Wounds Of The Spirit Summary

“Wounds of the Spirit” by Traci West, “The Other Side of Paradise” by Stacyann Chin, and “Loving in the War Years” by Cherríe Moraga, all deal with feminist issues in a chaotic environment. Taking three unique routes, these books portray the female experience of sexuality and feminism in different cultural environments. They also illuminate that different cultures have similar struggles and concludes in strong feminism.
“Wounds of the Spirit” takes a new perspective on a burdensome issue; sexual violence against African American women. While most books either provide information or point blame toward individuals, Traci West takes an alternative route and uses actual interviews of women who have overcome different types of sexual violence. The

real experience behind every woman’s story has useful information for other victims of sexual violence. West also identifies what social actions can lead to a reoccurring problem with sexual violence in women.
While culture, religion, and beliefs are all a foundation for sexual violence, there are also contributing strategies that stump the recovery of women who have dealt with these issues.

West goes into detail about overcoming sexual violence through psychological, sociological and theological tactics by using the stories of real women to better comprehend women who have been victimized and to create immunity from sexually violent behaviors. While the focus of her book is toward African American women she connects this to all women with her broad terms, making it even more relatable to women of a different cultural background. The four parts of this book come together to create more than a moving story, but also a method of prevention of further violence in, not only African American women but, all

women.
“The Other Side of Paradise” is a memoir about Stacyann Chin’s accomplishments while growing up in Jamaica. Chin’s life is anything but a dream; her mother and father have both abandoned her and her brother, leaving them in the care of their grandmother. The memoir illustrates a life of poverty and deals with the ethics of feminism. Bouncing between family members, Chin has overcome several economic difficulties. Chin gets to see a different side of life with each family she comes into contact with; while some have no resources others have others have an abundance of them.
Aside from her difficulties with money and placement with her family, she is able to use her bright intelligence to get into an outstanding high school. Coming from a low income family at times, Chin deals with personal differences amongst some of her friends who are from very wealthy families. Aside from her economic differences with her peers, Chin also deals with racial issues due to her skin color being darker in comparison to her other family members. Chin overcomes verbal, physical, and sexual abuse throughout the book as she grows up. The persistent abuse and religious pressure resulted in Chin living a homophobic lifestyle. Throughout her life, Chin suffered from abandonment and abuse from everyone in her life. When she became close to her brother and grandmother, even they eventually hurt her or leave.
The males in the book are a symbol of abandonment that Chin must overcome to create strength and identity in her life story. Bouncing between living situations, Chin dealt with various indisposed men that created an abusive childhood for her. While Chin suffers from worse abuse, the abandonment from her father in her earlier childhood has the biggest impact on her. Her father was willing to help her financially to further her education but he never gives her the affection she yearns for. This also becomes a trend with her stepfather, who sexually abuses her and never accepts her as his own. The absence of a father creates a foundation for Chin’s confusion with her sexuality.
The issue grows as the men that come into her life continue to sexually abuse her. The fact that most of the men in her life continue to offer her assistance while they take advantage of her creates a cycle of confusion for Chin. Chin’s sexuality is described later in the book; she does not become open with herself until she is much older. The torment and abuse she deals with due to her sexuality makes her stronger in the end.
Chin sets the basis for a standard feminist. What she overcomes portrays the harsh treatment homosexuals had to deal with at that time. While traces of race, economic class, feminism, and sexuality are all themes in “The Other Side of Paradise”, the struggle of finding her sexuality in an anti-homosexual environment is the strongest of the themes. The value that Chin holds throughout her novel illustrates the structure of a contemporary feminist.
“Loving in the War Years” takes another unique route to feminism through the perspective of the Chicano/a customs and values. Just as in “The Other Side of Paradise”, the book is written about a woman who struggles with lesbianism in an anti-homosexual environment. The book expresses not only a historical element of the Chicano/a culture but also explores other elements of the movement at the time. Just as in “Wounds of the Spirit”, there is a unique format to this book. The first portion of the novel focuses on Moraga finding herself ethnically and sexually. Just as in “The Other Side of Paradise”, the parental figures in Moraga’s life conflict with her personal values and identity.
The writing style Moraga uses throughout the book gives her readers a chance to place themselves in her shoes, while also giving it poetic and descriptive characteristics. While Moraga is a feminist who has overcome lesbianism, her role in the Chicano/a movement is just as important. Growing to find herself just as Chin does, Moraga becomes quite personal in the first portion of the novel.
In the “A Flor de Labias” portion of the novel Moraga focuses on the Chicano/a movement in an academic manner.

The book does not contain the same poetic elements the first half does; it instead uses a more professional business like route. Defining the culture of her society through a political and oratorical manner, the second half of the book creates profound evidence for her identity confusion that results in her feminism. The book takes two elements of life and culture and creates one world from both. It gives both a personal first hand perspective of feminism, as well as a second hand look at feminism through the Chicano/a movement.
While all three books deal with feminism, they each have their own tactics of dealing with the unequal treatment of women. By using real interviews from women who have suffered, to an autobiography of an author who has dealt with the issues herself, these books deal with sexual abuse and feminism at their finest. Each book has its own maneuver to create a helpful and knowledgeable perspective to overcoming issues that are directed to

women.
”Wounds of the Spirit” gives insight to the impact of sexual abuse through a first person perspective of several different women. “The Other Side of Paradise” is a moving memoir about Chin who has overcome some of the most difficult issues growing up as a sexually confused individual in Jamaica. “Loving in the War Year” is both a memoir and an informational book on the struggle of sexual individuality and the Chicano/a movement. These three books come together to create an inspiring element to the lives of women who are currently dealing with or have overcame confrontational sexual issues that result in a feminist outlook on life.
The themes of all of the books tie in racial, religious, cultural, and economic backgrounds which all lead to a similar result in each of the women in the books. The overall themes of each books is that, despite the differences of culture each woman had difficulty expressing themselves sexually due to abuse and neglect they’d suffered, however they were triumphant in discovering themselves. As a victim of sexual violence it was hard for me to read each of these books. However, each of them inspired me to not let my victimizations define me. Instead, use them as inspiration to other women and myself to overcome difficult experiences.