The Role f Father - Assignment Example

The Role οf Father Compare and contrast fathers in Kincaid "Annie John", Conde "I, Tituba, the Black Witch of Salem", and Diaz "Drown" The role οf father has a prominent place in both “I, Tituba, Black Witch οf Salem” οf Maryse Conde, “Annie John” οf Jamaica Kincaid and “Drown” of Diaz. The three excellent pieces οf writings used the role οf fathers as an emotional and sensitive icon. Like the reading of I, Tituba, Black Witch οf Salem and Drown, the reading Annie John was very meaningful to me where a meaning οf fatherly love is seen. It was not intense, it was not breath-taking, but it was one οf the most exciting novels I have ever read. How interesting it was to watch a young girl οf my age grow up! There was a smart little girl named Annie in a friendly little town in a small island living with her father and mother. She is very different from others, but everyone might have been Annie once. Drown got an extraordinary amount of press when it first appeared. The style of writer in this novel is lucid and often funny. Like the other two novels, the role of father got a prominent place in Drown. With all of the concentration given to the stories as documentary facts, what is missed is the slicing emotional realism in stories like "Drown" — about two boys whose friendship becomes unexpectedly complex by homoeroticism and different educational destinies, or "Fiesta, 1980" — about a cheating father and the family secrets that children are "entrusted" with. Diaz, the name usually coupled with the words "hot young Dominican author," was packaged as an "authentic" voice from the streets. By appropriating and transforming European literary genres as well as male representations οf women in literature, myth and history, Guadeloupean writers such as Maryse Conde, Simone Schwarz-Bart, and Myriam Warner-Vieyra have created alternative theoretical paradigms οf Caribbean women's subjectivities. In I, Tituba, Black Witch οf Salem (1986), Maryse Conde recreates the life οf a seventeenth century Barbadian woman, reconstructing the figure οf the witch in order to build a female Caribbean cultural and historical identity. Through her text, Conde redeems the witch figure in her historical context in order to confront problems within her own society. The novel functions as a way οf dealing with and reclaiming an individual and national past: the history οf African slavery and diaspora and the history οf racism in white society across the Caribbean and America. Through a fictional re-visioning οf an 'other' woman's life, Conde works through problems οf her own history and identity.1 Conde acts as a feminist reader οf the woman's life,2 attempting to approach the subjectivity οf a woman living under social conditions different from her own. Mixing factual documents, literary texts, and cultural myths, Conde constructs subjectivity for Tituba, a black slave from Barbados taken to America and tried for being a witch. By expropriating Tituba from a white, male-narrated history and giving her a voice, Conde reclaims and redefines a specific version οf Caribbean women's history in order to initiate her 'own cultural self-exploration, self-definition, and self-invention through and beyond the community's socio-symbolic system and contract' (Alarcon, 1994: 119). Annie John's mother is the biggest character in Annie's life next to herself. When Annie was little, she was just fascinated by her mother. Being with are mother all day when there was no school would make her day. Going shopping, taking a bath, and cooking with her mother meant so much to her. She thought that her mother might be the most beautiful woman in the entire world. As a little girl, who wouldn't think the same? I remember myself as a child thinking οf my mother the same way. Though come to think οf it, Children might see people's heart instead οf their appearance. That's why they usually find their mother or father the most kind and beautiful people in the world since they are whom take care or them and love them the most. (Holpp 2003) Remembering doesn't necessarily means that one is dwelling on the past. Memory plays a very important roll in the present, and even in the future. There is an enormous wooden trunk under Annie's bed which carries everything she ever wore or used. Every item in the trunk tells a story; starting with the trunk itself. The trunk used to be her mother's. It survived a mad storm when her mother was sailing a long time ago. The trunk carries all οf Annie's memories. I envy her about that because I know how important it is to have something to remind me what I did or what I was like. When my family moved to the Unite States, we sent packages οf stuff over here by parcels. Unfortunately, they got lost carrying most οf my belongings from my childhood such as my pictures, the journals I kept, and my drawings. It doesn't mean my childhood never took place, but not having any remainder makes me think that I have completely lost my childhood. Annie is really lucky to have them all. At least she was for awhile. I cannot believe she ruined the pictures when she and her mother had a fight. She'll realize what a big mistake she had made. Conde thematises the conflict between resistance and complicity through the ambivalence οf Tituba's desire. Throughout the narration, Tituba struggles with her passion for John Indian and her aspirations for independence and her own power. Conde shows Tituba 'choosing' slavery in order to be with John Indian, relinquishing her freedom for love. For Tituba, the decision to submit to slavery is problematic. She questions her own actions, recognizing their ambivalence. She reflects that, despite her mother having been raped and hanged and her adoptive father having committed suicide because οf a white man, she was considering living among white men again, in their midst, under their domination. And all because οf an uncontrollable desire for a mortal man. Wasn't it madness? Madness and betrayal? (p. 19) Changing schools is very hard. I have changed schools a lot. I transferred twice so far, the earlier one in elementary school turned out great, but the later one was so major that I didn't quite get over yet. Going to a school in a different country is a huge challenge. About two years οf long time has passed since, but I still get nervous for a couple οf my classes. Even my contact lenses get dry and one had fallen out in the middle οf a class once. However, Annie gets herself adjusted in her new school so fast. She is a bright girl. She brings herself to the top in no time. As bright as she is, her mother thinks οf her and treats her as a young lady. In order to make her stronger and to grow her individuality her mother gives her more responsibilities and she hides much sweetness in her voice, but Annie thinks that her mother doesn't love her as much as she used to do. She grows away from her mother slowly. She said, "Before, if I hated someone I simply wished the person dead. But I couldn't wish my mother dead." after the marble incident, which she played marbles against her mother's wish and had a huge fight with her mother. She starts to think that she hates her mother, but she doesn't want her dead. I don't think it was hatred. She was just afraid that she might have lost her, the person she loved the most. Instead οf trying to work out the problems with her mother, she stops loving her mother and sharing her thoughts with her mother. She kept everything to herself. I wonder how the story might change if Annie John had any siblings. She read books a lot in her spare time. She did not just read any books, she read the ones she hid under her bed that she stole from others. Enjoying her secretive life outside οf her mother's line went further, which made her walk away from her mother even further. Not only she stole, she hid stuff from her mother, and she told lies. She sneaked out to meet her friends, and she made up false excuses. I think her mother might have just let it go to give any her own space even though her mother had known about her lies. Sharing feelings with someone was a good idea, but her friendship faded away easily. The friendships with Gwen and the Red Girl didn't get started in the natural way. They got started because Annie just wanted to get away from her mother, and she enjoyed doing something that her mother doesn't know about. Works Cited Alarcon, N. (1994) 'Traddutora, Traditora: a Paradigmatic Figure οf Chicana Feminism', in Scattered Hegemonies: Postmodernity and Transnational Feminist Practices, Minneapolis: University οf Minnesota Press. Holpp, Scala, Arlene., Annie John. Radical Teacher, Winter2003 Issue 68, p41-43 Read More