Maddy Smith

From “Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman” “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?’” (638).  Word count: 269 As described in the little blurb about Nisa it was remarkable how much she remembered as a child. Considering everything that she went through, verbal, and physical abuse from her father, would make me think that she would inevitably be traumatized and not remember much. It was interesting to me the way she acted as a child, wanting her to nurse from her mother, but she still did not deserve the way that she was treated. The culture was very different and shocking for me to learn about. The relationship with Tashay and his overwhelming amount of jealousy in their relationship much have had a large impact on her mentally. Also, the fact that she was so young when she first started to have sexual re...

From “The Woman Warrior” by Maxine Hong Kingston  “You get no warning that you shouldn’t wear a white ribbon in your hair until they hit you and give you a sideways glare for the rest of the day” (456) “When he grew older, he got a bicycle and let the girls play with his old tricycle and wagon. My mother bought his sisters a typewriter” (458).  Word count: Throughout this whole excerpt, I noticed the struggles of how the adults in her life played a role in the relationship with Kingston’s self-perception. All the rules that were set in place based on Chinese customs seemed like they were unfair and brutal to follow. If they did not follow these rules the consequences to their actions seemed even worse. The way that her parents treated her as well as her sisters, I believe, had a serious impact on their self-esteem. Always being belittled for things and being told they aren’t as worthy of things because they are not boys. The second quote that I pulled from the text is one exam...

From “West with the Night” by Beryl Markham  “It is no good telling yourself that one day you will wish you had never made that change; it is no good anticipating regrets” (527).  Word count: 272 In this excerpt you got to follow along Markham in her journey with dangers and fighting for what she had. She ended started the chapter in explaining what it was like to fly for her in every detail, which was interesting to read. She then goes on to tell the struggles of what it was like to struggle for food in this area and the difficulties they went through to survive. She ended her story with a lot of “what if’s” questions that I believe set a picture of her mindset throughout her whole journey. Which I also believe ties into the quote I picked out that was said in the beginning of the excerpt. It showed me that she was a very accepting person of everything that happens to her and whatever does happen she isn’t going to regret it because she doesn’t like to anticipate regretting s...

From “Out of Africa” by Isak Dinesen  “The grey fungus, like long drooping beards, on the trees, and the creepers hanging down everywhere, give a secretive, recondite air to the Native forest… which flowers with a small cream-coloured sticky blossom, had an overwhelming sweet perfume, like lilac, and wild lily of the valley” (220).  Word Count: 269 This author, unlike a lot of others we have read, made it easy for me to imagine exactly what she was describing in her story. The story of her African life was very engaging to read because of how descriptive she was with her wording and her relationship with nature. It made it seem as if she really appreciated this country she was living in and took in every little detail of what was surrounding her. Besides being so indulged in the nature that surrounded her she had an interesting relationship with animals as well. She took Lulu into her home like it was her own and treated her like her own dogs. Living in the US all my life this...

From “Totto-Chan” by Tetsuko Kuroyanagi  “The headmaster laughed, and so did Ryo-chan. All the children laughed, too, even Totto-chan herself” (475).  Word Count: 278 This excerpt has been very different from the many we have read so far in comparison to the other authors childhoods. In this school the children seemed to be very disciplined and the whole chapter all of them seemed to get a long very well. The children took joy in their time where they got to write music notes with chalk on the wooden floor, learned the importance of cleaning up afterwards, and not to draw anywhere else with it. In the section where they had the tea party to say goodbye to the janitor, Ryo-chan, they all came together to tell him all the things they were grateful for that he did and to say goodbye. Even though they were most likely feeling sadness on the inside they were enjoying their last moments with him, laughing together, before he had to go. It was interesting in the last sentence of this...

From “Landscape for a Good Woman” by Carolyn Kay Steedman “The house was full of her terrible tiredness and her terrible resentment; and I knew it was all my fault” (720). Word count: 313 In this excerpt Carolyn describes a lot of the hardships that her and her family had to deal with during this time. They seemed to have been struggling with money a lot which I found she always was blaming on her father for that as well as her mother’s unhappiness. The whole story encapsulates the guilt she feels for being a burden on her mother’s life and not allowing her to live the fairy tales that she had always wanted to do. Knowing this as a child I feel as if this would put a lot of pressure and make someone feel guilty for being in that person’s life. The quote I chose from the text describes how she was feeling about this situation. Her mother would tell her daughters of her wishes of a full skirt, a cottage in the country, and a prince who never came. All things she would have been able to d...

From “Dairy” by Anne Frank  “Don’t condemn me; remember rather that sometimes I too can reach the bursting point” (285).  “But it often makes my head swim if I’m jumped upon too much, and then on top of that have to think about all those other miseries” (291).  After reading many excerpts from Anne Frank’s diary I have come to an understanding as to why they are so talked about and recognized. It was amazing to read the thought process of such a young teenager during such a traumatic event in history. She had such an imagination, writing to her imaginary friend kitty, and being able to express and acknowledge her feelings throughout her time hiding with her family. When reading, you can recognize that she went through similar internal struggles as other adolescence do in these teenage years. She experienced feeling like she had to compete with her sister, the struggle of a mother-daughter relationship, and always trying to get approval and love from her father. Her words ...