American Culture and Identity
28 03 2007The second question being considered during this unit is: What does the way women are depicted in contemporary fiction say about our culture and identity? Evaluate the purpose of presenting women in this way in your novel.
I think that as the novel progresses, we see a lot of growth in the women in the novel. Juliana starts actually being aware of whats going on around her and the chaperone starts loosening up a little. I still think Juliana is a tool though because she falls in love with the pirate. She needs to start recognizing the difference between what happens in the books she reads and real life. Isabel is still the coolest one, although I like the pirate’s mother-in-law, but i can’t remember her name. The one thing Juliana has going for her is that she wanted to free the slaves, so at least she can recognize evil when she sees it. Obviously this doesn’t stop her from falling in love with the pirate though.
I have no idea what Allende is trying to show with Juliana’s actions. I certaintly don’t think that she is complimentary to women. Maybe Isabel will finally step up to the plate and start using all her skills.
-Robb
I agree with Robb when he says that Allende isn’t very complimentary towards women in this book. One of the only times Allende shows strength in the women characters is when Isabel finally “steps up” and helps free Diego from the hacienda by dressing up as Zorro and distracting Moncada’s men. The only other women that show strength are Toypurnia and White Owl. “The two women’s reputations as visionaries had spread beyond the mountains, and Indians from other tribes traveled from afar to consult them” (328). They are the only ones whose strength and abilities are far-reaching and extraordinary.
After reading the epilogue, much of the depiction of women in the story make sense. We find out that Isabel is the narrator of the story and it is fitting that she would be shown as the “coolest one,” as Robb said, and that she would depict the other women as weak and incapable.
Despite the fact that women aren’t depicted as very strong in this book, this piece of work shows the change in roles of women between the early 19th century and today. In the early 19th century, as shown in the novel, women are more or less at the command of the men to whom they are married or their fathers who make the decisions for them. However, today women are much more independent and strong. All in all, I don’t believe that this piece of fiction represents our culture and identity as much as it represents the change in culture and identity that we have experience over the past 200 years.
-Dan
Dan you are a fine young fellow and make a fine point. In my book Bastard Out of Carolina (underlined) women are, for the most part, controlled by men. Although they are depicted as strong, they do not use their strength. The women let themselves be controlled because that is what is expected. I see some definite similarities in these two novels.
Dan you are a fine young fellow and make a fine point. In my book Bastard Out of Carolina (underlined) women are, for the most part, controlled by men. Although they are depicted as strong, they do not use their strength. The women let themselves be controlled because that is what is expected. I see some definite similarities in these two novels.
-Jack Harriman Gross
As Dan said, the description of women in the book most definitely makes more sense after reading the epilogue. Isabel though, i think, portrays women negatively the way she does more because she is jealous as opposed to because she thinks she is better. More often than not, the people she portrays as weak are beautiful women such as her sister Juliana or the Gypsy woman Amalia. Even though i agree with Robb and it was kind of lame that Juliana fell for the pirate Jean Lafitte, Juliana fell in love with him and is just following her heart. This is nothing she can really be blamed for or thought down upon for.
However, there are women in the book who Isabel does portray favorably besides herself. The other women who are portrayed in the book favorably by Isabel are women she, and everyone else, seems to hold great respect for. These women are Diego’s mother and grandmother, Toypurnia and White Owl.
Again…like Dan said, the women in the novel are portraying the change in the role of women in today’s culture. White Owl and Toypurnia show the strong, independent women who aren’t “letting men run the show for them.” Juliana and others are portrayed as weak and pretty feeble-minded, but i still think that is because Isabel is jealous that everyone (mostly Diego) loves Juliana (and some others).
-Sam
I think this story sounds very interesting. It feels to me a though thus far it is a big complicated love story. It’s interesting how Isabel seems to portray women she doesn’t like as rather unfavorable. It almost reminds me of middleschool?
As Sam said, Allende does not really write this book in the perspective of women in mind. Most of the women are annoying snobs and aren’t very much liked, such as Eulalia, who is a rich brat. The only women i can respect are Isabel, White Owl, Toypurnia, and sort of Amalia. Amalia, in my opinion, wwas the most understanding of them all, but i think that she was too spiritual and believed that she needs to run away when Zorro saved her and she believed it was the spirit of her dead husband. I think this is co mpletely foolish and she shouldnt do that, but it was afterall her culture. Juliana is one of those girls who’s hot and knows it, so she’s a little arrogant and it seems like, at least in the beginning, tries to create a lot of competition for herself. Light – in-the-night did not do anything bad and is another women that I would respect.
All these things cannot exactly say something about our culture and identity as of now as this book took place in the 19th century, but it really does still apply as men are portrayed as the more heroic (Zorro – Diego) and capable people who have the most control, whether women like it or not.
- Alex