Author: Caitlin

When I think back to high school specifically, I did not have the best dynamic with my 10th-12th grade English teacher. We butt heads often, I’ve always been opinionated and imaginative, however I always interpreted poetry differently than her, and in her room there was one right answer, hers. I had to take her as my teacher to take AP level english courses, however for my electives I got to take a writing course with a different teacher. He admired my creativity, and let me interpret prompts more freely. Yes it was creative writing, and that is the whole point, but having a teacher allow for students to create their own interpretation of literature was a nice change. In college, I have had the freedom to interpret poetry how I like in my writing, as long as I am strong and sensible in my writing, which I slowly learned is how all English classes should be. Allowing myself to interpret art my way, and write it how I feel confidently has allowed me to not only enjoy writing more in college, but score much better on assignments. In my AP English classes, I wouldn’t score well. I remember specifically I got a 70 on my Frankenstein essay, the only paper I remember doing well on were my satire paper and my Metamorphosis essay. In college I specifically remember receiving a 100 on my critical methods II paper, I was very happy. I also received an A on my Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson paper. I take feedback very seriously, so these specifics stand out to me because their feedback did. Since my high school days, I have noticed a grand improvement in my essay score average, going from C to usually A, and I have also noticed my confidence, comprehension skills, and analysis writing abilities have significantly improved since taking college English courses. 

When reading Broughton’s piece, there was a lot of modern media and discourse I found myself comparing the story to. I found the discovery of the causes of hysteria to be of course a good thing, and it was honestly a little sad and humorous seeing the reasoning that linked hysteria to more physical problems and less mental problems. I add the humor aspect because now, it feels so obvious that this is a mental disorder, so obvious in fact that I think it was understood secretly a lot earlier than doctors led on, which then makes it sad. The full control they now had over the women that dealt with hysteria made it, not a big deal to look into. I feel like the problems are linked so deeply into sexism, it did a 180 and even harm men that needed the mental help. I would say even today the societal standards of “real men don’t need help” is the biggest issue men face. Men today constantly complain that men’s mental health is ignored but make fun of anything that could bring a sense of joy or whimsy into their life. One example I have seen of this, is on my social media feed, I see men constantly criticize Friendsgiving, Christmas parties, galentines, and say that they would never partake because it is “gay” or “a girl thing”, and another person stitched that and said this is why men’s mental health is so low. One huge reason is simply because of the rejection of community and fun, simply to hold that “strong image”, and I feel like seeing men being denied a hysteria diagnosis is the 1880s version of exactly that. On top of this, I took note that a big aspect of this story was the parallels between getting your period and developing menopause, and how this is a clear sign that hysteria is linked within the nervous system. Besides my readings, I then asked Chat GPT to summarize this story, where it mainly summarized the effects, hysteria had on women before it started being linked to a mental disorder, implying that this previous diagnosis locked women under the care of men, which I agree with.

When reading Winterson’s “Written on the Body”, the biggest take away I had was not a specific person, or a specific scene. But everything about the story. I think the perspective that the narrator is a lover of Louise’s, and we are witnessing their perspective of Louise battling Leukemia. is such a unique perspective and idea I’ve never even remotely seen in another story. In a way, I read the lines about her body breaking down and thought that the narrator loves her so much, they want to embody themselves into her struggle to see her more clearly, to take away her pain, and I felt a sense of yearning. I couldn’t tell if the narrator was yearning for Louise period or yearning for a healthy Louise. I also believe that the concept of reading a book about a woman who had an affair, was diagnosed with cancer, and her perception is being explained to all readers, through a lover is, random is the best word. Not a spouse, a child. or herself, but a lover. We know this narrator has had many affairs before, but I think their lack of ethos on who they are as an individual also makes your mind as a reader wonder with curiosity. Why this person? Who even is this person? Why this perspective? The rarity and uniqueness of it captivated my interest, this concept of this story is very unique.

When reading Gwendolyn Brooke’s “the mother”, my biggest takeaway was how neutral, yet emotional her tone and wording remained throughout the entire poem. I used two words throughout my annotation, grief and relief. I feel like when women go through abortions, these two feelings can definitely be running very high, even simultaneously despite being almost parallel in meaning, which is how the author was feeling. I took the perspective that it was an older woman reflecting on what could have been, not necessarily regretting her choice but definitely thinking about it and maybe questioning it. Something else I took away was the poem was written in 1945, abortion rights were more limited and publicly being pro choice was much more frowned upon. If the speaker lived a life in modern times, would her tone change? Would her perspective on her choices change? It also made me think about how abortion rights aren’t even progressing today. With the overturning of Roe v Wade, not every American woman is even legally allowed to have an abortion today.  This also made me think of a video I saw where a now thirty-year-old woman told her story. She said that she got pregnant at 17, had an abortion, and then had a child at 25. She said that she doesn’t necessarily regret her choice, but she thinks often about what could have been as a first child after having a kid. She mentioned that she is so grateful to have even had the choice to have an abortion and mentions from one person who was in that position, the importance of knowing you safely are allowed to have that choice is vital, and she thinks it is so unfortunate that not everybody is offered that opportunity.

A chapter that really stuck out to me in today’s reading was chapter twenty. I feel like this chapter was a huge breakthrough for Edna as an individual. After today’s class discussion, I was really excited to continue reading and see when Edna would start to not necessarily “revolt against her husband”, but start living more for herself, which naturally results in her revolting against her husband’s manipulative ways. She starts to live a more carefree life, and when her husband tries to argue against her, she starts defending herself more and more. As she continues to listen more to herself and live a life for Edna, she continues to paint. I feel like as she continues to paint, she continues to discover more about herself, unlocking confidence she’s never noticed within before. This confidence also contributes to her new attitudes towards herself and her husband. Something I also noticed was she went to Madame Ratignolle for opinions on her sketches and paintings. I think it was interesting seeing Edna seek validation from another woman compared to a man. It’s a step closer towards only needing to seek validation within herself. Overall, I think this reading was a breakthrough for Edna, specifically the aspects of her discovering herself, and I think the support from the Madame’s and the art are huge contributions to a new Edna!

When reading Chopin’s The Awakening, one specific scene that caught my attention was in chapter nine, when Mademoiselle played “Solitude” on the piano. It made me think of Billie Holiday, even though of course her song came out after the time period of The Awakening. On top of this small connection, I was really intrigued following Edna Pontellier throughout this reading. It was really fascinating seeing her start to break out of her shell as a person, looking at her questioning her wants and needs as a human going into the next reading, it was nice compared to the early chapters when she was practically manipulated into thinking that she was a bad mother, when she was doing just a fine job. I think the music that was featured specifically in chapter nine ties into Edna wanting to discover herself more as a person. Music is so powerful and it can allow you to become so open and vulnerable when you connect with it, I think seeing Edna have this almost spiritual connection powered not only through the guidance and words of other women, but from the music they play and the language it speaks was really beautiful. I’m on TikTok a lot…. but I saw one that said, “music is the first language we all spoke” and I feel like that quote can really tie into Edna and her connections she is making.

In the reading “Tomboy” one part that particularly stood out to me was the part where she was gifted the dollhouse. At first, she was upset because she is a tomboy, she doesn’t like dolls like “normal” girls, so why would she want that?! When it was pointed out to her that she can use the dollhouse for her Calico Critters, I thought it was interesting seeing how gender stereotypes and ambiguity blended. Calico Critters seem to be perceived as an androgynous toy, and seeing Liz take a gender stereotypical toy (dollhouse)and make it her own was so unique, because in a way she is fitting the stereotype of using a dollhouse, but she puts her spin on it. I feel like this example really ties into the idea that being a tomboy isn’t just a girl wearing “boy clothes” or a girl with a short haircut, it is a mindset and a lifestyle. This story reminded me of a tik tok I saw where a couple pregnant with their first child was questioning the ideology behind a gender reveal. Why is it boy=blue and girl=pink? They also mentioned that they know someone who bought a cake for their gender reveal that read “sparkles or sports”? What if it’s a girl who is an excellent athlete…. and it made something so common like a gender reveal, seem really silly. This story bent against stereotypes that the tik tok brought up and it made me think a lot more about gender roles and stereotypes.

One of the biggest takeaways in the Chapter 5 afterparty section of Evaristo’s “Girl, Woman, Other” was Shirley. When I specifically read chapter 3/Shirley’s section at first, I felt lots of sympathy for her. Growing up, her mother Lennox caused her lots of hardship from lack of childhood validation to love affairs, and I viewed her in a really sympathetic way. I feel like that almost continues in chapter 5 seeing how out of place she was compared to the other characters. When running into Carole, Shirley felt a sense of shock seeing her success. Then this quickly turned into absolute embarrassment when joking about her career, jokes Carole didn’t find funny at all. Feeling insecure in her outfit on top of feeling insecure about this, Shirley seemed really anxious already, but that’s just the beginning, and I felt like Shirley’s anxiety is piling higher and higher. Shirley starts to think back to her betrayal against Amma and feels shameful for it. There was a moment of positive emotion and relief between Carole and Shirley connecting on their student teacher bond, but Shirley is a whirlwind of embarrassment as her emotions “came off strong”. Similar to how she felt when joking about her career to Carole, Shirley felt embarrassed about her job when talking to Dominique too. The last mention of Shirley is of her being “boring” and a “closeted homophobe” and running through my head while reading this was just how this was not a positive chapter ending for Shirley. I think she was left in a state of embarrassment and insecurity, but she begins to reflect on that, and how a part of it is her own wrongdoings.

Hello, and welcome to my blog! My name is Caitlin Corsi and I am a junior at Rowan! I am a double major in Elementary Education and English. In kindergarten, my teacher assigned us class jobs, and my favorite one was the Morning Meeting Leader. I loved the control I had in the classroom, and I knew I wanted to be a teacher since. With English, I love learning specifically about children’s literature, I’m a very nostalgic person, and as a woman I love learning about strong females and womanhood through women in literature, so I am very excited for this semester’s class! After I receive my bachelor’s at Rowan, I plan to be an Elementary school/English teacher, with plans to continue my education and to expand my career as I get older.

In this course, I want to get a deeper understanding on the good and the bad of womanhood in a more diverse perspective. Women all around the world face different struggles and I want to learn more whether it’s regarding race, religion, culture, sexuality, body image, trauma, etc. As sad as this topic could be, it helps me comprehend the harsh reality that some women face and understanding both the good and bad of womanhood is vital for my understanding of the material and to ensure my paper is strong. I think Girl, Woman, Other is an excellent start to this because we are focusing on women of color that have experienced different hardships, different backstories, different traumas, yet they have their connections, and womanhood can be difficult but the connection it brings is beautiful. Along with this story, I am excited to see the other perspectives of strong female characters dealing with life’s challenges, and I’m excited to see how the comprehension of these different lives/perspectives opens up my eyes more, allowing me to then focus on writing with a new perspective on womanhood about the beauty and pain it brings