Suzanne Pfeiffer

[suzpfeiffer]

Reading Process #5

So I finally just finished The House on Mango Street. As I predicted, there was no real story line to the book at all. The entire book was a collection of little memoirs each used to show something different from her life, or to emphasize a different idea. While it was obvious throughout the book that she was Hispanic, there was not much focus on discrimination. The main themes of the story were poverty, innocence, and treatment of women. 

I also thought the last few chapters were really interesting. Esperanza implies that she wants to leave Mango Street and get a house of her own, without any man or children to hold her back. She absolutely hates where she lives and how she sees all the women around her being controlled by the men in their lives. She doesn’t want to end up like the women she knows, Sally for example. She wants to be completely independent and strong and her own person. But she realizes she is selfish for thinking that she never wants to come back. Because she took an interest in reading and writing, she has potential to create her own life for herself. But the people she lives with don’t have the same opportunities as her, and she doesn’t realize this at first. It is an important realization for her. 

Throughout the book I definitely predicted that the memoirs of Esperanza are the reflections of the author, Sandra Cisneros, and her own experiences. On the last page there is a little biography of Cisneros and it says she lives happily in her own house without a husband or children. This is a direct connection to what the main character Esperanza so badly wants. I definitely think that these memoirs are based off of Cisneros’s own life experiences and what she wants the reader to know about what she had to endure and what people like her, immigrants and minorities and women, have to endure throughout their lives.

[gopipatel3-blog-deactivated2022]

time and time again, it’s always the men

“I can let you have Celie. She the oldest anyway. She ought to marry first. She ain’t fresh tho, but I spect you know that. She spoiled. Twice. But you don’t need a fresh woman no how. I got a fresh one in there myself and she sick all the time. He spit, over the railing. The children git on her nerve, she not much of a cook. And she big already.        Mr._____ he don’t say nothing. I stop crying I’m so surprise.’       She ugly. He say. But she ain’t no stranger to hard work.” - Alice Walker, page 7, 8

The audacity of this man. The way that he talks about his daughter and wife is disgusting. Initially dividing their labels into spoiled or fresh, he continues to say that neither one of the classifications are ideal. He negatively judges his wife on traditional concepts such as parenthood, cooking, and weight. Seriously, I’d like to judge this guy on parenthood, cooking, and weight. I’m sure that the dad of the year award must go to the child molester, currently begging someone to rid him of his daughter. This cruel and belittling mentality is all that Celie has grown up around. Though she may not know her worth measured outside of sex and cooking, she does know that it’s more than whatever Alphonso claims it to be. Not quite recognizing her feelings yet, her innocent crying at least shows the reader that some of her emotions have been preserved.

The part that especially caught my attention came a bit after this scene. As Mister ____ wasn’t confident in marrying Celie yet, Alphonso extends his offer by proposing a cow in addition to his daughter. After listing all of Celie’s negative traits, Alphonso finds it crucial that he fills up her deficiencies in this way.

This marriage transaction reminded me of ancient Asian exchanges of dowry. Dowry, now commonly known as a bride’s family giving money to the groom upon acceptance of a marriage proposal, has been a highly controversial practice. A recent Bollywood film, Badrinath Ki Dulhania (translates to “Badrinath’s Bride”), has helped break the stigma around this social issue. Coming from a very traditional, wealthy family, Badrinath slacks off in school and lives life naively through privilege. So when he runs into the highly educated, poor yet aspiring Vaidehi, he boldly intents to turn her into his wife. Things quickly fall apart as Badrinath’s father demands dowry that Vaidehi’s family can’t afford. Going against both families that ask her to quit furthering her education and settle for Badri’s wealth, Vaidehi demands respect instead and rejects one of the greatest bachelor’s in their city.

In situations like these, modern dowry really doesn’t make any sense to me. Vaidehi was much more educated and self-aware than Badri, so why was his family asking for more money? Similarly, Celie is much more capable than Mister ____, so why is he asking for another cow from her? Unknown to many, the earliest practices of dowry were actually meant to benefit women. When a daughter joined a new family through marriage, her family would give her a part of their wealth to ensure that she gets a share. Instead of the eldest dividing all of their possessions in a will, this practice allowed for a happier moment of giving. Though when opposing families of the groom started to judge their brides on how much money that they bring into the family, this happy exchange turned into a burden for brides and their families.

Link to Badrinath ki Dulhania trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztX-iGlZ_Ug

[suzpfeiffer]

This is a really interesting connection. The women are being treated like objects, used only for the benefit of the man. It is so sad that women used to be treated like that, but in a way they still are. The practice of dowry seems to prove this. The way it sounds, it seems like the family of the bride has to pay the groom’s family to marry him. And in the movie you linked, the girl didn’t even have a choice. The guy thought he could just slack off his whole life and just choose a woman to take care of everything once the time came. He thought he was all that, and that women were objects he could just pick from. This definitely goes along with your earlier connections to STB and how Esch was just an object of Manny’s. I would keep this theme in mind as you continue reading because so many literary and real-life connections can be made to it.

[gopipatel3-blog-deactivated2022]

“Dear God,

    My mama dead. She die screaming and cussing. She scream at me. She cuss at me.     …     She ast me bout the first one Whose it is? I say God’s. I don’t know no other man or what else to say. When I start to hurt and then my stomach start moving and then that little baby come out my pussy chewing on it fist you could have knock me over with a feather.” - Alice Walker, page 2

On the brink of death, Celie’s mother cusses her out. Celie, seemingly unfazed, is more worried about her already-born children. This amazes me, as I don’t think that Celie has ever experienced a positive emotion before (at least I think that worrying is positive). In a nature vs. nurture standoff, Celie’s own protective motherly nature shines over her mother’s nurtured view of parenthood. This could partly be due to the fact that Celie is only 14 years old. At such a young age, even though she has been treated poorly by both of her parents, her trivial innocence has preserved parts of her love.

It’s also insane to think that Celie is about to have her second child at the mere age of 14. The informal, relatively vague language describing her birth-giving reminds me of Esch from Salvage the Bones. Neither one of these girls had a proper female role model to explain their body’s rights to them. Their relative settings in the southern region also don’t offer extensive sex-education. Never learning that they have the right to deny unprotected and unwanted sex, both of these girls end up in undesired, weak situations.

Historically, the first step in oppression has been taking away education. Celie and Esch are victims to people with much more power than Alphonso and Manny. However their isolation from these big people leads them to be content with their lives, unable to image anything more.

[suzpfeiffer]

I think that’s a really important connection that you made between Salvage the Bones and the book you’re reading. I can see really clearly how they connect with your explanation. Definitely keep that in mind as you continue reading because I believe that it could be important in a book of that nature. I was also actually reminded of the book we read for ap lang, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. While the story is a lot different, I think the some of the same themes are present in each, such as racism or inferiority or women’s rights. I also think that it is important to note the setting difference between STB and your book. After looking it up I learned that your book takes place during the civil war, and STB takes place in 2005. That is almost a 150 year difference yet these women are still made to feel inferior and uneducated. 

[gopipatel3-blog-deactivated2022]

the story of celie is much bigger than just her and me

The first few days of reading this book were brutal. The content, though expressed in broken English, was so profuse, that my brain candidly couldn’t comprehend it. And to an extent, it also didn’t want to. Celie’s life is displayed to be so cruel and unfair, that I half-knowingly detached myself from it while reading. In my head, having the knowledge that it’s ‘only’ a piece of fiction dissipated the meaning of Celie’s fragmented words. I wasn’t ready to understand her colossal battles, or more importantly, the significance of it in reality.

So when I picked up this book again, in the very beginning of March, I was shocked at how engrossed I had become in the same mangled words written by Alice Walker. In the month and a half that I’d avoided every encounter with this book, I had opened myself up in a variety of other ways. The most relevant one being the Diversity Assembly. The ideas and beliefs represented in this assembly, and more thoroughly expressed in the club meetings, not only extended the themes that Alice Walker attempted to display throughout her book, but also led me to allow myself to feel them.

In all honesty, maybe I was scared of linking these made-up stories to real life. Accepting our unideal reality is unideal in itself. Though as I’ve learned, the concepts of persistence and growth towards an improved future cannot exist until current circumstances are acknowledged. Shifting far away from my comfort zone, I’ve grown to love the raw and personal letter format of The Color Purple. Celie’s fictitious, troublesome story is frighteningly relevant in our world today. Understanding this story is crucial, however the application of it it is what fulfills its purpose.

More to come.

[suzpfeiffer]

I notice a few similarities between your book and mine. In my book, the main character is Latino, and while most of the book is written in proper English, there are some dialogues that take place that aren’t perfect English. The fact that these stories are fiction and the authors chose to still include the “mangled words” shows how real these experiences are and have been for many people, even though in this case they are fictional. It also raises questions about the author. Have the authors experienced something similar? Is it a reflection of their own hardships and struggles? I think it could be. I also think that the diversity assembly opened my eyes and changed my perspective reading my own book. I agree that it definitely makes you more aware of others and not just yourself. 

[suzpfeiffer]

Reading Process #4

In reading the next few chapters of The House on Mango Street, I realized a few things. I’m very close to the end of the book so I don’t really think a story line is going to be developing at all. Each chapter is about something completely different than the last. However, I did notice that there were a few chapters in a row that were about Esperanza’s friend Sally. I learned in earlier chapters that she is abused by her father and likes to hang out with boys. The chapters I recently read about her were interesting. In one chapter she’s flirting with boys and she has to kiss them in order to get her keys back, which she willingly does. Esperanza is upset about this and doesn’t think Sally should have to kiss the boys to get her keys back. In the next chapter, it is Esperanza being mad at Sally for misleading her into thinking the boys’ intentions were different with her. There is definitely a theme developing of like femininity and women’s independence and strength. There is a final chapter about Sally in which she gets married and her husband restricts her so much. He won’t let her go out and he makes her sit at home and do all of the chores and stuff. Esperanza makes it CLEAR that this is not the life she wants to live at all. In fact she even says she wants to live  her life without any man. I wonder if there is any significance in placing these chapters towards the end of the book. I didn’t really notice that many chapters about that early on, except for the one where she was wearing the shoes and the one where she liked the guy riding the bike. But its clear that Sally is an important character in this book since she keeps coming up. She is obviously supposed to represent something. 

[suzpfeiffer]

Reading Process #3

Today, I read a  couple more chapters of The House on Mango Street. Again, the chapters seem to have no real order or chronology, yet each one gives us a specific story or memory Esperanza has. I’m sure all these chapters and stories will be important later on. Or maybe they are just there in order to show the reader the different aspects of a life in poverty as a minor in a big city, in a unique way. It seems like these memories Esperanza has are very specific. They are probably based off of experiences Cisneros had in her life as a child.I still have yet to do research on Cisneros but I’m sure I’ll find similarities between hers and Esperanza’s childhood.

Something I definitely noticed within the last few chapters was that there is a lot of emphasis on women and their hardships while living in these types of environments. One chapter talked of a girl named Sally who’s father  repeatedly abuses her. In another chapter, Esperanza says that while the ideal woman wears red lipstick and has power over all the boys, she herself “wages a war of her own” and doesn’t follow the societal norms most girls do. I can definitely see a theme developing of femininity or women in poverty. 

[suzpfeiffer]

Reading Process #2

I have read a few more chapters. It is kind of hard to write a really in depth post because in order to split these posts up evenly, I can only read a little bit at a time since this book is so short, so I only read a few more pages since the last post.

I still am not seeing a clear timeline or story line of this book. It seems to be more like each chapter is a different topic on something in her daily life or a specific memory she has. It’s almost like a stream of consciousness. I am starting to see definite themes forming however, such as poverty, minority, and innocence.

I’m also noticing a lot of techniques. I feel like the use of color in this book is very prevalent, and it could be used to portray a deeper theme. Something else that is weird is I also noticed how Cisneros never uses quotation marks when she’s indicating that someone is talking, which is sometimes frustrating because it takes me a minute to grasp in some cases. I also think Cisneros uses symbolism. In one chapter, Esperanza talks about four trees she looks to for strength because they’re always there to support each other. I think she could possibly be talking about her two friends Lucy and Rachel and her sister Nenny. I’m definitely keeping all these things  in mind as I continue to read The House on Mango Street.

[suzpfeiffer]

Reading Process #1

I’ve had my book for a while now but I have not started reading it until now. When I picked up my book, I was surprised at how short it was. Most of my classmates’ books are very thick and long but mine is one of the shortest ones, which concerned me at first but I realized that the book I’m reading, The House on Mango Street, is of high literary merit and I still wanted to read it, so I stuck with it. I put off reading it for a while because it was so short but that probably wasn’t the best idea because I could have done more research or come to a better understanding of the book as a whole with more time to process it.

When I finally brought myself to start reading it, I was honestly taken aback. I flipped through the entire book to find out that most chapters were only like a paragraph long, and each one about something completely different, not having a single thing to do with the chapter before or after it. I quickly realized that this isn’t your traditional story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. Or at least so far, it’s not turning out to be like that. Some story line could form out of it later on but for now it is all random to me. 

This book is from the perspective of a Latino girl, Esperanza, who lives in poverty in Chicago. Upon reading the first few chapters I was reminded of the book To Kill a Mockingbird for some reason. Maybe because its from the perspective of a child and some of the memories she tells are about losing her innocence. For example, she was walking down the street in high heels  when she was a young girl and she walked past a man because she wanted to show them off, but she didn’t know the man would grab her and try to kiss her. From this she realized some men are dangerous and treat women poorly. 

So far, this book is unlike any I’ve read just because the chapters are so sporadic and random but I bet they’ll come together in the end to convey some sort of theme or message. I predict it has to do with women and poverty.

[suzpfeiffer]

AP Lit Literary Merit Book Choice

To be honest, the fact that I had to decide on a book for this class kind of slipped my mind this past month because of everything else going on in my life, but I did have some definite ideas in mind. When this project was initially mentioned, I immediately thought Kite Runner, because I’ve read it before, a long time ago, and I loved it and I wouldn't have minded reading it again. However, this turned out to not be an option for the project. 

I didn’t know where to even start to get ideas for what to read. One day in class, after a discussion about the project, I just looked up a list of books of literary merit on goodreads. One person in class had mentioned that they were reading The Color Purple, and I saw this on the list. It looked interesting so I saved this as a possible choice. I also saw Life of Pi on the list. I have also read this book before, however I never finished it, and it was a long time ago. I was almost set on it when I realized it didn’t have a lot of available criticism, since it is a relatively new book. Another book I saw, and would end up choosing, was The House on Mango Street. After browsing through the criticisms available on Google Scholar, it seems like the book has themes of femininity, identity, and social status. This kind of reminds me of the book we just read in class, Salvage the Bones. If The House on Mango Street is anything like STB, then I know I would enjoy reading it and learning what themes and messages it implicates. I could definitely see myself doing a research project on a book like that.

[suzpfeiffer]

Perks of being a wallflower

This was the second movie my group watched. The first thing we noticed was how much more modern the movie was and how much more relatable the characters were to today’s society, even though they were in more extreme situations than any of us are.

Something I noticed was that I didn’t really see any rebellion persay, but the movie did display the stereotypical high school life and all the characters that are typically found in teen movies. This movie really emphasizes what can happen to adolescents if they have deep psychological problems and what can happen to them later in life. It also shows how others treat them, as if they are outsiders or “wall flowers”.

My parents didn’t really have a lot to say about this movie but agreed that it displayed high school stereotypes and mostly focuses on how hard pasts can affect how teens grow up and view life.

[suzpfeiffer]

Rebel without a cause

After watching rebel without a cause with my friends we were all very confused. There were many things that we noticed during the movie.

One of the things we noticed was that everything seemed over exaggerated. The parents and teens reactions were very extreme. We thought that maybe it was just because the time period was different, but we still thought it was a little extreme.

Another thing we noticed was that the parents were telling jimmy to do the wrong thing as opposed to telling the police about the accident. This was ironic, because he was rebelling against his parents to do the right thing.

Another thing we talked about were their facial expressions throughout the movie. They seemed dull and expressionless. This confused us because so much was going on in the movie for them to have significant emotions about. Maybe the film director intended for this to happen so that the audience good formulate their own opinions to what the actors were portraying.

After discussing the film with my parents, my biggest takeaway from the conversation was that they agree that it puts emphasis on the rebellion teens show against their parents in adolescent years. There are many things to stress about as a teen, and I can connect this to my own life because I have seemed to argue with my parents a lot more this year regarding grades, colleges, and the SAT/ACT.

The overall theme of Rebel without a cause we decided was that teens need to rebel against parents/authority because they want to have attention or be recognized. It is a big part of finding their identity.

[suzpfeiffer]

something original

When thinking about what is original in this world, I kept coming to the conclusion that everything is based off of something, no matter how radical or extreme the idea is. 

I decided that everything in the world is a remix to some extent, however, an idea that I believe is quite original are the bracelets called silly bands. These were the first type of stylish bracelets  made out of silicone or rubber. Although they are essentially a remix of regular rubber bands, the idea behind them is quite original. The creator didn’t want so many rubber bands going to waste, so he decided to produce them in colorful animal shapes so that people could wear them as bracelets instead of throwing them away. 

From this idea came many remixes. After silly bands were a thing, many other types of rubber band bracelets became popular. These people all just wanted profit because they saw how popular the original silly bands were. But the original silly bands were not even intended to be a popular consumer item, their only intended purpose was to reduce waste. Something came out of it that no one even expected, so that is why it seems to me that the idea of silly bands is original.

[suzpfeiffer]

Secondary Source #6

This source is somewhat similar to one of my earlier ones, but it has to do with religion and how 5 of the major religions in the world deal with death. I remembered learning about this in my world history class so I thought it would be relevant to my research! I think having something to believe in can change the way a person goes through life and thinks about death.

http://www.refinery29.com/religious-death-beliefs

[suzpfeiffer]

Secondary Source #5

This is an article about accepting the idea of death and it is really similar to what Doughty argues throughout her book. This article includes more examples and quotes from people knowledgeable about death. It adds a lot of understanding to the main idea of Doughty's documentation.

http://www.artofdyingwell.org/talking-about-death/coming-terms-death/accepting-your-mortality/

[suzpfeiffer]

Reading Progress #5

I actually really enjoyed this book because while it was about a morbid topic, Doughty used humor and creativity throughout the entire thing which really lifted the mood and the tone of the book. I now realized she probably intentionally wrote it that way as it kind of enforces her argument that people shouldn't be afraid of death or be so serious about it, because it is inevitable and the reality for every living being. Society should learn to accept it and "celebrate it" as Doughty explains. After all, death is the point of life. It is what drives us to do everything that we do. Doughty writes that while losing a loved one is inevitably devastating, humans should learn to understand the realities of it so they won't be faced by the bigger existential questions that always come to mind while grieving for a lost loved one.

As I finished the book, I was left with completely new insights about death and how the ways in which our society treat death are harming us. I have so many ideas now on how I could create my claim and what I want to include in my research paper.

[suzpfeiffer]

Reading Progress #4

In the chunk I just read, Doughty talks about her time working at Westwind Crematory and how it changed her perceptions of death. She compares herself to the founder of Buddhism. He lived a large chunk of his life confined from any type of misery or suffering, but the one day he finally did witness it, he realized the realities were of life and death. Doughty explains that she had lived her whole life fascinated with the mysteries behind death, even though she had never seen a corpse. But after her time at the crematory, being exposed to corpses everyday, she realized that seeing actual dead people brings humans to the reality that we will all die someday. People try to cover this up and sugarcoat it, but Doughty says, "No matter how much technology may become our master, it takes only a human corpse to toss the anchor off that boat and pull us back down to the firm knowledge that we are glorified animals that eat and shit and are doomed to die." This actually gets me thinking. If people weren't so afraid  of death, what would life be like? Would dead people just be everywhere? Would there not be so much sadness and anticipation? Would there not be so much conflict throughout the world?

[suzpfeiffer]

Secondary Source #4

This is the article about the football team we read in class!! It talks about the emotions felt by people who lost loved ones to 9/11 and the effect it has on the everyone involved. This could be relevant in the fact that it focuses on how people handle death/crisis.

https://www.si.com/vault/2002/03/25/320766/the-real-new-york-giants