Taking Away from The Vagina Monologues

                The story of the Comfort Women is something that I now hold deep in my heart. The story “Say it” for the Comfort Woman may be the last official chapter in the book, but it is one that rang in my ears even now. After reading the agony that was voiced in “Say it” I started research. I consider myself quite knowledgeable on World War II and never before this book have I heard the horrors that these woman went through. There may not be any official numbers in how many “comfort woman” actually were enslaved by the Imperial Japanese Army. But the tens of thousands to upwards of hundreds of thousands projected is a disgustingly horrible number.

                These thousands of woman who were tricked or kidnapped and forced to live in these brothels suffered insufferable pain. One outside article even says that only some 25% survived. These women were prisoners to these men who had no remorse. “What we weren’t allowed to do: Wash ourselves, move around, go to the doctor, use a condom, run away, keep my baby, and ask him to stop.” (Page 162) Jan Ruff-O’Hearn testified to the Supreme Court that “Even the Japanese doctor raped me each time he visited the brothel to examine us for venereal disease.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comfort_women) The countless stories that must be out there are nothing more than shameful and heart retching.

                The Vagina Monologues to me wasn’t something that taught me to love my female parts. It’s a testimony to the woman who isn’t able to be treated as even basic woman beings. I take away and will voice my new found knowledge about the Comfort woman that I so hopelessly admire for their strengths. I take away the fear that something as barbaric as genital mutation still exists. I take away even more respect for our culture one that doesn’t promote such grave travesties. Woman are stronger for a reason.

Final Thoughts on Vagina Monologues

                Now that I have finished The Vagina Monologues I have discovered that Eve Ensler accomplished what she set herself out to do. She wanted to create awareness and discussions, and this is quite prevalent even in my own home. Simply through my roommates knowing I had to read this book, the conversations about it developed. Last night for example, one of my roommates stole the book literally out of my hands and processed to read one of the chapters aloud and then engulfed a huge conversation about it to easily 15 people. I sat back and chuckled to myself because that’s exactly what Ensler wanted to do, she wanted me the reader to discuss and share the stories with others to open their eyes. For her mission and V-Days mission of awareness succeeded even in my home.

                I took a special kind of awareness away after reading this book. I took an ever prevalent idea that grave travesties still happen throughout the world. Before this book I knew of genital mutation and I realized that in some war countries it still happened. But to what extent I was completely unaware. My heart aches when I hear that 80 to 100 million girls have been subjected to such a horrible sexist travesty.  That “In Africa, about 2 million youngsters a year can expect the knife, or the razor or a glass shard, to cut their clitoris or remove it altogether.” (Page 67) That even such a horror still happened in this country until 1948 when it was last performed on a five year old girl. That is what I take away from this book. I take away an ever understanding of the ways that females aren’t equal to males, and we sadly won’t be for a very long time. A male would never get his penis cut off for masturbation but yet until 1948 they would cut a small girls clitoris for simply touching it.

                In my mind a good book is when you take something away from it. I take away greater knowledge of the tragedies such as genital mutation that still exist in our world. And I have already started to spread the word.  

Monologues

      I can honestly say that I have never read a book like this before. I consider myself an extremely open person and sexuality talks is something that I am quite comfortable with, but I guess living with a heap of females does that to a person. On the surface I could see how this book would be considered to be too harsh or uncomfortable to read especially to men. Rightfully so, conversations about menstrual cycles aren't really enjoyable talks for anyone involved. Ensler succeeds in using shock emotions in order to get her point across to her readers. She means to come off as boisterous and matter of factually. For that I praise her, and I am actually enjoying the book far more then I originally had thought, because the woman she speaks to come to life and their stories are interesting.
       I respond to two things in life, humor and facts. I tend to feel like this book is pushing more towards humor, but its response is outstanding. Once I was able to rummage though a lot of shock access I started seeing real life people in the text. From the old woman who never discovered their sexuality to everyday woman. One line in particular stood out from all the rest. Women at a "Vagina Workshop" were asked to draw what they thought their vagina looked like " One woman who was pregnant drew a big red mouth screaming with coins spilling out." (Page 44) It wasn't until page 44 in which the first mention of childbirth was even brought up. That is something I found slightly surprising, since that is typically the first thing people tend to think about when speaking of woman's privates. Not to mention if I was a pregnant woman that would be exactly what I would draw too.
      Though the topic maybe too harash to some tender readers it is just boldly written sexuality. I don't necessarily  agree with Ensler over usage of shock value but its the characters I'm drawn to. I think her grasping all generations is important and the stories they speak of is important. Its humor, its truth, its life.

Two Cases of Babies

Danticat throughout the book has had a collection of themes. Themes stream from the idea of hope vs. hopelessness, to massacre. Though all the stories are slightly varied from one another then is still a likeness and connection in which they are all intertwined. In, Between the Pool and the Gardenias it is now the second time in which Danticat has had a dead baby be one of the characters in a story. I don’t believe that it is being insensitive; I just personally struggle with why she decided to do this.

In, Children of the Sea Danticat have Celianne a young mother aboard a boat gives birth to a stillborn child. In the story, the following few days after the birth Celianne simply just holds onto the baby even after it had turned purple. Then after that time she had to throw the baby off the boat then Celianne proceeded to then commit suicide. Then in the story, Between the Pool and the Gardenias a character that we never learned her name stumbled across a dead child on the side of the road. This small child had Rose on her shirt so the main character decided to take her home because she was cute, in her eyes. The main character spoke of the fact that she was unable to have children and wanted to treat this child as her own. She spoke of how she continued to bathe her up to three times a day until the smell became too unbearable. In which only then did she give Rose a burial.

I feel like the death of the child in Children of the Sea was an important element of the story. But the idea of having the entire story of Between the Pool and the Gardenias is about holding onto a dead child that wasn’t even hers was really unnecessary. I am not sure if Danticat did this because she had some underlying message that she wanted to send to the readers. Or that infant death is a raging issue in Haiti, I am not quite sure. I just feel as though it is really morbid and almost leaves too bitter of a feeling; to be able to grasp much else that is happening in the book.

A Wall of Fire Rising- Lili

What is the overall goal of parenting? Is it to love your child unconditionally? Is it to give them opportunities that are greater than any chances that you, yourself was given? In A Wall of Fire Rising, those questions I asked myself while looking at one of the characters Lili. Lili is a mother of a small child named little Guy after her husband. To me Lili was an outstanding woman. In a life where her family was trying to just be able to eat at night, she was able to shine hope. If someone is able to shine hope in the most terrible of times, they inspirational.

                I view Lili as a very strong woman. She did her best to take care of her husband. She tried to make him feel like a man, even when he didn’t think so. She praised him for his handwork and intelligence in their trying times. Guy spoke to her “You want me to get a pretty house for us. I know you want these things too, but mostly you want me to feel like a man. That’s why you’re not one to worry about, Lili. I know you can take things as they come.” (Page 72) He says this because he appreciates how strong she is, that no matter what was to happen to him that she would still be able to take care of their son and herself. That is a powerful thing for a man in his position to admit that.

                Lili is more than just a good wife, she was a great mother. She inspired and fueled her son to be a great performer. Little Guy was so excited to making a big speech at school, and Lili coached him through those lines for hours, when she herself couldn’t read. Her world revolved around little Guy, her hopes and dreams rested in her desires for a greater future for him. When I think about Lili as a mother and wife I think about unconditional love. To me that is what is most important in a family.

Celianne Element

Child of the Sea was a powerful story displayed in journal entries between two young lovers. Their passages were filled with descriptive and emotional stories of what their day to day lives had become after the terrible turmoil in their country of Haiti. I truly enjoyed the stories between both the young girl and young boy. But I believe that Danticat added in the Celianne for a certain element of the story.

Celianne is a fifteen year old who was on board the ship with the boy narrator. While Celianne never spoke to the readers directly her story had great importance an emotional mindset of the reader. Earlier before the truth about Celianne’s pregnancy was revealed the girl narrator spoke of the fact that soldiers had been breaking into people’s homes and had been forcing the mothers or fathers to rape their children. At least for me personally, when this was first spoken of, disbelief of such horrors made me almost try and look past it. But with the story of Celianne, it was impossible to do so. She was proof of these real life horrors because that is how she was impregnated. Celianne added the element of reality to the story. The horrors that our narrators had been worrying about, death, rape, and being alone is what Celianne was confronted with.

After Celianne’s child was born still-born, she held onto her dead body until she herself couldn’t feel anymore. And took her own life. Danticat had Celianne’s story implanted into an already deeply tragic set of circumstances to bring even more of a gruesome reality of what the people in Haiti had to suffer.

Jerusalem

Jerusalem by Nye is a poem filled with little anecdotes of stories of her father’s life back in the Middle East. Nye shares theses stories as a way to begin to describe what it is like to live through a war in which no single individual is to blame. Due to the long term of span of this great war, life for every citizen is greatly affected. Sometimes it’s easier to accept life’s great turmoil’s because it is viewed as the way life is “suppose to be”.  Trying to undo life’s injustices is something that Nye’s father had to struggle with on a day to day basis.

            Nye starts with a story of her father being hit in the head by a rock thrown by a neighborhood boy. It is apparent that through the text that Nye’s father had nothing to provoke this violence. When said neighborhood boy was asked later what his reasoning was, he only said that he was aiming at the bird.  Nye says that this story is a riddle. There is no bird, only grave unsettled issues in two countries.   

Once when my father was a boy

a stone hit him on the head.

Hair would never grow there.

Our fingers found the tender spot

and its riddle: the boy who has fallen

stands up…..

Later his friend who threw the stone

says he was aiming at a bird.

And my father starts growing wings.

    I truly enjoyed this poem for one reason. Because at the end after you see that Nye’s father had no choice but to except that the rock being thrown was just a random act of violence, that Nye then says, “and my father starts growing wings.” It’s a form of slight acceptance in a world that really isn’t accepting.