ENG3298 Blog

 "We frequently talk of death,  for we are very alert to the experience of the unknown..." - Page 703, The Measure of My Days               In this memoir, Florida Scott-Maxwell speaks of her old age. It is in her late 80's that she reflects on a time when she was young and adventurous, to now when she has disease infiltrating her body and her mind is slowly wandering. She asks herself about death and about how much longer she must remain in this "state" when she has already been for so long. She speaks of death as if it was an old friend she will be meeting again soon, something that she is not scared of but intrigued by.           Florida offers a unique perspective to the end of life, especially as someone who is actively going through it as she had constructed this memoir. She had moved to Scotland to be with her husband and had lived a long a life, yet was still not seemingly saddened by the i...

 "It's words don't apply to my new experiences," - Page 388, Lost in Translation          In this memoir, Eva Hoffman discloses of her time having moved from Poland to Vancouver. It is here that her family struggles financially and emotionally, but she survives and thrives on the basis of another family- the Steiners. The Steiners take Eva under their wing and take a special liking to her as she is very bright and musically inclined. It is in their home that she feels she could be something more than just a Polish immigrant. It is also here that she learns she is beautiful, capable and a lady who deserves respect and self love.           What was most interesting to me in this memoir was Eva's longing to take control for her family. She felt a strong sense of leadership as her father lost his job and her mother didn't have many friends-- because of this, Eva felt like she was living her life to lead her family in ways that her ...

 "But my mother never allowed me to have any, because  she said it was charity, which was bad and demeaning," - Page 501, Audre Lorde          Audre Lorde shares in her memoir stories of her tumultuous childhood and what it was like living as a child of immigrants. In her early years, she was mostly blind and therefore struggled immensely with reading, speaking and writing. However, after a few years she quickly became adapt to living with her eyesight and while in elementary school, was placed in regular classes.           Even though her family was poor, her mother always made sure that she felt as if she was normal. During the second world war and quickly after the recession, her mother and father had tied pennies to make ends meet, but would stop Audre from even getting milk from the white mothers at her school because it was seen as bad. She goes on to talk about how lonely her childhood was, and even though she had t...

 "A profound silence held the room." - Page 418, Mules and Men          In this memoir, Hurston explores the folklored culture of the deep south using her anthropological studying techniques. In New Orleans, Hurston explores Voodoo and the African, Afro-Caribbean, and Christian values associated with the rituals, fortunetelling and herbalism. Hurston even goes as far as to describe some experiences with animal sacrifice. In all of this, she focuses on the symbolic tokens, spiritual conjuring and rituals designed for a specific outcome.           Even after all of her experiences in New Orleans, Hurston declines the offer to stay and practice with Turner whom she had become accustomed with working. He had made the offer after saying that the spirits had told him that she was the last doctor he would make. In the final passage of the memoir, she states that she declined this offer with a lot of sorrow in her heart, leaving me to ...

 "All they have to do is be a lil patient. Just a lil patient." - Page 488, Motherwit           In this memoir from Onnie, she describes her time as a midwife who does natural births. Although seen as unconventional, she has mastered the art of the perfect birth and even goes as far to say that it was a gift from God. She was never formally trained or educated, but she knows much about the female anatomy and the best way to go about a birth-- from the beginning of contractions to the afterbirth.           I think that Onnie represents what it means to be a woman in every regard. She helps countless women get through what could be the hardest and most painful time of their lives, all with grace and patience. She comforts them and the father, she walks them through the process without fault and she remains hopeful that even when things get hard and someone wants to give up, she can see them through.     ...

 "That was when my father said he was going to beat me to death." - Page 637, Life and Works of a Kung Woman          Nisa was a member of one of the last surviving hunting and gathering groups in southern Africa. To her, culture was one of the most important things that many "outsiders" would not understand because her and her tribe were a part of something seemingly unconventional. However, the things that Nisa endured at a young age were things that no matter where you are or where you come from, you have heard of before.           Abuse ran ramped through her tribe and effected her very personally. Her parents were very abusive towards her and brought her,  many times, close to death. Her brother Dau seemed to be the only man who was willing to protect her, as he made his father stop beating her many times because she was "too skinny" and frail. On top of this abusive trauma, her mother wanted to kill her baby brother ...