Connections: Part 2

Similar to men having some form of connection involving power justification, women also have connections unknowingly.

In "A Jury of Her Peers", by Susan Glaspell, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters come to a point in which they could give evidence that Minnie Foster is a murderer or hide the evidence. "Slowly, unwillingly, Mrs. Peters turned her head until her eyes met the eyes of he other woman. There was a moment when they held each other in a steady, burning look in which there was no evasion or flinching. Then Martha Hale's eyes pointed the way to the basket in which was hidden the thing that would make certain the conviction of the other woman--that woman who was not there and yet who had been there with them all through that hour." This passage exemplifies a connection of empathy and understanding these women had for Minnie Foster. These women felt the pain and loneliness that Minnie Foster experience being all shut up in this house.

In "Brothers and Sisters Around the World", by Andrea Lee, the narrator slapped this women for flirting with her husband. A few days later, she finds the women returned and they confront each other. Immediately, the narrator and the two women stare at each other. The narrator then says, "all three of us know perfectly well that the man-- my European husband-- was just an excuse, a playing field for our curiosity. The curiosity of sisters separated before birth and flung by the caprice of history half a world away from each other. Now in this troublesome way our connection has been established." Even after this tension and disagreement they shared, she connects with these women. Calls them sisters even.

These connections make one wonder, "where does it come from?". In my opinion, I think most of it is that we are just naturally the same. Women share many of the same experiences. For example, menstruation or child birth. Natural experiences like these that almost all women have create a huge bridge that connects all women. Even so, these mysterious connections that men an women have can't really be explained, but are very interesting to think about and attempt to understand.

Connections

According to Susan Faludi, feminism's' agenda "asks that women not be forced to 'choose' between public justice and private happiness. It asks that women be free to define themselves instead of having their identity defined for them, time and again, by their culture and their men." This is the first concrete definition I have seen of feminism and I think it is well said. In Faludi's article "Blame it on Feminism", she argues that women have not yet achieved equality and already there is what she calls a "backlash" that is trying to put feminism down before it reaches it's goal. She writes that many people are misinformed with ideas of "man shortage" and "infertility epidemic" to break the progress of feminist ideals. Faludi writes, "to blame feminism for women's "lesser life" is to miss entirely the point of feminism, which is to win women a wider range of experience." She presents a valid argument and I agree with her. I like that her definition is not that feminism is women wanting to take over the world, but that feminism is women wanting to progress. Wanting to gain more experience and freedom.

Women have been faced with a struggle for any kind of progress for decades. The more the struggle, a greater awareness of the power of men unfolds. In the past, and Faludi is arguing in the present, men have been treated far better than women; with more freedom and opportunity. How? Why? The men "in charge" work to justify the "superiority" of their sex and so far, it has worked.

"If Men Could Menstruate" is an article that plays with ideas of what men would do or how they would act if they could menstruate. In my mind it was a humorous and light, but also quite an accurate article.  As Gloria Steinem says, "clearly menstruation would become an enviable, worthy, masculine event: Men would brag about how long and how much." Carrying on with more examples, what Steinem really gets at is that men can twist things to justify their power in a way that women are not as able to do. Is that then how they sustain their power? Steinem says, "The truth is that, if men could menstruate, the power justifications would go on and on. If we let them." Is it the justifications of power that keep men at the top? Is this a call for women to be more proud of who they are and what they do and learn to justify their power? Is this justification of power a connection that all men share?

It was interesting how differently our class reacted to this article. In general, it seemed the women seemed to think it was humorous and light, whereas the men in the class were uncomfortable with it and felt that it was incorrect and extreme. Could this experience with the class be an example of a deeper connection that men have with each other? Perhaps all men naturally justify their actions and ideas without realizing it.

But just like men, women have a deeper connection that causes women to relate to each other. The connection between women will be explored in my next blog.

"Power" and "Wild Geese"

 

The poems on page one of our Women's Literature packet were really fun to interpret. It was almost like a challenge because when I first read them they didn't make much sense or have much meaning to me. However, as I dissected lines, studied the poems more in depth, and as we had our class discussion, some great interpretations and ideas were brought to the table.

For me, "Power" was the most confusing poem. I though the first stanza was random and didn't follow with the rest of the poem. What is this "one bottle amber"? I also didn't understand the reason for all of the spaces. After hearing the poem read out loud, the spaces made sense. When the reader got to the spaces, they naturally paused, which added emphasis and meaning to what they were saying. It also changed the meaning of some of the lines. For example, this specific line could be said as, "denying her wounds came from the same source as her power"(Rich), or "denying, her wounds came from the same source as her power"(Rich). In our class discussion, we were arguing whether or not the amber represented alcohol or just a made up medicine. I saw it as a medicine because the poem talks of radiation which is a medicine for cancer, but it is also deadly. It was very ironic that the thing that Marie Curie was purifying was the thing that was killing her. I think Marie Curie was a good example of the effect of power, but I think this poem could relate to anything or anyone that has to do with power. The author only says "Marie Curie" once and the rest of the time she says "she" which creates a much more open and general audience. I think the main idea of this poem was that there is a greater power, which is earth, and that no one can control or fully possess power.

To me, compared to the very dark and "jailed" feeling of "Power", "Wild Geese" had a feeling of freedom and hope. I though this poem was beautiful and well written. In my interpretation, this poem is talking about how we all have problems, and yet the world goes on. It talks about everyone being a part of a family. This poem presents a compromise between belonging to something and still having freedom. In our class discussion someone brought up the idea that in this poem it suggests that everyone belongs to something bigger. Also, the author’s use of "you” makes the poem very general and open to a wider audience, similar to "Power". I really like the hope and the unity that this poem presents.

These two poems were great. I really enjoyed reading and interpreting them.