This Blog

This blog is a cooperative study aid created by UCLA students in English/Women's Studies M107A American Women Writers in Fall, 2007.

Too Much

In Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall we see that Avey and her family have probably asked too much of everything and they would look more into quantity rather than quality is better to have just one of a thing that you know is going to last longer than to have more than one and none might be useful. Probably it could also reperesent that they gave too much or that society expected too much from them or too much for them to resist the pressure of assimiltaion.

When do you stop giving

In the short story The Moths by Helena Maria Viramontes the 14 year old finds herself really dissapionted at her mom becaause everything that goes on in the house revolves around her husband and she says "when do you stop giving" when do do you stop giving into the beating, giving to others, when do you start giving to yourself, to mama Luna or when do you start giving motherly love to her daughter.

Purple

The title of the Color Purple has a significant meaning to the novel. The color purple reperesents bruses that Celie receives. It also represent Shugs nipple and vaginal purple. Celies discovery of her vagina was a important to her growth as a woman because she realize that her button would raise her to a new world, a world of pleasure.

Queen honeybee

In the Color purple by Alice Walker we have Shug called Queen honeybee. Queen might be refered as the most important, honey represents her sweetness, maybe that she tastes like honey. She is a creature of nature, a pollinator which gives new growth and in this case she gave a new life to Celie, she was the figure that gave a new blossoming to Celie. Bee could be interpreted as someone that can harm, someone that can sting and pobaly she sting Celie towards the end of the novel because Shug left her for someone else.

Burning of the Picture

This happens in Seventeen Syllables. Mr. Hayachi burns the honor that Mrs. Hayachi was given for her writing. The burning of the photo is important because it represents the cremation of Mrs. Hayachi's counterpart Ume. It's an act of destruction/violence toward Ume. He is killing her. He is also destroying Mrs. Hayachi's commitment to her art and the inner life that she has.

--Sara Eslami

Sofia

Sofia is Harpo's wife and a character from Alice Walkers The Color Purple. Sofia comes from the word philosophy and means wisdom and that is what she is to Celie. She importnat because she is Celies first dose of wisdom. She is the first to critique Celie and force her to see the "woman as doormat" idea. She helps grow in a big way before Shug gets there. She is also the first person to make Celie laugh which shows the emergence of the women.

--Sara Eslami

Chicano Spanish / Linguistic Terrorism

Terminology: Chicano Spanish
Text: „But Chicano Spanish is a borer tongue which developed naturally‰
(pg. 55)
Is the creation of a clash between two worlds. One of which encompasses
the Spanish language which represent her heritage, culture, history. Then
the addition of her new world the realism of the Anglo language and
culture. Growing from this is an individual with dual identity. With
neither Spanish nor English to fully express their individuality, a
language that can relate to both worlds is necessary. From this arises
Chicano Spanish.

Terminology: Linguistic Terrorism
The explanation is the use of Language either Spanish or English used
against people from the same group. How language can be used as a tool of
oppression within a circle of individuals that identify of a particular
shared group. Within these groups there is no absolute language but a
variation.

- Lleana Contreras

North White Plains

In Praisesong for the Widow, Avey, and her husband Jerome move to North White Plains after Jerome becomes successful. The move to North White Plains,out of Brooklyn is one of the first steps in Avey assimilating, and leaving behind her black culture. Avey's move to North White Plains represents the black, southern culture moving to the free white north. Though Avey and her husband are moving toward economic freedom and a better neighborhood, they are not free to be themselves,and maintain the connection to their black heritage.
- Amber Boateng

Okeh Records

Okeh Records is mentioned in Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow. In the novel it is stated that Jerome Johnson’s father had been a scout for Okeh Records, which is a record label that represented many African-American blues and jazz artists that other record labels would not associate with. Jerome Johnson has a strong taste for blues and jazz, two genres of music that are often associated with the black man’s struggle. Johnson’s affinity for this music shows that he is in touch with his roots and that he is entrenched in the movement known as the Harlem Renaissance.



-Max Latman

Double Telling

“Double-telling” is a term that was coined by UCLA professor King-Kok Cheung. Double-telling is when a writer includes a secondary story behind a surface, or manifest story. This technique is used in Hisaye Yamamoto’s “Seventeen Syllables.” On the surface it is a story of a woman that writes haikus, and her husband who does not approve of this activity. On the secondary level, “Seventeen Syllables” is about the pent up frustration of a woman who feels that her life has been ruined by her marriage, and a man who feels he has been emasculated.



-Max Latman

Pocketbook

This is seen the story Parisesong for the Widow by Paul Marshall. Avey Johnston’s pocketbook becomes part of who she is and her identity. Her pocketbook symbolizes her life. “ like her pocketbook outside, had been emptied of the contents of the past thirty years during the night, so that she had awakened with it like a slate that had been wiped clean”(151). When she wake up next day and finds her things in the pocketbook scattered across the floor Avey realize she needs to let go of her obsession with material thing. She stores everything she has in it and never leaves it behind. It becomes the storage room for thirty years of history and memories. When Avey Johnston strip her cosset and leaves her pocketbook behind it seems like she is ready to leave behind her past and move on.

Jerome Johnson - "Jay"

Jerome Johnson represents the assimilation into the American culture. Before Jay became the obsessed money maker, he was a cultural man that represented the energy of the Harlem renaissance. He listened to music such the blues and jazz, and would always dance with Avey. His attention to Avey and their relationship consumed a major part of his life. He enjoyed rituals such as gospels and understood his culture in the literary sense by reading. He shows us how he was an organic force filled with the beauty of life and culture. His ultimate decline was giving up these fruits of joy and pursuing a life that did not belong to him, but to the typical middle-class Anglo-American. He shows us how powerful the American dream can be through his submission to its values. The assimilation to the American culture almost seems unstoppable as we see how he loses what he had with Avey and forgets his internal, soulful livelihood. His death shows us how without the understanding of ourselves we have no life.

Juan Contreras

“Promise me you will never marry!”

At the end of Seventeen Syllables, Mrs. Hayashi implores her daughter to promise her that she will never get married. After suffering a great defeat at the hands of her husband who has destroyed her prized hiroshige, Mrs. Hayashi tells Rosie the truth behind her marriage- that it was simply “an alternative to suicide.” Yet, her marriage seems itself to be a kind of death for her as she is forced to be submissive to a man who is unequal to her in intellect and spirit. She wishes to spare her daughter this fate, although it is an unrealistic request probably made in vain.

Leslie Bowen

Legba

In Voodoo, Legba is one of many intermediary gods through whom followers can communicate with God. He is a trickster god who is at once lame and intensely active and mobile. In Praisesong for a Widow, Lebert Joseph seems to embody this god. Although at the beginning of Avey’s encounter with him he walks with a cain, he later dances the juba and proves quite mobile. As a kind of “trickster,” he seems to be at once man and woman, old and young, black and white. As an intermediary, he becomes a kind of initiator for Avey into her true culture.

Leslie Bowen

Enryo and Gaman

In Hisaye Yamamoto’s Seventeen Syllables, the Japanese ideals of Enryo and Gaman enter into Yamaoto’s descriptions about gender relations as they play out between Mr. and Hayashi. The principle of Enryo that dictates indirectness, and self-restraint. Women should exercise Enryo to show their modesty. Gaman, associated with enduring situations with strength, should be used by a man as he remains reserved. Yamamoto questions this traditional model of gender relations. Mrs. Hayashi is crushed when she is forced to obey her husband’s denial of her right to express herself through her Haiku. Mr. Hayashi, who exhibits Gaman until one day he finally snaps and becomes destructive, cannot seem to abide by this model either. The unhealthy relationship between these two seem to suggest that the principles of Enryo and Gaman are not sufficient in maintaining a happy relationship.

Leslie Bowen

Abuelita’s house in The Moths

Bursting with life and vitality, Abuelita’s house is a place of growth in The Moths. In stark contrast to the violence and alienation she feels in her own home, the narrator flourishes in this environment. It is a particularly female space as the plant life around the house can be seen as a sign of fertility. This place of peaceful rejuvenation provides a much needed escape from her own patriarchal home, where she feels deeply misunderstood. Abuelita herself provides a different model of womanhood than Amá, who has given into a life of beatings and oppression by her husband. She shows the narrator a different way to live- a way that a woman can thrive and grow.

Leslie Bowen

Allegory in Woman Hollering Creek

In Sandra Cisnero’s “Woman Hollering Creek”, Cleofilas moves to Texas from Mexico with her new husband, where she dreams and hopes for a better, more luxurious life. Cleofilas quickly finds herself isolated, beaten, and neglected.
The name Cleofilas is the name of a Mexican martyr, which is significant because the woman in this story is beaten, and suffers from subordinating herself to the patriarchal system. She does not even try to fight back. When she decides to leave Juan Pedro in the end, it is almost as though she is experiencing a rebirth and becoming a new person.
Juan Pedro’s name fits into the allegory, because his name is so commonplace and could be anyone. It is like the English equivalent of ‘John Doe’, and in being so generic he represents male values in general, as well as the patriarchal system.
The two ladies who live on either side of Cleofilas are named Dolores and Soledad, or sorrow and loneliness. These names suit the women perfectly; both women live alone, and suffer because of the men in their lives. One woman lost her husband and children in the war, and the other lady will not even discuss her husband who has been long gone. They represent women who have become hurt from the patriarchal system, and who accept it even though they are suffering.
Felice and Graciela, the ‘comadres’ of Cleofilas, also represent their names well. Felice, or Feliz, is translated as ‘happy’ in English, and Graciela refers to grace. These two women help Cleofilas escape from the abuses of Juan Pedro. They are also figures of strength, and represent independent women. Felice discloses to Cleofilas that she owns the truck she is driving, and that she is unmarried. While passing the Gritona Creek, she hollers and whoops, showing Cleofilas that women have alternatives to living in abuse and sadness, and may claim a life for themselves.

-- Ashley Smith

Avey's Voyages

In Paule Marshall’s Praisesong for the Widow, the main character Avey reflects on her past after she abandons the cruise ship she was on, the Bianca Pride. The Bianca Pride represents whiteness (Bianca is loosely translated as ‘white’), and Avey’s assimilation into the white community, and how out of touch she is with her own culture. Avey goes on cruises filled with white people to feel luxurious and important, and her two friends that she travels with are also very out of touch with their roots, and one nearly passes for white. The Bianca Pride is a large commercial boat, with several upper class restaurants and several stories.
When Avey sees the Emanuel CC, which Lebert Joseph has convinced her to ride on the expedition, she is shocked. The boat is old, tattered, and beaten up and can barely hold all of the people loaded into it. It had been on many expeditions and seemed about ready to fall apart. The Emanuel CC represents Avey’s voyage to the island, where she got in touch with some African roots and accepted and delighted in them. The boat is very old and beaten up, but still works and many people chose to take the same one they had for years. The name Emanuel is significant because of its biblical roots, and symbolizes a type of salvation and enlightenment for Avey. Avey abandons the Bianca Pride, or her whiteness, and takes a journey of faith on the Emanuel CC to the island, where she becomes acquainted with her roots and culture, and learns to participate in it and accept it.

--Ashley Smith

He would grab my arm and dig his nails into me to make sure I understood the importance of catechism

This passage is from “The Moths’ by Helena Maria Viramontes. The young narrator describes her father’s reaction to her refusal to attend mass on Sunday. Apa is violent and he allows his fists to speak. He uses profanity and physical abuse to express his rage and his daughter is the object of his abuse. Since the narrator symbolizes the struggle for identity as an individual in general, she also represents the struggle for religious identity. She comfortable in Abuelita’s house, which represents everything grounded in nature, rather that in the chapel. Apa symbolizes Spanish Catholic fathers. He represents the brutality of conversion of the indigenous population to Catholicism. Apa wants his daughter to submit to his command. But young woman find no comfort or God in the chapel, “I was alone. I knew why I had never returned”.

Inna

Felice

Felice in Sandra Cisneros "Woman Hollering Creek" is the optimistic force towards the end of the story. She helps Cleofilas when no one (Juan Pedro) helps her take care of her pregnancy, which shows us how women should come together to help each other out and that men are not the ultimate need to accomplish something. Felice, meaning happy in Spanish, entails a deeper meaning for us; like being in the state of happiness, Felice is able to transmit this energy into other people as we see when Cleofilas starts laughing and enjoying Felice's strong willed happy nature. Felice represents what it means to be happy. She does and says whatever it takes to express herself and live her life her way. She screams like a "mariachi" showing her energy, mocks "pussy" cars illustrating her desire for strong cars, and lives her life with a sense of indepedence. The strong personality catches Cleofilas attention and she dubs her "La gritona" and mytholigizes her with her family. Cisneros uses Felice to counteract Cleofilas past experiences by showing a woman who is clearly strong and happy as opposed to Cleofilas who has settled for Juan Pedro and is oppressed. Cisneros leaves us to wonder how Cleofilas will turn out, but still leaving definite symbols for us to predict Cleofilas future by using such names like "Felice" and showing us Cleofilas laughing and enjoying company just like she has always wanted to.

Juan Contreras

Voice in The Woman Warrior

In The Woman Warrior, Maxine Hong Kingston struggles to find her own voice in her family’s history of talking-story. She has developed her way of doing it by using a different voice. She reclaims her traditions and makes it American in her talk-stories. Talk-stories usually are cautionary tales, didactic moral lessons, or opinions that have a healing effect. Fantastic qualities are fused with realistic ones such as the vanquishing of ghosts. In her version of the woman warrior, Fa Mulan, she dramatizes the abuse of woman by including the carvings on her back and the glorification of them by making her give birth while fighting with her army. By changing the original story, Kingston not only empowers herself, but also women. She does not allow herself to be enslaved to her taboo history such as her No Name Aunt and the silence of women either. She disarms herself from the subjection of her culture and refuses to let the talk-stories cripple her from having her own voice. She writes in the perspective of her aunt, mother, and finally herself. Throughout the novel, Kingston shows that she can revere and violate the stories and legends all in one text. Silence was a result of her insecure identity as a child. By enthralling in the quest to find her voice physically, she was also able to discover how to use it not only as her own, but for all women.

Wendy Tu

Sister's Choice

In Alice Walker's novel, "The Color Purple," Celie demonstrates a strong commitment to sisterly love through her quilt making. The art of quilt-making is representative of the ties that Celie builds with other women and how they are connected to one another, though they may be different. Using the patten "Sister's Choice" truly signifies the connection between sisterhood and quilting in the story. Ultimately, it is Celie's love of quilting and, by extension, her commitment to sisterhood that gives her strength.

Celie's Razor in Hand

In the Color Purple by Alice Walker, there is one particular scene in which Celie is so upset with Mr.____, she grabs a razor to cut his throat. The gesture is missed by Mr.____, but Shug notices and is able to calm her and disarm the furious Celie. The scene occurs after Celie discovers that Mr._____ has been keeping letters sent from Nettie to Celie. The razor itself has implications for Celie. She relates through the work that she used to cut her step-father's hair. It was during one of her haircutting sessions in which she was raped by him. The razor to Celie is a symbol of her duties as a housewife to cut hair, as well as a symbol of her rape, which she also considers one of her household duties to endure. The razor serves as a symbol to combat Celie's creative nature as well. Celie's creative ability to sew is in contrast with the razor which serves to cut. As the story progresses Celie moves from her desire to kill with the razor and finds more comfort, solace, and growth by using her ability to sew and thus create. For more on sewing as a tool to create, you should keep reading someone else's ID's on quilting.

Tyson Ramirez

Ibos on the Landing

The Ibos arrival on the Landing comes from Praisesong for a Widow by Paule Marshall. The scene comes from the narrative in which Great Aunt Cuney tells the young Avey (Avatara) that at the landing many years before the Ibos that arrived saw into the future and saw the destiny of their people if they stayed. At that moment they decided to leave and began to run back to Africa with their iron chains still on. The tale links Avey back to her African roots. The memory of the story occurs in a dream near the beginning of the novel, and as such serves to foreshadow the connection Avey will make with her nationality in the work. It also serves as part of her birthright, which as the end of the novel she will work to pass on to her grandchildren.


Tyson Ramirez

Hands

In the story, "The Moths" by Helena Viramontes, the hands show a transformation from: "bull hands," "clumsy hands," "masculine hands," and "large hands," to "helping hands," "comfort," "food preparing, and "helping hands." This can be looked at as a symbolic transformation of life from transmigration to transmogrification. The hands are representative of these lives.THe hands in the story become representative at times of Aupa's abuse when the hands are used for whippings, clenched in fists or violent. Fingernails and hammer and nails can be looked at as symbol of Christ's crucifiction on the cross. However the hands were also used in acts of kindness and peace such as bathing grandmother and carrying her body once she had passed.

Tiffany Noojin

Iconicgraphically

A literary term, Iconicgraphically refers to the method of reading for visible representations. Reading iconicgraphically is particularly useful in stories such as "The Moths" by Helena Viramontes, in which each character is representative of the various aspects of the human struggle. Viramontes utilizes her characters iconicgraphically in order to represent many aspects of the juxtaposition of society and religion. For example, the "Apa" is an icon for Spanish Catholicism, particularly the way that Helena views the religion. Additionally, Viramontes' grandmother functions as a representative of a society in which the judgmental elements of organized religion are not present. Essentially, Viramontes' writing creates a text that holds iconicgraphic reading as a necessity.

Trans-Migration

A theme present in "The Moths," a short story by Helena Viramontes, trans-migration refers to the passing of one element to another. In the case of "The Moths," spirituality is trans-migrated from the Grandmother to the granddaughter at the time of the Abueta's death. The trans-migration is represented by the circling of the moths that Helena views leaving her grandmother's mouth upon her death. However, Helena's tears signify her acceptance of the transmigration. It is at this time that the calm spirituality possessed by the Grandmother is passed to Helena as she, herself transforms internally.

Queen Honeybee

This name refers to Shug Avery in Alice Walkers’s, The Color Purple. Like the queen bee that has all male bees working for her, Shug gets all the men’s attentions and their desire to give themselves to her. She has the power to manipulate them to have her way. “Honeybee” connotes sweetness and affection as a nickname. Shug has love in her to give and when she is not wearing her stage persona, she can be a normal woman who desires love. Bees sting and Shug has this quality as well. She has the charisma to speak her mind, influence others, and leave a lasting effect on them. Since she is a sex icon, the name may hint that she tastes like honey. Just like the queen bee, Shug is a pollinator and fertilizes. She leads to new birth and regeneration. She has helped Celie evolve to a more complete and self independent woman. She was also the only one who was able to tame Mr.___. Shug’s magnetic personality gave her the power to embrace the title, Queen Honeybee.

Wendy Tu

Moths

In the story, "The Moths" by Helena Viramontes, the moths themselves are representative of the conflict with modernity. In one aspect of the story, the moths represent life and regeneration as in their attraction to light. Traditionally their wings were used to make medicine which in turn saves and protects life. In contrast to this however, moths are released in the story when abuelita dies and are thought to 'eat her spirit up'. When in the story it says, "I want to go where the moths are", she is saying she wants to die. There is a strong contrast between life and death that is represented on both sides by the moths. The moths are a symbol of an intersection between traditional times and western medicine, a clash so to speak.

Tiffany Noojin

Corandera

A figure found in Helena Viramontes' short story "The Moths," a corandera is one who performs healing rituals. In "The Moths," a Corandera figure is the Abuelita who spends much time creating healing concoctions out of herbs, particularly when Helena is sick. Abuelita's Corendara talents are representative of her disconnection from Catholicism and her embracement of non-traditional spirituality. Furthermore, Abuelita's corenda abilities are representative of her ties to traditional Mexican practices and it is this link that connects her to the rest of her family. Ultimately, it is the fact that Abuelita is a Corendara that attracts Helena to her, as she is a symbol of pure love and tradition without the confinement of religion that she hates.

Rosie

In the story "Seventeen Syllables" by Hisaye Yamamoto, Rosie is the daughter of Mrs. Hayashi. The name Rosie is symbolic of her youth. Instead of being called 'Rose' which implies a full grown woman, she is instead called 'Rosie' implying a young Rose. Also if you take the color white which is symbolic of innocence mixed with red the color of passion they create pink meaning in the blush or in the making. Rosie is torn between her childhood and her womanhood, part of her wants to experience the excitement of grown-up things in womanhood like being with a man, however her fear and desire to stay pure, confuse her and torment her. These traits are characteristic of her balance between red (adult) and pink (young girl) therefore being a Rosie. This cross between pureness or total color can also be represented in her heritage. Rosie is second generation which is called Nisei whereas her mother is first generation Issei. Her mother speaks Japanese and Rosie is more comfortable speaking English. In a sense Rosie has a very American influence which thins out the color red making it a less rich color (not full or solid to her heritage) making her a pink 'Rosie'.

Tiffany Noojin

17 syllables

In the story "Seventeen Syllables" by Hisaye Yamamoto, Mrs. Hayashi is an avid writer in a form of poetry called Haiku. Haiku consists of three lines in the form of 5 syllables in the first line, 7 syllables in the second line and 5 in the third line which total to 17 syllables. The number 17 is also representative of the son which Mrs. Hayashi has had out of wedlock who would have been 17. Her Haiku acts as an escape to her marriage which was an alternative to suicide for her because she is in love with someone she could not marry because he was in a higher class than hers. 17 represents all of the things she can not have contrasted with the Haiku which is the only thing she has.

Tiffany Noojin

Bildungsroman

Bildungsroman- According to Dictionary.com, it is a type of novel concerned with the education, development, and maturing of a young protagonist. An example from our readings would be Alice Walker's "The Color Purple" as we watch Celie, who is first introduced as a confused young girl that is constantly sexually abused by her step-father, develop into a young woman who is able to overcome some very difficult obstacles. She is able to form her own unique relationships and respect and appreciate herself for who she really is. She eventually asserts her own independence and acknowledges and accepts her femininity.
-Cecilia Luppi

Quilts

In the book, "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker, the quilts that the women make are representative of the 'sisterhood' between women in general but more closely the woman as sister's (Celie and Nettie) as well as friendships and love affairs (Celie and Shug). The material in the quilt is comprised of little pieces of fabric from the lives of these women for example, Shug's yellow dress and Celie's clothing for her baby.These little pieces of fabric are stitched together in a symbolic form of connectiveness to one another's lives. Also, quilts are thought to be keepsakes and momentos which give comfort and solace. Quilting gave woman an opportunity to for liberation, creativity, imagination and a way to come together for strength. Quilting represented women's lives intermingled to form a bond stitched together for strength.

Tiffany Noojin

Juan Pedro

Juan Pedro is the husband of Cleofilas in "Women Hollering Creek", a marriage that was arranged by her father. The nature of such a marriage is meant to starkly contrast the passion that so strongly defines Cleofilas. Similarly, Juan Pedro contrasts the nature of Cleofilas; unlike her obsession with "lace" and "butterflies", he is described as "husky" with a beer belly. He is often seen as a master figure, unappreciative of romance and true love. Pedro, like Cleofilas, has been betrayed by his own fantasies and he turns this anger on Cleofilas. While Cleofilas is obsessed with her telenovias he is constantly working at a low-leve job in a factory; this aspect of the text further embodies the contrast of Pedro and Cleofilas- she is ideological while he is rational. In this light, Cleofilas's decision to run away becomes much more symbolic.

Jacob Erickson

The Color Purple

In the book "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker, there are many symbols of purple such as the flowers which Celie and Shug walk by, the color of Celie's room, a little purple frog which Celie has, the "plum" color of Shug's nipples, etc. These symbols are representative of 'lesbian love' as well as a portrayal of the bruises that are purple that Celie receives representing sadness and a purple melancholy. Purple can also be thought to the colr of passionate renewal which is representative of the relationship between Shug and Celie's love affair. If you take this concept a step further, Purple is derived from the color red and the color blue. Blue is symbolic of Celie as an individual in the following ways: her navy clothing, sadness, melancholy and being beaten black and blue. Red is represented by Shug in the following ways: red is passionate and sultry (characteristics of Shug's personality), she wears a red dress, red shoes and carries a red bag. Red is the color of adultry and sexual passion. The two colors of red and blue representative of Shug and Celie mix together to form purple which is theri love affair "lesbian love".

Tiffany Noojin

"Colors" in the Color Purple

Colors possess symbolic value in Alice Walker's "The Color Purple." Most notable are the colors red, blue and of course purple. Red is representative of the passion shared between the protagonist, Celie and her lover, Shug. Outside of the novel, red is often associated with adultery, prostitution and romance. The color blue is symbolic of sadness, melancholy and despair, hence Shug's singing of The Blues. When combined, red and blue produce the color purple. Purple characterizes the lesbian love of the two characers and also represents the bruises or difficulties they have encountered throughout their lives.

Cecilia Luppi

Ghosts

Ghosts

Ghosts are a recurring motif in the memoir, Woman Warrior. Author, Maxine Kingston tells the story of how her mother informs her of the ghosts she encounters. Ghosts are symbolic because they serve as a contrasting idea of the identification of ghosts. Although Kingston’s mother refers to ghosts as frightening spirits that creates turbulence to humans, she also considers Americans to be ghosts. It becomes contradictory that she recognizes Americans as ghosts considering that the Chinese people living in America are the ones living with concealment. This relates to women writers through the internalization of females. Ghosts have a correlation with the way female interact in society – as they remain submissive, they are similar to the ghosts.

Donald Ung

Chicano

In "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" Gloria Anzuldua describes her experience as a Chicana. Anzuldua explains that chicanos, or Americans with a Mexican heritage, feel anxiety in finding their cultural identity; she writes that "Chicanos straddle the borderlands" (62) to represent this internal struggle. In an attempt to communicate the strength of their ties to Mexico she writes "Being Mexican is a state of the soul-not one of mind, not one of citizenship" (62). However, Anzuldua's critique of cultural identity goes beyond describing the tension and reveals the greater cultural problems behind it. She explains that American culture is a harsh bias one when she writes that "We know what it is to live under the hammer blow of the dominant norteamericano culture" (63).



Jacob Erickson

Jay Johnson

Jay Johnson is Avey Johnson's husband in Praisesong for the Widow. Jay is the husband that she misses, and she is saddens by her lack of mourning his "death". Jay was what she called him before he transformed into Jerome Johnson, the man who tried to keep up with society, who tried to make life better for his family, but in the process lost a sense of who he really was. Avey misses this Jay, this man who talked to only her in bed, who made special situations for him and her. Avey was never able to mourn Jay's personality's death, the man she truly loved, and the man she very much misses. Jay represents the self, true to who he was, and not who he tried to be. Jay was special, while Jerome just tried to impress and succeed, leaving his soul behind in the wake.

Stephanie Lestelle

Jerome Johnson

Jerome Johnson is Avey's dead husband in Praisesong for the Widow. Jerome is what Avey called her husband after he "changed" into a different person when he became successful. Avey misses the person that he used to be, the person that made special time for her, with his dances and his singing, and his talking to her while making love. Jerome Johnson didn't do that, and she misses that when she is remembering in the hotel after she jumped board from the cruise ship. Avey screams in her mind "Too much", meaning too much trying to be something else, too much being something he wasn't truly mean to be. She misses Jay (the person her husband used to be), and she calls her husband, in her mind, Jerome Johnson.

Stephanie Lestelle

Women Silence

Women Silence

In Maxine Kingston’s, Woman Warrior women silence is a recurring theme that impacts the main protagonist, Kingston as a youth. She is told to not tell anyone about her No Name Aunt. In addition, parts of her tongue is also cut off by her mother in order for her to speak more lucidly in a foreign surrounding, however, as a teenager, Kingston believes her mother cuts it for precisely the opposite reasons. In addition, growing up as a Chinese American, her parent directs her to remain secretive to her teachers and the Americans around her, which exhibits another form of silence. The theme of silence is significant to the course of women writers because women writers have the contrary incentives as they speak up to society through their writings. As for Kingston, writer becomes a form of defying society’s conventional values of women remaining silent.

Donald Ung

Language in "How to Tame..."

To Gloria Anzuldua language is useful beyond mere communication. In "How to Tame a Wild Tongue" she argues that language is a tool through which people define themselves and are defined. She explains that at a young age she got in trouble for "speaking Spanish" because she was trying to tell the teacher how to pronounce her name. She uses this illustration to show how people are quickly labeled and stereotyped in the context of the language they speak; in this case, she was looked down upon because Spanish is not "American". Anzuldua goes on to explain how there are 8 different types of Spanish, each come from a different region and imply different things. Also, Anzuldua finds a certain pride in her language, explaining "When other races have given up their tounge, we've kept ours" (63); this illustrates her finding identity in the language she speaks. Anzuldua writes of how languages differentiate people, explaining that Chicano Spanish is a "secret language. Adults of the culture and outsiders cannot understand it" (56).


Jacob Erickson

“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strength to establish r

“Whenever she had to warn us about life, my mother told stories that ran like this one, a story to grow up on. She tested our strength to establish realities” (5).

This quote from the memoir, Woman Warrior is from the author, Maxine Kingston. Kingston is referring to the stories on ghosts and the cautionary story on her No Name Aunt. There stories serves as warning and empowering tools for the future. The story on her No Name Aunt is to prevent Kingston from evoking shame to her family – specifically the actions of adultery. In addition, the ghost stories serve as an empowering story that represents Kingston’s mother, Brave Orchid as a woman warrior. Through her audacious attitude, Brave Orchid would literally fight ghosts and protect the harmless – which is the babies in the hospital and the medical school students. The quote is significant to women writers because it demonstrates the profound impact and empowerment of motherhood as Brave Orchid exhibits to her daughter the effectiveness of storytelling.

Donald Ung

Tabula Rasa

'Tabula Rasa' is a Latin term which stands for a new beginning, or a fresh start... some might even go so far as to refer to 'Tabula Rasa' as a form of rebirth. Many characters undergo a 'Tabula Rasa' in our texts this quarter: whether it be Avey retracing and reclaiming her African heritage after Jay's death in Praisesong, or even perhaps the death of Abuelita in The Moths by rising to another plain of existence. In very nearly all the texts, it is fairly easy to find some example of a character whom undergoes a 'Tabula Rasa' in some form or another.


--Rachel Robles

White Tiger

White Tiger
In Maxine Kingston’s Woman Warrior, the chapter “White Tiger” tells the story of a fictional woman warrior named, Fa Mu Lan. Kingston portrays her own depiction of the character through narration. In the story, she compares her modern-day self with the fictional swordswoman and affirms that they relate significantly. As the swordswoman effects the world through her sword, Kingston impacts her world as a female through the narrations of her words. In comparison of the legend of Fa Mu Lan as a swordsman, Kingston identifies as a wordswoman. This is significant to women writers because it illustrates the depths females internalize in a society dominated by males. In the story, Fa Mu Lan juggles several profound responsibilities such in society – specifically a mother, wife, and daughter. Consequently, this chapter epitomizes the massively potential strengths of females.

Donald Ung

Avatara

In Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall Avey as Avatara embodies the new form of the African deity Legba. This is acknowledged by the fact that others seem to notice her change during the dancing, as one by one they begin to bow to her. This is fitting, for the word 'Avatariti' (obviously a variant of Avey's name 'Avatara') signifies a crossing over, an incarnation, or the embodiment of another person. At this point in the novel Avey can be said to embody both the aspects of her Aunt Cuney and Legba.

She now symbolizes what she had always feared to become, yet what she needed to be most.

Pocketbook

In Praisesong for the Widow by Paule Marshall, Avey's life is held together by this symbol of her life. Avey herself has become fairly materialistic and obsessed w/ opulent things after her and Jay's move to White Plains. Her pocketbook symbolizes the tidy order in which she attempts to now keep her life... so it is rather symbolic when she wakes from her sleep and sees the contents of said pocketbook strewn all across the floor. This seems to be when Avey realizes that even though she has lost her husband, that doesn't necessarily mean that she needs to confine her life to money, beauty products, etc.

The pocketbook is also a large symbol of the white culture which she has assimilated into along with Jay, as the Ebo most certainly did not carry such items.

--Rachel Robles

Praise Songs

Praise songs are used during rituals for funerals and initiations. In relation to Paule Marshall’s Praisesongs for the Widow, Avery Johnson encounters trials and tribulations which lead her back to her home community. Avery was distracted by the materialistic values because she was trying to assimilate to the Angelo American culture. With the guidance from Lebert Joseph, Avery is able to find her true identity and finally reaches acceptance of who she is. During a praise song, she performs the Creole dance and it is a representation of rebirth. She celebrates the death of her Americanized identity and celebrates the birth of her new culture.

Jenny Saenz