In the story of “Yellow Women” the writer develops the central ideas of beauty and cultural inheritance by using a first person point of view, reflection over herself, and flashbacks to tell a prior story. In the story Silko realizes that she is different from the people she lives around. She learns to understand and accept her differences because of her white skin color compared to the other Laguna Pueblo people. Silko shows how important her memories are and how she needs them. The effectiveness of the story that Silko shows in her flashbacks and memories give this story beauty and imagery. Silko doesn’t learn that she is different until a tourist does not allow her in a picture of all her classmates because the tourist saw Silko as “different”. This never occurred to Silko until that day. She used reflection in this part of the text to talk about that important time in her life when she realized that she did not look the same as her fellow classmates. She uses this in the text as a way to talk almost face-to-face with the reader. Speaking in the first person gives the reader a feeling of direct speech from the writer. …show more content…
She taught Silko about inner beauty and how her culture looked at beauty differently from the way the whites did. Beauty was found inside a person, not by their appearance. The older people of Laguna Pueblo always valued the uniqueness in people and they would always strive to teach their children and tell them stories. The culture was very accepting and kind; beauty is seen to come from the soul of someone, not the structure of their face or body. The writer really engages the reader this way by talking about the family and sharing as if the reader is part of the
In 'Yellow woman', the protagonist struggles with her feelings for Silva and the nagging thoughts of her husband and her baby at home. She thinks a lot about how her family willfret because she has been away for so long. She appears to want to remain with Silva yet worries about how evasive he is in connection with who he really is. In the end, she returns home to see her husband Al playing with the baby and decides to fabricate a story on being kidnapped.
As a child, Silko became aware at an early age that younger generations of people would judge her for her skin color as opposed to who she was as a person. This is evident when Silko says: “I had sensed immediately that something about my appearance was not acceptable to some people, White and Indian. But I did not see any signs of that strain or anxiety in the face of my beloved Grandma A’mooh.” From this Silko learns that old-time people, like her grandmother, payed attention to one’s character, as opposed to looks or material wealth. It is also here in the third paragraph where she learns from her family about how “…the Puritans arrived
Sandra Cisneros builds up borders around gender expectations, only to break them down again to teach us the outcome of denying the role that has been assigned to women. By understanding the feminist criticism in detail from its origins to the presents we are able to understand the female perspective. Cisneros reveals the way the culture puts a difference between a male and a female, men above women. In “Woman Hollering Creek”, we see a young Mexican woman, who suddenly moves across the border and gets married. Then later goes through all the abuse of Cleófilas husband puts her through, and she handles it all alone. When applying the theory, we understand it from all aspects, culturally, and socially. We see all the force in “Woman Hollering Creek” has within controlling all of the female characters. As well, we also examine the short story Woman Hollering Creek by examining, the alternatives using the criticism we are able to see the story through
No matter how she tries, Antonia cannot escape the prejudices that surround the town. Working as a hired girl, a job that demands the skill of a housekeeper and a nanny, Antonia becomes an outcast in the city. Consequently, she is forced to associate with only other working girls like herself. Yet it is not just her job that earns her the prejudice, it is the color of her skin. Working in the fields of the country, Antonia had gained a remarkable tan. The latter, although accepted in the country, brands her a peasant in the town. No refined lady would ever subject herself to the brutal country sun.
Also, the paper will discuss how ignoring oneself and one’s desires is self-destructive, as seen throughout the story as the woman’s condition worsens while she is in isolation, in the room with the yellow wallpaper, and at the same time as her thoughts are being oppressed by her husband and brother. In the story, the narrator is forced to tell her story through a secret correspondence with the reader since her husband forbids her to write and would “meet [her] with heavy opposition” should he find her doing so (390). The woman’s secret correspondence with the reader is yet another example of the limited viewpoint, for no one else is ever around to comment or give their thoughts on what is occurring. The limited perspective the reader sees through her narration plays an essential role in helping the reader understand the theme by showing the woman’s place in the world. At the time the story was written, women were looked down upon as being subservient beings compared to men....
Intertwined in allusions to women of Mexican history and folklore, making it clear that women across the centuries have suffered the same alienation and victimization, Cisneros presents a woman who struggles to prevail over romantic notions of domestic bliss by leaving her husband. In the story Woman Hollering Creek, Sandra Cisneros discusses the issues of living life as a married woman through a character named Cleófilas; a character who is married to a man who abuses her physically and mentally. Cisneros reveals the way the culture puts a difference between a male and a female, men above women. In Woman Hollering Creek, we see a young Mexican woman, who suddenly moves across the border and gets married. The protagonist, Cleófilas’ character is based on a family of a six brothers and a dad and without a mom, and the story reveals around her inner feelings and secrets.
builds up whiteness as the ideal through its treatment of the three protagonists, the femme
In the Book women are looked upon as objects by men whether they are boyfriends, friends fathers or husbands. The girls in the novel grow up with the mentality that looks and appearance are the most important things to a woman. Cisneros also shows how Latino women are expected to be loyal to their husbands, and that a husband should have complete control of the relationship. Yet on the other hand, Cisneros describes the character Esperanza as being different. Even though she is born and raised in the same culture as the women around her, she is not happy with it, and knows that someday she will break free from its ties, because she is mentally strong and has a talent for telling stories. She comes back through her stories by showing the women that they can be independent and live their own lives. In a way this is Cinceros' way of coming back and giving back to the women in her community.
In conclusion, this story, “The Yellow Wall-Paper”, provided a great social and psychological criticism. It shows the reader how women have progressed so far in the recent years. This woman was the start of many, which finally led to making men and woman more equal, and this is the society that this woman wanted.
Julia Alvarez was an example of how a Latina writer identified herself in a new culture outside of her comfort zone. She, as a Dominican Diaspora, had to reinvent herself as she migrated into a new scenario. Her assimilation into the United States culture allowed her to understand and relate to the reader’s needs and points of interests. After all the effort, Alvarez kept in mind that she could not comfort to all the reality that she lived in, so she re-reinvented herself all over again to process her thoughts and beliefs into her life. She put her perspective on her writing so that the new wave of readers, even if they did not understand, could relate in some way and appreciate the differences. The sole purpose of her writings was for everyone to change their perspective from “walk to the other side of the street in order to avoid sharing the same sidewalk” to “I do not know them, but I do not avoid them because I do not know them”. She instilled in her reader’s mind how ordinary events were viewed differently through other cultures’ eyes. Her story Snow was a great example of how she portrayed her technique.
The setting of the story is on an Indian reservation in the Southwest, which is the major part of Silko’s story. The reservation is characterized by a dry and cold nature that indicates an isolation feeling and also depicts the issues and peace of the Native American inhabitants. The setti...
In Silko's "Yellow Woman", the confusing western-type setting of dry, hot alkali-white crust dirt, rivers, and horses with the contrast of modern day mentioning of trucks, schools, and jello set the tone. The narrator's desire to seek solace in her grandpa who was dead(191). But the next best thing was to seek comfort in his story that he liked to tell. Instead, the narrator placed herself in the story which she told to her family(193). The protagonist ,which is the narrator, was depicted as a weak, but sex driven woman. She was handled roughly by Silva due to his pinning her down (191) and threats of "you will do what I want"(190). She wanted to get away but chose not to leave. Silva was a man that spoke dictatingly and to the point. The protagonist in the story took pride in her lover Silva. She enjoyed his sexual encounters as well as his physical attributes. She also enjoyed the adventures of riding off with him to places where he went, but not knowing him for he was a stranger. The narrator was torn between the present ( husband Al, baby, grandma and mother) and the past (grandpa, story about ka'tsina spirit). The protagonist seemed to to enjoy being dictated what to do by Silva. The narrator and Silva seemed to be free spirits. They both loved adventure. But Silva was entitled to the right whereas Yellow Woman was no more than a weak follower with no say in the matter. The narrator and Yellow Woman felt that they had to be submissive to their men. The narrator's Indian background, Pueblo, seemed to be strict with the women expressing how they really feel to their husband. Also, the men seem to be honest since the narrator sopke "the men don't do things like that"(190). The narrator deserve to escape but she just took a walk along the river but she would eventually "come home"(191). It was strikingly interesting to see Al playing with the baby with no clue as to how the narrator was feeling.
In the short story “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Perkins Gilman tells the story through the first person point of view where the story is told by the narrator only. The story takes place around the 80s-90s century where the narrator and her husband stay in a mansion for her rescue. The narrator is predicted to be suffering from temporary nervous depression by her husband, brother, and Weir Mitchell. Throughout the story, the readers could easily see many images that imply to the sexist reality back in time and how women are put under the pressure of the unequal society with the stereotype that they are always the supporters rather than the main financial provider for the family. Gilman introduces a new fictional theme to the audience back
The outside pattern I mean, and the woman behind it is as plain as can be.” (Gilman, 533). Setting and metaphors tend to extend the vision of a short story into a vivid sense of place and time for the reader; as well as allude to a specific ideal. In this story, setting and metaphors play a large role in formulating the bond between ‘Jane’ and her husband, ‘John’ by her examination of the intricacies of the yellow wallpaper. While John tries to suppress Jane’s desire to be an individual in order to maintain patriarchal control, it actually fuels her desire even more internally, to be a person; someone free to express individuality and intelligence. It is clear that Jane feels some sort of conflict about her “nervousness,” by which she expresses through metaphors within her setting—the setting, being the yellow wallpaper. Although John tries to sound loving and caring, his words are met with ill intention, of which Jane notes, and only drives her writing into an abyss of images pertaining to being captive and breaking free. All of this symbolizes the idea that underneath the dynamics created within the oppression of woman and the progression of man, the desire of individuality still remains present. Similar to the desire of a bird to fly free from its’ cage, Janes’ imagination creates a reflective symbolic transcription of the yellow wallpaper, which gives her stimulation she is being denied and of breaking free—at least in
...a woman trying to find an identity through her heritage. All of these stories give us examples and show us what life in this period would be like for the characters. They give details that show the readers the world around them.