An American Brat

This novel by Bapsi Sidhwa is a coming of age novel showing the effects of coming to America from another culture. Feroza is sent to America from her native culture in Pakistan to try and fix her. Her family hoped that by sending her to America it would change her for the better. Feroza ending up liking America and the tradions there. She found that she was able to get away with much more than in her own culture. She discovered how differently women were allowed to act in America. Instead of her short visit, she ends up staying and attending college where she falls in love with a Jewish boy, David. When her family finds out she plans to marry David, Ferozas mother goes to America to change her mind. Feroza is convinced it is not right of her to marry outside of her culture. I thought this book was interesting, to see how America may appear to others and how much it differs from other cultures.

Breath, eyes, memory

Breath, eyes, memory is a novel written by Edwidge Danticat. It is about the life of a girl named Sophie. Sophie grows up in Haiti with her Aunt, while her mother is in America. Eventually her mother sends for Sophie and she is torn away from her Aunt. Sophie lives with her mother and learns much about her past and what causes the nightmares she has each night. Sophie's' mother was raped at the age of sixteen, producing Sophie. This rape is how her mother got out of the embarrassing testing that is done to daughters. Sophie can see how affected her mother still is about being raped. It is not until a few years later when Sophie and her mother move to a new house, that Sophie is introduced to the testing. Her mother works all the time so Sophie becomes friends with the neighbor Joesph, and begins to have feelings for him. Coming home late one night, Sophie is required to be tested. This continues often after the first time. It is so devastating to Sophie that she actually mutilates herself to cause her to fail the test. She is then kicked out of her mothers home and marries Joseph. Sophie went through all that pain just to keep her mother from testing her.
This novel shows how traditions have changed from the past. In Sophie's mothers time, purity was the most important thing. It was still important for Sophie also, but moving into another culture was a chance for Sophie's mother to change things. If her mother had only realized the connection between her own testing and her rape and the effect in had on her life, she could have saved Sophie from also going through it. Sophie did take an alternate route rather than committing suicide like her mother, by getting treatment from a sexual therapist. I thought this novel was very disturbing at times. It is hard to read of painful things that happen to people because of their culture.

The Joys of Motherhood

The novel, The Joys of Motherhood I thought was great. I really enjoyed reading this novel. The novel is of the life of Nnu Ego. It explains the rewards and the downfalls of motherhood. With her first husband she could not have children, so the husband found no use for her. With her second husband she had a total of nine children, with seven living. Times seemed to get very hard for Nnu Ego and her children. Especially when her husband was at war and she was left to care for them all. It seemed like everytime something bad happened Nnu Ego had something that she was waiting for to make things better. In the begininng having children would make her life better, and then when Naife returned from the war everything would be fine. At the end Nnu Ego seemed to be waiting for her oldest son to finish with college and take good care of her like the sons' of other women she was acuainted with. That did not happen and she ended up dying sad and lonely. I did not like the ending. She worked her whole life to raise her children, doing everything she could for them. I thought that it showed how women are thought of in society today, all around the world. Some places worse than others, but it is always expected that women should have children, and it is always expected that the women will take care of them. If you have children your life is no longer just yours, it has to change in whatever way needed for your children, no mattter if you wanted it a different way.

Annie John

Annie John is a coming of age story about a young girl in her adolescent years. A major theme in this book is the relationship between Annie and her mother. They seem to have a relationship not typical of a girl Annie's age. Annie spent most of her time with her mother and became very close. She spent her days admiring her mother. Annie was a good student and did not cause much trouble. When Annie started to lose the closeness with her mother, she decided to befriend Gwen and the Red Girl. Annie starts to act rebellious against her mother for making her feel left out of their relationship they once had. At the end of the book, when Annie is leaving, she goes through her memories of the town and the people. I think that Annie realized that she needed to go off on her own, and be away from her mother, even though they were not that close anymore. I believe that by her leaving, she will come to realize how much her family and her home town mean to her.

The House on Mango Street

"The House on Mango Street" is a year long description of the life of Esperanza. One of the main focuses in this book, is Esperanza's wish to move away from Mango Street and to have her own house. Esperanza is trying to identify herself, and comes to find exactly what she does not want to be identified with. She does not want to become part of Mango Street or like any of the other women living there. She does not want to marry and be under the control of a husband. Rafaela is an example of what Esperanza does not want to become. Rafaela, "gets locked indoors because her husband is afraid she will run away because she is too beautiful to look at."(p.79) Rafaela spends her time looking out the window, which is something that happens frequently by the women on Mango Street. Esperanza refuses to become Mango Street, and continues her push to leave.

Kindred

Reading Octaiva Butlers novel, Kindred gives you deep insight to the horrible life involved with slavery. Dana, one of the main characters in the novel, repeatedly gets taken out of her life and put into a life and time that is much earlier. Each time she is taken out of her life, she has to fight to stay out of trouble, or to stay alive. She is an Africian American woman and is also married to a white man, something not accepted back that time. Her husband also gets taken back with her once, and we get to see the experiences he had in this time period, which were much different form Dana. I think that each of Danas experiences in this other time period were ways to inform her of her ancestors history. When reading the novel, the author seems to try to make you feel like you are experiencing it. First hand experience is the best way to learn, but not usually possible, but Kindred trys to make it as first hand as possible.

The Bluest Eye is about the different lives of three African American girls. Their characters and lives are described in so much detail that you feel like you are almost there. Each character had their own problems and attitudes. Pecola, I believe is the one with the most hardship. Reading about everything that happened to her was very hard and made me feel very sorry for her. When it got to the part about Cholly, I was completely disgusted. No matter what happens in someones life, I do not see how they could ever do something like that to any child, especially their own! With everything she went through she just wanted to have blue eyes. When reading, I was not sure how that made me feel, to read that she wanted blue eyes, like the white girls, to make everything better. Being white myself, I guess it makes me feel sort of sad. That people were treated so terribly that they would think that way. I do not believe that it has to do with what race you are, but how you decide to make your life. Realizing that these young girls did not have much control at the time, but later in life they would have their chance to make it better.