A femist voice

Sylvia Plath is one of those writers that I thoroughly enjoy. Maybe it's the strong feminist voice she uses or maybe it's the way she connects a resentment for her father to the resentment for her ex-husband to the resentment of the male population. Sylvia Plath struggles with the traditional roles of women of being submissive the the superior male. Much like many of the women today, Plathy hated that role. I don't think society does it on purpose. I think that the traditional roles assumed by men and women are because well they're traditional, passed down from generation to generation. Women make the dinner, raise the kids, keep the house clean, and tend to the garden. Men work hard, make the money, and typically are not around much. Now I don't associate myself with the strong voiced feminists of today but I do understand their arguments. I personally don't mind having dinner on the table when my husband walks in the door as long as it's not expected or demanded. I really don't mind raising the kids as long as I'm given a chance to be me and have time alone. I don't mind cleaning house as long as I am not doing it alone, afterall I don't recall throwing dirty boxers on the floor before my shower. If I didn't have a brown thumb, I'm sure gardening would be fun. I do intend to be a career woman and do intend to make my own name. I don't want to be known as Rebecca, Grant Kooima's wife. I want to be known as Rebecca Kooima and wouldn't mind Grant being known as Rebecca Kooima's husband. I may not hold that strong feminist voice that Sylvia Plath has captured but I can relate. I have always loved Sylvia Plath and I think I figured out why. She is a writer that has captured the struggle that women have had for centuries to have equal rights. I like that in a writer. I like that Sylvia Plath has captured such a strong feminist voice and she can reach out to the poetry, well, disadvantaged like me.

Top Ten List

I was quite relieved after reading the two stories. Both O'Conner and Ellison write at a level that allow me to see into the world they are trying to draw their readers into. I've said it before, literature is not my forte. I found myself, while reading Ellison, to be picking out different elements of the story all on my own. I found the symbolism of the American flag, I found the racial tensions, and the tensions of sexism laced throughout the story. I walked away feeling like an English major. I walked away feeling a great sense of accomplishment. Following Ellison I read O'Conner. O'Conner, when just scratching the surface of her story, seems to be just a writer merely for entertainment. I began to sit and wonder why she wrote the story, surely it could not be for just entertainment. The story would not have been included in a Norton anthology had it been for pure entertainment. Then it hit me. O'Conner was a true postmodernist writer. The idea that old myths don't work and yet nothing can really work. O'Conner captured this with her character, Joy (my personal favorite). I caught myself actually laughing (as horrible as it is) when the bible salesman stole her leg. How did she get home? How did she get down out of the loft? What a fool! I had even seen that coming! These two stories have made my top ten list for this course along with Anne Bradstreet's "The Prologue." Very enjoyable!