English 2000 Perspectives in Literature

This book is definitely different from all the other books we have read.  With a memoir the book is usually past events of the narrator or main character.  In this book we can out ourselves more into the character’s shoes compared to Giovanni’s Room or On The Road. Even though On The Road is almost an autobiography, it still has a lack in interest.  With Giovanni’s Room you can and can not put yourself into David’s shoe’s he is a constant liar and it seems to conflict with the story telling.  With the images that are in the book helps have a better understanding and image to your own imagination.  It help broaden your perspective of the the story.

There are a couple of similarities between the two stories, The House on Mango Street and Two or Three Things I Know For Sure, but there are differences also. Sandra Cigneros story takes place in an urban environment and a Spanish family and values, while Dorothy Allison’s story is what I believe is a country setting and has a white family and values. In both stories Esperanza from Mango street and Dorothy from Two or Three Things I Know For Sure are both from the working class and also both discuss their childhood. Both set on their dreams and goals of a better life. Esperanza wanting one day to own a house that she can call her own and have her parents proud of her, Dorothy wanting to go places she never seen or even heard of and do the thing that the people she knew hadn’t even dreamed of.

In the passage “Two or Three Things I Know for Sure”, she talks about her childhood experience. Also, in “The House on Mango Street”, Esperanza talked about her childhood as well. The main difference between these two passages are that in the “Two or Three Things I Know for Sure” talks about child sex abuse in the family whereas in “The House on Mango Street” talks about unachived childhood dream due to economic problems.

This book feels different from other texts we have read because its a memoir. this means that the events in the stories told are actual event and not just a figment of the author’s imagination. the places are real places that one can visit, and the characters are real life people. i think this helps the reader draw a better, faster or a stronger connection to the stories being told, it also gives us a better idea about who the author is and their feelings and emotions having the stories be non-fictional. the photographs from the author’s personal life also add a more authentic touch and a more realistic feeling to the stories being told, thats another difference between this book and the other fictional novels we have read.

“Women lose their lives not knowing they can do something different. Men eat themselves up believing they have to be the thing they have been made.” (pg.51) It would have been so easy for Dorothy to give up hope and fall into the dangerous patterns of the rest of the women in her life, allowing history to repeat itself through the generations, but Dorothy maintained strength through her belief in a separate reality. she refuses to stay silent and believes in the act of telling a story to unveil and unmask the gripping truth. men live up to the  standard that they are far more superior then women. They are disrespectful towards their women and uses horrible language to identify them, which causes  the women look down on themselves and each other.

Two or Three Things I Know For Sure is a memoir, though it is written from the first-person point of view like the autobiographies we have read before, it differs in the fact that it is a collection of stories, memories or major points of events from the authors life, where as in the previous texts, the authors pretty much summarize or outline their lives in whole.  When the author uses the fictional format to present the story, the victimization and direct link to the storyteller are shifted to a fictional protagonist. This can help create a more readable and believable story for people to comprehend, and want to read, as opposed to a factual story of a poor girl from illegitimate birth who was beaten and raped by her father.

In the novel “Two or three things I know for sure by Dorothy Allison”. Allison writes about the female perspective on how men and women are portrayed in her life by saying “Women lose their lives not knowing they can do something different. Men eat themselves up believing they have to be the thing they have been made” (51). This quotes deals with gender roles and the idea that were limited to certain things. I believe this women implies that women were too focused on being a women that prevent them for doing something else/ different. I believe this quotes also implies or what the author is trying to says is that it would have been easy if Allison give up hope and fall into dangerous patterns of the rest of the women in her life, which be allowing history to repeat itself but instead Allison maintained strength trough her belief in a separate reality/way.

Gender differences are very complex in their own way. Dorothy Allison writes, “Women lose their lives not knowing they can do something different. Men eat themselves up believing they have to be the thing they have been made.” In simpler terms of what I think is women are being seen as housewives. They never try something different, explore outside of their isolation being within in the house all the time. They always have the opportunity for trial and error. Because men can do whatever they want/desire to do of their lives. Yet, they take an opportunity and never give into it at all. Men have this fixation mindset of feeling that superiority in them, whilst women don’t because they have low self-esteem or the feeling they don’t deserve that placement.

“On page 51 of the text, Allison writes, “Women lose their lives not knowing they can do something different. Men eat themselves up believing they have to be the thing they have been made.” Reflect on what this quote means in the context of gender (masculinity and femininity). Discuss the meaning of this quote in the context of the book

I believe the author when she said “Women lose their lives not knowing they can do something different. Men eat themselves up believing they have to be the thing they have been made.”  she meant to say that they (Women) believed that their role was to be in the kitchen and raising the kids, while the Men was the one to bring food to the table and be superior. I also think the quote means that Women never though of doing something different or explore outside their zone because they didn’t have the economic status or the opportunity to do so. While the Men had the opportunity to do so but didn’t took advantage to of it or didn’t know how to handle it and waste it.