From the book "Of Love and Other Demons" the beginning of the book intrigued me.  So far we have had in class discussion of how we perceive people through their hair.  Coming across the part where they are taking the remains from the tomb it gives the reader an idea on the importance on hair.  The girls hair was the only thing still intact and attached to her skull.  It felt like there was still life in this girl's remains and her hair is what made it seem that way.

Of Love and Other Demons

I am not sure what I am supposed to be writing about, but I am going to be talking about the book, Of Love and Other Demons, by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Having read the first chapter, I feel that this book is really sad and mysterious. I mean what author starts with an excerpt on corpse and growing of hair and how a girl gets bitten by a dog with rabies. Although the beginning of the book was a little creepy, it is sad because of the time era and having to do with the plague. Even though it was a little hard for me to understand some parts, I look forward to reading and finding out what happens throughout the book.

Dfferent View

I would have never thought English 105 would make me realize how important hair is portrayed in society. Yes hair is important to us females and some males we get to style it however we want but when it comes to movies and novels, I never noticed that hair can symbolize the character's personality. For example in the Disney movie Tangled, the villain has dark curly hair as for the princess has long blonde hair. Then in the novel Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Lorelei has blonde hair and attracts the "educated" men yet Dorothy the brunette attracts the "irrelevant" men. Reading these novels never made me realize how detailed or what the author is really trying to get the reader to understand. If it wasn't for this class I honestly would have never came across these amazing books!

Experiencing Class Outside of Class

In the course of a few weeks, I have found myself in situations, two to be specific, where I am discussing the novels that we're reading in class with people that I meet while at work. To make sure that I stay on track with the reading that we need to do for the next class session, I often read during my shift at work when I have nothing else to do, mostly to help pass the time. The first instance was with The Bluest Eye. Two women came to the counter and saw that I was reading the book, one of them being a teacher herself, and within 20 minutes or so, we found ourselves getting into a deep conversation about the characters, Morrison's writing style and language, concepts taught in class now versus then (apparently The Bluest Eye is a common staple in many classes whereas Gentlemen Prefer Blondes isn't), and other such things. 

The second instance happened yesterday night (by the time I post this), November 5th, and a different woman came in and saw that my copy of Of Love and Other Demons on the counter. She has obviously read it and is a great fan of Marquez' writing, referencing another work of his. Again, though not as thorough as with Morrison's work, she and I came to discussing a little bit about the writing of the novel and what the story may provide and so one, since we're not so deep into the book yet. Based on the saturation of certain people in the area, it was safe to assume that she was Hispanic, a Latina woman for sure, and she read it in the Spanish translation. One thing she noted was that it is a book that is better appreciated with age. Being 22 myself, she said it would be a little difficult to really appreciate certain aspects of the book, but she encouraged me to look deeper and enjoy a lot of what is offered in the book.

The point of both of these anecdotes is that the concepts that we learn in these novels transcend outside the classroom, and make an impact on everyone that they touch. These concepts are universal among anyone, and you can always find someone to get into a discussion with in regards to what you learn from the stories themselves. Don't be afraid to show off, or be seen with, the books that we're reading in class or anywhere else. You never know what these books will do to you in meeting new people and learning something you probably never noticed before.

A Model for Women

I believe Sor Juana was a role model for women, especially in her time. She was different in regards to her way of thinking and perspective on life. Not that anything is wrong with being a married woman and mother to kids but she wanted another route on life. The passion she had for her education, knowledge and poetry was inspirational to those around her. Learning abut her now in modern times still can impact women today and inspire them to continue to pursue an education and accomplishing your goals. It is a example for men to move past stereotypes and ignorant ways of believing women have to be mothers, cook, clean and do the man's bidding. Women are strong individuals and have the same amount of potential as men. Sor Juana was a positive ideal for how women should not be afraid to obtain all the knowledge they can and stride towards finding happiness in what they chose to do.

Sor Juana

in the letter that she wrote, she mainly argue about the women rights. Her question is why can't women go to school just like a man. As my own knowledge, in the past history, women is known as the weak and the creatures that need to be taking care of, and due to the strong power of man had and the greed of man, male do not want the women taking over of any of their things, therefore they had a rule of not letting women to go to school and learn the things that they are learning. As it happen now days, a lot of women are smarter and more intelligent than man.

Sor Juana

Sor Juana, a woman that cut off her own hair as punishment, something not every women could do and take the courage to do. I personally never gave myself enough confident to cut my hair short. I feel like hair can change a persons looks and appearances. But Sor Juana would cut it off when she did something wrong and use it as her own punishment. I can see and relate to her why she would use hair as her punishment and not nails or other parts of a humans body. Hair signifies a person while nails needs to be cut every week or so. Hair needs time to grow out and people care a lot about their hair. It must have took Sor Juana a lot of courage to do so!