Sometimes I forget how great it is to be an American. Lately though, there have been a couple things that have made me remember: President Obama's innagural address and this book. I loved Obama's speech because he has so much conviction and so much hope for our country. But at the same time he didn't sugarcoat the fact that we as Americans have a lot to do to make our country great.
This book though, made me grateful for a whole other reason. I can't imagine growing up or living in a country where I can't wear makeup, nail polish, or bright colors because of a fear that I might be thrown into jail for being too suggestive. I can't imagine being told that I could not spend any time unaccompanied with a man who is not my husband or a relative. Yet that's reality for so many women in the world. It really does make me grateful to realize all the things I can do because of where I grew up. I'm currently a senior in college and I have realistic dreams about getting a Masters in Library Science and working in a library one day. I'm getting to a man who I love and who loves me. I'm able to travel where I want and when I want (as time and money permit). I have so few restrictions compared to so many women in the world today.
But this book is about so much more than one woman in Iran. It's about the power of literature in our lives. It's a great essay on why we need to read things that make us uncomfortable. We actually talked a lot about this in class today. Mormon culture especially is so afraid of anything that may challenge our faith. There are so many student protestations against books because they contain something kind of racy. Yes I know that there are some books that are purely designed to stimulate our sexual appetites (harlequin romance novels) and have no literary value(the entire Twilight series), but there is so much out there that has good literary value and will leave you with a more concrete determination to do better, and to be better yourself. You just have to have the guts to read it.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
I have a Love/Hate relationship with Edith Wharton...
... and most other early 20th century authors. They write such amazingly compelling literature that I can't help but want to scream at their treatment of women. I mean really? Saying that you can't wait to guide your new bride through your carefully selected library of appropriate books just seems ridiculous to me.
However, it's this anger that fuels the world to change, and really how much can we say it's changed in modern culture. Especially at BYU. I don't know many times I've heard (from both guys and girls) that they wish girls wouldn't apply to certain programs that are rather competitive here at BYU just because "they're just going to get married and stay at home with kids." Or how many times have we had Sunday School/Relief Society lessons on how girls need to dress more conservatively and watch how they behave around men because they could inadvertantly be "walking pornography." Basically, how many times do we as women hear in our day-to-day lives something that is really quite sexist?
However, it's this anger that fuels the world to change, and really how much can we say it's changed in modern culture. Especially at BYU. I don't know many times I've heard (from both guys and girls) that they wish girls wouldn't apply to certain programs that are rather competitive here at BYU just because "they're just going to get married and stay at home with kids." Or how many times have we had Sunday School/Relief Society lessons on how girls need to dress more conservatively and watch how they behave around men because they could inadvertantly be "walking pornography." Basically, how many times do we as women hear in our day-to-day lives something that is really quite sexist?
Monday, December 22, 2008
MUST READ!
Okay, so it's Christmas break now (yay! We all survived another round of finals!), and you're looking for a good book to read. You absolutely MUST read Gilead by Marilynne something-or-other. I absolutely loved it!! We read it as the last book in my American Novel class, so that we could end on something more uplifting. And it was definitely an uplifting book.
It's written as a letter from a 76 year-old preacher to his 7 year-old son. It's part advice on living, part memoir, and part journal as the preacher reflects on what happened in his life and what's happening right now in his life.
I don't know why, but it just touched me in a way no book has in awhile. Except maybe The Secret Life of Bees that I read this summer. I think that it's because neither book focuses on what's going wrong in society, but rather how people have created beauty in a hard situation. Throughout my American Novel class we discussed the question of why American literature (or any literature really) is so hard on society. And it's true that most "good" literature does point out the problems of society, but these two books made me aware of problems in society, while still making me filling good about life. They're not "light" reading, but it's so good.
It's written as a letter from a 76 year-old preacher to his 7 year-old son. It's part advice on living, part memoir, and part journal as the preacher reflects on what happened in his life and what's happening right now in his life.
I don't know why, but it just touched me in a way no book has in awhile. Except maybe The Secret Life of Bees that I read this summer. I think that it's because neither book focuses on what's going wrong in society, but rather how people have created beauty in a hard situation. Throughout my American Novel class we discussed the question of why American literature (or any literature really) is so hard on society. And it's true that most "good" literature does point out the problems of society, but these two books made me aware of problems in society, while still making me filling good about life. They're not "light" reading, but it's so good.
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