Reflection on "Girl" by Jamaica Kincaid

              "Girl" is a short fiction story written by the Antiguan-American author Jamaica Kincaid. It is based on the authors life experience with her mother. Throughout the story the mother naggingly teaches her daughter how to behave and what to do in order to become a "respectable" woman in society. The story is written in a Peculiar way, it seems more like a monologue than a story, the mother speaks all the way while the daughter can only manage to say two sentences. This makes the reader feel irritated as the daughter must feel. It points out the relationship between gender roles and social acceptance.

                In my experience living in a relatively modern Caribbean island there are still a few noticeable gender roles that are still taught. Women are mainly in charge of the household, but are expected to be well educated and as professional as possible. Men are still supposed to be the "strong ones" but work is slightly more important than studies. In both genders it is expected to have a spouse and create a family  by the age of 25-30. As a child I was taught how to manage a household, I had house related chores that I had to comply with, my brother on the other hand had less chores and was not punished as severely as I was if he skipped them. Many times I felt angry and jealous of him because of this. Now that I am older I choose when and what chores to do. I help in the household as much as I can but I prefer to focus on my studies.

http://www.slideserve.com/dyanne/girl-jamaica-kincaid

Reflection on "The use of Force" by William Carlos Williams

"The Use of Force" is a short story written by the American author William Carlos Williams. It is about a doctor in the 1920's - 30's that makes home visits. There is an outbreak of diphtheria (a deadly disease) going around and he is called to examine a little girl who is believed to have such disease. He faces the fact that his young patient's family has the child quite spoiled, making him have to improvise an efficient way of communication and examination. As he tries to examine the child he struggles with her strong will not wanting to open her mouth, ending in his use of violent force to overpower the child.

                Throughout the story the doctor talks from his own point of view, letting the reader get into his mind and his reasoning. He justifies his use of violence as protection and prevention for the child though he guiltily admits his enjoyment of the battle. The question is: Are his methods, feelings and confessions fair? Or is he just being a sadistic physician?

                From my point of view, the doctor is being pretty human. As a young Sunday school preschool teacher assistant I have dealt with small rambunctious children. I have had to wrestle children in order to prevent them from swallowing duplo legos,  bouncy balls and many other small items you would have never imagined could fit in their mouths. Also I have had to negotiate and sometimes act firmly in order to feed them. I have experienced having to run behind them and forcefully grab them in mid air before they smash their heads against the walls or send flying a plastic kiddy chair at me or another child (yes it is possible for a chair to fly, those kids are stronger than they seem). I enjoy the thrill of running  and having eyes all over the place but I certainly do not enjoy using force on the kids. The fear of hurting them instead of protecting them makes you really think twice before you do anything.

                I would say the doctor was right in applying force to examine the child, diphtheria is a deadly disease and a diagnosis was crucial for her survival. I do not agree with his enjoyment of the violence produced of their struggle.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13555711-the-use-of-force

An Intro

Hello! My name is Delmarie. I am a student at the University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras campus. My major is in Natural Sciences and I am studying towards becoming a large animal vet. I enjoy reading, sleeping, swimming and eating chocolate.
This blog was created as a project for my English 3102 class, taught by professor Cynthia Pittmann. In this introductory post I will talk a little about a collage I made for this class recently. It's mainly about the TV series I love, but it also has a few stickers (because I had to fill up the empty spaces somehow!). The collage is all over my class writing journal, where I write down all my first thoughts during 10 minutes every day.

So here are the photos:

 The front part (shown in the first picture)  has images of my ultimate favorite TV shows and movies. The image at the bottom right side of the notebook has my favorite cartoon show called "The Amazing World of Gumball". Its based on the extremely corny and bizarre life of a cat and his pet fish with legs. I love this show because beneath all the craziness and stupidity it presents, there is a message of social criticism which really makes me laugh. The top left image is of a very old TV show called "M*A*S*H" which was based on the doctors that treated the wounded at the front during the Korean war. It is very funny and also contains a good dose of social criticism. I enjoy watching Scorpion (top right) because it has some science and lots of action. Star Wars is in the bottom left corner because I have seen all the movies with my dad since I was a little girl (he taught me to love them). And of course I had to put an image of the Minions because I am obsessed with them for some reason I cannot explain. 

At the back of the notebook (second picture) I placed images of other shows I enjoy. Call the Midwife (top left) and Downton Abbey (bottom right) are drama series that are packed with interesting historical facts and present how life was years ago. Galavant (center left) is an extremely funny musical series that mixes medieval times with elements of today. I put an image of the Mythbusters (center right) because I love watching them do science experiments, specially the ones that explode. The Hunger Games (top left) is my favorite book series.  Finally, at the bottom right corner I put a sticker that reminded me of the times I go out with my friends.

The images on this collage represent part of my personal tastes and part of my view of society.