The Regis Review 2012 by Regis University

The Regis Review A Journal of Student Research

Regis College 2012

Co-Editors Reuben M. Closson Whitney M. Glandt Esther K Knox-Stutsman Alyssa N. Pettera Karin Tlaxcala Production Regis College Faculty Advisor Gladys Frantz-Murphy, PhD Submissions The Regis Review is published annually. The Regis Review is a journal of research; only non-

Fiction works from undergraduate Regis College students are considered. The deadline for submissions is mid-March of the year of publication. Submissions must include hard copy and electronic. Authors receive copies of the publication, a copy is deposited in Dayton Memorial Library, and the Review is published online at http://www.regis.edu/regis.asp?sctn=sl&p1=sa&p2=pub&p3=rrev.

Note to: Regis University Dr. Gladys Frantz-Murphy 3333 Regis Boulevard Denver, CO 80221-1099

Table of Contents

Defending Hegemony as a Motive for Invasion…………………………………………………..1 By Whitney Glandt

Oppressive Walls in Ann Petry’s The Street and Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl…………………………………………..………………….13 By Mary (Molly) Higgins

The Strawberry and Banana Industries: Environmental and Human Costs……………….……..25 By Mirasol Moncada

El feminismo incipiente de María de Zayas en “Estragos que causa el vicio”…………………..39 By Shannon Quirk

Feminism: Mixed Messages Analyzed and the Truth about Black Feminism Revealed………..53 By Melissa Ramig

Defending Hegemony as a Motive for Invasion:

The last straw of power By Whitney Glandt

Glandt 1 America’s invasion of Iraq came nearly a century after Britain’s use of the Middle East in World War I, in very different political and technological times. Yet the circumstances underlying the decision to relocate troops to the area are remarkably similar. Not incidentally, both America and Britain were hegemonic powers before their respective wars. America's motives for invading Iraq parallel the British Empire's motives for invading the Middle East during World War I. These motives ultimately sought to secure the strategic location and resources provided by the Iraqi region to shore up an empire whose hegemonic power was crumbling.

Prior to World War I, Britain’s hegemonic power was at its height in terms of territorial domination, financial control and its role as a peace keeping nation (when doing so served its purposes). Millar points out that at the peak of Britain’s territorial power, “out of the total inhabited surface of the earth of about 50,000,000 square miles with 1,750,000,000 inhabitants, 13,500,000 square miles with 500,000,000 inhabitants are under the rule of England” (Millar 204). Therefore before World War One, Britain controlled twenty seven percent of all inhabited land and twenty nine percent of the world’s population. The British Empire also enjoyed a financial hegemony before World War One. The colonies it possessed provided Britain with enormous financial wealth, which it loaned out to other countries to such an extent that “there were very few nations who were not financially entirely, or at least partly, dependent on England,” (Millar 204). Britain also fulfilled the more beneficent role of hegemony when it acted as a peacekeeping force in the Balkans (Millar 208). Such was Britain’s power that King Edward VII’s coronation was attended by the rulers of every important country in the world (Millar 206). Of course, the jewel of the British crown and its outward manifestation of hegemony, was its navy. Prior to World War One, the navy which had once defeated the Spanish armada was being modernized to suit a modern fuel supply; as coal supplies diminished, Britain began transforming its fleet to use petroleum engines (Engdahl 25).

Glandt 2 Analogously in 2000 America was poised, “as the sole superpower, whose exercise of power and domination relies upon its unique ability to apply force in directing international and civil contests, and more importantly, to win them efficiently and effectively” (Gautney and Reinhardt 1). Unlike the British Empire, America avoids blatant use of the term imperial power. Before September 11th, the unemployment rate in America hovered below four percent. That year America spent $13,224,000,000 in foreign aid including financial support for other nations (Bureau of Labor Statistics, Census.gov). Depending on how the term “largest” is categorized as spending or manpower, America has the largest standing military, and in 2000 spent $3,415,000,000,000 on total military outlays (Census Bureau). Clearly both Britain and America were hegemonic powers in these respective time periods, so what could threaten these countries into invading the Middle East to shore up their power?

Before World War I, British hegemonic power was threatened by strategic, economic, security and power means. The potential of the Berlin to Baghdad Railway was primarily a strategic and supply threat to the British and secondarily a security threat. Germany was starting construction on the Berlin to Baghdad railway, which if completed would have provided Germany with greater access to the Middle East. The railway was a crucial strategic point because it would have provided a means of transportation for oil and communication, as well as creating a transportation hub outside of British control (Engdahl 28, Millar 211). The railway’s strategic value as a means of transportation was particularly important to Britain because Britain’s navy was being converted to an oil-fueled one, making access to Middle Eastern oil fields crucial. Without modern advantages such as email, physical means of communication were crucial to running an empire; therefore, any advantage in communications was a significant threat. Britain was also being threatened economically. It owned a large stake in the Anglo Persian Oil Company, which would be a key supplier of oil for Britain when World War I began. This financial and supply interest was also threatened by the Berlin to Baghdad railway.

Glandt 3 The tangled thread of Britain’s financial power was also becoming unraveled. According to Engdahl, on the eve of World War One, Britain was bankrupt and its currency was weakened (45-46). In terms of security and power, Britain faced a supply crisis of the petroleum that fueled its navy, and that navy itself was the focus of an arms race between Britain and Germany (Engdahl 25-26). The German navy was undergoing an extreme upheaval and modernization process that placed it in direct competition with Britain’s navy (Engdahl 26-27). Strategically, Britain felt that Iraq threatened the security of its colonial interests in India. If Iraq or another Middle Eastern territory fell to another European power, it could set off a domino reaction that could lead to the loss of India as a colony. This would have severe import, trade, and hegemonic power concerns for Britain. Fouskus points out that political domination of oil is a contributing factor to hegemony, and that competition between countries by means of currency, energy, and transportation can escalate to war (198). In both cases, it certainly spread a developing war to a new front in Iraq.

American hegemonic power before the Iraq invasion was also threatened by strategic, economic and security pressures. The strategic threats faced by America included the perceived threat of weapons of mass destruction that were supposedly being produced by Iraq’s leaders. Whether or not the threat was real, the perception of the threat created several problems. First, weapons of mass destruction are an area of military superiority, and a country producing them that is antagonistic toward America is a blatant threat. Second, their creation would have signaled a challenge to an arms race in which America could not ethically participate (Gautney 152). Finally, they present a threat to human rights as safety and cruelty factors (Gautney 152). Iraq is also a leading oil supplier, and questions about future supplies of oil were becoming strategically important. As Hossein-Zadeh points out, the validity or invalidity of peak oil does not change oil prices. Oil prices change on the whim of human perception, so as long as consumers and market traders are spooked by the possibility of peak oil, oil prices

Glandt 4 rise and politicians on behalf of their countries seek to secure a large supply of the resource (295, 301).

America also faced a perceived loss of allies in the Middle East. During the Cold War Middle Eastern countries like Iraq, Afghanistan and Iran received support from America to ward off communism. With that threat gone from the region, countries that had received aid went from being dependant on and therefore allies of America to openly hostile, raising concerns about the continued transportation of oil. Interruption in transportation and supply of oil was also a security and power threat to America. The US economy is and was at the time of the Iraq invasion entirely dependent on fossil fuels, especially petroleum, to sustain its way of life and its military. With the size of America’s Navy, Air Force, and Army’s physical tools of power, a significant portion of the $3,415,000,000,000 military budget must be spent on fuel. Fluctuating oil prices, like those experienced after 9/11, impact that budget and the perceived security and power of America. Like Britain before World War I, America recognized that it could not be secure in its hegemony if it could not control access to its most precious resource. America faced the additional challenge of geography; though Britain was by no means close to Iraq and its oil supplies, America is an ocean even further away.

Another parallel between Britain and America in their invasions of Iraq is their concern for their nearby colonies. Britain felt the stability and control of Iraq was necessary for the stability and control of India; America felt likewise about its position in Afghanistan. Although defining Afghanistan as an American colony would make any well trained politician cringe, it effectively was an American colony at the time. Afghanistan was dependent upon America for security which America had taken away in the forms of government, trade operations, the creation of a political system, and basic necessities. This effective colony faced the same perceived threat that India did in World War I, of a ruling power unfavorable to the mother country nearby. Not only was Iraq itself unfavorable to America and its “colony” in the region,

Glandt 5 but Iran was also becoming more and more anti-American. It is fair to say that America felt as threatened by having Iran near Afghanistan as Britain felt by having the potential of German access to Iraq. The attacks on the World Trade Center Towers in 2001 and the USS Cole in 2000, though not directly related to the invasion of Iraq, served to heighten the perception of insecurity and threat.

The third primary threat perceived by America leading up to the invasion of Iraq was the economy. By the time the US invaded Iraq, unemployment rates had jumped over two and a quarter percent in less than a year (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Fluctuating oil prices also contributed to a recession, as did a tumble in the stock market due to a technology stock bubble. The recession prompted interest in Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s increasing manufacturing influence on the world economy and Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s manipulation of its currency in relation to the US Dollar. Le Billion points out that falling employment rates were an indicator of a falling hegemonic power, and that oil prices both high and low can lead to international intervention and destabilization of oil regimes in hopes of stabilizing the hegemonyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supply and perception of power (839). When confronted with underlying threats of colony security, a perceived arms race, a threat to a crucial resource, and a loss of allies, America felt its hegemony crumbling and predetermined its course of action.

Faced with these similar underlying threats, both Britain during World War I and America in 2003 chose to invade Iraq as a solution to their problems. This perceived solution worked to secure the hegemonic presence and shore up their "colony" in the region. In theory this move would halt supply concerns regarding oil, thereby eliminating strategic, power, and economic threats posed by oil shortages. The invasion would also promote business investment which, according to Mulligan, promotes peace (15). Mulligan also points out that a hegemonic power losing an arms race delineates a superpower falling from grace, and that maintaining power status creates war (16). Therefore, by invading the Eastern Theatre, Britain halted the arms

Glandt 6 race with Germany, and America halted the arms race in which it could not engage in with Iraq. Gautney advises that the ability to fight wars on two fronts is an assertion of hegemonic power while proving that the invading country was still powerful to act as a crushing power (150). Britain was obviously fighting on numerous fronts during World War One, and America attempted to fight wars in Afghanistan and Iraq at the same time. Gautney also addresses that Iraq’s unknown resources are “where the world gets its oil;” therefore, invading Iraq would also insure that the invading country not only controlled the energy source for themselves, but for the rest of the world too, thereby ensuring their own hegemony (151). War also (unfortunately) creates employment, which is a means of securing the economy. War also provides an opportunity for a leading military power to display its might, which sends a message of power to other nations, thereby securing hegemony. Britain also addressed its financial concerns by taking on loans to fund the war, which stimulated production and employment in a manner similar to a modern day stimulus package (Engdahl 60). On a public relations angle, America could use the invasion of Iraq as propaganda of “operation Iraqi Freedom.” However, this solution would come with risks.

Numerous problems arose concerning the invasion of the Iraqi region. First, if the respective invading power failed in Iraq, a domino effect could spread this defeat to their other colony in the region. Secondly, setting up a government in a foreign country is incredibly difficult and economically exhausting. Bell noted for the British that long term security especially for the railroad, was impossible without the support of local ethnic groups. This realization reached America only recently, long after the decision to invade Iraq was made (Ellis 34). Another problem which worked out in favor of the British but unfavorably for America is oil supply. Although Anglo Persian Oil Company’s interests were protected in Iraq, the current Iraq invasion has arguably worsened supply chain concerns and inefficiencies, and caused the price of oil (largely through speculation) to rise. Finally, on the financial front, both hegemonic powers seem

Glandt 7 to have forgotten that wars are extremely expensive! Britain walked away from the war with a national debt over 300 times what it had been before World War I (Engdahl 61). America is not entirely withdrawn from Iraq, yet the national debt clock currently stands at over 14.766 trillion dollars, and adds a million dollars in interest alone every minute. Though not a nation to be discounted, the decades (and nearly a century) since World War I has seen Britain lose the vast majority of its colonized territory, including its precious India.

Both invading nations took a heavy economic toll for their oil war. Their oil resources were secured, but severe economic recessions followed Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s involvement in World War I and Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s invasion of Iraq (Engdahl 60). Wimmer and Min use different data sets to prove that Iraq is prone to intrapolarity wars participated in by international interpolarity, so perhaps the hegemonic powers simply could not resist using the Middle East as a battle ground to prove their hegemony (402). Ironically though, both nations essentially sacrificed their last grasps at hegemonic power in the long run, which was directly counter to their desperate aims.

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Works Cited

Ellis, Kerry. "QUEEN OF THE SANDS." History Today 54, no. 1 (January 2004): 30-36. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011). Engdahl, F. William. A Century of War: Anglo-American Oil Politics and the New World Order. Edited by Dr. Bottiger Verlags-GmbH. Washington District of Columbia: Gutenburg project, 1993. http://www.archive.org/details/F.WilliamEngdahl-ACenturyOfWarAngloamericanOilPoliticsAndTheNew (accessed September 19, 2011). Fouskas, Vassilis K. "Germany and the Passage from War to Peace in Eurasia." Debatte: Review of Contemporary German Affairs 15, no. 2 (August 2007): 195-210. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011). Gautney, Heather, and Akim D. Reinhardt. "The Imperial Coin." Peace & Change 35, no. 1 (January 2010): 146-163. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011). Hossein-Zadeh, Ismael. "The Political Economy of US Wars of Choice: Are They Really Oil Wars?." Perspectives on Global Development & Technology 8, no. 2/3 (June 2009): 295-314. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011). Ireland, Philip Willard. "BERLIN TO BAGHDAD UP-TO-DATE." Foreign Affairs 19, no. 3 (April 1941): 665-670. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011). Le Billon, Philippe, and Alejandro Cervantes. "Oil Prices, Scarcity, and Geographies of War." Annals of the Association of American Geographers 99, no. 5 (December 2009): 836-844. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011). Lochery, Neill. "Lion in the Sand: British Policy in the Middle East, 1945-67." Middle Eastern Studies 44, no. 5 (September 2008): 807-814. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011). Millar, Francis. The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers. The Story of the Great War, Volume I (of 8) Introductions; Special Articles; Causes of War; Diplomatic and State Papers Library of Congress . Vol. 1. Edited by Miller, Francis Trevelyan, Reynolds, Francis J. Francis Joseph; Churchill, Allen L. Allen Leon. Washington District of Columbia: Gutenburg Project, http://www.archive.org/details/thestoryofthegre28257gut (accessed September 19, 2011). Mulligan, William. "THE ORIGINS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR." History Review no. 69 (March of Labor Statistics, . "Unemployment Rates by Quarter 2001-2004 United States Bureau of Labor 2011): 12-17. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011).

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United States Bureau Statitsics (2011): n.pag. top picks-Databasis, tables & calculators by subject. Web. 14 Nov 2011. <http://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/surveymost>. United States Census Bureau, . "The 2012 Statistical Abstract: Foreign Aid and Military Spending." censusbureau.gov (2011): n.pag. Census Bureau.gov. Web. 14 Nov 2011. <http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/cats/foreign_commerce_aid/foreign_aid.html>. Wimmer, Andreas, and Brian Min. "The Location and Purpose of Wars Around the World: A New Global Dataset, 1816-2001." International Interactions 35, no. 4 (October 2009): 390-417. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011). Wright, Edwin M. "IRAN AS A GATEWAY TO RUSSIA." Foreign Affairs 20, no. 2 (January 1942): 367-372. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed September 19, 2011).

Oppressive Walls in Ann Petryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s The Street and Harriet Jacobsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl By Mary (Molly) Higgins

Higgins 1

Molly Higgins Oppressive Walls in Ann Petry’s The Street and Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Walls in Ann Petry’s The Street and Harriet Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl represent the social (and physical) disparity between Black and White societies. Lutie Johnson and Linda Brent both struggle to see past their walls of oppression in the forms of forced submission to a white male-dominating society and forced submission to slavery, respectively. I would like to explore the dynamics of the walls in the two novels. Through this exploration, I hope to discover more about the struggle to resist submission that black women a century ago, fifty years ago, and even now, face when they try to break through such walls. In the 19th century, the institution of slavery controlled the lives of African Americans. Black individuals like Linda Brent, heroine and narrator of Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, faced a daily struggle against the forces of oppression for survival and freedom. Through this struggle, Linda is trapped within and battles against the walls of oppression. The walls of Linda’s attic garret figuratively and literally trap her in the confines of slavery, demobilizing her body and mind. When she makes the decision to hide in the garret, Linda actually uses the walls to hide from her oppressors, and thus, in a way, submits to the evils of oppression that exist. In the end, however, she ultimately overcomes the walls of oppression, literally and figuratively, by breaking out of the walls that bind her and escaping to the North. The time that Linda spends in the garret is discussed in Gloria T. Randle’s essay, “Between the Rock and the Hard Place: Mediating Spaces in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” Randle provides her audience with an interesting take on Linda’s walls of

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oppression. Unlike Davis’ and Lattin’s essays in which Lutie’s walls of oppression are just thatwalls of oppression, Randle sees Linda Brent’s imprisonment in the garret of her grandmother’s attic as protection from slavery. In her thesis she states her view on Linda’s situation. The “space” she speaks of is Linda’s garret: While these spaces are inevitably flawed and often grossly inadequate, they serve the immediate purpose of providing critical nurturing, of protecting ‘Brent’ and her children from present danger, of allowing her to function in relative mental health while imprisoned in a culture that constantly threatens her sanity. (43) It is very true that Brent lives in a white, chauvinistic society and is imprisoned within this society, she is also physically imprisoned when she chooses to live in the garret for seven years. Randle suggests in this passage, however, that by submitting to the wall, Linda shields herself from the dangers of slavery. The author argues further that the garret is, for Linda, a sort of purgatory between slavery and freedom; while she is in the garret, she does not truly exist in either free or enslaved society: “It. . .serves Brent as a space between freedom and slavery, childhood and adulthood, motherhood and childlessness, presence and absence, even life and death”(53). Brent’s purgatorial state can be understood through her absence from society during her years in the garret: While Linda is still a member of the enslaved people, she is also removed from it when she enters the “limbo” of the garret. But we must keep in mind that although she is “safe” in within her confine, Linda is by no means free. Randle states, “Her stay in the garret. . .is. . .the temporary toleration of unpleasure as a step on the indirect road to pleasure” (53). So, Linda’s “unpleasure” that she encounters in the garret is an aspect of the walls that enclose her, keep her from freedom: the

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“unpleasure” of slavery is part of what she must get over in order to find her “pleasure” in freedom. Before Linda could fine pleasure in freedom, however, she first had to see past the walls which oppressed her. Walls of oppression would not exist if chinks in those walls were not present. For without the chinks, the oppressed person would have no way of seeing and developing a dream of what their life had the potential to become. Randle talks about the tiny hole Linda looks through to see her children in the yard: Brent’s relationship to her children during the garret interval offers a perspective like that afforded through one-way glass: A tiny gimlet admits a trifle of light and air, and allows Brent to see and hear the children when they come into view (53). Thus, Linda is only able to see her dream, in the form of her children running free, through a tiny hole in her wall. During her earliest days in the garret, however, Linda does not know about the chink in the wall. Thus, she is completely cut off from society. In Incidents, Linda reflects on her first impression of her new “home”: “There was no admission for either light or air. . . .the darkness total. . .But I was not comfortless. I heard the voices of my children” (128). Although Linda is immobilized in body and spirit, she is able to hear her children and thus is able to live. Brent does indeed recognize, however, that in order to escape the evils of slavery, she must first escape the garret: “Don’t worry yourself, grandmother. . . .I shall get out of this dark hole some time or other” (146-147). Linda’s description of her enclosure as a “dark hole” is representative of oppression: dark holes bring to mind deep wells and frightening, endless spaces from which

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the entrapped individual has much difficulty escaping, just as Linda could not escape her “dark hole” for seven long years. Indeed, Linda Brent was spiritually and emotionally enclosed within her walls of oppression, but she was also physically enclosed. Due to her immobility, Linda loses the use of her legs during those seven long years. It seems as though Linda’s body, her only means of escape, is just as oppressed as her mind: As her body becomes crippled from lack of exercise, so does her dream. In the chapter entitled “Still in Prison,” Brent speaks of the cruelty of oppression, this force that smothers and cripples her dream as she is forced to stay hidden in the garret, imposed on her by the superior class, namely Dr. Flint: “. . .the laws allowed him to be out in the free air, while I, guiltless of crime, was pent up here. . .” (135). The title of this chapter speaks multitudes to Linda’s cause: She is able to realize that the walls of her garret form her prison of oppression, and thus she is more driven to escape and join her children in freedom. Further, she understands the inequality of the existing laws, and knows that being “pent up” is stifling her dream. During the time Linda spends oppressed by the walls of slavery, it can be concluded that her dream “festers like a sore.” She has no immediate means of attaining her dream, and as a result must wait for a daring escape mechanism through which her “festering” dream may be freed. In the chapter “Preparations for Escape”, Linda admits to the scars that her festering dream left upon her body as the result of seven years in prison: “I affirm that I lived in that dismal hole. . .for nearly seven years. . .my body still suffers from the effects of that long imprisonment, to say nothing of my soul” (166). She further reflects on her life inside the garret’s walls as a “gloomy and monotonous existence” (167). There is no doubt that life in

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prison would be depressing and gloomy. But Linda finally breaks through the wall imposed on her and enters the freedom of the North. She tells of her first reactions to freedom as she traveled on the boat from the South with her friend: “We looked at each other, and the eyes of both were moistened with tears. We had escaped from slavery, and we supposed ourselves to be safe from the hunters” (180). By tolerating the walls of the garret, Linda challenges the oppressing forces of slavery, all the while chipping away at the chink in her wall until it is big enough for her to climb through. America in the 1940’s, although absent of slavery, was still home to oppression of the African American race. Amanda J. Davis’ essay, “Violent Disruptions of Homeplace in Jubilee and the Street” offers several important insights on the walls that so often appear in Ann Petry’s The Street. The section of her essay that is focused on The Street mainly sheds light on the homeplace as a place of suffocation rather than life and comfort. Davis’ thesis gets at the main argument of the essay: the home of Lutie and Bub Johnson does the opposite of the public cultural imaginary home. The apartment (and walls within it) suffocate and frighten Lutie and Bub, thus making their small apartment not a place of refuge but rather a place of fear. Davis states: “In. . .The Street readers witness repeatedly the difficulty that protagonists have in setting up and maintaining a physical space to call home”(26). Due to the fact that black women in the early part of the 20th century had no means to create opportunity for themselves unless they were willing to sell their bodies, Davis’s suggestion of this “difficulty” makes sense. This lack of opportunity is caused by Lutie’s inability to maintain a suitable home: The walls imposed on Lutie by the overbearing white society often present themselves in the form

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of black people (namely women) not being able to earn more than enough money to scrape by on. Prior to her many attempts to make her new living quarters on 116th Street into a suitable home, Lutie is already oppressed: before she even moves in to the apartment, the walls of oppression are already pressing in on her. Since she cannot be placed in a high-paying job due to her race, she only earns meager wages for her hard labor. As a result, she cannot afford a nice apartment. Thus, the walls that separate the struggling black society from the privileged white society are already suffocating her before she even moves into her “home.” Davis makes many references to the walls within Lutie’s apartment: Petry’s repeated images of walls closing in on Lutie, tiny rooms, little to no air, and dismal housing conditions set up the obstacles Lutie will have to battle against not only to find and keep suitable housing, but simply to breathe freely (38). Like Linda Brent, not only is Lutie’s dream trapped within the walls of oppression, but she is physically trapped as well: with the pressures of money and the constant threat of eviction ever present in her mind, Lutie’s body must have been taken over by stress and worry. In the novel, even her dreams are haunted by threats imposed on her day after day. As Davis states, after Lutie and Bub move into the 116th Street apartment, they find that the walls that make up the rooms are so lacking in square footage and solidity that Lutie and Bub can hardly breathe, as illustrated in this passage from the novel: After she had been in them just a few minutes, the walls seemed to come in toward her, to push against her. . .perhaps the next thing she out to do was to find one with bigger rooms. But she couldn’t pay any more rent than she was paying now. . .(79).

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This image of “closing in” nicely illustrates the situation of the struggling African American race, only barely able to afford the unacceptable accommodations in the slums of Harlem and thus being closed into their sad situation by walls which separated them from opportunity. There is no doubt that Lutie’s mobility is limited, not only physically but emotionally and intellectually. Davis states: “Walls are often used in The Street as metaphors for oppression, forced enclosures, and confined areas informed by race, gender, and class”(Davis 40). Lutie faces many forms of these asphyxiating walls described by Davis. Aside from the wall of money (or inability to earn it), Lutie is oppressed by a fear of sexual abuse that white women did not have to worry about. Since white women had the freedom, through money, to move if they felt threatened, they were not exposed to the apparent danger of sexual predators. Her desire and need to break down the wall of fear is not plausible, since the superintendent of her building is the predator she most dreads. The wall of fear and the wall of money, respectively, are ones which Lutie must face throughout the entire novel. Since she is unable to make a comfortable, safe home for herself due to the walls that trap her, Lutie has no escape. In his essay “Ann Petry and the American Dream,” Vernon E. Lattin similarly links walls in Lutie’s life as a symbol of oppression: Refusing to accept her life, to resign herself to “Negro” or “female” roles, Lutie Johnson struggles to fulfill the rags-to-riches formula only to discover that this illusion has prevented her from seeing the reality of her trap, that the American Dream itself is the spring that operates the trap (69). Like Davis’ essay, Lattin’s essay explores the meanings of walls in The Street. But unlike Davis, Lattin goes more in depth about the ‘American Dream’ that Lutie’s various walls are blocking.

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He argues that Lutie’s vision of the “American Dream” prevents her from understanding that she will never escape the walls that enclose her. In his argument, he illustrates Lutie’s dream deferred: Of course she only sees the wall; the whole illusion of American democracy and of the American dream is still beyond her vision. Symbolically, as she slowly, tiredly climbs the steps to her flat, the walls seem to be closing in on her; she can hear the sounds on the other side of the walls. (70). So, according to Lattin, the walls that Lutie can’t seem to push away are in place to shield her from her dream. She says early in the novel: “. . .I can’t see anything ahead of me except these walls that push in against me” (83). Although Lutie is blinded from her dream when she moves into the 116th Street apartment, she, like Linda, can see and hear the American Dream on the other side of the wall through a small chink before she moves to Harlem. Lutie’s vision of this dream is most clear when she works for the Chandlers. She sees the differences between her life and theirs, and compares the social disparity to a wall: It was, she discovered slowly, a very strange world she had entered. . .it made her feel that she was looking through a hole in a wall at some enchanted garden. She could see, she could hear. . .but she couldn’t get past the wall. (41) It is interesting that Lutie describes the garden as “enchanted,” as though she believes the world in which white people have disposable income and infinite space has a magical, enchanting quality. It is not until Lutie moves to Harlem with Bub that money and lack of space takes on a menacing façade and becomes that which haunts her.

Higgins 9

Lattin also suggests the explosion of Lutie’s dream: “Her dream bursts as Jones, the Super of the building. . .grabs her and tries to drag her down into the cellar”(70). By dragging her down into the cellar to sexually abuse her (further making her submit to the wall of oppression), the Super drags Lutie further away from climbing the wall and defeating her oppression. In the end, Lutie’s dream indeed explodes when she can no longer fight against her walls of oppression. She must make a stand against her inability to attain the American Dream, as Lattin illustrates in the end of his essay: Lutie kills Boots, a black man, not primarily because he is going to rape her, or because he serves a white man, but because his is the face of the system, black and white; he is part of the American way (70). Boots represents a black man who has been successful, and Lutie’s frustration with her damnation of lifelong oppression explodes in a culmination of hopelessness and fear. It is clear that Linda Brent and Lutie Johnson faced very different walls. Although both women were oppressed, the dynamics of their walls were different. While Linda submits to her walls in order to ultimately get past them, Lutie’s dream festers until it finally explodes, and she runs away from not only her murder, but from her son. Maybe it took stories such as Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and The Street to bring the issue of oppression to the forefront, and to truly make societal changes through positive action.

Higgins 10 Works Cited Randle, Gloria T. “Between the Rock and the Hard Place: Mediating Spaces in Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.” African American Review 33.1 (1999): 43-56. Print. Davis, Amanda J. “Shatterings: Violent Disruptions of Homeplace in Jubilee and The Street.” MELUS 30.4 (2005): 25-51. Print. Lattin, Vernon E. “Ann Petry and the American Dream.” Black American Literature Forum 12.2 (1978): 69-72. Print. Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a slave Girl. New York: New American Library, 2010. Print. Petry, Ann. The Street. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1946, 1974. Print.

The Strawberry and Banana Industries: Environmental and Human Costs By Mirasol Moncada

The Strawberry and Banana Industries: Environmental and Human Costs Mirasol Moncada Nov. 17th, 2011 Sustainable Agriculture:

In order to identify a problem in our agriculture system, one has to

understand a different means of food production. In this case, lets look at the goals

of sustainable agriculture. A sustainable agricultural system is one that ensures the well being of the environment, economy, and social well being. In the European

system, the triple bottom line of their agriculture, known as the 3pâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s are: people,

prosperity, and the planet. According to the committee that wrote â&#x20AC;&#x153;Understanding Agricultural Sustainabilityâ&#x20AC;? the four key sustainability goals are:

Satisfy human food, feed, and fiber needs, and contribute to biofuel needs. Enhance environmental quality and the resource base. Sustain the economic viability of agriculture. Enhance the quality of life for farmers, farm workers, and society as a whole. (Whitacre, 2010)

The purpose of this report is to bring to light the production of strawberries

and bananas, popular fruits in the United States. The means of production of these

fruits will be discussed in light of how their production is detrimental to the

environment while infringing on worker rights and the well-being of surrounding communities.

Strawberries Strawberries 101: Production and Problems The strawberry is native to the Americas. The species native to the West is

called Fragaria chileonsis. F. chileonsis can be found from Alaska down to the

western coasts of South America . On the East coast Fragaria virginiana is the native

strawberry. However, the popular strawberry now, the Sweet Briar, is a descendant of the hybrid of the western and eastern American strawberries- F. ananassa

(Fromartz, 2006).

For the purpose of this project, I will solely focus on the strawberry

production in California because California is the state that provides the nation with at least 80% of its fresh strawberries (Wood, 2001). According to Allison et al.

(1990) the conventional methodology of strawberry production is one of the most input intensive agricultural procedures in California. To put it in a monetary

perspective, the high reliance and use of chemicals has resulted in a very expensive process, costing farmers over $25,000 per acre of strawberries per year (Allison et al., 1990).

An example of the conventional production of strawberries in California is

displayed in a 1990 research project conducted by ecologist Stephen Gliessman. The process begins with a tractor passing through a field injecting methyl bromide with a metal shank. Attached to the back of the tractor is a large roll of plastic that is laid out over the freshly injected earth to preserve as much of the methyl bromide as

possible. Meanwhile workers follow closely behind the tractor, shoveling dirt over 28

the edges of the plastic to ensure maximum penetration of the methyl bromide. The plastic covering will be left over the earth for the whole process of producing

strawberries to keep weeds from growing. Once the methyl bromide has had a

resting period of 48 hours (Allison et al., 1990) workers cut openings in the laid out plastic and place the strawberry cultivars in the openings (Fromartz, 2006).

For the remainder of the lives of those planted cultivars, multiple synthetic

chemicals will be applied including, but not limited to: encapsulated, timed-released fertilizer (26N-8P-8K â&#x20AC;&#x201C; N= nitrogen; P phosphorous; k= potassium), kelthane

(insecticide), vendex (acaricides=pesticide), malthion (insecticide), benlate and

captan (fungicides) (Allison et. al,1990). Every year in California an estimated 5.6 billion pounds of pesticides are applied (Fromartz, 2006). According to David

Pimentel, Cornell University entomologist, even though there has been a tenfold

increase in the use of pesticides since 1945, loss of crops due to pests has almost

doubled. Still, the high reliance to chemicals is due to the farmers wanting to ensure plenty of strawberries to ensure a good profit.

Methyl bromide has been the most popular chemical in conventional

strawberry production. However, it was recently asked to be phased out after the

Montreal Protocol found it to be highly damaging to the ozone layer of the Earthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s atmosphere. Beginning in 2005, production of Methyl bromide has ceased in the

United States (except for critical or emergency purposes) (NPIC, 2000). Up until its

end of production, methyl bromide was used in the strawberry industry to treat soil and exterminate nematodes, fungi and weeds. It is a colorless and odorless gas that is usually paired with and a chemical called chloropicrin that gives off an odor.

Although production stopped in 2005, the book Organic, inc. states that in 2004,

tomato and strawberry farmers attended a meeting of the Montreal Protocol along with U.S. negotiators to allow the U.S. “critical use” of the gas. Because developing

nations had until 2015 to phase out methyl bromide, U.S. farmers felt that it was not to their selling advantage. Eventually, with government help, U.S. farmers are still able to use methyl bromide, under the “critical use” exemption, at close to double

the amounts of what all other nations are able to use, combined (Fromartz, 2006).

Methyl bromide is considered a category-one acute toxin by the EPA which is

the most toxic a substance can be on the EPA scale. Just as methyl bromide has a

negative effect on the environment, it has shown negative effects on humans. While most other pesticides are applied in amounts of 1-5lbs per acre, methyl bromide is applied at 200-400lbs per acre. This means that compared to most other pesticide applications, that of methyl bromide has a higher risk of causing poisoning

(Fromartz, 2006). According to the EPA (1989), methyl bromide is highly toxic to

humans based on know human experience and use history. It can be very corrosive

to the skin as well as the eyes. It is also known to be an endocrine system disruptor. Some signs of poisoning from methyl bromide are confusion, slurring of speech,

nausea, headaches, vomiting, convulsions, and coma, including death. Symptoms of poisoning may occur as quickly as a few minutes following exposure and up to 48 hours (Gehring, Nolan, and Watanabe, 1991).

Kegley, Katten and Moses (2003) claim that half of all exposures reported

from California fields are due to drifting pesticides. In a controversial case in 30

California’s Santa Cruz County, Pajaro Middle School was one of four sites that

tested above target levels for methyl bromide exposure. The California Department of Pesticide Regulation (CDPR) had set target levels for children of exposure of methyl bromide at 1ppb (CDPR, 2003) [ppb = part per billion]. In 2001 Pajaro

Middle School, established in a low-income and Latino community, where about

60% of the students were children of farm workers, was discovered to have ambient

levels of methyl bromide that averaged 7.73ppb. The CDPR thought these results

unacceptable so they wanted to cap the amount of methyl bromide that was applied to 18,000 pounds, per month, per township. Growers from around the county

lobbied against this idea and the DPR decided that it would make no immediate new restrictions.

But a year later, the CDPR decided on a new regulation and set the target

level of exposure to 9ppb for children and 16ppb for adults. This was after taking

into consideration a study done by the methyl bromide industry in which a group of

dogs was exposed to different levels of methyl bromide, 20ppb being the highest, for a period of 6 consecutive weeks. And although one dog showed signs of tremors and twitching at 5ppb the CDPR decided to make this level (5ppb) as the “No Observed Effect Level”. Because the 20ppb exposed dogs showed no observable tremors or

twitching the CDPR decided to up the target level to 9ppb for children (Lim, 2003 and Lim, 2002). Increasing the 1ppb to 9ppb level meant that instead of limiting

growers to using 18,000 pounds of methyl bromide per township, per month, they are now able to apply up to 266,194 pounds of methyl bromide per month.

A study in 2000 by the USDA tested 518 samples of fresh strawberries and

found pesticide residue in 91% of the berries tested. Twenty-five different

chemicals were detected (Fromartz, 2006). A high demand of strawberries not only means a high demand for chemicals from farmers but also of labor. Because of the high fragility of the strawberries they must all be handpicked (Delwiche et al.,

2009). Furthermore,orkers are needed to apply the dirt over the plastic edges during the methyl bromide application process as well as application of other chemicals throughout the growing period of the strawberries.

High investment into the strawberries, in a good year, will be extremely

profitable for the farmer but not for the worker. According to Eric Schlosser (1995), strawberry farmers in the United States receive more money for fresh strawberries every year than all other U.S. grown fresh fruit, except apples. However, the strawberry pickers are the lowest paid labor and are the most likely to be

undocumented Mexican immigrants (Schlosser, 1995). According to Rodriguez (1997), workers laboring up to 10 hours a day will earn as little as $8,500 for a season (April-September) (Rodriguez, 1997). Bananas

Bananas were initially grown in Jamaica as a nursing crop to help other crops

such as cacao, coconut and oranges grow well. It was in the 1870s that shipping

companies realized that the fruit did well during transportation. As soon as this was discovered, the United States moved quickly to acquire as much land as possible to gain control. By 1920 the U.S. owned about 80,000 acres in banana production.

When Jamaican farmers decided to unionize, the U.S. was ready to leave Jamaica and move to Central America, beginning with Honduras. (Tucker, 2000)

Central America was in early in its development and was willing to enter

into contracts with UFC and other banana companies. Growers began to clear a vast amount of land that started in the Caribbean lowlands and eventually crossed over

to the Pacific lowlands. The floodplains were great cultivating grounds for bananas

because there is plenty of water year round. Initially, Central American governments were in search of making a profit out of their rainforest by turning it into private property so that it could be cleared.

In a tropical region large monocrops are prone to fungal disease. Since the

1920â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sigatoka, an airborne fungus has been attacking banana crops. In the early

case in Honduras, in less than a decade, Sigatoka had consumed 80% of Hondurasâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s crop. (Russell, 1993)

Henriques et al. (1997) state that because of the high levels of precipitation

in Central America, a necessary environment for bananas but also conducive to fugal growth, banana plantations apply agrochemicals extensively. The application of

pesticides is conducted by workers and/or by air crafts. Both of these systems of

chemical application have been found to be faulty. In developing countries, 25-50% of the workers applying the chemicals were improperly trained or unable to advise correctly on pesticide use (Igbedioh, 1991). Aerial spraying, according to Haines

(1985) can be a great cause of drift of agrochemicals- tainting neighboring human as

well as (terrestrial and aquatic) animal communities.

Organochlorines are pesticides that as of the 1990s were still being used in

Central America but were discontinued to be used in the United States. However,

United States chemical companies still produce these substances and sell them to

Central American growers (Chambers & Yarbrough, 1982). These Oranochlorines

are lipophilic and are stored in the fat tissues of humans and animals- resulting in

bioaccumulation of the substance over time (Brooks, 1974). Henriques et al. (1997) also state that oranochlorines have resulted in sterility in Costa Rican banana

plantation workers after their exposure to nematocide dibromochloropro-pane.

In a study conducted by Barraza et al. (2011) in the Talamancan County of

Costa Rica, two different communities (the Daytonia and Shiroles) that were

dominated by banana and plantain plantations were interviewed about their knowledge of the chemical use. Most of the people in these two communities

worked for the plantations and relied on that work for their income. Although the men in these communities showed concern for the discontinued use of the

agrochemicals, especially fungicides, they also, along with their wives, showed concern for the exposure that their children may be suffering due to the aerial

spraying of the chemicals. The communities identified aerial spraying as a major source of exposure for children as well as the community in its entirety. The

community members shared that the drinking water they obtained from rain in

containers on top of their homes were probably also tainted with agrochemicals due

to the aerial sprayings that occurred Another disconcerting exposure of chemicals to children and the home are from the parents that work in the fields, and come home

with soiled clothing. Mothers in both communities stated that nausea, vomiting and 34

diarrhea were common symptoms shared by all in the community, especially after pesticide application with backpacks (Henriques, 1997).

Across Central America and the Philippines, people are suffering through

these kinds of conditions in order to supply places like the U.S. a cheap supply of bananas. Americans tend to consume fruits and vegetables based on their

convenience: the more convenient they are the more they are consumed. Being

inexpensive and easy to eat, bananas have become the most popular fresh fruit in America (Pollack, 2001).

Discussion & Conclusion In the community of Santa Cruz County, social justice was not a priority. The

CDPR went against its initial environmental limits of methyl bromide. It changed its

policy because of lobbying and research done by the methyl bromide industry. If the CDPR wanted more unbiased research it should have hired a research group

unaffiliated with either farmers or the chemical industry. It was unnecessary to

increase the exposure limits. The CDPR gives an example of just how much 1ppb is in the scheme of things, â&#x20AC;&#x153;One part per billion is equivalent to one second of time in

about 32 yearsâ&#x20AC;? (CDPR, 2003). Although 9ppb would be 9 seconds of time in 32

years, a really small amount, the fact that the CDPR changed its initial policy in favor of the industry demonstrates how easily influenced the government is.

The produce industry needs to revise their system of production. This system

cannot continue in the conventional way. By conducting business as usual, the

system is threatening and stealing the agricultural potential of future generations.

Although such a method of agriculture is providing a limited amount of people with 35

cheaper and more readily available food, it is also imposing higher costs in health bills, environmental degradation, and the exploitation of workers- among other

costs that are not immediately blatantly visible or palpable.

More research needs to be done on any type of chemicals that are still being

used in the field. According to Vandana Shiva, most chemicals, if not all, are

chemicals that were once used in chemical warfare. Using these kinds of chemicals in ways that result in direct human contact and consumption presents ethical and

moral issues. It is likely that consumers would make different choices if they were aware of the corrupt systems of production for produce, meat and dairy products.

These chemicals are handled and applied by humans as well as on foods that will be consumed by humans, presents ethical and moral issues. It is u

One way to reduce our impact on the environment and be more sustainable,

while reducing the negative working conditions of the workers is to establish organic growing methods. A study done by Gliessman (1991) informs us that

organic strawberry yields may be as much as 20% lower than conventional, but the profits of the organic yields were only 9% less than that of conventional. Organic

production methods also suggest that there would be less health and environmental issues since there are very limited amounts of chemicals that could be used in the organic methodology.

Workers rights should be established by a collaboration of the government

and workers. The Unified Farm Workers union is an example of a group that

supports, empowers, and stands up for farm workers. Often workers are afraid of

denouncing unfair treatment. Also, government regulation of working and living conditions of workers needs to be improved and enforced.

In conclusion, as long as these industries continue to degrade the

environment so too will they continue to degrade our workers and, inevitably, every consumer.

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Modern agriculture is unsustainable-it cannot continue to produce enough food over the long term because it deteriorates the conditions that make agriculture possible.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; - Stephen Gliessman Methyl bromide was banned by the EPA earlier this year.

References Allison, J., Cochran, J., Farrell, J., Gliessman, S.R., Kluson, R., Rosado-May, F., Swezey, S.L., and Werner, M. (1990). Strawberry production systems during conversion to organic management. California Agriculture, 44(4) 4-7. Brooks, G.T. (1974). Chlorinated Insecticides, Vol. 2- Biological and Chemical Aspects. CRC, Cleaveland, OH, USA. Chambers, J.E. and Yarbrough, J.D. (1982). Effects of Chronic Exposure to Pesticides on Animal Systems. Raven, New York, NY, USA. Fromartz, S. (2006) The Organic Method Strawberries in Two Versions. Organic, inc. Hardcourt Books, Orlando.32-68. Gehring, P. J.; Nolan, R. J.; Watanabe, P. G.; Schumann, A. M. Solvents, Fumigants and Related Compounds. In Handbook of Pesticide Toxicology; Hayes, W. J.; Laws, E. R.; Eds.; Academic: San Diego, CA, 1991; Vol. 2, pp 668-671. Haines, I.H. (1985) Problems of pesticide storage in developing countries. Chem. & Ind.18: 621623. Igbedioh, S.O. (1991). Effects if agricultural pesticides oh humans, animals, and higher plants in developing countries. Arch. Environmental Health 46: 218-224. Kegley, S., Katten,A., and Moses, M. (2003) Secondhand Pesticides: Airborne Pesticide Drift in California, Californians for Pesticide Reform. http://www.panna.org/resources/documents/secondhandDriftAvail.dv.html. Lim,L.O. Methyl Bromide Risk Characterization Document, Inhalation Exposure, Addendum to Volume 1. Februrary 23, 2003. and Appendix E: Selection of Critical NOEL for Methyl Bromide Subchronic Inhalation Toxicity. September 20, 2002, 75-79. http://www.cdpr.ca.gov/docs/dprdocs/methbrom/rafnl/addendum.pdf.

Pesticide Fact Sheet Number 98: Methyl Bromide. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Pesticide Programs, U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington, DC, 1986. Rodriquez, A.S. (1997). Organizing strawberry fields forever. Social Policy, 28(2), 13-16. Russell,E.P. â&#x20AC;&#x153;War on Insects: Warfare, Insecticides, and Environmental Change in the United States, 1870-1945 (Ph.D. diss., University of Michigan, 1993). Wood, M. (2001). Strawberry Growers Test Methyl Bromide Alternatives. Agricultural Research, 49(1),4.

El feminismo incipiente de María de Zayas en “Estragos que causa el vicio” By Shannon Quirk

Quirk 1

El feminismo incipiente de María de Zayas en “Estragos que causa el vicio” 1 Aunque generalmente sabemos mucho de las vidas de personajes históricos importantes, María de Zayas y Sotomayor (1590-?), una reconocida figura literaria del Siglo de Oro en España, parece desaparecer de los registros históricos después de 1647. Debido a que los datos sobre su vida son limitados, los estudiosos han propuesto una asombrosa cantidad de conjeturas acerca de esta mujer singular que logró mucho en un tiempo cuando la mayoría de las mujeres no tenía acceso a ningún tipo de educación formal. Su obra Desengaños amorosos (1647), por ejemplo, ha sido objeto de mucha atención y hay una gran cantidad de opiniones diferentes sobre el significado de la violencia brutal contra la mujer indefensa que se encuentra en estas novelas breves. Pero, aunque hay varios puntos de vista, hoy en día la cuestión fundamental es “To what extent do this author’s texts cogently represent pro-woman ideologies and suggestions for social reform?” (Vollendorf 106). Centrándose en la última novela de Desengaños amorosos, “Estragos que causa el vicio,” este trabajo apoya la respuesta de Lisa Vollendorf que implica que Zayas articula ideas feministas sin pretender una reorganización total de las estructuras sociales existentes, demostrando el carácter incipiente de su feminismo. Antes de tratar de entender las implicaciones del feminismo de Zayas, es necesario saber un poco de la vida de esta escritora cuyas obras fueron bien conocidas en su tiempo. Aunque hemos perdido muchos de los detalles concretos de su vida, sabemos que Zayas nació en 1590, la hija de María de Barasa y Fernando de Zayas, un capitán de la infantería (Greer 5). Además, sabemos que ella vivió en Madrid durante la primera mitad del siglo XVII, pasó algún tiempo en

Paper written by Shannon Quirk for Dr. Castro’s class “Writing by and about Hispanic Women Through the Ages” (SP/WS 437). April 15, 2010

Quirk 2

Nápoles con su padre durante la década de 1610 y participó con frecuencia en una o varias de las academias literarias que empezaban a florecer durante este tiempo clave en España. Después de escribir algunos poemas y una obra de teatro llamada La traición en la amistad, Zayas aparentemente empezó a escribir sus primeras novelas durante la década de 1620. Según el testimonio de Pérez de Montalbán, un escritor y dramaturgo español de esta época, “Doña María de Zayas, tenth muse of our century, has entered poetic competitions with great success, has completed a comedia in excellent verse, and has ready for publication a book of…novellas…” (Citado en Greer 9). Sin embargo, ella no pudo publicar su primera colección de novelas, Novelas amorosas y ejemplares, hasta 1637 porque el Consejo de Castilla no quería difundir las obras de entretenimiento antes de la introducción de un programa de reforma en 1637. Diez años después de esto, Zayas publicó su segunda colección de novelas breves: Desengaños amorosos. Las citas de personas influyentes como Pérez de Montalbán, nos muestran que Zayas fue muy popular en las academias literarias. Sus obras también fueron aclamadas por Lope de Vega, uno de los escritores más importantes del Siglo de Oro español, quien alabó su “genio raro y único” (Boyer xi). Lo interesante de las obras de María de Zayas es que no fueron sólo apreciadas por sus contemporáneos famosos, sino también por el público en general. Es importante apreciar que con la excepción de Cervantes, Alemán y Quevedo, ningún otro escritor español del siglo XVII vio sus obras impresas tantas veces como las de Zayas (Camino 520). El éxito de Zayas, sin duda, es sorprendente y respetable porque las mujeres de esta época no eran particularmente animadas a escribir o discutir sus ideas con el público como consecuencia de los mecanismos de poder que no contribuían a la presencia de la producción femenina en medios públicos.

Quirk 3

Sin embargo, a pesar de toda su popularidad, los historiadores tienen que especular sobre otras detalles de la vida personal de esta mujer singular, especialmente después de la publicación de Desengaños amorosos en 1647, porque las únicas referencias contemporáneas a ella pertenecen a su actividad literaria: “Zayas’s invisibility…[has] given rise to highly speculative biographical inventions, often involving reading the fate of selected Zayas protagonists as that of the author herself” (Greer 9). Esta ambigüedad de hechos demuestra que la manera más segura de entender Zayas es a través de sus textos famosos. Debido a que es imposible analizar todas sus obras literarias en una manera significativa en un espacio limitado, en este trabajo vamos a hablar principalmente del final de Desengaños amorosos. Pero, antes de entrar en mayor detalle sobre este tema, es importante mencionar algo sobre el contexto de las obras de Zayas. Para empezar, hay tres temas dominantes en sus dos colecciones de novelas: las decepciones amorosas de los hombres, su crueldad física e espiritual y la capacidad de las mujeres a hacerle frente a esa crueldad (Boyer 4). Estos temas establecidos en Novelas amorosas y ejemplares son desarrollados en Desengaños amorosos, una continuación de la historia que comenzó en su primer volumen. En su primera colección de diez episodios, Lisis, la protagonista, dice que tiene un fuerte dolor de cabeza cuando en realidad sólo está celosa de su prima, Lisarda, porque don Juan empieza a tener más afecto por Lisarda que por Lisis. Para alegrarla, las amigas y la madre de Lisis organizan una serie de fiestas durante cinco noches consecutivas. Durante estas fiestas, cinco mujeres y cinco hombres cuentan historias de amor cada noche y al final Lisis accede a casarse con don Diego. Para continuar, Desengaños amorosos empieza un año después de lo anterior cuando Lisis organiza una repetición de las reuniones elegantes para proceder a la celebración de su matrimonio con don Diego. Antes de estas fiestas, Lisis decidió que sólo a las mujeres se les

Quirk 4

permitiría contar estas historias que trataban de restablecer la reputación de las mujeres en la sociedad. Con un tono más oscuro, el aspecto más perceptible de los diez episodios de su segunda colección implica la violencia brutal contra la mujer a manos del hombre. De hecho, casi todas las consecuencias materiales del abuso son letales en estos cuentos: “…only four out of the ten tales told in the Desengaños amorosos feature a female protagonist who survives men’s abuses” (Vollendorf 109). Pero, según la conclusión en “Estragos que causa el vicio,” para las mujeres que sobreviven, el único lugar seguro está en el convento lejos del dominio del hombre. Aunque no podemos saber con certeza la actitud fundamental de Zayas con respecto a la violencia y la discriminación contra la mujer, varios críticos han intentado explicar lo que Zayas estaba tratando de promover con toda la violencia presente en Desengaños amorosos. Como resultado de este resurgimiento de interés en Zayas, se puede encontrar muchas opiniones diferentes hoy día. Por lo tanto, antes de introducir las ideas principales de este ensayo, es necesario presentar otros dos puntos de vista con respecto a los motivos de esta escritora española. Para empezar, en su ensayo titulado “Elusive Subjectivity in María de Zayas”, Marina S. Brownlee, una de los críticos más duros de Zayas, argumenta que debido a que existe tanta subjetividad en sus obras, o tensión entre su escritura y sus creencias personales, no debemos retratarla como una feminista comprometida e intransigente, aunque mucha de la erudición dedicada a Zayas en los años recientes ha mantenido esta idea. A diferencia de la mayoría de los críticos, la tesis de Brownlee en su ensayo es que “…Zayas’ literary project is ultimately problematic (unresolved) in terms of gender…she certainly does denounce men, but she also denounces women” (Brownlee 164). Por ejemplo, para oponerse a la visión común de Zayas

Quirk 5

como una feminista comprometida, Brownlee señala que la subjetividad de Zayas continúa hasta el final, cuando Zayas aboga por una retirada al convento como la única defensa viable para las mujeres. En otras palabras, aunque hay instantes en sus obras cuando se puede encontrar ideas que posiblemente promueven la necesidad de luchar por los derechos de la mujer, Brownlee argumenta que siempre debemos mantener en mente que a menudo Zayas se contradice, como en la conclusión de Desengaños amorosos que propone una renuncia a la lucha. Por lo tanto, según el ensayo de Brownlee, es difícil tener confianza total en los críticos que la retratan como una feminista firme sin pensar en la posibilidad de excepciones a sus argumentos. A diferencia de este ensayo franco, en la primera mitad de “No Doubt It Will Amaze You: María de Zayas’s Early Modern Feminism,” Lisa Vollendorf claramente expresa su respeto por Zayas y su intento de luchar contra el horrible tratamiento de las mujeres. Por ejemplo, después de un análisis de algunas escenas extremadamente violentas en ambas obras, Vollendorf reconoce el método innovador de Zayas de llamar la atención a la situación drástica de la mujer en un manera persuasiva y memorable: “Zayas stands out as the Spanish writer of the period who most intensely and defiantly explores the issues facing women in society…By focusing on women’s lives through the lens of bodily experience, [she was able to do this]” (Vollendorf 112113). Claramente, la opinión de Vollendorf es más positiva que la opinión de Brownlee. Sin embargo, aunque Vollendorf expresa mucha alabanza por las descripciones gráficas del abuso físico en citas como la anterior, su idea principal es que Zayas no aboga por una reconceptualización completa de la estructura patriarcal de la sociedad: “The texts do not present or endorse an alternative social organization. Rather, Zayas points out the many ways that the culture denies women the basic rights accorded to men and suggests significant change at both

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the behavioral and structural levels” (Vollendorf 104). En otras palabras, para Vollendorf, Zayas no presenta ni aprueba una organización social alternativa. Pero, para entender completamente la posición de Vollendorf, es importante notar los dos componentes del feminismo, que implican “…oppositional thought and…larger commitments to social reorganization” (Vollendorf 8). Según Vollendorf, sólo se puede encontrar uno de estos dos elementos en las obras de Zayas: los pensamientos de oposición. Por consiguiente, según la conclusión de este ensayo, en su fascinación con lo sangriento, Zayas no estaba escribiendo para inspirar un movimiento de la liberación de la mujer, a diferencia de las feministas después de ella. Sin embargo, mientras que Vollendorf parcialmente alaba la escritura de Zayas, Brownlee totalmente descarta la posibilidad de motivos feministas debido a la presencia de toda la subjetividad en sus obras. Para continuar, la posición del presente ensayo se sitúa más cerca del argumento presentado en el ensayo de Lisa Vollendorf que en el de Marina S. Brownlee. Por ejemplo, parece que Brownlee es demasiado dura e inquebrantable en su interpretación de Zayas como una escritora confundida y escurridiza. Por lo tanto, aunque Brownlee sugiere que ninguna de las obras de Zayas llega a cuestionar el sistema patriarcal, se puede argumentar que Zayas efectivamente denuncia este sistema misógino e intenta despertar una conciencia moral en sus lectores. Para demostrar esto, es importante tener en cuenta primero el objetivo de Lisis en la última novela de Desengaños amorosos: “…yo me he puesto aquí a desengañar a las damas y a persuadir a los caballeros para que no las engañen. Y ya que esto sea, por ser ancianos en este vicio, pues ellos son los maestros de los engaños y han sacado en las que los militan buena disciplina, no digan mal de la ciencia que ellos enseñan” (Zayas 106). El hecho de que Zayas resueltamente limita la narración a las protagonistas femeninas: sólo las mujeres pueden tener la

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voz narrativa, tal vez subraya su meta de hacer algo diferente para exponer la injusticia profundamente arraigada en la sociedad patriarcal, confirmando lo que Vollendorf nos dice. No obstante, como se demuestra en el ensayo crítico de Brownlee, no debemos simplemente aceptar que Zayas está cien por ciento de acuerdo con esta declaración de Lisis. Por lo tanto, ahora tenemos que analizar el resto de “Estragos que causa el vicio” para sacar conclusiones concretas sobre hasta qué punto los textos de Zayas convincentemente representan ideologías pro-mujer. En otras palabras, sólo podemos llegar a una buena respuesta cuando prestemos atención a lo que Zayas nos muestra en este cuento y no solamente a lo que ella nos menciona una sola vez al principio. Pero, antes de hacer esto, otra vez es útil entender el contexto de este “desengaño” específico de Lisis. Este desengaño se trata de Florentina, una mujer bonita que tiene una aventura con su cuñado, don Dionís, el esposo de su hermana y amiga íntima, Magdalena. Con la suposición de que don Dionís se casaría con Florentina si su esposa estuviera muerta, una sirvienta insiste en que Florentina trate de acusar a Magdalena de ser infiel. Debido a este sistema cruel, una noche don Dionís brutalmente mata a Magdalena y la mayoría de las otras personas de su casa después de ver al sirviente Fernando en el cuarto de Magdalena. Cuando él se da cuenta de que la ladina sirvienta y Florentina habían mentido, él mata a la sirvienta mientras que Florentina escapa a la calle con muchas heridas. Al fin de esta masacre terrible, don Dionís se quita la vida. Después de contar esta historia sangrante al hombre que la salva, Florentina decide ir al convento por el resto de su vida porque se siente muy culpable. Consecuentemente, Lisis toma la misma decisión y rompe su compromiso con don Diego delante de todos en su fiesta. Con todas estas muertes, se puede ver que el tema central de Desengaños amorosos que implica la violencia corporal contra la mujer definitivamente ocurre en “Estragos que causa el

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vicio.” Por ejemplo, una noche, después de ser informado equivocadamente que su esposa le ha engañado, don Dionís encuentra a su esposa durmiendo tranquilamente: “En tanto, don Dionís, ya de todo punto ciego con su agravio, entró adonde estaba su inocente esposa, que se había vuelto a quedar dormida con los brazos sobre la cabeza” (Zayas 137). Tomando su sueño inocente como una ofensa a su honor, don Dionís la mata brutalmente sin pensar: “…sacando la daga, la dio tantas puñaladas, cuantas su indignada cólera le pedía. Sin que pudiese ni aun formar un ¡ay! desamparó aquella alma santa el más hermoso y honesto cuerpo que conoció el reino de Portugal” (Zayas 137). En momentos alarmantes como este, que nos ofrecen una visión misógina y muestran la crueldad que infligen los hombres a los cuerpos inocentes de las mujeres, Zayas se enfoca en la crueldad y la violencia para enfatizar la necesidad de cambio. Además, en palabras de Lisa Vollendorf, “…through its repeated accounts of violence…, the pointedly sympathetic reading of Magdalena’s fate, and the descriptions of Florentina’s own wounds and recovery, [in this tale] it is difficult to miss the criticism of the hypocrisies and dangers to which the honor code subjects women” (Vollendorf 115). Sin embargo, aunque claramente se revela la injusticia en sus obras, no debemos pensar que Zayas es una feminista inquebrantable. En vez de esto, debemos categorizarla como una feminista incipiente porque durante su época sus textos fueron progresistas y demuestran una clara conciencia del estado de persecución en que se encontraba la mujer. Por lo tanto, sus obras no eran meramente para propósitos de entretenimiento. Aunque María de Zayas, una de las escritoras más importantes de su siglo, no estaba tratando de implementar un movimiento de liberación de la mujer en su tiempo, sí estableció una base clave del feminismo. No obstante, esto no es todo lo que ella logró con sus descripciones crudas de numerosos actos de violencia. Además, se puede argumentar que Zayas también estableció una base para el

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naturalismo, un movimiento literario que, de acuerdo a la historia de la literatura, no empezó hasta el siglo XIX. Según el Diccionario de términos literarios, la escritura naturalista “…utilizes realistic methods…to present, explicitly or implicitly, a view of experience that might be characterized as pessimistic determinism. It emphasizes the strength of external forces that obstruct human freedom…There is a tendency in naturalistic writing to look upon life as a downhill struggle with the only outcome in quiescence or death” (“Naturalism” 210). En otras palabras, en el texto naturalista, hay una tendencia a considerar la vida como una lucha cuesta abajo con la única salida en el reposo o la muerte. Se puede ver un ejemplo de estas características distintas del naturalismo en el cuento “Las medias rojas” de Emilia Pardo Bazán (1852-1921), una mujer que contribuyó al desarrollo del naturalismo en España. En este cuento breve, Ildara, la protagonista, es severa y brutalmente castigada por su cruel padre, el tío Clodio, en el momento en que ella le desobedece. Aunque ella trata de defender su cara con las manos, Pardo Bazán nos dice que en un instante de furor, el tío Clodio “…hirió primero la cabeza, luego el rostro, apartando las medrosas manecitas…El cachete más violento cayó sobre un ojo…Luego, el labrador aporreó la nariz…” (Pardo Bazán 17). Con esta descripción alarmante, que el lector puede visualizar fácilmente, Pardo Bazán enfatiza la posición inferior de la mujer y la posición dominante del hombre. Además, otra característica del naturalismo en este cuento es su retrato de Ildara como una joven sin esperanza cuando ella pierde su belleza y por consiguiente su sueño de escapar de su dura situación. Para Ildara, con su ojo tuerto, “…nunca más el barco la recibió…para llevarla hacia nuevos horizontes de holganza y lujo” (Pardo Bazán 20). Al fin, es claro que Ildara no tiene ninguna posibilidad de redención en su vida a causa de las fuerzas externas que obstaculizan su libertad.

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Sorprendentemente, aunque María de Zayas escribió Desengaños amorosos aproximadamente 200 años antes del nacimiento de Pardo Bazán, se puede encontrar las mismas características del naturalismo en “Estragos que causa el vicio.” Para empezar, Zayas no deja fuera ningún detalle cuando describe el suicidio de don Dionís: “Más adelante…estaba don Dionís, atravesado en su misma espada, que toda ella le salía por las espaldas, y él caído boca abajo, pegado el pecho con la guarnición, que bien se conocía haberse arrojado sobre ella, desesperado de la vida y aborrecido de su misma alma” (Zayas 120). Similar al momento climático en que el tío Clodio le pega a Ildara brutalmente, podemos visualizar este cadáver sangrante, traspasado por una espada. Para continuar, con la declaración de Lisis al fin de esta novela, Zayas nos sugiere que la mujer no puede escapar de los abusos del hombre sin ir al convento: “…estoy tan cobarde, que, como el que ha cometido algún delito, me acojo a sagrado y tomo por amparo el retiro de un convento…” (Zayas 151). Aquí, podemos ver el aspecto desesperado del naturalismo en la obra de Zayas, en que la mujer no tiene muchas opciones en su vida. Es evidente que Zayas merece nuestro respeto por su establecimiento de una base para los movimientos feministas posteriores a su tiempo. Lo asombroso de Zayas es que lo hizo en una manera completamente innovadora, usando elementos del naturalismo para tratar de luchar por la mujer en una manera incipiente. Aunque algunos, como Marina S. Brownlee, piensan que no debemos argumentar que exista una conexión entre las obras de Zayas y el feminismo, el hecho de que sus textos cuestionan las relaciones de género con el uso de aspectos definidores del naturalismo, sitúa a María de Zayas como una pionera importante en el campo del feminismo. Por esta razón, el título del ensayo de Lisa Vollendorf, que empieza con “Sin duda te causará

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admiraciĂłn,â&#x20AC;? no es una promesa falsa porque esta escritora del Siglo de Oro definitivamente hizo algo muy diferente y respetable con su vida.

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Bibliografía Boyer, Patsy H. Introduction. The Disenchantments of Love: A Translation of the “Desengaños amorosos.” María de Zayas. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1997. Print. 1-26. Boyer, Patsy H. Introduction. The Enchantments of Love: Amorous and Exemplary Novels. María de Zayas. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1990. Print. xi-xxxi. Brownlee, Marina S. “Elusive Subjectivity in María de Zayas.” Journal of Interdisciplinary Literary Studies. 6.1 (1994): 163-183. JSTOR. Web. 7 April 2010. Camino, Mercedes Maroto. “Spindles for Swords: The Re/Dis-Covery of María de Zayas’ Presence.” Hispanic Review. 62.4 (1994): 519-536. JSTOR. Web. 24 April 2010. Greer, Margaret R., and Elizabeth Rhodes. “Volume Editors’ Introduction.” Exemplary Tales of Love and Tales of Disillusion. Eds. Margaret R. Greer and Elizabeth Rhodes. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2009. Print. 1-32. “Naturalism.” Dictionary of World Literary Terms. Shipley, Joseph T. (Editor). Boston, Massachusetts: The Writer, Inc., 1970. Print. 210-211. Pardo Bazán, Emilia. “Las medias rojas.” Cuentos de la tierra. Fundación Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, 1998. 28 April 2010 <http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/servlet/SirveObras/73552849768917217824457/p000 0001.hth>. Vollendorf, Lisa. Introduction. Recovering Spain’s Feminist Tradition. Ed. Lisa Vollendorf. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2001. Print. 1-27. Vollendorf, Lisa. “‘No Doubt It Will Amaze You’: María de Zayas’s Early Modern Feminism.” Recovering Spain’s Feminist Tradition. Ed. Lisa Vollendorf. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 2001. Print. 103-120. Zayas, María de. “Estragos que causa el vicio.” Novelas ejemplares y amorosas and Desengaños amorosos. Ed. Sara Colburn-Alsop. Newark, Delaware: European Masterpieces, 2008. Print. 105-152.

Feminism: Mixed Messages Analyzed and the Truth about Black Feminism Revealed By Melissa Ramig

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Feminist theory has undergone many developments throughout the ages. However, most feminists, and people who read their literature, do not think about how feminist thoughts and the identity of the woman changes depending on the individual woman. There are many strong opinions in feminist literature, but do they apply to all women? No. This difference of opinions and views most commonly occurs based on one’s race, and specifically in black feminists in the United States. Culture and values have everything to do with how one shapes his or her identity, and the way one does this is not universal. Often, women are brought up to hold certain values more faithfully than women of other cultures or racial backgrounds. One of these values is motherhood—and it is the key factor as to how a black woman in the United States shapes her identity as a female and develops her sense of femininity versus that of a white woman. Black feminism differs majorly from popular white feminism, and this is a result of the lack of resources for black women to voice their opinions—but most importantly it is also a result of a difference of important values between racial groups: the value of motherhood being of the most important to the development of a black woman’s sense of self. It is first important to understand that there is a significant difference between black femininity and the ever-popular white feminist theory that is more widely circulated. People often forget that when reading a feminist work, the author is speaking from his or her point of view. One forgets that what the author is saying may or may not apply to everybody he or she is talking about. From my experience, the biggest difference lies in how a woman of each race views being a mother, which coincidentally makes up how most women live their lives. Now, it is true that not all women become mothers, however it is still a norm (and sometimes an expectation) in our society that women bear and raise children. For white women during the

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feminist movement, they did not want to be at home with the children and isolated from the working world. However, black women felt very differently. As a group, they usually thought very highly of their ability to bear children and raise them in the home. Black women often wanted to be at home with their children and spending time with them when they could. They often envied the white woman who could be at home all day with the children while the men worked, because it was often backwards in a black household. Bell hooks talks about this in her book, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. She says, “Black women would not have said motherhood prevented us from entering the world of paid work because we have always worked” and later, “Historically, black women have identified work in the context of family as humanizing labor, work that affirms their identity as women, as human beings showing love and care, the very gestures of humanity white supremacist ideology claimed black people were incapable of expressing” (hooks 133). Hooks states very clearly that motherhood is seen differently in the eyes of a black feminist. They take on the responsibility of being a mother with pride, and do what they can for their children rather than seeing this as something that is holding them back or withdrawing them from the outside world. Often where the white feminist saw raising children as isolating, black women saw it as invigorating. They often identified themselves through their children, whereas white feminists did not. One of the first things a black woman says when you ask who she is, after saying who they are married to (or not), is how many children they have. Hooks explains this idea when she states: Views on motherhood and work outside the home contrasted sharply with those expressed by white women’s liberationists. Many black women were saying, ‘We want more time to share with family, we want to leave the world of alienated work.’ Many white women’s liberationists were saying, ‘We’re tired of the

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isolation of the home, tired of relating only to children and husband, tired of being emotionally and economically dependent; we want to be liberated to enter the world of work (hooks, 134). These opposing views may be attributed to the circumstances of black women in the world that differed from those of white women. Almost all black women had to work to care for the family because there was a very limited number of jobs available for black men. Many women could find jobs as maids and mistresses in a white household, and these jobs were very plentiful. The circumstances in the past have forced black women to work their lives away, often not raising their children as they would want and spending much of the day away from them. This contrasts with the ideal white family, where there were many jobs for white men, and the white woman would not have to work. It was easy for the white woman to stay at home with the children and raise them herself. The gender roles were almost reversed in white and black families, specifically during the early to mid-20th century. Why has this aspect of black feminism—how it has been strengthened and developed by motherhood—never been very prominent in the typical feminist essay? The answer is simple: most feminists that had been published in the early developmental years of the feminist movement were white, middle-class women. These women “who dominate feminist discourse, who for the most part make and articulate feminist theory, have little or no understanding of white supremacy as a racial politic, of the psychological impact of class, of their political status within a racist, sexist, capitalist state” (hooks, 4). Basically, the feminists who articulated the feminist theory that is widely circulated throughout the U.S. did not include or consider the different circumstances of different groups of women in the United States, which therefore unfortunately excludes lower-class, working women and often women of color. They did not do

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this on purpose, but simply just as a result of lack of information of the world outside of their own. To them, motherhood is isolating, so they expressed this opinion in their works. However, this is why it has never really been articulated that maybe motherhood is not an oppressing power, but perhaps an uplifting part of life that women should take pride in; and black women really grasp the idea of being a mother and take it with authority. To black women, being a mother is not oppressing, but rather a privilege that only some have the blessing of experiencing—although this is not untrue for white women as well, it is a more profound ideal within the mindset of black women. This is proven in sociological studies. One observational study looked at the “Concept of Motherhood Among African American Women”. The conductors of the study saw many patterns in their work and one conclusion they came to as to why motherhood is so important to black women and shaping their own identity is that they have a whole different set of more difficult circumstances to overcome compared to white women simply because they are of a different racial background. This difficult obstacle brings them closer in union with their family and especially their children, since they are raising them to overcome these obstacles in their future as well. Not only do they come in second when it comes to sex, but also when it comes to race. The hierarchy of racial and sex-based power is known as the following: white men in first, then white women, black men in third, and black women coming in last. They are at the bottom of the food chain, making life extremely difficult. This is one of the reasons why black women identify and treasure their children so much when they have them, because they want their children to make it in the world better than they have—women want their children to

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move higher up in the hierarchy and improve the problem of racial inequality. In the observational study it states: The patterns and themes that emerged in [one part of the study] illuminate the complex task that African American mothers face in communicating the insidious effects of racism to their children while simultaneously integrating a legacy of pride along with the values, culture, and tradition of the Black community. African American mothers have the monumental task of teaching their children to successfully negotiate racial discrimination and prejudice without damaging their self-esteem or racial identity. The pressure to minimize the damaging effects of racism can be a major source of stress not shared by White mothers (Fouquier).

This could be another reason that feminism and femininity are seen differently through the eyes of a Black woman—the fact that they have to overcome racism on top of sexism, which is an overwhelming challenge. This idea of motherhood strengthening the female identity is strongly articulated in the texts that we have read in class. The most classic example is Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs. The storyline itself can clearly articulate the importance of motherhood to the young, African American slave. Also, the motives behind the main character, Linda Brent’s, actions demonstrate how valuable her children are to her, even when she cannot “legally” be entitled to raising them under the curse of slavery. After Linda escapes her master, she does something completely unexpected and rather unheard of: she stays in the same neighborhood as him, even though he is tracking her down and could possibly kill her if he finds her. At first, it sounds absolutely crazy and ridiculous. If I were in that situation, I would want to run as far away as possible. However, it is clear that her motives behind this decision lie in the eyes of her two beautiful children. They are living with their grandmother, and seem to be free (although we find out they technically are not). They do not necessarily get to attend school, but they are

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not being raised like slaves and do not have to work for anyone or call a white man “master”. Linda Brent hides in the crawl space of her mother’s attic, in the same house as her children, just so that she can be close to them as she has not been able to in the past. The space where she stays every day for seven years is extremely small and cramped—she can barely sit up without hitting her head. She goes through many sicknesses and fights through many cold winters, yet remains strong with the hope that she can hear her children play and laugh every day. That is one determined mother, risking her life and enduring the torture just to be with her children. This endurance is often unheard of in women in general, but when reading this book the reader can feel her pride she has in her children and know that she will do anything and everything it takes to protect them. Even in the way that Linda Brent talks about her children in the story you can feel the love that she has for them. When she did have the opportunity to be with her children, she was always looking out for their future. This is seen when she talks about a past experience with a white woman and says: [My father’s old mistress] clasped a gold chain round my baby’s neck. I thanked her for this kindness; but I did not like the emblem. I wanted no chain to be fastened on my daughter, not even if its links were gold. How earnestly I prayed that she might never feel the weight of slavery’s chain, whose iron teeth entereth into the soul! (Jacobs, 220) Even though her daughter was not yet a slave, she could not even bare to imagine such a dreadful thing happening to her child. She was going to make sure it never did if she could help it at all. She even goes on to say that she “would rather see [her children] killed then have them given up to [her master’s] power” (Jacobs 221). It is very clear the love and compassion

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that this woman has for her children. This can often be generalized for most Black women as well. Another novel that we have read that articulates the strength rooted in motherhood is The Street by Ann Petry. The main character, Lutie, is faced with a different set of circumstances than Linda Brent, mostly because of the time difference. Lutie lives in a more recent time and alone with her son, Bub. She left her husband because he was cheating on her, took her son with her to Harlem to live with her, and did not once hesitate to think about how hard it would be for her. She had to work a lot to pay for the apartment she lived in, which in turn allowed her very minimal time to raise her son and keep him out of trouble (which is Lutie’s biggest fear). She does not want Bub to grow up in the streets of Harlem, because he will ultimately be influenced by the bad things going on around him. She has exhausted almost all of her options, but she cannot move away from the street as it is the only place that has affordable apartments for her. She could work more, but then she would almost never see Bub and the street would gulp him up in a heartbeat. Lutie is constantly faced with this conflict between the love that she has for her son and her oppressing circumstances. All she wants is a proper place to raise her son, and for him to be more than what most people expect him to be: a black male who shines shoes for a living. Lutie’s relationship with her son is so strong, and she cares about him so much, that she would do whatever it takes to make him successful in life. This example comes up when Bub makes a shoeshine box himself, and starts shining people’s shoes outside of the apartment building where they live. When Lutie finds out, she is angry because that is not what she wants her son to think he is supposed to do with his life. Bub merely thinks he is helping his mom out by earning some extra money, but she tells him that “it’s the way that [he]was trying

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to earn money that made [her] mad” (Petry, 70). She expands this idea when she tells him, “You see, colored people have been shining shoes and washing clothes and scrubbing floors for years and years. White people seem to think that’s the only kind of work they’re fit to do. The hard work. The dirty work. The work that pays the least”. Then later adds: “I’m not going to let you being at eight doing what white folks figure all eight-year-old colored boys ought to do. For if you’re shining shoes at eight, you’ll probably be doing the same thing when you’re eighty. And I’m not going to have it” (Petry, 70). This shows the social pressures that black families often have to deal with. Lutie does not want her son, whom she cares so much about, to have to experience the same social pressures that she has experienced as a Black female. Their relationship is very strong, even though Lutie does not get to spend as much time with him as she wishes she could because she is working so much. They are so close, because they are united together to stand up against an opposition, which is the street that they live on and is personified as being an evil thing that keeps black individuals from moving beyond their social class and doing things that are unexpected of them. The conflict of racial problems is not experienced in a white household, and that is why it is often overlooked in popular feminist literature. This conflict leads to motherhood being valued much higher in black homes than in white homes most of the time. In no way should this lead one to believe that white women do not value motherhood, but it should lead one to suggest that it is seen differently in the eyes of a black woman than those of a white woman, regardless of social class. This being said, the way a black woman perceives and values motherhood with such significance, leads one to develop herself as a woman around being a

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mother. This sense of motherhood is a key factor in how a Black woman identifies with herself and finds her sense of feminism: black feminism.

Ramig 11 Works Cited

1. Fouquier, Katherine F. "The Concept of Motherhood Among Three Generations of African American Women." Journal of Nursing Scholarship (2011). Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. 2. Hooks, Bell. Feminist Theory from Margin to Center. Cambridge (Mass.): South End, 2000. Print. 3. Jacobs, Harriet. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. New York: Modern Library, 2004. Print. 4. Petry, Ann. "3." The Street, by Ann Petry. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1974. Print.