Monday, March 16, 2015

Welcome to my Blog! Reading through the Feminist Lens!

Based off on my previous knowledge on Beloved, it is about the period of slavery and how a family that were once former slaves welcome an unusual girl into their family. For this reading, I decided to analyze the story through the Feminist Lens. The way women are portrayed whether they are empowering, weak, or hard working is particularly interesting. It is intriguing to see how women are seen by other characters especially male figures and how the context in which the book was written or takes place, affects the treatment of women and their rights. I was torn between choosing either the Marxist Lens or Feminist Lens as the book was revolved around slavery and the distinction between social classes was very clear. However, gender roles play a key role in the book, especially women. Even though both male and female slaves were treated with disrespect, the way slave owners treated the female slaves were a lot different. Women back then were used as “toys”, and for white men were nothing but used for lust and pleasure.

I have never really read a book through the Feminist Lens before. Ever since I gave a small presentation of Emma Watson’s speech at the United Nations on Feminism, I have been more aware of equal rights for all genders and have noticed, especially in the Latino culture, the sight of “Machismo”. Machismo is referred to the masculine pride in men. It is not something I think about regularly, but it is something I see and hear consistently. I did not take too much interest in Feminism, until I finally learned that the distribution of equality within genders was unfair. Reading the book through the Feminists Lens will help me better understand the women in the story and how their characters' are developed from their past experiences. In this case it is not only about focusing on how slave women are portrayed but how others act/react around them such as the white slave owners and their families. I have skimmed through the first page of Beloved, and have already noticed the superiority of men in the story. A family had been abandoned and now the mother, and her daughter are on their own. This already serves to show the distribution of power with males and females since the presence of male figures are missing.
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3 comments:

  1. Brian LeeMarch 16, 2015 at 9:49 AM

    I also had the same struggle when choosing a lens. I was torn between Marxist and New Historical but chose new Historical because it offered a wider variety instead of just social class. By choosing new Historical, it would allow me to study the change in social classes throughout history especially in this novel where a major social class change was created around a big historical event. Will be looking forward to your future blogs!

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  2. Cliona AudsleyMarch 19, 2015 at 11:57 AM

    I really love how you bring up Machismo. I remember learning about it in my Costa Rican high school, as well as last year in AP Spanish. Machismo is proof that gender inequality is a historical and, often, a common issue that we deal with globally. This allows the feminist lens to reflect in pretty much any novel. There is always a way to analyze the relationship between a man and a woman; and it commonly has a Machismo theme.

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  3. Tiffany PalomarMarch 24, 2015 at 9:35 AM

    I love this girl! It's interesting to see how you were having a hard time picking between two different lenses and how you made your decision. I love how you bring in your experience with feminism and talk about how you've already explored feminism through other ways such as a presentation. I look forward to seeing what your experience is like reading this book through a feminist lens.

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