By Reina Ackerberg Before writing this post, I took a moment to reflect on the norms and ideas I have learned throughout life from my own experiences and those I have been taught by my parents and siblings. Growing up in a family where a religion wasn’t practiced, I was invited to choose how IContinue reading “The Beauty in Change”
Category Archives: Short Story
Wealthy Women and Beautiful Men: Does Social Status Override Appearance?
by: Kelly Dayton Robert Bly’s “Iron John” discusses the relationship between status and appearance, and emphasizes the importance of presentation of the self. When the King’s son appears in the presence of royalty as the cook’s assistant, he is scolded for his sloppy appearance. Immediately, it is clear that the importance of looks is veryContinue reading “Wealthy Women and Beautiful Men: Does Social Status Override Appearance?”
Nine Parts of Desire: Nine Portrayals of War and Violence by Women
Nine Parts of Desire highlights the lives of nine women as they fight back against traditional expectations set in a rapidly changing political climate. The play is set during the US-Iraqi war, so the background of the stories of these women is suffering, death, prayer, uncertainty, violence, and political turmoil. Layal was a famous painterContinue reading “Nine Parts of Desire: Nine Portrayals of War and Violence by Women”
Segregation vs Assimilation: Two Sides of a Bad Coin
by: Anika Hahn In the short story “My Son the Fanatic” by Hanif Kureishi, part of the family assimilates and another part overly separates, depriving the London community of diversity and evolution of culture. Parvez and his wife are from Lahore, a city in Pakistan, meaning that the family has a darker complexion than theContinue reading “Segregation vs Assimilation: Two Sides of a Bad Coin”
Fanaticism—the Malignant Inflexibility of our Cultural Beliefs
By Taggert Smith Our discussion of Hanif Kureishi’s short story “My Son the Fanatic” spanned a wide range of topics, but by the end came to focus on the question of who was in the right—Parvez or his “fanatical” son Ali. To my view the tragic emotional divide of father and son implicates a cancerousContinue reading “Fanaticism—the Malignant Inflexibility of our Cultural Beliefs”
Nature vs Nurture: What Do Parents Think?
Last week in class we had a long conversation about Hanif Kureishi’s “My Son the Fanatic” and what it shows about religion and parenting. The first time reading through the story we read about a boy, Ali, who begins to show a difference in attitude. His father, Parvez, was curious as to why these changesContinue reading “Nature vs Nurture: What Do Parents Think?”
“The Yellow Wallpaper”: A Look At Hysteria & Female Domestication
I remember when I first read “The Yellow Wallpaper”. It was in my American Literature class with Mr. Barry in 10th grade. I understood that it was a feminist piece, one that pointed out the domestication of women and subjugation to their male counterparts in history. I recall being terrified when I went to bedContinue reading ““The Yellow Wallpaper”: A Look At Hysteria & Female Domestication”
The Victorian Cage: A Woman’s Fascinating Obsession with Hideous Yellow Wallpaper
by Jenna Thrasher When reading Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” you can’t help but feel the same sense of entrapment that the leading lady endures. Since she can’t tell her husband or his sister what is really going on inside, she releases all of her thoughts onto paper, trying to find a way toContinue reading “The Victorian Cage: A Woman’s Fascinating Obsession with Hideous Yellow Wallpaper”
Constructions of Gender in Literature 