Question #4

Emotion is a major part of Ensler's writing style in, The Vagina Monologues.  She uses her own emotions, as well as those of the people who she has interviewed.  She uses the term vagina, as well as its' slang terms to make the reader laugh.  She uses stories from her interviewee's pasts that females may relate to, and get a laugh out of, and males may simply laugh at.  She transitions from humor to other emotions, such as sadness or empathy by telling stories that may also be funny at first, but then portray a time in their life that effected them both physically and emotionally.  I think that she uses the humor first to let the reader get a sense of the topic, before throwing them in a very graphic and emotional situation.  I think that this may give the reader a sense of the potential embarrassment by having them find it humorous, but then realizing that this had actually happened to someone and make them feel sympathetic for their situation, hence raising the awareness for both vaginas, and violence against women.

question #3

Ensler has two main goals throughout this book, to celebrate vaginas and to raise awareness for violence against women.  I think that she accomplishes both of these goals very well through these monologues.  I think that her goal of celebrating vaginas is accomplished simply by bringing the word "vagina" to light. Most people are afraid to say the word publicly, simply because it is seldom addressed.  Just the familiarization with the word vagina, as well as its' slang terms, that people achieve through reading this book is a step in the right direction for both of her goals.  Her asking the people she interviewed what their vaginas would wear makes the people think about something that they have probably never thought about before, and probably like to think of it, because of that reason.  Her other goal, of raising the awareness for violence against women is also accomplished through this because all the people she interviews, women from many different backgrounds, all have different answers, but ultimately are trying to accomplish the same goal; to be respected.  Also, the stories she portrays are written so simply in context, but descriptive enough in an elementary way that the reader truly sympathizes for the women who have been mutilated and/or beaten.I do not think that these two goals are contradictory of each other, because I think that you need to address vaginas in order to gain respect for women.  You must respect the woman's entire body in order for her to be respected. It addresses the fact the a vagina is not just a hole, as it seems to have a mind of its' own, and a very strong connection with its' owner.  I personally think that her goal of celebrating vaginas is accomplished more thoroughly simply because i believe that that is the predecessor for raising awareness against violence. Every part of the woman's body must be addressed.  I think that reading all of the monologues together help give the reader a sense of the word and the topic that is rarely addressed  before throwing them in dialogue that would otherwise provoke them or even offend them.

Post for 2/20- Question #2

Language is important to Ensler because she realizes the need to have freedom of speech when referring to the human body.  It is the same body part, whether called a vagina, itsy bitsy, or puki.  Ensler addresses that it seems that a lot of terms referring to the lower pelvic region of women seem to chastise it, per se, and most people do not realize the true beauty of the female genitalia.  I think that she chooses to call the genitals by their proper name, simply because that is what they are called, and that is what they should be referred to as.  In one monologue, Ensler talks about a woman who had always referred to her vagina as her, "itsy bitsy."  This name stuck with her until she was married, when she and her husband were having intercourse, and she was not able to come because she called her vagina itsy bitsy.  She was worried about this, and reluctantly called her friend to ask for advice.  Her friend did not know what she was referring to, when she said, "itsy bitsy."  When she finally figured out what she meant she said that it was called a vulva.  The woman who had referred to her vagina as "itsy bitsy" fell in love with the word, and instantly was "cured" of her "disease."  I think Ensler asks what peoples' vaginas would wear because it shows what they think of their own vagina.  Someone who would answer ripped jeans clearly does not have the same amount of self esteem about their genitals as someone who would reply with a pink boa.  I think she is trying to make people realize that their vaginas are things of beauty, and should be recognized as one.

Night Women--Sorry I couldn't find the questions!!

Night women is about a woman who is a single mother to an adolescent boy.  She has no other means of feeding him and providing shelter for him except for taking part in prostitution.  She lives in a single room apartment, and often has to carry her business in the same room as her son, and even in the same bed.  She bought her son a pair of headphones so that he can try to tune of his mothers' sins that are taking place only a few feet away from him.  His mother does not do this out of pleasure, she admits that she dreads it; it is the only way that she can provide for herself and her desperate son.  She has thought of a fabrication that she will follow, for when her son wakes up while she is in the act of serving a client.  She tells him that the angels have sent back his father for the night.  I have a problem with this because not only is it lying, it is creating a fantasy world to the son, making him believe that angels can really bring people back to life in person.  Also, I think that if the child were to be told it is his father, he would want to speak to him, and get to know the man that created him.  In the last two paragraphs, the son says to his mother, "Mommy, have I missed the angels again?"  The mother replies to him, "Darling, the angels have themselves a lifetime to come to us."  This led me to believe that his father was never actually the mother's husband, yet simply another client.  I think that this quote is the mother telling the son, inadvertently, that his father was simply another one of her clients.  On the other hand, I do not think that his mother would be a night woman if she did not have to fend for a child, unless she was not financially adequate to provide for herself.  I think that this story has a lot of possible explanations, and theories that could be interpreted completely differently in different contexts.  My thoughts are that the father was someone she saw regularly, but did not marry.  I think that he did not die, he walked out once realizing that she was pregnant.  This could also be proved on the first page of the story, when she says, "[about the father] an old lover, who disappeared with the night's shadow a long time ago."

New York Day Women

The Story, "New York Day Women," is about a girl who from Brooklyn who sees her mother in Manhattan.  She says that she has never seen her mother in that part of the city, and decides to follow her around to see what she is up to.  There are 2 narrators in this story, the regular font being the daughter and the smaller, bold font being the mother.  Her mother seems to be a rather uptight person, so it is odd for her to be seeing her mother out of her normal environment.  The girl is very curious about her mother's journey, so much so that she knowingly stays out of work long after her lunch hour is over.  Her mother stops at numerous vendors on her way, one being a hotdog vendor who she buys a soda from, and then she stops at a dress vendor.  The girl thinks to herself that her mother should not buy the dress, because it will be donated, but her mother always insists that they will save the clothes to give to their people back in Haiti.  She then stops at another hotdog vendor, which is especially strange because she has a high cholesterol, and almost never eats anything with sodium.  She then waits for her mother to enter a park, where she sees her mother approach a woman who leaves her with her child.  The 2 of them sit near the sandbox, and she gives the little boy her soda.  Her mother is holding a conversation with other mothers who are watching other people's children.  The girl stops spying on her mother and takes a cab to return to work.  She then describes her mother in a somewhat rhetorical sense, as if it were extremely out of the ordinary to see her mother with another child.  The second to last line of the story reads, "I don't want you to be ashamed of this day woman."  I think that this is representative of a theory that her mother has always told her, that she is just beginning to understand.  I think that it means that no matter what side you may see of a woman, there may be another side of her, that you could not have imagined.  When she is by herself during the day, she may act differently than one would expect.

nineteen thirty seven

Nineteen Thirty Seven is an extremely vivid depiction of her mothers' life in jail, and a brief description of what she had done before she was in jail.  In this story, there is only one narrator, and it is a female.  She carries around something similar to a doll, or little statue, that she calls the Madonna.  It had been owned by her family ever since her great-great-great grandmother had gotten it from a man who kept her as a slave.  It is clearly something that is very symbolic to both her and her mother, Manman.  The Madonna, "cries," when things seem to being going badly.  The girl goes to visit her mother in jail and realizes the horrible conditions that she is living in.  Her mother looks frail, with her skin barely hanging on to her body.  She buys her mother food from a vendor outside the prison, and her mother said that she would save it for months, just chewing it and putting it in her pocket, making it last longer.  Her mother, along with the other prisoners, claim to be able to fly with wings of flames.  All of these women allegedly grew wings made of flames during the Massacre in 1937, and that is why they were arrested.  Perhaps these wings are a symbol of being able to do whatever you want (fly), before the wings burn out (death).  They flew from the river that all of their mothers had passed away in.  Manman gave birth to her the same day as the massacre, and said that her daughter replaced her own mother.  I found this story very hard to follow, but the descriptiveness made it readable.  It also leads me to wonder who the girl is, and if she has any relation to the prior story.

Fundamentalism

I chose this poem because I think that it relates to a lot of things that people my age are experiencing, along with relating to what she has experienced from her culture.  I think that the format of the first half of the poem, where she asks a number of questions is a rhetorical way to self-examine one's self.  I think that they are questions that she has asked herself throughout the course of her life.  I think that she is trying to express the point that it is more important to be true to one's self, rather than worrying about satisfying others.  I think that she proves this in the stanza that states, "If you liked the kind on his golden throne more than the villagers carrying the baskets of lemons?".  This means that she believes that it is more important to work hard for yourself than to fall into a lifestyle of social hierarchy.  This idea is also carried over into the next stanza, where she states, "If you wanted to be sure his guards would admit you to the party?".  This once again displays her thoughts about her meaning of life, and that it is vital to keep your morals, and know where you came from.  That the only one who needs to be satisfied is the Gods that you believe in, and know that they will never be truly satisfied, so one's mission in life needs to be to do all they can to achieve the closest thing to it.  The last two stanzas, for me, are difficult to interpret.  She seems to imply that she knows someone whose father is in a war, and she does not want them to follow his father's footsteps. I think that the correlation between the final stanza and the boy sharpen his broken pencil with a knife shows that he has mad a mistake in his life, and thinks that it is not repairable.  The pencil tip is repairable however, and I think that is what Nye is trying to personify when she says in the last stanza, "If he would believe his life is like that."

Two Countries

I chose this poem because I think that she subliminally displays the hardships she has had to face throughout the course of her life. I think the analogy of skin is meant to depict herself, because she believes that people don't look past her skin, and get to know her, besides the fact that she is middle eastern.  The poem also analogizes a feather, which i think represents her culture that her family had followed so strongly in the middle east. I think that the feather falling off of the bird represents that when she came to America, her culture had been "plucked" away from her, and that she had no choice but to let it remain in the middle east, for the most part.  I think that when she states that the feather had been, "swept away by someone who never saw it was a feather," is her way of saying that most people do not take the time to learn about her culture before sweeping it away into a pile of prejudice.  I think that this poem is a good generalization of her thoughts on living in America, and the people she has encountered on her journey.  Toward the end of the poem, she says that "Even when skin is not alone, it remembers being alone and thanks something larger, that there are travelers, that people go places larger than themseleves."  I believe that this is her embracing other people who have been foreigners in a country to promote the well being of foreigners, and for the inhabitants to embrace them and get to know them