Author Archives: Keila Torres

Sordid

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Sordid (adjective)

Definition: marked by baseness or grossness; vile

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sordid

Found in: Quicksand by Nella Larsen

Quote: “she hated to admit that money was the most serious difficulty. Knowing full well that it was important, she never the less rebelled at the unalterable truth that it could influence her actions, block her desires. A sordid necessity to be grappled with”

The sordid necessity here describes her feelings about money, she is repulsed by the fact that money in some way controls her.

Quicksand: The other side of the fence

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In Quicksand by Nella Larsen, Helga Crane is the protagonist who seems dissatisfied with her surroundings. Helga’s character development throughout the story happens within her thoughts and actions. For example, in the beginning, Helga begins her work teaching at Naxos. At first she is optimistic about the young minds filled with aspirations, but then thinks that the school institution itself beats this out of them, to quote specifically: “Helga Crane had taught in Naxos for almost two years, at first with keen joy and zest of those immature people who have dreamed dreams of doing good to their fellow men. But gradually this zest was blotted out, giving place to a deep hatred for the trivial hypocrisies and careless cruelties which were, unintentionally perhaps, a part of the Naxos policy of uplift” (11). In understand Helga, I get the sense that she is someone who battles with the desires of her heart and the realities of real life. She questions the differences her friendship would make to the students and compares it to the size of an atom. She also struggles with the notion that money holds her back, and although she struggles to be free and express the actions her mind seems to scream for, everything isn’t as simple to make happen for herself. Helga seems to struggle with the desires she has in her mind and the oppression that seems to surround her regarding race. Helga fumes over the sermon of the preacher who urges that black people of Naxos were superior because they knew to stay in their place, and to go further than that would lead them only to corruption. Although the preacher seems to at times praise the students, Helga understands the message behind the preachers sermon, This infuriates her and she imagines the creativeness and individuality that would be able to be expressed but aren’t, comparing the school to a “machine”.Here Helga again is faced with the fact that her true wishes and desires fall dead on the reality of the situation, and when it finally hits her, she can no longer stand it and devises a plan to free herself from Naxos.

 

Boudoir

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Boudoir (noun)

Definition: a woman’s bedroom or private room for dressing or resting

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/boudoir

Found in: Intimate Apparel by Lynn Nottage (Act 1, Scene 2)

Quote: “Gardenia Ball Corset. Pink silk and Crepe de chine An elegant boudoir. The silhouette of a naked woman moves gracefully behind a translucent screen. She slides her torso into the fitted lingerie.”

The scene here is describing the backdrop and the figure outline of a naked woman. The elegant boudoir describes that she is in a private room.

When the real world and the written collide

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Intimate Apparel is a play written by Lynn Nottage that takes place in 1905. The play follows Esther, a 35-year-old African American seamstress that makes her living in Manhattan. Esther has worked hard her entire life, from picking berries to sewing. Esther is very relatable to woman: she longs for love, she aspires to open a beauty salon, she is self-conscious and a caring humble woman. Many aspects of Nottage’s play resonate with the experiences and feelings of many women, past and present. This is because the characters in the play feel authentic, dealing with real issues many women face. Esther seeks love, but doesn’t feel she is pretty or that anyone will even be interested in her. Here, Esther’s self-doubt in her and in her looks is a very real aspect of Nottage’s imagined world. When Esther gets a letter from George, a panama man who is courting her, she must ask others to read and write letters back as she does not know how to. In 1905 this seems reasonable that Esther wouldn’t have learned to read or write in her economic status. Another way in which Nottage’s play felt authentic was the romantic tension between her and Mr. Marks, a Jewish man who sells her fabrics. Esther opens up to Mrs. Van Buren, saying, “I fear my love belongs someplace else” but disregards her feelings as they come from two different worlds, and he has a fiancé he has not yet met. Nottage’s created world yet again connects with our real world, as interracial relationships would have been greatly looked down upon for someone in Ether’s position in the early 1900’s. A woman would be expected to stay within her race or class and not doing so would result in a social stigma.

Another interesting character that has her own very real issues is Mrs. Van Buren. Esther and Mrs. Van Buren are also from two different worlds, but get along great as friends. Mrs. Van Buren confides in Esther about the pressuring questions she gets from her peers about having a child, and how important having a child is to an important man like her husband. She admits to Esther that she is unsure if she is able to bear any children although people speculate that vanity is the reason. In what I find to be crucial part of the play, Mrs. Van Buren says “By the way, I bled this morning, and when I delivered the news to Harry, he spat at me. This civilized creature of society. We, us women, we all bleed, Esther. And yet I actually felt guilt, as though a young girl again apologizing for becoming a woman”. This part struck me a lot, as a woman trying to imagine the situation in which the character was place; is heart wrenching. Another reason being that many women really do experience this in their life.

The play itself is different than the format of other readings, using a dialogue between characters and descriptive information about the background setting. The advantage in this was being able visually conceptualize the play. For example, George’s infidelity with Mayme was shown rather than spoken in dialogue. The format of the play is able to draw on these scenes that are wordless between characters but speak volumes in the storyline.

Question: I didn’t exactly know what to take on the scene between Esther and Mrs. Van Buren, when Mrs. Van Buren kisses Esther and then says its because she wanted to show her “what it’s like to be treated lovingly”? Then later in the scene Mrs. Van Buren calls Esther a coward. I didn’t understand the motive behind Mrs. Van Buren’s actions in this scene. (Act 2, Scene 3)

Bogey

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Bogey (noun)

Definition: something that causes fear or worry

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bogey

Found in: Feminist Manifesto by Mina Loy

Quote: “The fictitious value of a woman as identified with her physical purity—is too easy to stand-by—rendering her lethargic in the acquisition of intrinsic merits of character by which she could obtain a concrete value—-therefore, the fist self-enforced law for the female sex, as a protection of the man made bogey of virtue—which is the principal instrument of her subjection, would be the unconditional surgical destruction of virginity through-out the female population at puberty—-.”

In the context in which Mina Loy uses this word, bogey means the man made “fear” which is that a woman’s worth is her virginity.

Manifesto: Women in the workforce and pregnancy

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We all know there are many issues surrounding woman and the workforce. For one, Mina Loy in her manifesto mentions the different values of a man and a woman in a professional and commercial setting, stating outright that women are not equal to men. Many gender role stereotypes are placed on women regarding their career during and after pregnancy. For example, women are not all guaranteed maternity leave and safety of their job if they are to get pregnant. Although after pregnancy the situation can get much worse. If a mother has a child and must return to work soon after, an easy stereotype is that she is a career driven woman who places her work above staying home and caring for the child. However on the other hand, if a woman has a child and decides to be a stay at home mom, people may brand her as lazy or living off her husbands money. Women are so easily critiqued for either inevitable choice they must make. Men however do not have to deal with these issues. Men are free to climb the economical ladder without pressure of getting pregnant within a certain time frame when their body can handle it. Men are free to be tigers in the workforce without the biological and hormonal effects of pregnancy. Women also must deal with the physical signs of pregnancy such as a growing belly or swollen feet. During a job interview however, women can do nothing when the hiring committee decides to hire a man instead simply because he isn’t pregnant. Women can be stigmatized when pregnant such as “she won’t work hard now” or “what if she quits? Or  “What if she is too tired to complete her workload?”. The pressure for women to have a career and be a mother and homemaker is at an all time high. Now, women are expected to be breadwinners along with their husbands as well as bare the children and keep a clean home. Women must realize that the pressure from society to do all of these things will never dissipate, but we must rise above the stereotypes and live our lives in the way that makes us the happiest. Regardless of the path a woman chooses regarding pregnancy or careers – it is her path to choose and live with.

Society will always have a negation to each positive, a critique for each choice.

The deeper meaning of gay

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“Helen Furr had quite a pleasant home. Mrs. Furr was quite a pleasant woman. Mr. Furr was quite a pleasant man. Helen Furr had quite a pleasant voice a voice quite worth cultivating. She did not mind working. She worked to cultivate her voice. She did not find it gay living in the same place where she had always been living. She went to a place where some were cultivating something, voices and other things needing cultivating. She met Georgine Skeene there who was cultivating her voice which some thought was quite a pleasant one. Helen Furr and Georgine Skeene lived together then.” (Miss Furr and Miss Skeene, first paragraph)

In this text, the overuse of the word gay is done purposely and repeatedly. In this simple paragraph, i can understand that Mrs. Furr was married to Mr. Furr, but decided to instead “cultivate” her voice and live with Georgine Skeene instead. This shows that she decided that although her husband was a pleasant man, she instead wanted to find herself more and be with this woman instead. The poem goes on to use the word gay very many times, and i feel like is this done so the message of the poem is blatant: they were gay and they were happy together, together both women were able to find their voices more and be happy together. However in the end, they did not end up together. I believe Steins’ point here was to show that the whole experience of them finding each other and finding their voice and living together shows that it changed them as people and made them better and braver, as after Helen Furr was able to tell people about being gay. The meaning of the word gay seems to change in the text. In the beginning, gay seemed to be used for “happy” but later on in the story, it is clear that gay now means the relationship between two of the same gender. Stein uses simple language with a much deeper rooted meaning in order to convey the story of Miss Furr and Miss Skeene.

Gilman’s inner thoughts revealed

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The narratives in each writing by Charlotte Perkins Gilman is specific to the type of text. For example, in “The Cottagette” as well as in “The Yellow Wallpaper” the first person narrative is used to explain to the reader the situation without giving the background, more as it actually happens in the text. Gilman uses this technique in order to unravel the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” by depicting her mental breakdown as it happens. From the beginning the reader can assume she is trustworthy as a narrator, but only after continuing along can the reader see the unreliability of the narrator. However,  in “The Cottagette” we find that Malda is more reliable but fickle in her decisions; regardless she is trustworthy as a narrator. Unlike the short stories, in Women and Economics, Gilman uses the third person narrative in order to explain her theories on “social intercourse” and the relationships between families in the household. Gilman uses words such as She or he to set up situational context to engage the reader of her proposition.This is essential for this type of writing because Gilman must be able to relate and express her opinions on social relationships and gender roles. In Women and Economics, Gilman states boldly “take kitchens out of the home” to make for a “true personal expression”. I believe this relates to “The Cottagette” because Malda is told by her friend Lois that in order to get Ford Mathews to marry her, she must be a homemaker and a cook. Malda then begins to leave behind her love of art to cook more. Later on, Ford Mathews says that he does not need her to do this, and loved seeing her as she was before when she was expressing herself by drawing. Gilman pushes the message that they are equals and that Malda is able to express herself with him, without having to be a homemaker. Malda even states at the conclusion “Was there ever a man like this?”.

Eccentric

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Eccentric (adjective)

Definition: tending to act in strange or unusual ways

Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/eccentric

Found in: “The Cottagette” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Quote: “The working basis of the establishment was an eccentric woman named Caswell, a sort of musical enthusiast…”

Although the context in which the word is used doesn’t give too much information into the definition, now that i know the meaning of eccentric, i know that the woman named Caswell was an unconventional woman.

The Woman Within

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Charlotte Perkins Gilman engages the reader with her works of writing that challenge the perception of women in their gender roles as mothers, wives, and homemakers. “The Yellow Wallpaper” is a short story written in the first person narrative which tells of a woman who is depressed after having a baby and begins to obsess about a yellow wallpaper which she finds hideous. The narrator slowly starts to unravel and it becomes clear that she is unreliable. Several quotes support this theory such as:

1) “This paper looks to me as if it KNOWS what a vicious influence it had!” Here, she gives the wallpaper personification by indicating that it has a “vicious influence” on her. This shows that she believes an inanimate object has ill will toward her and obsesses over the indication of its appearance.

2) “I have watched John when he did not know I was looking, and come into the room suddenly on the most innocent excuses, and I’ve caught him several times LOOKING AT THE PAPER! And Jennie too. I caught Jennie with her hand on it once.” Now, the narrative believes that John and Jennie stare at the wallpaper. She is reading into insignificant glances or unintentional touch as something much larger. She is becoming possessive over the wallpaper.

3) “I think that woman gets out in the daytime! And I’ll tell you why- privately- I’ve seen her!” The narrative is experiencing visual hallucinations now, she imagines that there is a women in the wallpaper and she has even seen her. This shows that now the narrator is unreliable because she is exclaiming that she’s seen this woman from the wallpaper, which is clearly a figment of her imagination.

4) “It is fortunate that Mary is so good with the baby. Such a dear baby! And yet I CANNOT be with him, it makes me so nervous.” This indicates postpartum depression. The fact that she recently had a child and cannot be around with him without feeling nervous and anxiety. This shows she may be an unreliable narrator due to her depression and state of mind.

Another important aspect of “The Yellow Wallpaper” is the relationship between the protagonist and her husband John. The narrative speaks of him in high regard, yet doubts him and hides her writing from him. Their relationship depicts the struggle between them, and the way she views her husband John. Here are several examples of their relationship as well as her depiction of John throughout the text:

1) “John is a physician, and PERHAPS … that is one reason I do not get well faster.” Even though John’s career is to expertise in health, she believes the opposite is true in their relationship and that it in-fact impedes on her getting well. This shows that she does not trust his judgement as a physician in regards to her health.

2) “John does not know how much I really suffer. He knows there is no REASON to suffer, and that satisfies him.” This shows that she hides her depression from John, and that he truly does not know the extent of her depression. When the narrator says he knows there is no reason to suffer, this means that he views her as not seeing anything wrong with her, so he dismisses any worry.

3) “Dear John! He loves me very dearly, and hates to have me sick. I tried to have a real earnest reasonable talk with him the other day, and tell him how I wish he would let me go and make a visit to Cousin Henry and Julia..But he said I wasn’t able to go” John may believe he is looking out for his wife’s best interest, but keeping her in isolation upstairs is what is driving her crazy. The narrator expresses how she wish she could visit them but is held down by her husband John who doesn’t think she is well enough to go. John is able to convince her that her “nervous weakness” condition and “silly fancies” are of her own burden and only she can stop them. This leads to the narrator not revealing her writing or feelings to him, for fear of being reprimanded.

Utopia and dystopia are two words that can described the short stories by Gilman. In my opinion i would describe “The Cottagette” as the utopia and “The Yellow Wallpaper” as the dystopia. The reason for this is because in “The Cottagette”, regardless of the social norms and the pressure for Malda to be a cook and homemaker, Ford Mathews wants her to continue her passion for art and to not give it up in order to be in the kitchen for him. The ‘utopia’ can be seen as the perfect qualities within their love, unconditional of her role as a cook or homemaker to him. Although just as visually stimulating, “The Yellow Wallpaper” would have to be considered the dystopian in my opinion, due to the fact that the narrator is put in confinement and must hide her passion for writing as it is not accepted, unlike Malda was.

Gilman is very descriptive in the imagery in both short stories, from the barred windows in the room with the yellow wallpaper to the peace and beauty of the farmland. The settings in both stories are outdoor green with paths and plants and gardens. However vastly different in each stories are the women that inhabit them. In “The Cottegette”, Malda describes lovingly her surroundings and serenity that it gives her, how she would truly not want to live anywhere else. Unlike Malda, the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” describes her surroundings from the upstairs room she is confined to, describing her disgust for the yellow wallpaper which drives her mad. Although the narrators in the short stories could have potentially been in the same space, their environments and world’s are completely different from one another.

In “The Cottagette”, Malda can be seen as a reliable narrative for several reasons in the passage.

1) “Mine wasn’t much. I did embroidery and made designs.” This shows the narrator had work to focus on and wasn’t all-cosumed such as the narrator in “The Yellow Wallpaper” was. Malda was able to express her love of art and music freely.

2) “Make a home? why it _is_a home. I never was so happy anywhere in my life.” This shows that Malda was happy in her current living situation and did not see any outward pressure to become a cook or homemaker as her friend Lois mentions.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman also wrote Women and Economics which also addresses the gender roles which women must give up any hopes or dreams of a life of their own in order to raise a family and become a housewife. Gilman used her writing platform in order to give rise to the woman within the wife, mother, and caretaker. Gilman was able to show first-hand how postpartum depression was treated as a weakness and with isolation and admonishment. Gilman expresses the creative freeness of Malda and how she changed her ways to please a man, who just wanted her to be herself and enjoy her passions as he had seen her do so. Gilman also challenges the state of living of a marriage and family, stating that “every human being needs a home”, regardless of marriage. Gilman through her writing is able to express the many facets of women along with the oppression they face in society.