Women Writing Worldwide Spring 2023 Blog

Life and Death in Shanghai / Nien Cheng By- Ava Daniels "These handcuffs are to punish you for your intransigence. You will wear them until you are ready to confess" (110). The quote above was taken from the first page of the excerpt written by Nien Cheng. Throughout this reading, these handcuffs were very significant and important to the true story she is telling. Cheng is being held in a prison for a crime that that the guards are trying to get her to confess about; Instead, she refuses to confess to something she did not do. Prior to the handcuffs, Cheng was called into an interrogation room to try and get her to confess. She undergoes numerous forms of torture by multiple guards at this prison. They then realized that they are going to get nothing out of her and proceed to put the handcuffs on and place her in a very small and dark holding cell. Not only do the handcuffs, which are very tight, cause excruciating pain to Cheng's hands, they also start to affect every a...

A life of her own / Emilie Carles By- Ava Daniels "'So this is it?' looking at me if I was a worm. Those words hurt, and I remembered them for a long time". (90). The quote above takes place when Emilie Carles meets her husbands, Jean Carels, mother for the first time. Before this, Carels introduces the readers to her mother-in-law by explaining how she was a "phenomenon in her own way" (90). This quote stood out to me, not because the mother was being very impolite when meeting her daughter-in-law for the first time, but instead because throughout this excerpt, one of the main themes seems to be image. How you dress, how you look to the public, what you do for a living, etc. This can also be seen when Jean is asking for Emilie's hand in marriage. The father and, more so, uncle were being very rude and disapproving. In fact, when reading this it seemed like there was mixed emotions from both sides of the families. This also opens conversations for the...

Testament of Youth-Vera Brittain By- Ava Daniels  "Till we meet again, Here or in the Hereafter" (86) In this excerpt from Testament of Youth by Vera Brittain, it takes place during a war between Australia. Towards the beginning of the reading, we learn that Brittain has an older brother fighting in the war named Edward and hat they have heard nothing from him for a little over some days. As the reader, I already had assumptions that her brother was killed in the war. Typically, especially in earlier years like this, a while without contact with a family member or friend in the war does not mean anything good. A little later in the excerpt, we find out through telegram that Edward was killed. Upon finding out this information, Vera could not even gather enough thoughts to respond, instead, replying with "no answer" and passing the telegram to her father. I can not blame her for this reaction. Coming from someone who has a great relationship with my parents and sibl...

The italics are mine / Nina Berberova By- Ava Daniels "I knew how to love people and things then, but I also knew how to hate"  (73) I think that this quote above taken from Nina Berberova's excerpt The Italics are Mine, really sets up an understanding for then authors personality and her dislikes. After this statement, she goes on to list things she hates such as family spirit, paternalism, and anything having to do with the nest. Now when referencing the nest, this part stood out to me. What was the "nest" and what was Berberova referencing. She talks about how she never felt free while in the nest. My understanding is that the nest is another name for something having to do with her family life or where she lives. Maybe her family was strict and she never felt free to do anything. The topic of freedom also comes up when Berberova speaks on choosing a profession at the beginning of the excerpt. She talks about writing a list of professions regardless her gende...

The Prime of Life / Simone de Beauvoir By- Ava Daniels "The most intoxicating aspect of my return to Paris in September, 1929, was the freedom I now possessed" (53) . This very impactful quote set up the topic of the whole excerpt from The Prime of Life by Simone de Beauvoir. A lot of the focus is based around freedom and women's decisions when it comes to family and marriage. Throughout this, she speaks on not wanting biological children or a husband. Back then, this was not ideal for women. Women were seen as caretakers for their family who stay home which was the opposite of what Beauvoir wanted for herself. Her relationship with her family also had an impact on the reason for this excerpt as well as her views towards family life. Because her relationship with her family was not good, this leaned her towards her opinion on family life. She did not want to be the traditional women that society’s standards wanted, instead, she wanted to be free and make decisions on her ...

Maya Angelou- Documentary By- Ava Daniels Before viewing this documentary, based on the life of Maya Angelou, my knowledge of her timeline was very limited. I believe that the information taught in school about Angelou was very broad and left out multiple details. If I am being quite honest, before watching I just knew that Maya Angelou was a poet and had relations and impact with the ivil Rights movement. I had no idea what events took place that led up to her trials and tribulations as well as the events that led her to start writing and memorizing poetry.  At the beginning of the documentary, Angelou's upbringing was talked about along with a traumatic experience that sparked her love and talents for poetry and expressive writing. Because she spoke of her mothers boyfriend raping her, she believes that her words were what caused him to be murdered. This reminds me of how people believe in speaking something into existence. Due to this, Maya Angelou became mute for 5 years. Durin...

 MAYA ANGELOU By- Ava Daniels

Introduction- Thoughts and Opinions By- Ava Daniels After reading the introduction of the book titled The Norton Book of Women's Lives, I have many take-aways and thoughts about the author, a few questions regarding things that I did not understand, along with annotated thoughts as well as a personal interpretation of the authors choice of words.  Phyllis Rose, (born October 26, 1942), mentioned her upbringing throughout the introduction of this novel mostly in the form of relating her childhood to many different memoirs written by different women. Things such as how she was always interested in women's lives, more specifically, "wild" women's lives. She also points out how a lot of the women's voices available back then were not people that she related to or was interested in and were also all the same; white women who were only important to the public for limited reasons. After reading this and thinking about it on a more personal level, I realized how much ...