Blog #10

My favorite text from the first batch of final readings was "A Short Story: My First Love-Part One". This is also one of the readings that grabbed my attention and made me want to keep reading more. The language of it was very understandable and I never really felt too confused with some of the terminology that was placed in the story. When I finished reading it, I was upset because I really wanted to know what happened after. The author incorporated love and loss into the story nicely. First, there was the unconditional love between the mother and her son especially since it took her four years before successfully having a baby. The other love was between the protagonist and Serwaa. I honestly think that it wasn't actually love that he was feeling, but lust. Anyways I couldn’t just accept that ending so I found part two of the story online and read it. I read that Serwaa, predictably, dies as a result of that abortion pill. So the loss in the story is the guy(I don’t think they tell us his name) losing Serwaa, the guy losing his freedom when he is sent to 20 years in prison, and his parents when they lost their only son.

I also really enjoyed reading the short poems by Rupi Kaur. I feel like a lot of them held a lot of truth to them. Many of them contained metaphors, but they were understandable and made complete sense to me (which is pretty rare for me and poems). I especially liked the poem in which she talks about deciding whether she spend the rest of her life with a person based on if they would still “Jump into bed like we’re twenty/ Can I picture us in old age/ Conquering the world/ Like we’ve got young blood/ Running in our veins”. She realizes that it can be easy to fall for someone based on the façade of money and looks, but she doesn’t want to face any repercussions in the future because of that. 

Joebell and America

Love in the short story was portrayed in different ways. Most importantly, I see Joebell’s great love for the United States of America. He seems to believe that America holds so many opportunities and the answers to all of his problems. “Everything he talk about is big: big mountains and big cars and race horses and heavyweight boxing champions and people in America — everything big.” The second way love is portrayed is between him and Alicia. Even though I wouldn’t consider what they have as love, he does. He seems to see a future with her and knows that she is way too good for him. That ties into Joebell reminding me of Yunior in This is How You Lose Her. Both characters are little trouble makers and are always up to no good. However, at the end of the day they probably seek love, since everyone around them has no hope for them. Loss basically took place when Joebell got caught, and couldn’t move to America. All of his hopes and dreams for his future collapsed at that point. He most likely let everyone down, so it was a loss not only for him but for Alicia and his mom, too.
          I really liked how the author added in Trinidadian dialect and speech patterns to Joebell. I feel like it made the story much more believable and realistic. I don’t think that it was excessive to the point that I wouldn’t understand what was trying to be told in the story so that’s a plus.

The Spectator

     I am a bit iffy about this story. I only liked it towards the end because I feel like the beginning dragged on. I was pretty detached in the beginning and was confused as to what was going on. Who is Magda? Why are they having dinner together? However, as I continued reading the story began to progress and there was more action that grabbed by attention.

     I think the author did want us to think that Hugo is weak. I feel like she was trying to show that when you’re rich like Hugo, you’re pretty disconnected from the problems of the world “God, it was so moving, listening to Mozart’s music on those cold summer nights and thinking of Hitler a few miles away…” (pg.203) Yes, they are somehow affected but at the end of the day their money can get them out of a lot of situations.  

     Hugo did, however, somehow progress as a character throughout the story. When it was him who was personally in the midst of the war, who was attacked by a torpedo in the apparently neutral water, he began to see the war in a far different outlook. “How often, before going to bed, had he casually crumpled the newspaper he had been reading, in which there were stories about air raids, torpedoes, or fires – oh, so many of them that he wearied of pity?” At this point he realized that his perspectives on global issues were “unfair”.

Salt.

In most cases, white is a positive color. It usually symbolizes innocence, beginnings, perfection, softness, and many more. However, after reading Nayyirah Waheed’s “Salt.” I have a feeling it has to do with race. She discusses a lot about white privilege and what it is like to be a woman of color in such a white centered society. That’s probably why she chose the color white for the cover of the book, also obviously because salt is white.

            .Nayyirah Waheed talks about how there are so many expectations for a male to act “manly” and “masculine”.

i want more ‘men’
with flowers falling from their skin.
more water in their eyes.
more tremble in their bodies.
more women in their hearts
than
on their hands.
more softness in their height.
more honesty in their voice.
more wonder.
more humility in their feet.
– less

It makes us, as a society, question why we think it’s so bad for a man to express “feminine” traits and why we would associate a man with being homosexual if he does so.

            I feel like this book also does a lot to empower woman. She says things that most people would be afraid to talk about. She wants woman to realize that in a society where women are expected to conform to a man’s needs, it’s okay to say no and to do things for our self-interest. 

“no’
might make them angry
but
it will make you free.”
— if no one has ever told you, your freedom is more important than their anger

I usually never like poetry and always found it annoying to sit there and try to decode every little word that a poet writes. However, the fact that most of these poems were so short and right to the point made me appreciate poetry more. Every thing she wrote seemed to make sense to me and a lot of it was pretty relatable which is always a plus.

Angels in America Part 2

I don’t think there is a relationship in this play that includes love from both partners. In every couple there is one that definitely loves more than the other. For example, in the relationship between Harper and Joe I think Harper loves Joe more than he does. She seems to be more affected by their battles and, well, she’s straight so obviously Joe never really loved her in a relationship type of way. He knew deep inside that their marriage was mostly a show for him to easily closet his homosexuality.  I also think that Louis does a horrible job at persuading me that he’s in love with Prior, clearly if he did he would not be having affairs as Prior is dying in the hospital.

Tony Kushner incorporating so much betrayal into the play is to shed light on the idea that hardships reveal a person’s true loyalty. AIDS was and still is a very deadly disease and Kushner wanted to show that it had the power to tear a relationship apart even when everything seemed to be going fine. If everything was all nice and easy, lovers would always stay lovers. The biggest betrayal was between Louis and Prior. “Louis: Rabbi, what does the Holy Writ say about someone who abandons someone he loves at a time of great need? (1.5.49)” Even though Louis felt guilty about leaving Prior, he ended up doing so anyways.

My favorite thing about this play is Tony Kushner including characters based on people in real life. It was interesting searching Roy Cohn on the internet and seeing what he actually did and his connections to people we are well aware of now, like President Donald Trump. I feel like it made the play come alive.

Angels in America: Millennium Approaches

Religion is mentioned a lot in the play Angels in America. The characters Louis and Joe deal with their sexuality under the spotlight up Judaism and Mormonism, respectively. Being Jewish, I know that homosexuality is definitely not tolerated in our religion. This might be the reason why in the beginning of the play, it seems that Louis is not openly gay with his family. From previous knowledge I’m pretty sure that Mormons are entirely against homosexuality which is probably why Joe was probably in denial throughout his whole life about being gay. “Joe: Stop it. Stop it. I’m warning you. Does that make any difference? That I might be one thing deep within, no matter how wrong or ugly that thing is, so long as I have fought, with everything I have, to kill it.”( Millennium Approaches, scene eight)

I don’t think that it is wrong for Louis to just come across the thought about leaving Prior. I can see why it seems difficult to stay with someone when you know it’s not going to end well and it’s going to take such a huge toll on you, emotionally. However, at the end of the day if you truly love someone it’s not right to leave them just because things are getting difficult😑.

Roy Cohn feels the way he does about his homosexuality probability because of the idea of religion which I brought up in the first paragraph. Roy Cohn grew up in a conservative Jewish household. When someone grows up under the impression that gay people are bad and that it is a sin to be gay, they will never have a positive outlook on homosexuality. He wasn’t in denial because clearly he was having sex with men, hence why he got AIDS to begin with. However, that doesn’t mean he was complacent with himself being gay and that’s why he would never admit it to anyone else.

This is How You Lose Her Part 2

I’m still not really convinced that Yunior is a pathological cheater because of his family. I honestly think that it’s Miss Lora who really caused him to be like this. He actually really liked her and was convinced that she loved him, too. However, at the end of the day she talked to other men from school and eventually left Yunior. “You walk into her bedroom, but the bed is made. Ay mi pobre, she laughs. No seas celoso. But of course you are.” He’s probably scared to let himself be vulnerable like that and that’s why he screws up every relationship he’s in first (before it’s done to him).

Yunior probably attracts these women because he gives off these vibes that he doesn’t give a crap about anything. And for some reason girls are really attracted to that. I actually researched why that is the case, and this is what I found in a study: ““While they are selfish, rule-breaking, imprudent, and rebellious, they are also brave, temerarious, independent, and self-reliant—and they live frantic, galvanizing lives,” He added that this behavior could function as “a signal that the subject has such good genetic quality and condition as to live dangerously without suffering harm.”

            Lastly, I believe in nurture over nature. Most parents raise their children based on gender roles and behaviors of society. Boys usually act more aggressive, because since birth, they were surrounded by words, actions, toys that will enable them to be that way. They are called "strong" and "tough," and are given toy trucks and action figures to fight with. However, girls are usually taught to be nurturing and more communicative (with dolls, etc).

This is how you lose her part 1

             I think that Yunior cheats on all of his girlfriends because he is the type of person who does things that’ll make him happy in the moment. When he sees a pretty girl his first thought is that he wants to have sex with her, not that he’s hurting his girlfriend by cheating. It can be that his problems with infidelity stems from his brother or maybe his dad (whom we didn’t meet in the book yet). As a character you can tell that he’s not someone who thinks in the long run about his decisions.

 I can’t justify Yunior’s behavior towards women. Yes, maybe he did have a troubled childhood which may have caused this. However, if you want to be in a relationship you need to be mature enough to be able to control yourself and keep your sexual activities solely with your girlfriend. He may be completely happy with his relationship, and he may feel bad that he cheated, but that doesn’t count. Cheating once can be a little more understandable if the cheater realized their mistake, genuinely felt bad, and never did it again. However, Yunior continuously repeats his behaviors even though he is aware that it pretty much ruins any relationship he’s ever in. It’s funny to me how he justifies his cheating by saying that he never actually cared about or had an emotional connection with the girls he sleeps with, “Sure, I checked out other females, even danced with them when I went out, but I wasn’t keeping numbers or nothing.”(pg.19)

Like Water for Chocolate Ending

No joke, I thought long and hard to come up with the answer to who I thought the better partner for Tita would be.  I feel like Dr. Brown was probably the better pick for Tita. Dr. Brown actually seeks to build a relationship with Tita based on love and mutual understanding. On the other hand, Pedro only has feelings of lust and sexual attraction towards Tita. I feel like she can have a more stable relationship with Dr. Brown but Pedro will just be toxic 💀 Even when Tita’s mother died (she was the only obstacle between Pedro and Tita) the first thing he wanted to do was have sex with her. He’s a player and I don’t like him. “with everything he said and did, not once considering her feelings. It was definitely true, Pedro had turned into a monster of selfishness and suspicion” (Esquivel, 98) 

Even though Pedro and Tita died in the end, I feel like that was just the beginning of their relationship together. Except this time, they won’t have outside factors holding their love lust back. Esquivel had to kill them off, if she made them live happily ever after it would be too predictable and corny. If she ended up choosing John, readers would probably think that she’s too weak of a character.

Towards the end of the book, I started to feel empathy towards Mama Elena. Yeah I hated her at first because she was way too abusive towards Tita, but then we see a whole different side to her that kind of humanizes her. She went through forbidden love, which lets us as readers see why she might’ve been so strict with her kids. She tried to protect them from heartbreak, although she sucked at that. 

Like Water for Chocolate Jan-Jun

Although I think Tita was placed in the novel to be its heroine, Nancha has easily become my favorite character. I’m impressed with the fact that even though she’s an older lady, she doesn’t seem to agree with all of the strict traditions that is forced on women in the Mexican culture. Even when Titas’s love of her life was going to marry her sister, no one but Nancha actually felt bad for her or comforted her.  “Now were alone in the kitchen, so go ahead and cry, my child, because I don’t want them to see you crying tomorrow. Especially not Rosaura.” (Esquivel,10) So sad she died so early in the book ;(

At first, I was a little taken aback of Esquival’s magic realism especially when all the wedding guests started throwing up and getting sick from the tears in the cake that Tita baked, it seemed a little too dramatic and I’m usually not a fan of texts that aren’t realistic. However, I loved the scene when Tita prepared a dish with quail in rose sauce. I interpreted the roses being a representation of passion and lust because after eating it, Gertrudis blissfully ran off with Juan whilst being naked. From my take on the type of person Gertrudis was, I was pretty shocked that she never stood up to Mama Elena for Tita. Gertrudis really seemed like a woman ahead of her time; she pushed for what she wanted and didn’t really care about what society had to say about it.