This story tells us that men and women does not have the same power. For example, in the story “No Name Women” it stated, ” She told the man, “I think I’m pregnant.” He organized the raid against her” (Kingston,8). This clearly means that he felt betrayed by her just because she is pregnant by him. So he organized a raid against her, which means to mess up everything that she owns. It reveals that men are powerful and get to make others think the same way as him. He got the villagers to raid her house, which shows that he has control, over her and the people that is around him. That is not right at all. For this situation, the men and women has to have equal power because they both made it happen. No man or women can have a baby by itself. It’s impossible. I believe if the women tries to organize a raid for him, no one would participate, why? Because she is a women, and women are seen less than a man.

Men defines women in both societies. In page 1, it states, “You must not tell anyone,”…We say that your father has all brothers because it is as if she had never been born.”  Men defines women because with context, it says that he does not want his daughter knowing about his sister, her auntie. That’s why in the quote, it shows how his wife is making his daughter keep a secret from him, talking about his sister. Furthermore in the story, it explains how no one talks about his “unborn” sister because he does not want anyone to know about her. He does not want anything to do with her, because he was once traded for a girl by his father. Everyone loved her, except for him, and just for that he is the only son that never returned back to China. This shows how men define women because if he does not want anyone to know or talk about her, no one will. He is defining his sister as unknown, which is working, since his daughter never knew anything about her.

In page 8, it states, “The other man was not, after all, much different from her husband. They both gave orders: she followed. “If you tell your family, I”l beat you. I’ll kill you. Be here again next week.” This shows that he has total control over her. This definitely shows she has no say in anything. Also in the quote, it sneaks that her previous husband was nothing different than the current one. So that means that she had never had power over a man before. She was the one that acted like a slave to her husbands and acted powerless. In the quote, he also threatens her. So it basically a must to do whatever he says, and if she does not do it, he would kill her. In any relationship in this world, men always has the power, over any women.

What was interesting that I read in this story was how married women have to always wear their hair in a tight bun. That is interesting to me because in the world that I live in, there is no certain way you can tell if a women is married or not. Well, besides the right, you know, but in my world, you could not tell if they are married by what they wear, how they act, etc. This shows how my world and the narrator’s world are different. I believe that in my world, women has a little bit of more freedom than in the narrator’s world.

In the book Before You by Amber Hart, it explores many psychological issues. The popular issue that appears a lot in the book are the three parts of the psyche. The three parts of the psyche are the id, ego, and superego. In the beginning of the book, Faith is a popular, white girl that is dating an athlete named Jason. Since Faith is part of school activities, she meets many people. She meets a new, latino guy that is new to the school named Diego. For a certain period of time, Faith escorts Diego to his classes. She begins to fall in love with him. Diego also falls in love with her. After braking up with Jason, Faith’s ego would not let her date Diego because she sees the reality. Diego’s ethnicity is different than hers which is a problem. Back then, there was limited of freedom for everyone. As much as Diego asks her out, she would say no because she was scared of how others would think of her because she knew that was a problem. She also didn’t want her dad to look bad, since he was a priest. Faith sees reality in situations.

Faith grew up without a mother. Faith’s mother left her family for the use of drugs. It was hard for her. In the book, Faith expressed her unconscious. The unconscious is where thoughts, memories, and feelings are stored. She does not really talk about her mother with anyone. Of course her best friend knows, but that was about it. Faith and Diego, later in the book, are getting close with each other. They talked about anything, and they brought up the concept of their mother’s. Diego’s mother died because of Diego, since he didn’t want to be in the cartel anymore, they killed her. And Faith’s mother, like I said, she left for drugs. Faith was not the only one that expressed their unconscious mind, Diego did also.

A defense mechanism which Faith used to forget the abandonment of her mother was to go out. She went out all the time, and it lead her to be an addict. When her father found out, she was sent to rehab. Since she missed a lot of school, she told her school that she went to a fancy trip with her father. They believed her. The lack of expressing her feelings about her mother’s absence in her life to anyone, she was just burying her emotions, which is repression. By not talking about the issues, it lead her to find her defense mechanism which I said earlier, which was to go out.

 

Ms.Engel assigned us a reading assignment that really shocked me. The article name is Doctors recognizing that reading, writing can be therapeutic by Elizabeth Hamilton. The article mostly talks about how reading and writing can help people have more empathy and develop great communication skills.  Elizabeth Hamilton states in her article, “Harper says doctors who read stories are more empathetic and, therefore, more compassionate, more willing to listen to their patients’ stories. It also helps doctors communicate better, he says.” This quote expresses that people become a better person when they read or write or do both. They become someone who does not see anything in a negative way, which makes them understanding. This is shocking to me because I have always viewed reading and writing in a negative way, where I do not get anything out of it. Now, after reading this article, I view reading and writing as a tool of life. The metaphor “a tool of life” is used how reading and writing is a helpful skill that I can get something out of it. What I now understand is people who are sensitive and emotional got it from reading or writing or even both. I enjoyed reading this article because it helps me view a subject in a different perspective and also makes me change my view on that subject, which it is pretty cool. Who would of known that something like reading and writing can help you change your personality completely? My question is, Can reading and writing change any one, even if they been through a lot in their past? Or is it in certain people?