preconvieved idea that they dont have a first hand knowledge about. (We watched the TED talk of Chimamanda Adiche, and the dangers of having a single story) An example could be that Tambu in Nervous Conditions thought her cosuins family was too English until she started spending time with them.
Mythology
The stories that society tells in order to structure and make sense of the world. reinforce ideology.
Globalization
The transformation of local phenomena into global ones
Discourse
The way speech and writing work in conjunction with specific structures and institutions to shape social reality.
Orientalism
The way that europe and U.S. cultures view the "orient". Normally in a judging, non understanding way. These cultures normally place the "orient " below them because of their differences.
Mariah
The woman of the household in which Lucy works. Though holds liberal views, she inadvertently offends Lucy with the naïveté and arrogance of her privileged upbringing
Story Telling
Through novels and texts we have read over the course of the semester we see the impact story-telling has on a person and how the truth is told by a story. The message a story sends is truer than the truth. Through Eva Luna we see how story-telling is a major contributing factor to her growth as a young woman. Looking at the story as a whole helps the reader to understand the importance of story telling.
Ethnocentrism
To look at the world primarily from the perspective of one's own culture. It often entails the belief that one's own race or ethnic group is the most important and/or that some or all aspects of its culture are superior to those of other groups. Example: Today, a majority if not all TV shows and Movies feature an all white cast with maybe one or two persons of color. If there is in fact a person of color in the cast, they usually play a supporting character and never a lead role. Only recent Viola Davis became the first black woman to recieve a Emmy award for best drama actress.
Survival
To overcome challenges women face;
Unsettling the Idea of Universal Sisterhood
Universal Sisterhood is a western ideology that women around the world experience oppression in the same ways and that a single feminist movement can bring all women out of oppression. However, women experience discrimination and oppression in different cultural contexts around the world, so there must be multiple different feminist movements. We cannot assume that the western feminist movement will be applicable in all parts of the world.
Daniela Ramirez
What its like to be a white woman of color
Eva Luna
Why did you kill her? To rob her? They say the Turk's woman is rich, and has a treasure buried in the patio. Answer me, *****! Where did you hide the jewels you stole from her?
Leila Abouzeid
Year of the elephant
Ideology
a system of practices that inform aspects of daily life; system of beliefs that can be made / followed unconsciously and are invisible.
Eva Luna
mother dies when she is six years old. is raised from that point by her madrina, or godmother,. When Professor Jones, their employer, dies, madrina is forced to find another place of employment for
Gender Stereotypes
over-generalizations about the characteristics of an entire group based on gender. EXAMPLE: All men drink and watch sports. All women know how to cook and change a diaper.
Androcentrism
placing male human beings or a masculine point of view at the center of one's world view and its culture and history.
Consuelo
rescued as an infant by missionaries and lives in the jungle until she is approximately twelve years old. The missionaries then send her to a convent so that she can learn how to act like a young girl instead of an animal.
Huberto Naranjo
takes under his wing when she runs away from the spinster patrona's home after snatching the wig from her employer's head. Huberto teaches the ways of the street for the few days that she is with him, as well as some of the cons that he works on the people of the capital.
Cultural Relativism
the view that no culture is superior to any other culture. Cultural relativism argues that all cultural beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is relative, depending on the cultural environment.
The maids
their voices represented feminism, hardships they faced, different challenges they faced. Represent the minorities in feminism; women who are not privileged don't have a voice; their voices contrast with Penelope's voice
Mimi
transsexual, meets Eva when Eva is a young girl. When Eva first meets, he is known as, a male Italian teacher and is the best friend of La Senora.
Essentialism
views holds the belief that categories, or individuals and groups of human beings have innate, defining features exclusive to their category.
