The novel Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, written by Isabel Quintero, portrays the extreme pressure women from traditional/cultural households encounter in order to be seen as “picture perfect.” Women have to be and act accordingly to the expectations of their family and community in order to be respected and valued as a “lady.” One mistake is all it takes to become known as “a mala mujer” which is why women are anticipated to protect their body as they would their life.
In a traditional household a woman’s most valuable possession is none other than her virginity which is why every so often we are reminded to keep our “ojos abiertos y piernas cerradas” (Quintero 7). It is believed that this is the only option available to prevent a fatal accident that could lead us to become a “mala mujer” no one will take seriously or ever want. Giving up the “only” valuable possession our body holds is considered as giving away our “worth” because men only want one thing from us which is “‘eso” (which is code for “sex”)” (Quintero 146), as mentioned by Gabi’s mom. Our value is basically centered in our
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virginity which is absurd because there is so much more to be valued of a woman. We have many qualities and personality that makes us unique, but that isn’t enough if you are looking for a man in search for a “buena mujer.” Unfortunately, women are the only gender depicted as “faciles- easy, sluts, hoes or ofrecidas” (Quintero 106) when it deals with the topic of having sex.
It is seen as something completely out of the ordinary because according to our culture a decent woman shouldn’t be offering herself to a man until marriage. For instance, when Gabi told her mom that Cindy, her best friends, had gotten pregnant her mom automatically mentioned that she was a “bad, bad girl” (Quintero 20) because a good girl would never be desperate to have sex or disrespect herself and the honor of her family in such a way. The thought that parents are mostly concerned as to what it is people are going to say about their family is saddening because women are put all the blame when people talk bad about their family name especially if they get pregnant, but how about when men do it? Why does no one say anything about
it? The fact that our community holds grudge against women who make decisions about their own body is wrong because it is hypocritical of their part to find it okay for men to have sex with as many women they want. In fact, the only thing that is said is that “boys will be boys” (Quintero 229) and that it is completely different since women have way more to lose then men. Seriously? In the novel, Gabi mentions that every time she goes out with a guy her mom has to make sure to meet his parents ahead of time no matter what, but in the contrary her brother, Beto, is just told to make sure to take a condom. Just because boys “can’t help it” it doesn’t mean they should have the right to have more freedom and not be critiqued even if they get a girl pregnant because of course as women “we are raised to believe that it is our job and responsibility to protect our bodies and if something goes wrong, we are always at fault” (Quintero 204). Being a woman is extremely difficult because when regarding to our life we can’t only think about ourselves because judgement from everything we do will always come from others. We are constantly reminded to be a “buena mujer” and to respect ourselves because it is the only way others – specifically men- will respect us, but we really shouldn’t have to prove ourselves “worthy” to be a “buena mujer.” Women should be given the opportunity to decide what they want to do on their own because at the end of the day we are the bosses of our own body and only we are going to be able to live in them until we die.
As much as men are working, so are women, but ultimately they do not face the same obstacles. For example, “Even if one subscribes to a solely economic theory of oppression, how can one ignore that over half of the world's workers are female who suffer discrimination not only in the workplace, but also at home and in all the areas sex-related abuse” (Moraga 98). This gives readers a point of view in which women are marginalized in the work place, at home, and other areas alike. Here Moraga gives historical accounts of Chicana feminists and how they used their experiences to give speeches and create theories that would be of relevance. More so, Moraga states how the U.S. passes new bills that secretly oppress the poor and people of color, which their community falls under, and more specifically, women. For instance, “The form their misogyny takes is the dissolution of government-assisted abortions for the poor, bills to limit teenage girls’ right to birth control ... These backward political moves hurt all women, but most especially the poor and "colored." (Moraga 101). This creates women to feel powerless when it comes to control one’s body and leads them to be oppressed politically. This places the government to act as a protagonist, and the style of writing Moraga places them in, shines more light to the bad they can do, especially to women of color. Moraga uses the words, “backward moves”
Though, it is work of Monique as a midwife which makes this book predominantly useful for learning the cultural dynamics in Mali of sexuality, childbirth and reproductive health of women. The young midwife Monique Dembele working in Nampossela and to the east of Bamako, the Malian villages, is the center of this appealing narrative penned by Kris Holloway who was helping in the Peace Corps in Mali from 1989 to 1991. Kris as instructed by Monique assists in midwifery work in the small, ruined birthing house, which was built by the Chinese in an earlier initiative of
Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero explores the pitfalls of adolescence and the struggles that go along with growing up. This book reveals the mind of a less than average teenage girl and the aspects of her tumultuous life. From this it is inferred that a theme for this novel could be that sometimes the difficult experiences in your life can make you stronger.
It makes one wonder how society came to these ridiculous standards of beauty and the taboo of talking about women's bodies that still resonate today. I can personally attest to the uncomfortableness of the conversation of menstruation and developing bodies. My mother was taught, as her mother before and so on, that these conversations are to be kept in private and talked about quietly. In response to this, the power of men have an increasingly strong hold on the ideal physical beauty and how the changes of the body, such as menstruation, be in private and never spoke of. The Body Project gives a disturbing look at how women in the past few centuries and the present should act, look like, and keep hidden in response to what men think is most desirable. No matter how free women think they are, we are still under the control of men even if it is not directly. This book opens the conversation on the problems that are still plaguing women and how society needs to change to have a healthier environment for women to be comfortable in their
“Girl” written by Jamaica Kincaid is essentially a set of instructions given by an adult, who is assumed to be the mother of the girl, who is laying out the rules of womanhood, in Caribbean society, as expected by the daughter’s gender. These instructions set out by the mother are related to topics including household chores, manners, cooking, social conduct, and relationships. The reader may see these instructions as demanding, but these are a mother’s attempt, out of care for the daughter, to help the daughter to grow up properly. The daughter does not appear to have yet reached adolescence, however, her mother believes that her current behavior will lead her to a life of promiscuity. The mother postulates that her daughter can be saved from a life of promiscuity and ruin by having domestic knowledge that would, in turn also, empower her as a productive member in their community and the head of her future household. This is because the mother assumes that a woman’s reputation and respectability predisposes the quality of a woman’s life in the community.
In the short story, “Girl,” the narrator describes certain tasks a woman should be responsible for based on the narrator’s culture, time period, and social standing. This story also reflects the coming of age of this girl, her transition into a lady, and shows the age gap between the mother and the daughter. The mother has certain beliefs that she is trying to pass to her daughter for her well-being, but the daughter is confused by this regimented life style. The author, Jamaica Kincaid, uses various tones to show a second person point of view and repetition to demonstrate what these responsibilities felt like, how she had to behave based on her social standing, and how to follow traditional customs.
The center of discussion and analysis about the sex/gender system focus on the differences between African, European and Creole Women. The sex/gender system describe by Morgan focus on their production, body and kinship. European women are seen as domestic, African women’s work overlaps between agricultural and pastoral. They’ll work in the field non-stop, even after giving birth. African women hold knowledge about the pastoral and agricultural work “in the planting and cultivation of fields the daily task of a good Negro Woman” (145). While Creole women were subordinated, with the job of produce and reproduce. When it came to body, European women’s bodies were seeing as fragile. After birth the rest for a while before they could stand back again or return to their activities “European observers believed the post-delivery period of abstinence lasted three months, and others commented up two- to three year period o...
The idea that a woman’s job is to be a wife and mother is old-fashioned, but not completely out of style. Though these roles require a great deal of talent, resilience, patience, love, and strength, to name a few, they are often underestimated or depicted as simple. Especially in modern times, many women in the United States who stay home to raise a family are viewed as anti-feminists, whereas women in Latin America are not criticized for similar actions. In recent decades, more Latin American women have started to break the mold, daring to be both sexy, and successful in the workforce, while remaining pillars of domestic life.
In the course of Garcia Marquez’s work, the importance of respect was revealed to be taken almost sacredly in the characters’ Columbian culture. Honor was viewed as a crucial piece of one’s morality. Without honor, one was considered an outcast in society. For example, Angela Vicario was sent home on her wedding night because she was not a virgin. As a result, her mother beat Angela for invoking dishonor upon the family. Angela explains to the narrator, “‘I wasn’t crying because of the blows or anything that had happened… I was crying because of him,’“(P. 91, Garcia). Angela acknowledged that her impurity was reprehensible, therefore she accepted her mother’s thrashing. Her immoral actions led to a failed marriage and scorn upon her family, as well as her husband, Bayardo San Roman.
Women in Latin America were expected to adhere to extreme cultural and social traditions and there were few women who managed to escape the burden of upholding these ridiculous duties, as clearly shown in “Chronicle of a Death Foretold”. First, Latin American women were expected to uphold their honor, as well as their family's honor, through maintaining virtue and purity; secondly, women were expected to be submissive to their parents and especially their husbands; and lastly, women were expected to remain excellent homemakers.
The male is supposed to be the main bread winner of the family unit, making money and protecting the woman while she tends to the children and the house. In the modern day this mold has been challenged to a certain extent with more woman moving into careers beyond the home. However, in Freud’s time these set matrimonial roles were still in place, especially the ones limiting women from having any form of sexual relations prior to her wedding. As he puts it, a high value is placed on a women’s “preservation of sexual chastity”. Practices such as ‘slut-shaming’ represent a continuation of this tendency to stigmatize the sexual promiscuity of women. Freud argues that this lack of sexual experience and knowledge of a woman will lead to problems for both parties in a marriage. If a woman is suffering in an unhealthy marriage he posits that a woman will develop mental problems as “nothing protects her virtue so securely as
The only glory and satisfaction enjoyed by the women portrayed in Things Fall Apart was being a mother. They receive respect and love from their children. They are strong for their children. The women are viewed as very gentle and caring. They are expected to take care of their children with the best of their ability and are trusted totally by their children. This honorable presentation of women is used by Achebe to identify women's role in the Ibo society. This presentation is necessary to show that women indeed play an important role in society.
Despite the sound logic of the evolutionary argument, it does not account for what humans have had for a long time: contraception. This is why many people prefer to look at how this double standard formed from more of a sociological viewpoint. Women’s sexual con...
In Latin America, women are treated differently from men and children. They do lots of work for unexplainable reasons. Others for religious reasons and family orders and others because of the men involved. Women are like objects to men and have to obey their orders to either be rich or to live. Some have sex to get the men’s approval, others marry a rich man that they don’t even know very well, and become slaves. An important book called Chronicles of a Death Foretold is an example of how these women are treated. Purisima del Carmen, Angela Vicario's mother, has raised Angela and her sisters to be good wives. The girls do not marry until late in life, rarely socializing beyond the outsides of their own home. They spend their time sewing, weaving, washing and ironing. Other occupations include arranging flowers, cleaning up the house, and writing engagement letters to other men. They also keep the old traditions alive, such as helping the sick, comforting the dying, and covering the dead. While their mother believes they are perfect, men view them as too tied to their women's traditions. The men are afraid that the women would pay more attention to their job more than the men. Throughout the book, the women receive the respect they deserve from the men and others around them.
Jamaica Kincaid’s “Girl” shows in society how a woman should be placed and what it means to be a woman. A women doesn’t question her partner, instead she is subservient to him. A woman’s duties include staying at home taking care of the children and cooking; while the man works and brings home the money. A feministic approach to Kincaid’s “Girl” points to the idea of the stereotypes that women can only be what they do in the home, they should only be pure and virtuous, and their main focus should be satisfying their husband.