Clarice's Blog for Women's Writing Worldwide

  3/27 381 From Motherwit by Onnie Lee Logan I am from the south and something I have seen first-hand is the stereotype that comes with having a strong accent. People naturally assume you are unintelligent if you have a heavy accent, and I like the way that this reading disproves that. Although her original dialect is written in her accounts, Logan is obviously extremely skilled and intelligent. She describes all the steps to her delivery process, and it is easy to recognize how experienced Logan is. She keeps everything clean, she knows what tools to use, and the best practices for delivering.  Personally, I am very scared of childbirth. After reading about her experiences I was reminded of that fear, but if I had someone taking care of me while I was in labor, I would want it to be Logan. I think other readers can relate to this feeling as well. In a way, the style of how it is written to match the exact way she talks makes it seem more personal, and the reader is able to s...

3/22 280 From Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman by Nisa “My father hit me, but I kept crying. I probably would have cried the whole night, but finally, he got up and said, “I’m taking you and leaving you out in the bush for the hyenas to kill. What kind of child are you? If you nurse your sibling’s milk, you'll die!” He picked, carried me away from camp and set me down in the bush. He shouted, “Hyenas! There’s meat over here… Hyenas! Come and take this meat!” Then he turned and started to walk back to the village (638).  This quote was one of many alarming and surprising details of Nisa’s life. Physical violence and verbal abuse are so normalized in her culture. While reading Nisa’s life, a reader that is not familiar with the lives of women in African nomad tribes experiences a culture shock. I think reading this passage is important because it stresses how different people can be based on where they live and how they grow up. Not all cultures value the same things our cu...

  3/22 327 From The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston  “... She was neat while I was messy, my hair tangled and dusty. My dirty hands broke things. Also I had had the mysterious illness. And there were adventurous people inside my head to whom I talked. With them I was frivolous and violent, orphaned. I was white and had red hair, and I rode a white horse” (457). This quote once again circles back to the theme of feeling dirty or unclean due to feeling self conscious or inadequate. Similar to young Maya Angelou’s feelings in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings , Kingston feels ugly, isolated, and misunderstood. These feelings are a result of the “unhomeliness” and “double consciousness” she experiences while trying to live in two completely different worlds. “Sometimes I hated the ghosts for not letting us talk; sometimes I hated the secrecy of China” (455). The “ghosts” are white people, and this quote gives us insight into how torn Kingston feels.  The reader receives ...

  3/20 292 From West with the Night by Beryl Markham “Edible game is scarce on the Yatta, and the swollen rivers would hardly subside within a week. Given time, I knew Blix would be resourceful enough to figure a way out– possibly on rafts built of thorn trees. But, in order to work, men must eat. I nosed the Avian down toward the endless canopy of bush and zigzagged like a homeless bee” (519). In this quote, it seems as if Markham is talking in a completely different language. She is so in her element, even under immense pressure. She knows the wilderness of Africa like the back of her hand. She knows how to survive, and worries that these men who thought they were well equipped may not be able to survive as she could. Africa is such a wild place: the elephants, the hunting, the floods, the unending canopy and landscape. Although these stories of Africa seem so foreign and almost fictional to me, they are real life and home to Markham. If Africa is wilderness, then Markham has ta...

  3/17 450 From Out of Africa by Isak Dinesen Karen Blixen, under the pen name Isak Dinesen, wrote this passage when she was alone in Africa. Her husband, who would cheat and gamble constantly, finally left and they divorced. After Karen is left with all this pain and responsibility, she writes of her new life. After hearing about Karen’s past, it is easy to assume a lot about her which she proves wrong in her writing. For example, I would have assumed that part of her must be bitter, but Karen is the opposite. Her  loving spirit is so positive. The reader is able to see through her writing and use of imagery how much she cares for Africa, the people that work for her, and Lulu, the antelope she saved.  The story of Lulu the fawn and Karen is significant because it shows how nurturing the writer is. “The years in which Lulu and her people came round to my house were the happiest of my life in Africa” (228). I believe that Karen would have been a wonderful mother, had her...

  3/15 333 From Totto-Chan by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi Totto-Chan , which seems at first to be a simple recollection of childhood memories, becomes much deeper very quickly. “Totto-chan” is the nickname of young Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, and through the first short story, “Amateur Drama”, we see how vibrant and strong her personality is. In the second story, “Chalk”, the reader sees insight into the experiential, progressive learning methods at Tomoe, which must have influenced Totto-chan’s personality greatly. When describing the children at Tomoe, Tetsuko states, “they loved doing things they’d never done before” (474). The tone for the first and second passages is so lighthearted and nostalgic that it reads like a children’s novel. The third passage, “The Tea Party”, is where the tone starts the shift. The children and kind headmaster of Tomoe give a farewell party to the janitor, Ryo-chan, who “could do anything” and is a “guardian angel” (474). While reading, you can feel the love and ad...

3/13 335 From Landscape for a Good Woman by Carolyn Kay Steedman Carolyn Kay Steedman has a unique style of writing that is at times hard to follow. Her early life was stained with poverty, the aftermath of war, and the fraught relationships she has with her mother and father. Because of this, when she recalls her early life, it seems confusing because you can sense Steedman’s childlike wonder and cluelessness. She often jumps abruptly from very different times in her life to make connections and rationalize the events of her past.  “I wept over that, of course, for a world where some people might doubt her- my- cleanliness. I didn’t care much about the honesty, and I knew I was strong; but there are people everywhere waiting for you to slip up, to show signs of dirtiness and stupidity, so they can send you back to where you don’t belong” (716).  Steedman’s mother lies to her often about the work she does and the relationship she has with Carolyn’s father (716). Steedman find...