Monique and the Mango Rains was a very unique novel highlighting the hardships woman endure while living in a very underdeveloped country, Mali, through the eyes of a peace corps worker, Kris Holloway or also known as Fatumata. Despite the scarce resources and lack of technology, the ladies of Mali handled their situations as best as they could. Cultural relativism played a big factor throughout this novel. Cultural relativism refers to the “principle that an individual human's beliefs and values must be understood in terms of his or her own culture.” This includes areas such as family structure, gender roles, and the limited access to health care supplies and education systems. Throughout this essay, I will discuss privation, impoverishment, …show more content…
and include specific details emphasizing the everyday struggles the people of Mali face with healthcare, and economically and socially. The lack of health care specialists and materials in Mali lead to a numerous amount of deaths, including the protagonist of the book, Monique.
Monique was the midwife and practitioner of her small village of Nampossela. She helped mothers fight child malnutrition and illness, and did pregnancy consultations, including birth. She was one of a kind, extraordinary at that, and became so popular in her village and surrounding villages that she had women from six different villages coming to her, totaling up to a hundred and forty prenatal consultations a month and birthing more than ten babies (Page 199). Monique opened the clinic early each day, and would stay late into the evenings to care to her pregnant patients. The conditions of the birthing house were horrific. “The structure’s cement venner was chipped and failing, revealing mud brick. A corner of the corrugated tin roof gaped” (Page 6). Covering a majority of the birthing room “was an immense concrete block that served as the delivery table” (Page 6), and adjacent to that was a “plastic tub for the afterbirth, a medical kit in a tin box, and a frayed birth ledger” (Page 7). Giving birth in Mali in the twentieth century was light years away from the luxurious childbirth in the States. All Monique had was “simple tools, clean hands, and a sharp mind. If a woman needed an IV, or a Cesarean section, or a fetal monitor, it was not an option” (Page 89). Medication was not offered to ease the pain and induce labor, a …show more content…
comfy reclining hospital bed was replaced with a concrete slab that had been weathered away with excessive use, and recovery time was hours to a day long. They rested for a few and insisted on going back to work, despite the risks. The mortality rates were high in young children and during childbirth. Birth control was absent but imminent. However, after the birth of Christini, Monique was put on the pill. One of only woman taking the pill in the country until Kris, John and Monique were able to propose to the city head they wanted to introduce birth control into the country. With the funds raised from this book that honored the beloved Monique, her eldest cousin opened a clinic in honor of her and to carry out her legacy and her love for helping others. A few social issues that were relevant throughout this novel was domestic abuse and arranged marriages.
Korotun was a victim of domestic abuse. Her husband, Dramane, came home drunk one evening, noticed Korotun was not at the house, found her in the village selling sweet potatoes to make money for the family, and dragged her back home and beat her. Kris was stunned… speechless. She did not know what to say. She has given Korotun money before to be able to purchase those sweet potatoes but she could not continue to give away all her revenue. Korotun insisted Monique give her something to make her pregnant to make her husband happy (Page 52) and prayed she would have a boy because Dramane does not want her to have a girl. Having boys is preferred over girls in Malian society because men are awarded privileges that are not given to women. Despite the rights and privileges men received, women also had their spouses chose for them. Monique was married to Francois, who wasn’t around much at all. “Monique spoke French, the guy did not; Monique had been to school, the guy had not; Monique was from Koutiala, and the guy was from this little village” (Page 22). Kris got the impression that Monique had married down and it was evident throughout the novel how unhappy she was with Francois, who did nothing for her or the children. Monique was introduced to Francois through Yvonne who she knew from school. Yvonne, Francois sister, threatened to separate the two and she would no
longer consider herself his sister. Monique was just one examples of failed arranged marriages and the stress her husband brought onto her, aiding in her death when he failed to seek treatment for her sooner. Mali was a very poor country. Most of the children lacked the vital nutrients and were severely underweight. Food was scant and water was retrieved from wells in which the woman had to carry buckets over their head to their dwellings. Since food was minimal, men were fed their meals first and their wives and children were then to eat the remaining leftovers. Since Kris was a guest in their home, she “was not expected to eat the men’s leftovers. As a guest, she got her own bowl” (Page 21). Showing just how meager food was, and how economically under advanced they were, peanuts and beans were difficult to retrieve during the rainy season. They suggested each family bring a few beans and peanuts and plant them in a field together to grow an immense amount for baby food (Page 117). They did not have supermarkets they could just go to and pick up supplies they needed, nor did they have a ride to get there. Only the wealthier men of the village owned mopeds, Francois being one of them. But Francois only had money because he received all of Monique’s salary, which was actually illegal according to the national law. Monique was also given a raise to 15,000 CFA a month when Mr. Mariko arrived to the village (Page 171). 15,000 CFA is only considered 26.85 dollars a month. No American family could live off that, but they made it work in the underdeveloped country of Mali. Monique and the Mango Rains was a great read and I highly suggest others give it a read. People who were born here in the United States fail to realize how luxurious life really is and how different other countries around us really are. Monique endured so much hardship in her young life and faced so many struggles but always kept a positive attitude. Poverty, scarce resources, and lack of revenue did not stop her from doing what she loved to do and her memory will live on through the Clinique Monique and Kris’s book.
Monique and the Mango Rains is a book that details the experiences that Kris Holloway went through when she went to Mali and meat Monique. In this essay I will analyze some of the things that she went through while there from a cultural realistic perspective. Cultural Relativism is the comprehension and understanding of a particular group’s beliefs and practices from that particular culture’s perspective. Some of things that I will analyze are the economic factors that result in not having adequate resources, the social structure of families in Mali including the sizes of families, and the Healthcare that which plays a critical role in how people live.
Due to a perpetual paucity of sex education and healthcare resources, the Malian women suffered from several complications with their bodies. Childbearing, being a major health determination factor, was an issue in the village of Nampossela. The repetitive pregnancy of village women in short intervals of time led to an increase in the number of deaths due to childbirth. Among the women who survived it, a large fraction of them had adverse post-delivery effects. According to Holloway, "It was common for a woman to put in a full day's work soon after giving birth— pounding millet, washing clothes, hauling water, cooking over a hot fire, and sweeping out the compound." (49) An example of this is seen in the account of Natou, wife of the treasurer of the village, who suffered from heavy breathing, bleeding and fainting while carrying out domestic chores just after giving birth. (49) In addition to that, the women also suffered from malaria, anemia, and sexually transmitted diseases. Although Monique had professional training in midwifery and healthcare, she herself died during childbirth. As noted in the book, " Monique had a high temperature, a sign of infection or malaria, and no strength." (193) This conclusively suggests that societal pressure of childbearing, lack of sex education, and a severe dearth of healthcare resources played a key role in determining the health status of women in
She decided to tackle the health problems of a small area of few roads and no physicians, called Leslie County in Eastern Kentucky. Here she tested to her health care plans, thinking that if she succeed here, she could succeed anywhere. Horse backing around Leslie County, she asked residents about health care needs and local lay-midwives about birth practices. The results from her surveys revealed that these nursing mothers were lacking prenatal care and that they were giving birth to large quantities of children often by invasive practice.
The book Monique and the Mango Rains is written on the backdrop of one of the poorest countries in the world where people are uneducated but they have their own culture and customs which they follow ardently. However the practices somehow match with the current world of hypocrite people but unknowingly they are present in the small village Nampossela of Mali where author interacted with Monique the central character of the
Sorensen, J., & Abbott, E. (2004). The Maternity and Infancy Revolution. Maternal & Child Health Jounal, 8(3), 107-110. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=14089739&site=ehost-live
In “Monique and the Mango Rains”, Holloway describes her encounters with the difficulties of the women in the village of Nampossela and childbirth practices of midwifes in Mali. As a young white woman from Ohio, Holloway uses her unique perspective to write a description of her experiences of the rural midwifery practices of Monique and the hardships of the women she meets in Mali. Holloway uses her knowledge of the later events to enhance her description of her time as a Peace Corp volunteer and her observations of the village she lived in.
“The House on Mango Street” emphasizes on this issue, even broadens to explain other controversial matters such as abuse, misogynistic views, and stereotypes. The protagonist, Esperanza Cordero moves to Mango Street where she must witness the abuse affecting her friends, neighbors, and family. Either Sally a close friend, Mamacita a neighbor, or her own mother handling 4 children. Over the course of the novel Esperanza changes physically and mentally. Through the use of imagery as well as complex, descriptive vignettes Cisneros epitomizes the misogynistic views within Esperanza’s
Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street, written in 1984, and Anzia Yezierska’s Bread Givers, published in 1925, are both aimed at adolescent and adult audiences that deal with deep disturbing themes about serious social conditions and their effects on children as adults. Both books are told in the first person; both narrators are young girls living in destitute neighborhoods; and both young girls witness the harsh realities of life for those who are poor, abused, and hopeless. Although the narrators face these overwhelming obstacles, they manage to survive their tough environments with their wits and strength remaining intact.
Kamara, Mariatu and Susan McClelland. The Bite of the Mango. New York: Annick Press Limited, 2008. Print.
Symbolism is the key to understanding Sandra Cisneros’ novel, “The House on Mango Street”. By unraveling the symbolism, the reader truly exposes the role of not only Latina women but women of any background. Esperanza, a girl from a Mexican background living in Chicago, writes down what she witnesses while growing up. As a result of her sheltered upbringing, Esperanza hardly comprehends the actions that take place around her, but what she did understand she wrote in her journal. Cisneros used this technique of the point of view of a child, to her advantage by giving the readers enough information of what is taking place on Mango Street so that they can gather the pieces of the puzzle a get the big picture.
Thea Astley’s It’s Raining in Mango (1987) is a story of Australian history told through five generations of the Laffey family. Astley introduces several issues to the reader that were and still are part of Australian society. Through the use of narrative techniques including characterisation, narrative point of view and naming, Astley is able to position the reader to challenge such societal ideologies, and instead support the thoughts and ideas expressed by the strong and dominant characters in the text. Two issues developed in the text are race and gender.
Birth is a normal, physiological process, in which a woman’s body naturally prepares to expel the fetus within. It has occurred since the beginning of time. Unfortunately, childbirth has gradually evolved into what it is today - a highly managed whirlwind of unwarranted interventions. Jennifer Block, a journalist with over twelve years experience, has devoted herself to raising awareness regarding the authenticity of the Americanized standard of care in obstetrics, while guiding others to discover the truth behind the medical approach to birth in this country. In her book, Pushed: The Painful Truth About Childbirth and Modern Maternity Care, Jennifer Block brings forth startling truths concerning this country’s management of birth.
Haiti is a country that portrays a lot of conflict due to the citizen’s race, gender and poverty. In the story 1937, Edwidge Danticat conveys the message of oppression that Haitian women face every day, but through this oppression, these Haitian women are a source of strength and survival through their narratives, which can be passed on for many generations to come.
Kamara, Mariatu and Susan McClelland. The Bite of the Mango. New York: Annick Press Ltd., 2008. Print.
Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood as an African Feminist Text. Upon my first reading of Buchi Emecheta's The Joys of Motherhood, I immediately rejoiced--in this novel, I had finally encountered an account of a female protagonist in colonial and postcolonial African life. In my hands rested a work that gave names and voices to the silent, forgotten mothers and co-wives of novels by male African writers such as Chinua Achebe. Emecheta, I felt, provided a much-needed glimpse into the world of the African woman, a world harsher than that of the African male because women are doubly marginalized.