The Word "Vagina" !!!

In the book The Vagina Monologues, the author Eve Ensler goes into deeper meaning about the word vagina and how it is a word that is really kept sacred. Ensler explores the word vagina going into detail about her own experiences and expressing her opinions about her vagina. Ensler interviews all types of women from many different places and who have many different ethnic backgrounds. The interviews are very opinionated, explicit, and openly discussed, which makes this piece of work very popular and an interesting read.

In The Vagina Monologues, Eve Ensler interviews women and gets very opinionated and personal thoughts about what women think about their vagina. For example, in the monologue “Hair,” the narrator went into a personally discussion about shaving her vagina. The narrator states, “My first and only husband hated hair. He said it was cluttered and dirty. He made me shave my vagina.” These are thoughts that I would never share with anyone if I had the same issue as the narrator in this particular monologue. Throughout the book the monologues just gets more personal and more opinionated about the vagina.

When I first started reading the Vagina Monologues I thought to myself “WOW! The word choice of this book is pretty explicit. As I got into the book and continued reading more monologues, I couldn’t even put the book down. This book made me look at the word “vagina” in a whole new light. Even though as a women I wouldn’t be able to openly talk about my vagina as the women presented in the monologues, but this book is starting to make me feel more comfortable with the word “vagina”. When talking about anything having to do with a women’s vagina many people make it seem like the vagina is a forbidden thing to talk about. Ensler changes that in her book. She makes the word “vagina” seem as a regularly used word that nobody should be ashamed of especially women. After realizing Ensler’s purpose of the book, it made me feel happy to read this piece of work.

As a college student, I have to buy many books for my classes that I usually return when the semester is over. After purchasing and reading The Vagina Monologues, I have come to the conclusion that this is a book I may have to keep. I’ve only read a part of the book and now I have a whole new insight on the word “vagina.”

Final Thoughts on Krik? Krak!

In the book Krik Krak, there are many stories about Haitian women who experience challenging situations. For example, the book presents stories about women who deal with prostitution, failed pregnancies, love, incarceration, and death. None of these stories have any relations to each other except the fact that they all present a woman as a significant character.

The author, Edwidge Danticat, uses women in her stories to show how women are related through the problems they face. For instance, in the epilogue, Danticat mentions the importance about woman and their mothers and grandmothers who made the way for them. For example, the narrator states, “Your mother who looked like your grandmother and her grandmother before her. Your mother had two rules for living. Always use your ten fingers, which in her parlance meant that you should be the best little cook and housekeeper who ever lived.” In this statement, Danticat was showing the reader how significant women are in family. Danticat refers to a mother daughter or grandmother and granddaughter relationship throughout the book. For example, in the story, “Between the Pool and the Gardenias,” Danticat writes about a woman who finds a dead baby and out of desperation to be a mother she keeps the baby as her own. In the story, “Nineteen Thirty-Seven,” a woman named Josephine experienced the death of her mother who was killed in a prison. All these stories show the role woman play in family.

Overall Krik Krak was an enjoyable book to read with many heartbreaking but inspiring stories about the struggles of Haitian women. Each story had a deeper meaning that caught my attention. For example, the story “Children of the sea,” was not only about the attack of the tonton macoutes, but it was a love story between two teenagers. Danticat’s usage of metaphors and imagery really gave me a better understanding of this reading. Danticat succeeded with writing an interesting piece of work.

Marie: The Mother who Never had a Chance

In the book Krik Krak, the story, “Between the Pool and the Gardenias,” presents a woman named Marie, who is a maid that finds a dead baby on a dusty curb. Marie takes the baby and treats her as her own. She acts as if she is alive and even gives her the name Rose. Marie has dealt with a cheating husband and had many miscarriages in her past. As Marie keeps the baby, she tells her stories and admires her as if she was alive. As the baby starts to decay, Marie finally decides to bury the dead baby but she gets caught be the Dominican pool cleaner that she once slept with. He accuses Marie of killing the baby.

In the story, “Between the Pool and the Gardenias,” Marie seems to be a woman who is desperate to be a mother. Due to her constant failed pregnancies, she feels as if she has a second chance when she sees Rose on the curb. For instance, Marie states, “She looked the way that I had imagines all my little girls would look. The ones my body could never hold.” Marie took the baby knowing she was dead because she wanted a baby very badly; it was like she was able to live out her dream to be a mother for one day. For example, Marie goes into more detail about giving Rose all the things she was not able to give the children that she miscarried. “I could give her all the clothes that I had sewn for them. All these little dresses that went unused.” From this quote one can tell that not only was Marie desperate for a child, but she was hoping to give birth to a little girl.  

In this story it is obvious to the reader that Marie has lived a hard life. She has tried many times to have children of her own but had them taking away. She had accepted the fact that her husband was cheating on her. For example, when Marie observes the baby she thinks it could be a trap, “She might have been some kind of wagna, a charm sent to trap me. My enemies were many and crafty. The girls who slept with my husband while I was still grieving over my miscarriages.” Not only does Marie experiences heart break with her husband, but she made love with the Dominican pool cleaner who never spoke to her afterwards. Now as Marie tries to bury the dead daughter she that imagined was hers, The Dominican pool cleaner assumes she is doing something evil and threatens to get her in trouble. It is obvious to the reader that Marie’s life never gets better.  

Thought's on the story "Night Women"

In the book “Krik Krak” the story “Night Women,” presents a woman that is a prostitute who sleeps with men in front of her sleeping son. After she puts her son to sleep every night, the women brings in married men on certain days of the week. The woman makes up fabrications to tell her son just in case he awakes while she is working. She tells her son that his father, who is her dead husband, will be brought from heaven by an angel.

In the story “Night Women,” the reader gets a sense of how beautiful the woman is and that she uses that to her advantage to get work. For example, when the woman asks one of the married men that come on Tuesdays and Saturdays, “How is your wife?” He simply replies, “Not as beautiful as you.” I feel that the woman feels like she has to sleep with men because there is not any other job for her available. For instance, The woman states, “These women, they destroy their toil so that they will always have more to do. And as long as there’s work, they will not have to lie next to the lifeless soul a man whose scent still lingers in another woman’s bed.” In this quote, I felt as if there was a sense of guilt the woman was feeling from sleeping with married men.

Even though the women presented in the story calls herself a day and night women, there is a reason for the title “Night Women.” In this quote, the woman explains that she is a day and night woman, “There are two kinds of women: day women and night women. I am stuck between the day and night in a golden amber bronze.” She is describing her physical appearance in this quote. But in my opinion, the title of the story is not named “Night Women” because of the woman’s appearance. The significance of the title is that the woman does her work at night next to her sleeping son. The women don’t work during the day like women would regularly do at a regular job.

In my opinion, this story shows what women sometimes feel like they have to do to make a living for their children and them self. From practicing her prostitution profession next to her sleeping son, to making up fabrications about her work to her son; this woman was doing what she felt like she had to do.  

 

Teresa's Beginning Interpretation of “Krik Krak”

In the book “Krik Krak,” there are two narrators, a male and a female, who are very much in love. As tonton macoutes took over their home town, the male narrator tries to escape on a boat with many others. As the two are apart, they write journals that record every little detail on everything going on in each other’s lives hoping to exchange journals when reuniting.

In this book, the tonton macoutes seem to be torturing many people and taking over Haiti. While reading this book, I was reminded of many other massacres that took place in the world. In the book “Krik Krak,” the author goes into great detail on how the soldiers killed and forced people to do things. For instance, the female narrator explains what the soldiers would do, “If they come into a house and there is a son and mother there, they hold a gun to their heads. They make son sleep with his mother. If it is a daughter and father, they do the same thing.” These stories that both narrators tell reminds me of all the war related violence that happened in other nations such as Africa, Iraq, and Asia etc. While reading this book, I thought about genocides that has taken place in certain nations in the past and even today.

It amazes me how despite everything going on in Haiti, the two narrators are able to keep a love so strong in the beginning of the book. But the female narrator fails to work on the relationship she has with her father. It seems as if the father always resented her for choosing to love a man he disapproves of. Just from reading the beginning of the book it seems as if the father has a dictator personality towards his family. For instance, as the female narrator’s mother (manman) states, “The soldiers can come and do with us what they want. That makes papa feel weak, she says. He gets angry when he feels weak.” The father has a problem with feeling weak when he can’t protect his family and he shows his controlling side when he opposes his daughter’s love for the male narrator. The book “Krik Krak” has many connections that can be made to true life situations.

Teresa's interpretation of the poem, “Biography of an Armenian School Girl”

In 19 Varieties of Gazelle, the poem “Biography of an Armenian School Girl,” explains how Nye’s culture and gender keeps her from advancing in life. Nye explains how one day she is going to have to marry a man that is chosen for her. For example, Nye states, “What is the history of Europe to us if we cannot choose our own husband?” Nye also explains how strict her culture can be. For instance, Nye says in this quote, “But they teach algebra. They pull our hair back and examine our nails.” Nye later goes into detail about how she would like to travel away from that life and the culture she follows. “I would fly out of here travel, I say I would go so far away my life would be a small thing behind me.” Nye shows how she wants to explore other cultures than her own in this poem.

There are many cultures that engage in arrange marriages, just as Nye feels, not every women are happy with the husband that is chosen for them. Nye explains how she feels, “How will I sleep with him, I who have never slept away from my mother.” Nye obviously does not feel positive about having a man chosen for her.

The purpose of this poem was to show how Nye feels towards her culture. For instance, she explains the fact that one day she will have a husband chosen for her and how strict school is. She explains how her life is as an Armenian school girl. In my opinion, Nye felt negative towards the strict schools and the arranged marriages. She says she wants to “travel” but I interpret that as running away. After reading this poem, it seemed as if Nye wants to run away from the culture she is taught to follow.

Father & The Figtree

In the 19 Varieties of Gazelle the writer’s Father is presented in the poem “My Father and The figtree.” This poem expresses a lot of information about the father’s personality and how important the figtree is to him. Nye, the writer and narrator, states how her father always found a way to mention the figtree in all his folktales he use to recite to her. For example, Nye states, “Even when it didn’t fit, he’d stick it in.” referring to her father’s obsession with mentioning the fig tree. In this poem it is obvious that the figtree holds much importance to the Father.

            In the text, the figtree is a symbol that represents the Father’s Arabic culture, childhood, and innocence. The father had shown a certain dedication to the figtree because of what it represented to him. But there was never a real figtree, for example, Nye states, “Years passed, we lived in many houses none had figtrees.” Which brings up the question, if figtrees were so significant to the Narrator’s father, then why he never planted one?

            In my opinion, the Father never wanted to plant a figtree but it was a huge symbol for generosity of the world. For instance, After Nye’s father chanted a song to her she states, “It’s a figtree song! He said, plucking his fruits like ripe tokens, emblems, assurance of a world that was always his own.” Nye’s Father symbolized the figtree as a gift that was naturally given to him.

The poem “The Father and the Figtree,” was presented to show a significant symbol and to shows the father’s dedication to his home and his culture. The father comes off as nostalgic, and he uses the figtree to remember his childhood. The father always found a way to mention the figtree because of its importance to him and his family’s culture.