Miss Clairol
In the story, Miss Clairol, written by Helena Maria Viramontes, was about a woman who goes to the store with her daughter to buy items for a date that she was preparing for later that night. Arlene, who was the woman that was getting ready for her date is a chicana (Mexican Amerian) who throughout the story refers to things or events that brought a smile to her face as “sounding right.” As I read the story I could not help but smile throughout the story because it was so close to home. I too am a chicana and could relate to all the events that were happening. I was able to picture myself there. The language Viramontes used was that of what we use at home too. Viramontes takes a woman who is in my eyes, is recalling all that made her happy throughout her years. I think that Arlene did what many women do, remember all that made them happy and try to capture a glimpse of how it used to be. And, how it made them feel.
At the beginning of the story Arlene and her daughter, Champ, are at K-Mart. Arlene is looking for makeup and hair dye that will go with a dress that she is borrowing. This is where Viramontes first uses the phrase “it sounds right”. Now think, will this color go good with Pancha’s blue dress? – Pancha is Arlene’s comadre. Since Arlene has a special date tonight, she lent Arlene her royal blue dress that she deeps in a plastic bag at the end of her closet. The dress is made of chiffon, with satin-like material underlining, so that when Arlene first tried it on and strutted about, it crinkled sounds of elegance. The dress fits too tight. Her plump arms squeeze through, her hips breathe in and hold their breath, the seams do all they can to keep the body contained. But Arlene doesn’t care as long as it sounds right. (1-526 ) Here is a woman who tries on a dress that makes her feel young and beautiful. And, takes her back in my opinion to a time that outer beauty came naturally.
Nowadays, beauty is so commercialized that a woman feels she must look a certain way to fit in. A beautiful woman, by the U.S. Standard of Beauty, should be Caucasian (but able to tan); she should preferably be blonde, and her hair should be long enough to provide a secondary fetish (after her body).
“Se Habla Español,” is written by a Latin author, Tanya Barrientos; and Amy Tan, a Chinese author, wrote “Mother Tongue”. In both literate narratives the authors write about their experiences with language and how it impacted their lives. In This essay we will be discussing the similarities as well as the differences in the stories and the authors of “Se Habla Español” and “Mother Tongue”. We will discuss how both authors use a play on words in their titles, how language has impacted their lives, how struggling with language has made them feel emotionally, and how both authors dealt with these issues.
Demetria Martínez’s Mother Tongue is divided into five sections and an epilogue. The first three parts of the text present Mary/ María’s, the narrator, recollection of the time when she was nineteen and met José Luis, a refuge from El Salvador, for the first time. The forth and fifth parts, chronologically, go back to her tragic experience when she was seven years old and then her trip to El Salvador with her son, the fruit of her romance with José Luis, twenty years after she met José Luis. And finally the epilogue consists a letter from José Luis to Mary/ María after her trip to El Salvador. The essay traces the development of Mother Tongue’s principal protagonists, María/ Mary. With a close reading of the text, I argue how the forth chapter, namely the domestic abuse scene, functions as a pivotal point in the Mother Tongue as it helps her to define herself.
When it comes to studying culture and social formations, ideology, representation and power have traditionally been considered key concepts/central strands that need to be examined (Open Polytechnic, 2014). However, society has changed since the days in which the concepts of ideology and power were first put forward, leading some scholars to question their relevance in today's world (Barker, 2000b). This essay will seek to show that along with representation; the concepts of power and ideology can still be used in examining today's society. It will attempt to do so by using these three concepts to critically examine the strategy employed by Save the Basin in their website savethebasin.org.nz to convince people that the Basin Reserve is in danger at that the proposed flyover is a bad idea.
For the entire play, Rita wore many sunny, brightly colored clothing items. In the first act, Rita’s multi-colored skirts with flowers printed on them, vibrant scarfs, and neon orange headband spoke of her optimistic, maybe even a bit naïve, outlook on life and her u...
The dawn of the 1920s was a prosperous period, with mass consumption, industry, and wages rising. As a result, the idea of materialism became popular amongst Americans. Americans valued cars and homes rather than spiritual practices and morals. This generation was dubbed the Lost Generation as people cultivated new ways of life that challenged the older orthodox practices and who were recovering from a war which many of the generation found pointless, and added new meaning to the isolationist movement started during that time.
...e can, however, signal her virginal status by dressing in a way that represents its equivalent: as a southern belle. In addition to her low-cut blue dress, with its feminine, puffed sleeves, Arvay wears a floppy-brimmed “leghorn-intention” (straw hat), decorated with a “big pink rose” (suggestive of reproduction). Most tellingly, we are told that she is wearing a corset that is “laced very tight” – so tight that she cannot eat her dinner. Corsets hold in the flesh and nip in the waistline to an attractively small diameter. By narrowing the waist, they emphasize the swellings of the hips and breasts, a contrast intended to stimulate sexual arousal. Thus Arvay’s wedding/reception attire emphasizes her fragility and innocence while highlighting her desirability. The clothing signs her as an object for consumption, rather than celebrates her as a beautiful companion.
Story: "A very old man with enormous wings" 1955. Author: Gabriel García Márquez (1928- ) Central Character: A very old man with enormous wings that they call an angel and that was found on a stormy night in the rear of Pelayo's courtyard. Other characters: Pelayo, Elisenda, a neighbor woman who knew everything about life and death, Father Gonzaga, a woman that had turned into a spider, the whole neighborhood and other people that came from everywhere to watch the angel.
The following will discuss the presentation of female characters in Gregory Nava’s El norte and Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street. The film ‘El Norte’ tells the story of a brother and sister ,Enrique and Rosa, who flee from their home of Guatemala in search of a better life due to government killings and kidnappings after an attempted formation of a workers union by their father. The film gives an indication of the difficulties Spanish speakers had in their own countries and their survival in America. The House on Mango Street , a novel consisting of a series of vignettes tells the story of Esperanza, a young Latina girl, after her family moved to Mango Street, a poor Spanish barrio in Chicago. The story is told through the eyes
...better life. Despite these things, Elisenda was almost satisfied to see him leave. It may be almost human nature to be ungrateful, but in this example, Marquez explains the point of the story as the unwillingness of mankind to see what's actually in front of us.
Williams uses costume, colour and context to exhibit the development, or deterioration, of characters. Her “white suit” and “fluffy bodice” draw a picture of a reputable woman. Typically, these colours are used to portray innocence and purity, to illustrate a woman of dignity and class; her attire suggests that she is a typical “southern belle”, emblematic of the 1950s. This view is broken into pieces in scene 9 when she changes into a “scarlet satin robe” that is undoubtedly worn with the ostentatious aim of promiscuity. The development then takes a backwards turn back to “soft” colours which is echoed by the “rapid, feverish…Varsouviana tune” which suggest that her vulnerability is a result of constant r...
Hart, J. M. (1996). The management of change in police organizations; Policing in Central and Eastern Europe. (http://www. ncjrs. org/policing/man199. html).
God performs his divine acts in many ways. Jesus could perform miracles of healing and create food from nothing. These are the more conventional ways we see divine intervention at work. Almighty God, however, does not prefer these standard methods. Instead, he prefers to act in ways we humans can only begin to understand. This is very much true for the short story “A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Within the story, a winged man falls from the sky with no meaning or purpose. The man is shrouded in mystery. Nameless and unable to communicate with the native villagers, he lives among them. His intentions are never truly known to either the reader or to the villagers. However, the biblical parallels throughout the story help us unravel the mysteries behind this strange old man. By analyzing the significance of these allegories, we can better understand the old man’s purpose while, at the same time, learning more about hidden moral teachings and criticisms in the story.
When Sandra Cisneros wrote “Women of Hollering Creek” she reflected back on her own life experiences. This is a story that is told from the female perspective from start to finish. Like the lead character, Cleofilas, Cisneros is Mexican-American and the only daughter in a family that has seven children. Cisneros studied creative writing at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and earned her Masters of Fine Arts degree in 1978, (238). Growing up she traveled back and forth to Mexico to visit her father’s family and Cleofilas flees to arms of her father later in the story. She has a blended cultural identity that is relevant in the story by how she uses Mexican and English words together. For example when describing soap operas she calls them by the Spanish name telenovela. This story made me reflect on my own life experiences while I was reading it. I thought about my parents divorce, my aunt’s extremely abusive marriage of eleven years and why women, like me, tend to seek that silver lining when it comes to broken relationships.
In Annie John by Jamaica Kincaid Annie is a little girl that has finally reached the age where she must start learning how to become a lady, or that she is “too old” to do the things she used to do. Before this point her mother and her had always made their clothes out of the same material. One day at the fabric store Annie selects a fabric that she loves and asks if she can make matching dresses for them. Her mother
Tourism has become much more prevalent in recent times, due in large part to the increasing human population of the earth and the increasing leisure time and dis...