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At one point, this step-mother even tries to kill Xuela with a necklace, piece of jewelry. This is another example of femininity -- this time in the form of a feminine object, the necklace -- being used in a destructive way. Xuela so identifies with this picture of women that she repeats the behavior without even understanding why, such as when she seduces her step-sister's lover or sleeps with other women's husbands.
Eventually, Xuela marries a rich white man who loves her, and she uses this love to make fun of him and control her world. This is the only way she has been taught to be a woman. She has almost all of the traditional negative "feminine" traits, such as jealousy, manipulation, and selfishness, but none of the good qualities. She has no empathy with other people and no compassion. She is also not over-emotional, another negative quality often stereotypically associated with women. Instead, she often seems to lack emotion, acting coolly and...
Since the entire book is told from her perspective, the reader can easily see why her view of women and femininity becomes what it is, even if it is hard to be sympathetic towards her.
The book is narrated by Xuela as an old woman as she looks back over her life, and it is clear from her tone and how she tells the story that her attitude has not changed since childhood. The destruction of any decent examples of femininity starting at her birth with the death of her mother. When she begins to explore her own sexuality, she ends up sterile from an abortion, and so has destroyed her own femininity in the way her mother was destroyed. She is left an empty and bitter woman-shaped shell. Her relationships, especially with men, exist because she is trying to get something. This book does not describe the evils of women, but rather the evils of a society that can turn a woman into this kind of person.
Autobiography X Malcolm X's autobiography provides poignant insight into the life of the man, but also offers insight into the historical and cultural context in which he wrote. Malcolm X delves into issues of race, class, gender, and power in the book, showing how these issues are interrelated in his personal life as well as in American society. As such, Malcolm X is very much a quintessential American, whose identity is
I cried my heart out, but I will always remember Mr. Zeke as a wonderful and helpful man, without whom I would not have been able to achieve anything at all in my field of work in Social Services. Did I mention that all through my life, I have always been an above average student, in fact, an excellent one, and I have received many awards for my excellence form
That experience was different for my mother, who incorporated her religion into every aspect of her life. Fasting is a large part of the Orthodox Church, and it seemed to me that my mother was always engaged in some type of fast. As an adult, I realize that this was not merely the perception of a child; Orthodox Christians really do fast about half of the year, though the
I help people because it is all I want to do. For me, the Dental Hygienist Program fulfills these two key personality traits. I love to learn and I need to help. As a dental hygienist, I will be able to do both of these things. The program will challenge me and give me great insight into the field of dentistry. Perhaps one day I will be able to move
Autobiography My name is Asia Octavia Raheem. I have two daughters, Amanee and Amanda, ages fifteen years and thirteen years. I was born on October 10, 1971 in Monroe, Louisiana. When I was four years old, my family, which included three brothers and one sister, moved to Atlanta, Georgia, where I still live today, as well as the majority of my immediate family. Most of my friends are now are in
We lived in Qatar for four and a half years, and vacationed in Oman, Dubai, Singapore, the United States, and the United Kingdom. I had some very interesting experiences wandering around the souks of Oman and Dubai and the various areas of Singapore and meeting people from all over the world. These experiences gave me a better understanding of different cultures. My father was transferred to Houston in 1999 and we