I Am Love

When the film opens Emma is the typical wife. She runs the household, interacts with the staff, and takes care of her family. It’s clear that she isn’t happy with her life at the present time. Although she has spent a lot of time planning the party, she arrives late and leaves early. As the movie progresses her character becomes more self-serving and pro-active towards her happiness. She begins by going Sanremo, where she knows Antonio and Edoardo are planning to open their restaurant. This decision changes her relationship with her children. Betta becomes closer to her mother and Edo becomes estranged when he begins to suspect the affair. Emma seems to be happier after she begins her affair—it seems like she has more of a presence.

By the end of the film Emma has chosen the path she wants to follow in the future. She has left her husband to be with Antonio. I don’t think she is necessarily liberated, but she is working towards that goal. I think that she will be able to embrace her Russian heritage more now that she is no longer dominated by Tancredi and his father. I think that Emma has realized that nothing lasts forever, so she minds as well be happy while she can. It seems like she planned on being on her marriage with Tancredi forever, whether or not they were in love. Now she has made a choice to experience all she can.

During the course of the semester we have women from many different angles. I think that this film draws parallels to many of the materials that we have studied. A criticism of this film, and possible of all that we have studied, is that, “the narrative of this slow-paced film is uninteresting and full of cliché.” Merriam Webster dictionary defines cliché as “something that has become overly familiar or commonplace.” The narrative may seem to be full of clichés but the fact is that these situations still exist. If they weren’t real the cliché never would have existed in the first place. I think that part of the reason for this criticism is that people don’t want to admit that women are generally the disadvantaged and unhappy parties because they are seen as less important and less powerful than men.

Simple Passion

Within this text time is only mentioned in regards to her relationship with A. While the author is trying to explain the style of writing used during this text in regards to chronology of events, she wrote, “As far as I was concerned, that notion did not enter into the relationship; I could experience only absence or presence (20).” Time is nothing more than a way for her mark the amount of time that has passed since she has seen or heard from A. She refers to events as “before meeting A” or after “A left France.” The ending of the text doesn’t make it clear that the author has moved past her relationship with A, so there isn’t much hope for her to regain a normal sense of time until this happens. During the span of time immediately after A left France, “all my thoughts and all my actions involved the repetition of history. I wanted to turn the present back into the past, opening on happiness (44).”

I thought that the “simple” in the title implied that the relationship between the author and A would be straightforward, uncomplicated and easy. The “passion” in the title implied strong feelings of desire. It is clear that the author has abundant passion for A, possibly bordering on obsession. A’s feelings for her aren’t clear, but it doesn’t seem as though their relationship is important to him. Even the author isn’t certain about the feelings that A has for her. “I wasn’t quite sure how to qualify his relationship with me. In the beginning I had deduced from certain signs that he experienced the same passion as me… This certainty gradually wavered. He seemed to be more distant… (23).” Their relationship is anything but simple. He is a married man and they are, essentially, meeting in secret to carry on their affair. This relationship dominates her life and seems to be little more than a blip on the radar in his life.

Beyond Silence

While she was growing up Lara lived in two distinct and separate worlds. She was never able to find a balance between the hearing and the deaf world because there wasn’t anyone to show her how. Both her parents were deaf and placed a lot responsibility on her from a young age. They needed her to, essentially, take care of them because they weren’t capable of functioning in the hearing world. It wasn’t until she met the met the hearing teacher who worked with deaf children that she was able to begin to reconcile her two worlds. It seems like she believed that the two worlds couldn’t mix successfully.

The relationships that Lara has with her parents are interesting. It is obvious that the father is the dominant personality in the family. The mother follows his lead for the most part. The only time the viewer sees the mother take a stance against him is when she warns him not to isolate Lara because of her differences, like his family did to him. The father doesn’t listen to this advice. In a way he pushes her towards her new life. Eventually, the mother has had enough of the father’s approach and tries to be more understanding. She even buys tickets so they can go to a concert together, even though she won’t be able to hear the music.

The father’s animosity towards his parents and siblings mixes into his life with his wife and child. He has never been able to let go of the anger he feels towards them and he wants his wife and child to feel the same way. When Lara resists he tries to guilt her into staying away from her aunt and music. Lara doesn’t understand why her father is so against her studying music and he never takes the time to explain it to her. By forbidding music, she has found a way to rebel. She has no other way to disobey them, as long as he doesn’t see her playing the clarinet, he’ll never know.

Like Water for Chocolate III

“Life had taught her that it was not that easy; there are few prepared to fulfill their desires whatever the cost, and the right to determine the course of one’s own life would take more effort than she has imagined (168).” Tita thought this when she wanted desperately to talk to someone about the possibility of being pregnant. Until this point I don’t think she realized what consequences her secret relationship with Pedro would cause. She has realized that even though Mama Elena is gone, there are still obstacles between her being with Pedro. It seems like Tita was living in the moment and was refusing to acknowledge reality until this point.

“Tita would love to be a simple seed, not to have to explain to anyone what was growing inside her, to show her fertile belly to the world without laying herself open to society’s disapproval. Seeds didn’t have that kind of problem, they didn’t have a mother to be afraid of or a fear of those who would judge them (198).” I think it’s interesting that Tita finds it easier to identify with food, animals, and plants rather than with people. She knows that her situation with Pedro will cause all sorts of problems and is dreading what is to come. It seems that she craves the simplicity that they bring to her life. People are deceitful and love to create problems for others, but plants can’t.

“Now it would never again be possible to see that light, because she could no longer feel anything. She would but wander through the shadows for eternity, alone, all alone. She would have to find some way, even if it was an artificial one, of striking a fire that would light the way back to her origin and to Pedro (244).” By this point Tita has realized that her life isn’t worth living without Pedro. Although she was afraid and didn’t want to die, when she realized that Pedro had, she wanted nothing more than to die so she could be with him.

Like Water for Chocolate II

“…in short, it seemed Mama Elena’s genius was for finding fault (94-95).” This explains Mama Elena’s character perfectly. Throughout the reading Mama Elena has found fault with everyone and everything, except Rosaura. The only reason that Mama Elena didn’t find fault is because Rosaura is going to end up being exactly like her. She demands perfection and refuses to acknowledge that perfection isn’t possible. A little further into the reading the story mentions that Mama Elena must have made a mistake while making the sausages but she refused to admit it—she blamed it on other people.

“That is but one small example of the huge difference in ideas and opinions that existed between the representatives of these two very different cultures… (111).” Since beginning the book I have thought that if the author left out certain details that this book could be set during any time period. I think this quote further emphasizes my idea because it still applies today. For the most part, people are still ignorant of other cultures. In a way this part of the book stresses the importance of understanding, or attempting to understand, other people because more interaction between cultures and people is necessary.

“For her, lying was a survival skill that she had picked up as soon as she arrived at the ranch… Anything could be true or false, depending on whether one believed it (127).” I thought this was interesting because it showed a side of the characters that hasn’t been introduced before now. This is brought up when Chencha fears telling Mama Elena that she has seen Tita. It seems like many of the characters are so afraid of her that they willing lie to her. As the head of the family Mama Elena should be encouraging them to lead a pious life that fits the ideals of their religion. Instead she is, in a way, forcing them to choose self-preservation over religion.

Like Water for Chocolate I

It’s interesting that the text is presented as both a book and a cookbook but not entirely unexpected. In a cultural anthropology class I took we read an article that argued that women and food complement of each other. Because women are seen as the caretakers of the family and are responsible for feeding everyone, food becomes a vital part of their life. This book reinforces this idea. In a way the recipes make it obvious that Tita doesn’t know how to process her emotions and the events that happen around her. Whenever the emotions and events become too much for her to handle, the focus returns to the recipe.

The story centers on Tita and her interactions with the other characters. I think that from the beginning she has been represented as an inconvenience to her mother. This begins during the description of her birth and continues throughout her life. It seems like many of her family members take her fore granted and wish that she wasn’t around. They don’t realize that she is the only thing keeping the family and ranch intact.  I don’t think Tita realizes her importance either.

Mama Elena is an overbearing, controlling mother figure. In many situations her word becomes law. Arguing with her serves no purpose other than to further cement her position of the subject. During the reading I noticed that Tita seems to be her least favorite child although she does the most for the family. I think this is partly because she doesn’t really know Tita. Her husband died shortly after Tita’s birth and she essentially gave the responsibility of raising Tita to Nacha. She is very demanding of other people. She expects people to behave within the standards she has set or to suffer the consequences she decides upon.

Volver

Men don’t play an integral role in this film. It seems like all the men were nothing more than temporary characters that were needed to bring the women together. Raimunda’s father ruins her relationship with her mother. It is implied that Raimunda needed another man to betray her trust so she would reunite with her mother. The men should make the women’s lives easier, but they just add complications. Raimunda’s conversation with Emilio implies that Emilio has previously expressed a romantic interest in her, which would have had an adverse effect on her relationship with her husband. Raimuda’s husband caused nothing but problems for her. It seemed as though Paco was seldom employed and Raimunda had to work to provide for the family. Irene, Raimunda, and Sole would have been better off if the father hadn’t remained with them. It seems like his presence drove them apart instead of keeping them together.

The idea of “return” is an important part of this movie. The film opens with Sole and Raimunda returning to their home town. It’s obvious that none of them want to be there. They only return because they feel obligated. “Return” is also noticeable with other characters. It was often said that Paco left them and they didn’t think he would ever return. Agustina has been waiting four years for her mother to return from wherever she disappeared to. There is also a fear of returning to the place they are originally from. Sole doesn’t want to go back to the small town alone. The neighbor that works as a prostitute is an illegal immigrant that is afraid of being sent back home. She feels that her life is better in Spain, even if she is a prostitute.

I think the emphasis on the windmills in interesting. It reminded me of Don Quixote. I think the quintessential scene from Don Quixote is when he is racing towards the moving windmills with his lance. Perhaps this is used to emphasize the idea that the small town is full of crazy people who don’t realize they are out of touch with reality.

Moderato Cantabile III

“Anne Desbaresdes did not go in, but paused at the door of the café. Chauvin came over to her. When he reached her she turned towards the Boulevard da la Mer… Chauvin raised his head towards the dark blue sky, which was still faintly lighted, and moved closer. She did not move back (99).” I think this foreshadows the end of their relationship. Anne has never hesitated before entering the café. She has needed to drink wine upon entering the room; she has always gone in without Chauvin coming to the door to get her. Before this moment it seemed like Anne craved his attention and seemed to be more herself whenever he moves closer to her—she would move in closer. In this instance it seems like Anne is trying to create a distance between her and Chauvin.

“When he told her to leave she always obeyed. She slept under the trees, or in the fields, like… When he called her she came back. And when he told her to go, she left. To obey him like that was her way of hoping. And even when she reached the threshold she waited for him to tell her to come in (104).” This quote is talking about the dead woman and the man who killed her. I thought that this could also be applied to Chauvin and Anne. Anne stood at the threshold of the café until Chauvin met her and led her to the table. Within a few paragraphs of this revelation, Chauvin says “‘I’d like you to leave’… Chauvin remained seated, overwhelmed, no longer aware of her (104).” This demonstrates a shift in their relationship. Before he was implying that he wanted Anne to stay longer so she remained. When he tells her to leave, she gets up, but doesn’t leave until her son leads her out of the building.

“‘She will never speak again,’ she said. ‘Of course she will. Suddenly one day, one beautiful morning, she’ll meet someone she knows and won’t be able to avoid saying good morning. Or she’ll hear a child singing, it will be a lovely day and she’ll remark how lovely it is. It will begin again.’ ‘No’ (116).” This except follows a conversation Anne and Chauvin were having about the dead woman. This is interesting because it seems like Anne was still talking about the dead woman and Chauvin begins to speak about Anne. Not only is he telling her their relationship is over, he is telling her that she’s going to go through this same situation again. He’s telling her that she isn’t happy and this is the only way she knows to try to be happy. Anne isn’t thrilled at his declaration, but he doesn’t pay attention to her any longer.

Moderato Cantabile II

“Again they walked along the Boulevard de la Mer towards the breakwater. The child was quick to understand, and was not overly surprised. ‘It’s such a long way,’ he complained—then he resigned himself, and hummed a tune (77).” This demonstrates the idea that the child knows his mother better than anyone else. He realizes that she is going back to see the man again, but also realizes that he can’t do anything about it. He has no choice in this situation so he decides to make the best of it. Although he doesn’t want her to go back, he likes the water and is content to remain outside where he can avoid the awkwardness of their meetings.

“The child was in their wake. He ran to his mother, took her by the hand, and led her resolutely away. She followed him (91).” The closeness of child to his mother is clear in this quote. I think that since the beginning the child has been acting as an adult of sorts. He is verbal about not wanting to learn the piano, where as the teacher gives the impression that her other students go through the lessons without incident, whether they want to be there or not. In this situation he is claiming responsibility for making sure his mother makes it home safely. This quote almost makes it seem like this situation has occurred before.

“He ordered the wine. They drank it together avidly, but this time nothing made Anne Desbaresdes drink except her nascent desire to become intoxicated from the wine (86).” This passage makes me think that Anne realizes that what she is doing is wrong, at least on some level. It used to be that she needed the wine to steady her nerves, but now she just wants to be drunk. It seems that the only way for her to meet with Chauvin is if she has been drinking. Clearly she isn’t comfortable without the aid of alcohol.

Moderato Cantabile I

Moderato cantabile opens with a piano lesson. The teacher, a child, and Anne, his mother, are present at the lesson. This opening was interesting. When I began reading it seemed that the teacher was an authoritarian, very harsh in her words. Many times in the text, the child was referred to as an “object” sitting at the piano. As the story progresses, it is evident that she cares for him and wishes that he would work harder in lessons because he is talented. I think that her harshness is meant to appease Anne and make her realize how talented the teacher really is. Throughout the reading the child is unresponsive to his surroundings and the actions of other people. The most he does is announce that he doesn’t want to learn to play the piano and ask his mother why they are in the area where the lady was murdered. He appears to be very timid and doesn’t say or do much. Anne is the character explored the most. She seems to be fascinated that the woman was killed, going so far as to visit the bar where it happened and ask about it. When she is speaking to the man it seems as though it could be the beginning of an affair. This idea is further established when the man and the patronne are speaking of her and the patronne tells him Anne’s schedule—that she brings her son to piano lessons “once a week, on Fridays (76)” and that “she’s often out for a walk with her little boy (76).”

When the scream appeared in the first chapter, it appeared to echo the frustration that Anne and the teacher felt concerning the child’s piano lesson. The scream comes from a woman. It isn’t immediately clear that she has been murdered; just that she is in trouble of some sort. It becomes obvious that she was murdered when all the commotion begins, and the police are summoned. The next day Anne goes to the bar to learn more of the murder. While talking to a man that was at the bar during the murder she asks if “it was almost inevitable (75)?” The man replies that he thinks “he aimed at her heart, just as she asked him to (75).” It seems to me that the woman was likely fighting with her lover and made an over exaggerated statement to invoke his sympathy and understanding, but instead caused him more anger, to the point where he acted on her statement.

Under the Sand

In the film the traumatic event occurs when Jean disappears during his swim at the beach. I think it was presented this way in order for it not to be clear. Anything could have happened. Jean could have drowned. He could have gone too far out and been carried away by the current, only to be rescued and brought to another place. Another option is what his mother told Marie, that he got bored, faked his own death, and ran. If this event wasn’t so ambiguous Marie’s position concerning him wouldn’t have been so interesting.

After this event, Marie doesn’t process what happened. She’s in denial that anything happened to him. She told her close friends and family what happened to Jean, but no one else. When she talks to people about Jean, she makes vague references to him traveling a lot for work. Whenever her friend Amanda tries to ask her about how she’d doing and handling everything, Marie acts as though she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. During one of her classes, Marie notices that one of her students helped in the search for Jean and loses her concentration. When she encounters him later, she tells him that she doesn’t know what he is talking about and that she has never been to beach. The biggest advancement she makes towards his disappearance is when she looks through his desk at home. She goes through everything and finds out that he was on depression medications. She begins to worry that he may have killed himself and needs reassurance from Amanda and his mother that he didn’t.

Marie refuses to accept that Jean’s body is in the morgue because she can’t properly identify it. The medical examiner said that the body was in an advanced state of decomposition, making the body unrecognizable. Even though the police recovered a watch and swim trunks that fit the description Marie can deny that they are his. They could belong to any person and the unrecognizable body could be anyone. Marie has had delusions that Jean is at home with her ever since she returned from the summer house. The body and personal items that they’ve shown her aren’t enough to make her believe differently.

At the end of the film I thought that Marie was going to kill herself in the same manner as Virginia Woolf. She had expressed earlier in the film that she thought it was a beautiful and poetic way to die.

"Dora" II

I don’t think that Freud intentionally blends fact and fiction together. It seems more like he gets an idea into his head about the reasoning behind some aspect of her dream and twists it until he can figure out how to make it fit into his analysis. In the reading for today he makes the explanations difficult to understand. Part of this is because his ideas are much further outside what is obvious. He attempts to convince the reader that “the antithesis of ‘water’ and ‘fire’ must be at the bottom” of her dream. He spends most of section 3 talking about how they relate and what links them together in the physical world and in Dora’s dream.

One way in which he accomplishes this is through transference. It seems like Freud likes to inform her that what she says isn’t what she means. In the first section he managed to find ways to tell Dora that she was in love with her father, Herr K and Frau K. Her childhood love for her father transferred to Herr K when her father started spending time Frau K. This love then transferred to Frau K because Dora was repressing her love for Herr K.

I think that his dream analyses would be more validated if he only discussed one meaning that results from analyzing the dream. In certain parts it seems as though he is leading Dora to give him answers he wants to hear. He questions her about the jewel case because he thinks that it’s important that in the dream it is a jewel case and not jewelry. I think he overemphasized this. If there was a fire in the house why would someone try to grab individual pieces of jewelry rather than whatever was kept in the jewel case? It makes sense. He also doesn’t explain the analysis in a way that’s easy to understand. The explanation with the fire and water isn’t as straight forward as it could have been. When I had finished reading this I didn’t completely agree with his ideas.

"Dora" I

I think that this case study could be considered literature. It’s interesting to note that Freud thinks that this could be considered literature because “many physicians” may decide to read this as something “designed for their private delectation.” The introduction was difficult to read but this was due to my lack of knowledge of the technical terms that he used. Once he finished that and moved into the case history and analysis it became mush easier to follow. At times it was possible to forget that I was reading a psychoanalysis case study. As soon as this would happen there would be a mention of how the subject related to his analysis. I think that case studies need to read like literature in order to capture interest and keep people reading. If this had just been in technical terms without the detailed case history and explanation of how it applies no one outside of the psychoanalytic community would be able to read and understand this. The biggest way in which the case study differs from literature is the repetition. I understand that repetition is necessary to emphasize his points and that many different areas of the reading are interrelated and connect back to his points but it became monotonous to read the same thing multiple times.

While reading this I did notice some “blind spots” that seemed to be obvious things that he should have done in order to better analyze the study. Freud spends a section of the introduction explaining that since he “cannot make notes during the actual sitting with the patient” that he recorded the material that the conversation covered from memory. Furthermore, the case history “was only committed to writing from memory, after the treatment was at an end.” This practice could have led him to remember things incorrectly which could invalidate part of his results. I also noticed that Freud only talked to Dora and her father. He pieced together her relationship with her family members “from the accounts given by the girl and her father.” Did it not occur to him that they may be accurately portraying the remaining family members? I think that this is probably the biggest “blind spot” because this led me to believe that of the father hadn’t taken Dora to begin therapy that Freud wouldn’t have spoke to anyone besides her for a description of the history of her illnesses and her relationships with other people.

The Answer III

Throughout history writing poetry has been seen as an acceptable action for women to take part in. Part of the reasoning for this is because poetry doesn’t require as much education as another subject, such as science or math, would. Once a person learns to read and write poetry would come as a natural way to express themselves.

In many of her poems Sor Juana comments on the courting practices that exist between men and women, which reflect the purpose of the stories in The Disenchantments of Love. Much like Christine de Pizan and Maria de Zayas Sor Juana is trying to warn, and in a way prove to, women that men only think of themselves and their wants and needs and that they don’t stop to think about the future consequences of their actions.

In “Philosophical Satires (Poem 92)” she opens with “You foolish and unreasoning men who cast all blame on women, not seeing you yourselves are cause of the same faults you accuse; (165)” The rest of the poem explains how men set women up to fail in their eyes because no matter what women do they will do the wrong thing. (Poem 145) comments on the lack of meaning in portraits when she writes “this is an empty artifice of care (159.)” This speaks volumes about what men want of women when they compare them to paintings of beauty.

In (Poem 174) Sor Juana voices a radical opinion for her time. She wrote, “Your ignorance of your error I accuse, because both Fate and Love, of things like these, have given us not ownership, but use. (163)” In this phrase she is saying that women aren’t property and shouldn’t be treated as such. This idea very much goes against the normal values for the society. After all, no man wants a woman that has her own thoughts, ideas, and needs—it’s a woman’s job to do what her husband tells her without hesitancy or questioning his intentions.

Sor Juana’s poetry also speaks to the differences between men and women, and how men react to them. Men were allowed to have affairs and their wives couldn’t do anything about it, if she knew. At the first thought of infidelity on a wife’s part the men act viciously. “don’t let these tyrant jealousies torment you nor base suspicions shatter your repose with foolish shadows, empty evidence: (161)”  “You combat their firm resistance, and then solemnly pronounce that what you’ve won through diligence is proof of women’s flightiness… Women’s good favor, women’s scorn you hold in equal disregard: complaining, if they treat you badly; mocking if they love you well. (165)” These passages demonstrate that men are never happy with women.

The Answer II

“But this has merely led me closer to the flames of persecution, the crucible of affliction; and to such extremes that some have even sough to prohibit me from study. They achieved this once, with a very saintly and simple mother superior who believed that study was an affair for the Inquisition and ordered that I should not read… For although I did not study in books, I studied all the things that God created, taking for my letters, and for my books all the intricate structures of this world. (73)” This quote shows that Sor Juana was aware of how men felt about her position in society and her intent on learning. She is aware the Sor Filotea is attempting to discredit her intelligence and call for all people, men and women alike, to demand she stop studying. Her lack of books to study led to her studying the world around her. Sor Juana realizes that there is more to know than what is available in books. In this passage she implies that studying in books can help a person better understand the world God created.

“Instead, for lack of such learning and through the extreme feebleness in which they are determined to maintain our poor women, if any parents then wish to give their daughters more extensive Christian instruction than is usual, necessity and the lack of learned older women oblige them to employ men as instructors to teach reading and writing, numbers and music, and other skills. This leads to considerable harm, which occurs every day in doleful instances of these unsuitable associations… For this reason, many parents prefer to let their daughters remain uncivilized and untutored, rather than risk exposing them to such notorious peril as this familiarity with men. (85)” This excerpt attacks the practice of education for women at the time. All harm to a girls virtue and honor that comes from learning could be avoided if she was taught by an older woman. It’s a catch-22 because there are no older women that have learnt enough or been taught enough to be able to pass it on to a student. I think that Sor Juana want to make people realize that nothing will ever change if society remains so hostile towards intelligent women.

Throughout the last part of the letter Sor Juana maes many references to scripture and women in the Bible. She points out that these women were highly intelligent and no one thought poorly of them, instead they were celebrated. She also points out that commonly sourced quotes from scripture have been taken out of context in order to be applied to women and education. Sor Juana makes an effort to point out the mistakes and rectify them by pointing out the historical context in which they were meant.

The Answer I

In the beginning of her response Sor Juana uses sarcasm and personal anecdotes to convey her point of view. Sor Juana was aware that the letter of criticism she had received was from a man and was doing all she could to keep the illusion going. It is one thing to disagree with another woman and it’s another to disagree with a man who thinks he is superior because he is a man. Much like Christine de Pizan, Sor Juana says ridiculous things that nobody will believe. She uses this device to imply the opposite with humility. No one wants to hear anyone carry on about how remarkable they are—the people that are foolish enough to do this are thought of as conceded and people try to avoid them. This approach is especially evident when Sor Juana discusses her intelligence and education through the constant remarks that she doesn’t know anything. She stresses that it’s not because she doesn’t want to learn—it’s because of the constant interruptions and that she has to teach herself. I think that this description is important because it can be applied to all women at this time since educating women isn’t an acceptable practice.

“But this is the way of things, for when learned men fall prey to passion they burst out illogically in just this fashion.(65)” This quote can be read as a concealed criticism of Sor Filotea since Sor Juana is aware that she really is a man. This quote can apply to anyone whenever they feel a strong emotion. People don’t stop to think, they just act and do whatever their emotions tell them is the right thing to do.

“‘The advantages of intelligence are advantages of being.’… And thus, as no one wants to be less than another, no one will admit that another is more intelligent… (67)” I think that this is Sor Juana’s way of showing the importance of education for women. She continues to say that men are accepting when another man says that they are wealthier, nobler, etc, but they won’t stand to hear anyone say that they are more intelligent. She portrays the lack of education for women as another manner in which men keep them obedient and submissive.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Both men in the film, Ivan and Carlos, are similar. Neither of the characters are faithful to the woman that they are with, nor are they completely honest with them. Carlos isn’t nearly as bad as his father. He falls in ‘love’ with Candela while his fiancée is sleeping off the spiked gazpacho. Candela tries to stop his attention, but he persists. She isn’t comfortable with the way he is acting towards her while he has a fiancée. It is obvious that Carlos isn’t in love with his fiancée, but he doesn’t want to tell her. This may be because he doesn’t know if he will be able to find anyone else that will care for him. If Marisa had been awake, Carlos never would have acted that way towards Candela. Ivan is another story. He never seems to be happy with any woman. Pepa knows that he has been cheating on her lately. I think it’s quite likely that he had always cheated on her. His history speaks for itself. While he was with Lucia he was seeing Pepa. I don’t know what would make her think that he would be faithful to her.

While the telephone is functioning it provides a means of communication between people. While Pepa is waiting for the call from Ivan and while Candela is trying to reach Pepa there is a sense of loneliness and desperation because the characters aren’t getting what they think they need. I think it’s interesting that many of the discussions need to take place in person rather than over the phone. Pepa shouldn’t be telling Ivan about her pregnancy over the phone nor should Candela be relating her Shiite terrorist story through a phone. Both situations need the attention and support that come from talking face to face. The lack of telephone parallels the isolation that the characters feel. They don’t think that anyone can possibly understand and they almost feel vindicated within their beliefs when they are partly cut off from society.

Many of the women in this film are “on the verge of a nervous breakdown”. Things aren’t going favorably for the characters and they are becoming increasingly frustrated. This frustration is manifesting itself in irrational behavior. I think that many of these problems are represented in The Disenchantments of Love. Lucia is like all the main characters, who at one point or another, suffers from love sickness. She is convinced that Ivan is the love of her life and she doesn’t know how to deal with the fact that her love is unrequited. Pepa can be compared all the characters who create plan after plan to try to get what they want, only to realize that it isn’t what they want after all. The only difference is that Pepa realizes her mistakes before it all ends badly. Candela could replace any of the naïve characters which believe that men won’t use them, only to be devastated when they do. Candela managed to avoid their fate of death because she had help from people who care about her.

The Disenchantments of Love III

Blanca has an unhappy marriage despite her yearlong courtship that was meant to ensure her happiness. On the surface it would seem that Blanca has control over the situation, but she doesn’t. She agreed to the marriage at the recommendation of the King and her brother. There is no possible way for her go against her word given that she would be going against the wishes of the king. Throughout the year she has a persistent feeling of unhappiness, yet she doesn’t do anything to end this. She tries to deceive herself into believing that it’s because she doesn’t want to leave her home and family. The ‘love’ between Blanca and the Prince doesn’t exist. During the courtship they never have the chance to get to know each other—all the wooing is accomplished through song and letters.

An aspect of story 7 is “boundary-crossings”. I think the most important boundary is that of land. All of the sisters leave their homeland and this is where their problems begin. “The person who gets the greatest punishment is the Spanish woman who leaves her country thinking she’ll be regarded as a lady but instead becomes a slave to a man who’s unworthy of her (260)”. It seems logical to the Prince and his father that once Blanca leaves Spain she loses all her nobility and importance since that is where it’s based. Another ‘boundary’ that is crossed is that of sexuality. The Prince is having a love affair with his man-servant Arnesto. Although same sex relationships have always occurred they were never spoken of to anyone. This stigma about them gave Arnesto much power because he knew that the Prince would do his wll and masquerade as though it were his own. It is also why no one ever thought that Prince’s lover was another man.

In “Traitor to His Own Blood” there are many references to blood. Ana and Mencía died bloody deaths. Both deaths were likened to slaughters of innocent lambs. This would serve as a religious aspect to their deaths with the hope that they would be well taken care of and looked after in the afterlife. Alonso’s beheading was another bloody death. It’s likely that this was chosen because it was most similar to his crimes and was seen more socially appropriate. If he had mere conspirator like his friend he would have had a different punishment. There is also the idea of blood’s biological importance as a key to inheritance. The title likely refers to the fact tha Alonso betrayed his ‘blood’ when he murdered his sister and wife not when he married below his station, as his father had told him.

The Disenchantments of Love II

Filis’ introduction to the forth disenchantment is her attempt to explain women’s fatal flaw—why they are often the victim of deceit. “I wonder, however, if women are really deceived: it’s one thing to let oneself be deceived and it’s another to be deceived (139)”. I think that this is an important distinction to make. In the first three stories the women let their hopes take over their common sense. Filis also accounts for the expectations of women, not that there are many. Men want docile and beautiful women because they know if women were given the same education and training that as men that “they may well fear women will take some of their power away (140)”. The introduction serves as foreshadowing for the remainder of the story. Don Jaime let himself be deceived by the actions of a servant. He managed to convince himself that his relationship with Elena was too good to be true, so he sabotaged it himself.

I think that doña Inés didn’t know how to handle the situations that arose, and therefore didn’t do much more than hope that they would pass quickly. I find it interesting that she never acted to prevent any possible incident, but she had clever ways of handling them once they had occurred. When she discovered that her neighbor had tricked don Diego, and were tarnishing her name, she acted quickly. I don’t think that many women would have had the forethought to have the mayor witness their meeting so no rumors could be started. She was also clever when she had the widow bring both the mayor and the archbishop to rescue her. This provided no means of salvation for her tormentors since both the church and the government had seen her deplorable punishment.

While Esteban is Estefanía he may be dressed as a woman but he is still trying to court Laurela through his songs. It doesn’t seem as though he adopts another gender role. I think that people see what they expect to see as far as gender roles are concerned. “…among themselves they pondered every word and every act of the deceitful Estefanía, noticing now what they should have noticed before (234)”.  I think that this topic is so widely used because there seems to be a gap between the genders. Situations like these remind people that the genders aren’t as different as we think they are, after all the people acting like the other gender are able to succeed without people finding out the truth before it is revealed.

The Disenchantments of Love I

On a superficial level these disenchantments appear to portray men in a kindly light, as people who have to deal with the betrayals that women inflict upon them. A more intense look at the stories proves that “it’s men who are the cause of women’s faults (114)”. These faults are often caused by the deceits and trickery that men use to get their own way.

In many ways deceit and trickery are the foundation of the disenchantments. Without them the women wouldn’t be forced into the positions they find themselves in when it comes to men and their intentions regarding love and marriage. The women who have experienced deceit and trickery (Isabel and Angeliana) are more likely to use the same methods in the future to get what they want.

The code of honor represented in the stories is a double edged sword. The women feel as though they are forced to live within its confines while the men act as though it doesn’t apply to them. This breach with the code leads to all the problems. If men acted as honorably as the women are expected to there would be no deceit and trickery in relationships.

In “Slave to Her Own Lover” Isabel is doing what she believes to be right. Society has influenced her reaction to her rape by Manuel. She is ashamed and believes that she has lost her honor. Society dictates that she is at fault and will lose her reputation and position if it becomes known. “The minute he becomes your husband the slip is mended (54)”. Isabel decided the course she follows in an attempt to save herself from shame. I think it would have been easier to let Manuel leave for Sicily. With her rape still a secret from the general population, she could have still married. Instead she deceives everyone, as Manuel deceived her, and ends up spending the rest of her life as a slave. She thinks this best represents her position in life— as a slave to what society dictates and believes. Isabel’s contradicting identities serve as a parallel to her relationship with Manuel. When she is a Christian Manuel is infatuated with her and won’t stop his pursuit. When she is a Muslim she is determined to be Manuel’s wife and won’t stop what she is doing. Isabel finds it easier to believe in herself and is more sure of her actions when she is pretending to be a Moorish slave.

I don’t think that this quotation excuses men from blame. Lisarda is trying to explain that women often help to cause their own misfortune whether they mean to or not. Men have such lowly opinions because women declare their intentions to do one thing but are willing to do another when they think they are going to get what they from the men. Rather than give into men with nothing but promises women should wait until they’ve gotten what the men promised. Octavia’s mess could have been avoided if she hadn’t listened to Carlos’s empty promises. I find it intriguing that she knew she wasn’t good enough for him, because she was poor, but she believed that it would all work out when he promised to marry her. Women shouldn’t go against what they know to be true where men are concerned on the basis of promises that have been made—promises are easy to break.

The supernatural element allowed Juan to escape the punishment that was meant for him attempting to seduce another man’s wife. It appears that he, the one intending to sin, is being saved while Roseleta, the virtuous one, is being punished. I think this element is relating that not all men who are punished are guilty of the crime, but not all guilty men are punished. Juan being saved by the hanged man increased the tension between Roseleta and Pedro. I think the inclusion of the supernatural was meant to save Roseleta and Juan from dishonor, but it didn’t accomplish it.

The City of Ladies II

This reading is Christine’s attempt to establish her feminine authority. She shouldn’t need to establish her authority in her campaign to prove the men wrong. Because she is a woman she understands women and their faults better than the men scholars could ever hope to. She realizes that the behaviors proclaimed by men aren’t innate, rather a product of how their treatment. I think it’s also important that she realizes “that there are very different kinds of women, and some unreasonable…”

She begins by discussing the marriage and education of women. Marriage is expected. It had been said that “no wise man should take a wife, because there are too many worries with women… a loyal servant could better and more loyally care for him and serve him and would not cost him nearly as much…” The general consensus that the men come to is that women are ‘uncontrollable’. Christine refutes this with “For men are masters over their wives… who would never allow their lives to have such authority.” I feel like she is basically asking why the scholars would say this when it is clear that it isn’t feasible. Women have no rights and therefore can’t possibly be in control of anything.

 Education is the controversial topic. I find it interesting that it isn’t only men that want to deny women education, it’s also other women. Many men argue against educating women by saying that “their mores would be ruined as a result.” It is difficult to see how education could ruin anyone’s morals, whether male or female. I think it could be argued that education can help a person better understand why morals and exist. This could lead to them feeling a greater responsibility to live, and work, towards a better standard through their actions.

The other way in which she attempts to establish an authority is by relating tales of women. The tales of women that she has chosen are meant to empower the women that read this. Many of the stories are of women who have acted kindly towards saints, aided them in whatever ways they could, and have been rewarded for their actions. The longest and most detailed story is that of Ghismunda. This story was written by Boccaccio, a man. A first glance this story epitomizes all the fears that men have. Ghismunda sneaks behind her father’s back and takes a lover. They meet in secret without any chance of a marriage between them because her lover is a servant. Her father is heart-broken when he finds out. I find it important that she found a secret lover because she didn’t want to hurt her father by implying that his love wasn’t enough. When all is revealed she doesn’t lie about it. She takes responsibility and is ready to suffer the consequences of her actions.

The City of Ladies I

There are two reasons why Christine is humble and acts gullible during the beginning of the text. She is poking fun at the men’s positions while making it clear that they don’t know what they are talking about. This is best characterized by the lines “And I finally decided that God formed a vile creature when He made woman, and I wondered how such a worthy artisan could have deigned to make such an abominable work… (172)”. Through her actions, the reader is able to predict that the men’s ideas and positions will be negated through a clever argument.

One of the ways in which Christine emphasizes her early actions is through repetition. She often repeats that “… all the philosophers and poets and from all the orators… it seems as though they all speak from one and the same mouth (172)”. Another repetitious thought is that “… I relied more on the judgment of others than on what I myself felt and knew (172)”. This is important contemplation because it sets the stage for the “Three Ladies” to come in and bring Christine back to her original position.

To defend women Christine uses the visit of the “Three Ladies”. These Ladies are sent by God to help those in need. It is difficult to argue against these Ladies, sent by God, as they right a wrong. These Ladies are imposing figures and have the ability to speak with reason in such a way that it is difficult to find fault with what they say. They emphasize that “… these same philosophers contradict and criticize one another… (174)”. If this is true, which we are told it is then none of their opinions of women can be correct.