Women in Literature - Book Report/Review Example

Street Address ST ZIP e-mail phone fax Literature Review Women's Studies Introduction This paper examines body theory as it relates to literature written by women about women. Four texts are examined in detail: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, The Bluest Eye by Tony Morrison, Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex by Alice Dreger, and Hopeful Monsters by Hiromi Goto. Each text is examined as a stand alone and then compared with the other texts. Each of the texts examined deals to some extent with self-perception and how easily it can affect how a person functions. The Handmaid's Tale shows how easily ones identity can be stripped away and how indoctrination can replace self perceptions. This story also shows how hard it is to erase human persistence, wants, needs, and desires. The Bluest Eye tells the sad story about self-image and the damage indoctrination can do. The black girl's strong desire for blue eyes is a result of schooling that identified white, blonde, blued girls as the most desirable. Pecola, the girl in the story, is forever damaged by the desire to be beautiful rather than 'black and ugly'.(Morrison, 1970) Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex introduces the idea that those born with ambiguous genitals eventually do feel they are one sex or the other. Although in the past the medical profession has identified sex by visually noting male or female genitals at birth occasionally the external sex organs do not match the internal sex organs. It is possible for a boy to be identified as a girl and vice versa. The discovery that sex assignment may have been wrongly identified can take place around puberty or a little older. Hopeful Monsters shows how self-perception can sometimes turn into monsters that hold us back. A negative self image in conjunction with constant criticism can cause problems with self perception and self esteem. The idea that you are beautiful during the night and ugly during the daytime when others can see you is not very comforting. In order to properly evaluate the above mentioned texts an understanding of what body theory is is important. Body theory encompasses the understanding we have "about women, the body, and its representation".(Staats, M 1998) Body theory is most often associated with feminism and how we see (or perceive) ourselves as compared to others. The Handmaid's Tale The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is a futuristic story that has throwbacks to the past. The story begins with the execution of the President (USA) and members of Congress. Those responsible for the executions are right wing fundamentalists who then create the Caucasian Nation of Gilead. Next comes disenfranchisement of women by denying them education, jobs, and access to credit. Women are systematically stripped of their rights. Although the story focuses on these women it also details the systematic denial of rights and annihilation of people of color, homosexuals, Jews, old white women, abortionists and any religious sect other than their own. The setting of the novel is a world that has been contaminated by pollution and radiation. Not the ideal living conditions. The Nation of Gilead is set in an uncontaminated portion of land and is created from a dystopian point of view. Gilead faces a serious problemnot enough people to maintain the race. The solution to this problem is taken from the past and applied to the present situation that Gilead faces. Gilead uses Genesis 30:1-3 as their basis for stripping women of their identity and placing women in re-education centers: Genesis 30:1-3 And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said. Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. (King James Bible) With scripture as their guide and permission, Gilead systematically strips women of their rights and identities and forces them into enslavement meant to create children from uncontaminated parents for the Nation of Gilead. The women are indoctrinated to believe that their greatest contribution to society in Gilead is the production of children. What is most significant about this futuristic science fiction story is the stripping of women, and other segments of society, of basic rights. To think that this possibility could still happen in the future is startling. This story goes even farther than oppression of the past. These women are stripped of everything that identifies them as a person right down to their name. They are named according to who they are to breed with and produce offspring with (Offred = Of Fred). They function as subordinates to men who retain their status and identity (so long as they are not members of any of the exclusionary groups). These women are bread once a month until they become pregnant and function as living incubators for future children of Gilead. Despite their incarceration, the women in the barracks being trained as handmaids continue to think and feel. They reach out to each other, learn other's names, and dream about freedom. The women's greatest desire is to walk away and be free but they are 'protected' by guards armed with whistles and cattle prods. This all sounds like past oppression and enslavement. The story brings to light the idea that old lessons learned can be unlearned. People can be indoctrinated to believe, and function, in rules and roles that deny them of their basic rights. The Bluest Eye The Bluest Eye by Tony Morrison is a story about a young black girl growing up in Ohio during the 1940's. Pecola Breedlove has grown to learn that the perfect little girl has white skin and blue eyes. The story tells about how Pecola dream and longs for the blue eyes of the perfect girl. Pecola's self image is one of a black girl that is unlovable. She believes that in order for her to be the perfect girl she should have white skin, blond hair, and the bluest eyes. Pecola believes that she would be valued more if she were white. Pecola's self worth further deteriorates as a result of an incestuous relationship with her father. This relationship further confuses Pecola in her search for love and acceptance in society. She, and her brother Sammy, are regularly subjected to arguments between their parents. Their drunken father (Cholly) spent most mornings recovering from drinking the night before and their mother (Pauline) seldom let there be a quiet morning. Pauline would yell at and antagonize Cholly. The book is divided into seasons with each representing a significant event in time. Spring brings a new friend who ultimately hurts Pecola's feelings and self worth by calling her 'black and ugly'. Summer has Pecola's friends discovering she is pregnant. Pecola ends up alone and is comforted by hallucinations. She believed that she miraculously had blue eyes. Autumn has Pecola giving birth to her father's child as a result of incest. Both her father and the child end up dying (the baby was premature). Pecola loses her innocence that fall as well. This story shows how important self esteem is to a young person. Pecola grew up during a time when being black was considered a bad thing. In the 1940's the perfect girl was advertised as having white skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. For girls like Pecola, being bombarded with advertising that touted the perfect girl was a daily attack on what they were (and what they were not). This indoctrination began when children first learned to read. The primers used during the 1940's had the perfectly clean Dick and his little sister (blonde haired and blue eyed) Jane. Pecola was exposed to what she was not on a daily basis. This was the beginning of her longing for blue eyes. Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex This book is a careful look at hermaphrodites. Children born with ambiguous sex organs are often diagnosed at 'doubtful sex' or as hermaphrodites at birth. Doctors are often charged with medically defining gender or assigning gender. Alice Dreger, in her book Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex, discusses the difficult subject of sex assignment. Hermaphrodites offer a unique opportunity to investigate what determines sex and sexual self identification. Often doctors decide, based upon research and tests, what sex a child is while the child is still an infant. Most feel that the identification given the child is most correct based upon current medical science. Recently, the idea of being intersex has taken hold. Intersex means not quite male but not quite female either. During the 19th and 20th centuries the medical profession was tasked with determining the true gender of a child and then performing sex assignment surgery. Sex assignment has not always proved accurate. The belief that sex is determined by chromosomes, with XX being female and XY being male, is not one hundred percent true. It is little known that babies can be born with a multitude of varieties of chromosomes such as XXY, XXX, and other combinations. Most of the time sex is determined by the presence of obvious sex organs. But, even this does not hold true as some have discovered that they have outwardly male organs but internally they are female. The real question is what is their self perception Sometimes sexual ambiguity causes many problems for the person identified as 'hermaphrodite' or 'intersex'. Dreger's book outlines the story of a young man in France who committed suicide. Upon examination it was discovered that the young 'man' was actually a hermaphrodite that had been identified as female at birth. The child had grown into a stocky young adult. She had moved into a boarding arrangement when she became a teacher and shared a room with the daughter of the Madame. They eventually ended up having sexual relations. In short, the young lady became worried because she had yet to menstruate and had a sore belly. Upon examination she was discovered to be a man vs. a woman. His/her birth certificate was amended and she began to live life as a man. Her hope was that she/he would be able to marry the Madame's daughter. That did not happen. "She became a reclusive railroad clerk in Paris and eventually killed herself."When [the day of my death] comes, a few doctors will make a little stir around my corpse [and] will analyze all the mysterious sufferings that were heaped up on a single human being". (Dreger, p18) It would appear that some intersexes, or hermaphrodites, are misidentified and grow to have questions about who they are and what they are. As in the French case, misidentification at birth can have dire consequences. These unique individuals do seem to feel male or female when they get older and struggle with their identity. Hopeful Monsters In her book, Hopeful Monsters, Hiromi Goto tells stories about genetically abnormal organisms that inhabit different environments. The book consists of eleven stories, each a unique example of adaptation. In her stories anybody could turn out to be the monster. The stories talk about women in society and about Asians living in North America. In day to day life we all can identify the monsters around us. Sex offenders, murderers, the bully at school, and the mean neighbours are all monsters we can relate to (or fear). Hiromi Goto identifies monsters around us and how they affect us. Many of the monsters identified are actually perceptions of people all around. In the other books reviewed self perception was the main idea. In this book perceptions of others are the focus. The first monster described seems to be the husband/father of the family. He has terrible nightmares and wakes screaming in the night. The mother and the grandmother run in to see if he is all right and he dismisses them as he drinks a cup of water. He then goes back to sleep while the others, wide awake now, discuss what has just happened. The three women then go on to discuss the nightmare about dogs that one had. She is not afraid of the German Shepard that sticks his head through the hole but she is afraid of the man out there. The next monster story, Osmosis, is an interesting story about someone sitting on the beach beside overturned canoes. This person is reflecting on past memories of play with their father and other good memories. The person's foot sits barely in the water. The story reflects on self perception. The idea that it is night and with the night there is beauty in heaviness. Not the heaviness of air or other things but the heaviness of the body, perhaps an overweight body. The story continues with the looking ahead toward daylight when the beauty is lost and the ugly returns. Another story of self perception is Stinky Girl. As this girl gives the description about how to determine if you are stinky she hides her writing from her mother's prying eyes. She writes that no one cares about a weeping "fat stinky mall rat".(Goto, 2004) It seems that this person has low self esteem and is bothered about her appearance. What comes to mind is the question about whether or not her self perception matches her actual self. Is she really a fat mall rat or is she anorexic She associates herself with a rat that has bad odours. She can't pinpoint the odours but she is sure they exist and that other people can smell her as she wanders from store to store in the mall. As the story goes on it turns out that the girl was born in the 'year of the rat' thus the rat description. She sees herself as an obese dysfunctional person dependent on her mother. The girl in the story describes how she thinks others see her: as fat. She feels that some are attracted to her while at the same time repulsed by her. Obesity is her monster and other people's interest in her is another monster for her. Her biggest monster is her self perception of being big, repulsive, and stinky. She does not take the time to describe any positive attributes about herself. She also identifies herself as 'coloured' like that should be considered another negative about her. The next hopeful monster story is about a woman who has just given birth to her second child. She is new to breastfeeding and describes all that is happening to her. It is obvious that she either feels she is doing something wrong or that there is something wrong with her. She describes her malady first to her mother-in-law and then a friend. The mother-in-law gives her diagnosis while the friend is reassuring that others have experienced similar problems and that she will be fine. Her husband has little sympathy because "you know what I mean. It's natural. Women have been breast-feeding ever since their existence, ever since ever having a baby".(Goto, p58) It is clear that this woman, despite her worries and fears, is going to get little support from those around her. Her self perception is that she can't do this, something's wrong with the baby, and her husband has no idea what she is going through. The common themes in Goto's stories are the monsters that we all encounter every day. The monsters affect our self perception and how we see ourselves as good or bad. The hardest monsters to fight are the ones that carry negativity such as obesity or odours. "They are the walking wounded-a mother who is terrified by a newborn daughter who bears a tail; a "stinky girl" who studies the human condition in a shopping mall; a family on holiday with a visiting grandfather who cannot abide their "foreign" nature. But wills are a force unto themselves, and Goto's characters are imbued with the light of myth and magic-realism". (Goto, 2004) Conclusion Self image or self perception is very affected by environment and many other factors. History has a tendency to repeat itself and the idea that people can be segregated, exterminated, or indoctrinated is very possible. The Handmaid's Tale is a story that, if we are not careful, could play itself out in reality. The Holocaust, the war in Kosovo and Serbo-Croatia, and the atrocities in Darfur all show how possible it is. Part of ensuring that events don't repeat themselves is through education. The Bluest Eyes is a sad story of how self perceptions can be influenced by the messages around us. The Dick and Jane text used during the 1940's reinforced the idea that beauty is defined as blonde, white, with blue eyes and ugly is defined as black. What's most sad about this story is the girl's desire for something she can never have and her belief that she is not beautiful (when, in fact, she may very well be!). Hermaphrodites and the Medical Invention of Sex puts self identification and self perception to the test. What's most interesting is the story about the French child identified at birth as female but later recognized as male. The person grew up to feel male and when his sex was confirmed he changed his name, how he dressed, and how he behaved to male. The idea that children can be identified as intersex rather than male or female is taking hold. Children identified as intersex often self-identify as male or female at puberty. Helpful Monsters is a collection of stories that helps us identify our own monsters when it comes to self-perception. Having beliefs that support negative self-image can be damaging in the long run. The obese girl who feels ugly in the daytime and beautiful at night when she can't be seen is a good example of how society defines what is beautiful and what is not. Works Cited Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. Toronto: M&S, 1999 Dreger, Alice. Doubtful Sex. Feminism and the Body. Londa Scheibinger. Oxford University Press. 2000 Goto, Hiromi. (2004). Hopeful Monsters. Arsenal Pulp Press. The Holy Bible, King James Version. New York: American Bible Society: 1999; Bartleby.com, 2000. www.bartleby.com/108/. Retrieved 2007-04-12. Morrison, Tony. The Bluest Eye. Toronto: Penguin book, 1970 Staats, Marian (1998) ART and Artists: Feminist Body Theory. Loyola University. Chiicago, Il. Retrieved 2007-04-12 from http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/v2i2/staats.htm Read More