The first chapter of Light in the Dark by Gloria Anzaldúa, I was not only struck by the context of the first chapter but the way that Anzaldúa presented it. As someone born in the mid 90s, my experience of September 11, 2001 is a very distant memory now. Her epistemology of that event answered some questions that I always had and some that I didn’t even know that I should be asking. I look at the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon through a different lens now. For many years I didn’t understand that it was an act of terrorism and it wasn’t until reading Anzaldúa’s epistemology that I know it wasn’t only a one-sided attack. “Saying evil was done to us, our government claims the moral high ground and role of the victim. But we …show more content…
Coatlicue is an Aztec goddess that represents conflicting identities of life giver and death bringer. Anzaldúa uses this image in order to articulate a type of identity conflict that she experienced due to suffering and self-transformation. She details the Coatlicue State as “to represent the resistance to the new knowledge and other psychic state triggered by intense inner struggle, which can entail juxtaposition and the transmutation of contrary forces, as well as paralysis and depression.” (Anzaldúa 242). To be in the Coatlicue State is to be on the verge of experiencing something life-altering. Individuals who reside in lands where their family's culture is not that of the dominate culture, often experience an identity crisis between the various cultures of their life. The symbolism and the definition provided by Anzaldúa imparts a fairly empowering term for a person’s their internal conflict. I particularly found this term meaningful. The Aztec figures appears to mean a lot to her as she goes on to use Coyolxauhqui, a daughter of Coatlicue. Coyolxauhqui and putting herself or the self together is about healing the wounds and the work of striving for wholeness instead of being fragmented in little
In the poem “Crazy Courage” the author Alma Luz Villanueva tells the story of a man she went to school with named Michael B. In her poem she explains how Michael came to her fiction class as a man, then later on the same day he showed up to poetry class dressed as a woman. Michael got up in front of the poetry class for a reading
The third chapter is quite a different spin from what I read in the previous chapters from author's Gloria. E. Anzaldua's book entitled Light In The Dark/Luz En Lo Oscuro. Chapter three is quite interesting. In this particular chapter on page 48, she reveals her identity as a jotitita (queer Chicana). Anzaldua goes to further states that this "mexicatjena-to enter a museum and look at indigenous objects that were once used by my ancestors"(48 Anzaldua). What is interesting to me is the she ponders on whether or not she finds her historical Indian identity at the museum. In addition, she also questions whether her identity could be found along the ancient artifacts and their as she puts it their mestizaje. I really
Ann Rinaldi has written many books for young teenagers, she is an Award winning author who writes stories of American history and makes them become real to the readers. She has written many other books such as A Break with Charity, A Ride into Morning, and Cast two Shadows, etc. She was born in New York City on August 27, 1934. In 1979, at the age of 45, she finished her first book.
On September 11, 2001, foreign terrorists hijacked and deliberately crashed commercial airplanes into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. The attack and resulting loss of nearly 6000 lives have changed the way Americans view the world and life in their own country. This was mentioned to show how education is part of our ongoing culture, how schools have responded to crises in the past and how schools can promote democratic values and multicultural understanding in a time of crisis.
Out of the three wonderful narratives given, the best one is “Stepping Into the Light” by Tanya Savory. While “Shame” by Dick Gregory is an interesting read, it is the weakest out of the bunch. The story had no clear setting, to many extra details, and a lengthy exposition. “I Became Her Target” by Roger Wilkins was a better executed story, even though it still had some flaws. This piece lacks any figurative language, but it was to the point and had clear organization. Thus, Tanya Savory’s piece was the best. It was easy to follow, used a constant symbol, and used some stories from others to make her point. So using narrative styles and elements in the best way, Tanya Savory wrote the better story.
Comparison Paper Borderlands vs. Always Running In Gloria Anzaldúa's novel Borderlands: The New Mestiza, she uses the ancient Aztec goddess Coatlicue as a gateway towards a new consciousness and identity for herself, as a Chicana. In a world full of opposites and polarity, a one sided view of life is often what is adopted in mainstream western thinking. In the chapter "The Coatlicue State", Gloria Anzaldúa describes her childhood of feeling abnormal. To come to a new state of consciousness, she describes how she must embrace Coatlicue, the ancient Aztec mother-goddess. The first metaphor Anzaldúa uses to bring about the new consciousness of the Coatlicue state is that of the mirror. In the section "Enfrentamientos con el alma" or "Confrontations With the Soul", she calls the mirror a gateway to the underworld, as mirrors were once believed to be a door to the other side. Because the Aztec goddess transcends both the underworld and our conscious minds, Anzaldua uses the figure of Coatlicue to show how she represents the subject and the object, the I and the self. Coatlicue is the part of one's self that becomes objectified. To find Coatlicue is to stare into the mirror, and see that part of you that is she. The part of ourselves that we do not call I, but rather it. To embrace Coatlicue, our hidden and painful parts, we must look at her in our own reflections. We must find the beauty in her hideousness, and realize that the parts of ourselves that we have always considered unacceptable, contain beauty and to acknowledge it, is to become one with those parts of ourselves. The author uses the needles of a cactus, or "Nopal de castillo" as a metaphor for the feelings of defense and the walls that we put up to distance ourselves from...
These two literary works, 40 Hours in Hell by Katherine Finkelstein and Third World by Dexter Filkins, both present diverse perspectives on what occurred during the World Trade Center attack. Although both texts approach the coverage of this attack differently, as reporters, they both base their news using normative theory. Normative theory is the consideration of what is morally correct or incorrect. In relation to normative theory is the Social Responsibility Theory. This theory deals with how an individual must complete their civic duty, since they are apart of the press, as well as their actions must benefit society. Nonetheless, of these two texts, 40 Hours in Hell best fulfills the requisites of the Social Responsibility Theory.
Suzanna Berne’s article “Where Nothing Says Everything” discusses the sequence of events that Berne encounters as she attempts to pay her respects to the 9/11 tragedy. From the elements within her writing, Berne demonstrates the significant meaning of the World Trade Center’s absence. It is from her personal experience and play on words that she is able to accurately express her thesis. Within her piece, Suzanna Berne comes to the conclusion that the impact of 9/11 on the American people forces them to unite in order to overcome the loss of the World Trade Center along with the people who went down with it.
For a second, the U.S. stood still. Looking up at the towers, one can only imagine the calm before the storm in the moment when thousands of pounds of steel went hurdling into its once smooth, glassy frame. People ran around screaming and rubble fell as the massive metal structure folded in on itself like an accordion. Wounded and limping from the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, America carried on, not without anger and fear against a group of innocent Americans, Muslim Americans. Nietzsche’s error of imaginary cause is present in the treatment of Muslim Americans since 9/11 through prejudice in the media, disregard of Muslim civil liberties, racial profiling, violence, disrespect, and the lack of truthful public information about Islam. In this case, the imaginary cause against Muslims is terrorism. The wound has healed in the heart of the U.S. but the aching throb of terrorism continues to distress citizens every day.
The contrast between the Mexican world versus the Anglo world has led Anzaldua to a new form of self and consciousness in which she calls the “New Mestiza” (one that recognizes and understands her duality of race). Anzaldua lives in a constant place of duality where she is on the opposite end of a border that is home to those that are considered “the queer, the troublesome, the mongrel and the mulato” (25). It is the inevitable and grueling clash of two very distinct cultures that produces the fear of the “unknown”; ultimately resulting in alienation and social hierarchy. Anzaldua, as an undocumented woman, is at the bottom of the hierarchy. Not only is she a woman that is openly queer, she is also carrying the burden of being “undocumented”. Women of the borderlands are forced to carry two degrading labels: their gender that makes them seem nothing more than a body and their “legal” status in this world. Many of these women only have two options due to their lack of English speaking abilities: either leave their homeland – or submit themselves to the constant objectification and oppression. According to Anzaldua, Mestizo culture was created by men because many of its traditions encourage women to become “subservient to males” (39). Although Coatlicue is a powerful Aztec figure, in a male-dominated society, she was still seen
The attack toward the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 shocked the world. Many people died, and the scar still remains in people's hearts. Was this whole thing predictable? No, but it could have been avoided says Robert Baer in his book, See No Evil. This book is a memoir of a man who joined the CIA to satisfy his curiosity he had toward what was happening in the world, and became to realize the problems the CIA faced and the never told inside story he encountered.
More than a year and a half ago, on September 11, 2001, a group of terrorists from the al Qaeda network hijacked four airliners and successfully used three of them to attack the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and the World Trade Center in New York. These attacks marked the first time in American history that a full-scale attack was executed on our own soil, and they affected the American people on a number of different levels. Americans found themselves shocked that such an event could occur, as well as reeling with grief for the more than 3,000 people who died in the tragedy. Soon, the shock and grief that penetrated the hearts of the American people gave way, in part, to a sense of national pride. American flags waved from every overpass, and “God Bless America” could be heard on every r...
The one of the main themes in the epilogue, and in the entire novel is
Chapter 13: Many political viewpoints or thoughts that an author sponsors are widely found or implied in his or her literary works. For example, in Isabel Allende’s The House of Spirits, Allende’s views upon women’s rights are heavily implied. This occurs as Clara liberates the female peasants in a way to allow them to lead a prayer and practice religion, an activity frowned upon by the land and power controlling men at the time of the story, With this, an active reader can correlate the events in the story and apply them to the author’s political viewpoints regarding women's rights.
Many conspiracy theories exist about the attacks. Although it is commonly held that the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda is responsible, some think it was an inside job—coming from the United States. Others acknowledge Al-Qaeda as the perpetrator, but blame the cause on past involvement of the United States in the Middle East. One such person is Amiri Baraka. In his poem, Somebody Blew Up America, Baraka points to the larger system as the root cause of violence. He never blames a single entity, but through the use of rhetorical questioning it is obvious as to whom Baraka is accusing as being the real terrorist. Using the word “who” 191 times, Baraka establishes a connection within any reader who feels empathy with victims of anonymous crimes. (IV 1) Who is to blame? Amiri Baraka’s Somebody Blew Up