Synthesis Paper

The contemporary woman is thought to be a product of women prior to the 1950s. When it comes to exercising her rights prior to the 1950s, she faced many challenges. She did not have the ability to vote, engage in technical areas, or be interested in leadership. Furthermore, the black woman was the one who struggled the most as a result of racial inequality. The woman was confined to her home, where she was responsible for keeping her home in order and caring for her children. Nonetheless, the continuous efforts gave birth to the modern woman who is free to participate in social issues without feeling limited or oppressed because of gender. From a literature perspective, several works that were published before 1950 by women illustrate the challenges and the struggles that the woman went through in exercising her rights.

The narrative How It Feels to Be Colored Me by Zora Neal Hurston illustrates the struggle of a black woman as she tries to fit in a segregated racial society. Hurston puts into detail her life as an African American lady growing up in America at the beginning of the 20th century. She perceives people as different colored stacks whereby each stack is filled with various aspects that are part of life. While growing up in Florida that was made up of African Americans, Hurston so no reason for thinking of her race regarding superiority or inferiority. However, after leaving for Jacksonville where she would attend boarding school when she was thirteen years old, she began considering it. She explains that in her home, she was referred to as “everybody’s Zora” (Hurston) but at Jacksonville that appeared to be more diverse than her hometown, she explains that she began viewing herself as a colored girl. Hurston gives an account of the number of times that she considered her race. She explains that while at Barnard in college, she perceived herself as “a dark rock surged upon, overswept by a creamy sea,” (Hurston). She also recalls an experience with her white friend while at a jazz club whereby she connected with the music, but her friend did not and hence showing a difference in tastes in regards to race. Rather than considering herself as inferior and engaging in remorse for being a woman of color, Hurston faces her racial difference with courage and positively. The colored bags are used metaphorically by Hurston to identify people. The bags, in this case, contain hope, life issues, drawbacks and many more life facets. From her perspective, when the bags are thrown out, people would be equal in one way or another despite the color of their bags. From a general perspective, she represents a woman with ambition who is not controlled by the color of her skin but rather what she believes about herself. The beginning of the 20th century was marked by high levels of racial segregation, and hence it can be perceived that Hurston environment was quite hostile in regards to accepting people of color. However, Hurston does not let the changes in her environment change the way how she feels about herself. Her story is a good example of the challenges that the woman before 1950s went through to fit in her society.

The Peckerwood Dentist and Momma’s Incredible Powers by Maya Angelou is also another example of a story illustrating the challenges that the before 50s woman faced. The story purposes to empower women during the time that racial segregation had taken route in America. The story begins with Maya feeling overwhelmed such that she wishes that she was not alive and hence illustrating weakness or giving up hope until her mom brings up a jaunt. She states, “I lived a few days and nights in blinding pain, not so much toying with as seriously considering the idea of jumping into the well, and Momma decided I had to be taken to a dentist,” (Angelou).

Angelou’s reasons for making an illusion of a conflict between Momma and Dr. Lincoln is not blatant at first. She states, “Momma and her son laughed and laughed over the white man’s evilness and her retributive sin,” (Angelou) when explaining the level of satisfaction in Uncle Willie and Momma after the results of the conflict. In her illusion, she represents Momma as some extraordinary woman who cannot be put down. She states, “Her eyes were blazing like live coals, and her arms had doubled themselves in length...Then she did give him the tiniest of shakes, but because of her strength, the action set his head and arms to shaking loose on the ends of his body,” (Angelou). The possible reason for using such symbolism is to illustrate the power that women have or rather to use the illustration to empower the woman such that the woman of color feels elevated and abled to overcome the challenges presented to them because of racial differences. From an analytical perspective, the illusions or rather separating herself from reality enabled her to cope up with the challenges that she was facing as an African American woman.

The doctor is portrayed to be racial who maligns a child experiencing pain such that he refuses to accord her treatment just because of her race. The dentist states, “I'd rather stick my hand in a dog's mouth than in a nigger's,” (Angelou) a statement that offends Momma such that she throws in an extra ten dollars to show that she was able to afford medication for her daughter. In the illusion, her grandmother was a powerful goddess who could overcome any form of retribution. At the end of the narration she states, “I was so proud of being her granddaughter and sure that some of her magic must have come down to me,” (Angelou) possibly to encourage herself that she had the ability to challenge anything that came her way as an African American woman growing in society filled with bigotry. Her story is a case in point of the challenges that the woman before 1950s went through to fit in her society.

Another piece illustrating the struggles of a woman is Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros. The story presents the life of Cleófilas who is a Mexican woman and a wife. Cleófilas acquires the knowledge of becoming a woman through telenovelas as she as raised in a home with no mother but with her father and six brothers. Through the programs, she longs for passion in her life whereby she will love and be loved back such that her life will have to mean. She tells herself, “One does whatever one can, must do, at whatever the cost… because to suffer for love is good. The pain was all sweet somehow. In the end,” (Cisneros) with the view that that is how life is supposed to be. However, her life changes when she moves to Texas with her husband whereby every person is a stranger and unwilling to provide support to her. She stays in a home that is isolated in addition to lacking personal transportation. Through the lessons she had obtained from the telenovelas on being a good wife, she adjusts to living with Juan such that they get a son, Juan Pedrito. Nonetheless, their life in Texas is not smooth as Juan has a job that pays little and uses the frustration to beat up Cleófilas. He continues beating her even after getting pregnant for the second time (Cisneros). The woman in this story is powerless such that she has to depend on her husband and endure the torture presented to them. Cleófilas realizes that life was not as she had pictured it when watching the telenovelas. She endures both physical and emotional torture from her husband but later decides to run away. The story ends with suspense as the reader is left wondering whether Cleófilas managed to run away or stayed with Juan. The story presents a woman struggling in a society filled with male chauvinism such that the woman is an instrument of torture and pain. The woman decides to make a change in her life by running away, but the reader is left in suspense. Her story is a case in point of the challenges that the woman before 1950s went through to fit in the society dominated by male chauvinism.

A Worn Path by Eudora Welty is another story explaining the challenges of an uneducated African America woman who exhibits determination when it comes to the health of her grandson. She uses the worn path, a path at she has used plenty of times and mastered, to go and get medicine for her grandson whose health was affected after ingesting lye. Her determination, despite the awareness that she might meet wild animals or unfriendly people, makes her embark on the journey. She exhibits courage after the hunter that she meets on her way points his gun at her; being an African American woman. Also, after being considered a charity case, she still exhibits confidence such that she uses the money that she remains with to buy her grandson a toy windmill; with the perspective that it will make him happy. She represents determination and confidence for a woman surrounded by limitations (Welty).

Seventeen Syllables by Hisaye Yamamoto presents a short story that expresses several themes. The narrator uses fiction to illustrate the situation that faced immigrants at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Some of the themes included in the story include; breakage of cultural bonds between immigrants and their families, challenges faced by Japanese immigrants located in America, in addition to the limitations imposed on Japanese women in America in regards to the Japanese culture (Yamamoto). The author puts into perspective the Exclusion Act of 1924 imposed on Asian countries despite the Japanese being welcomed on the U.S. soils. Most of the Japanese men by then had no wives, and hence the only option they had was to send what they had earned to Japan to bring brides in the U.S. whom they didn’t know physically but only through phones. The problem arose when the couples became incompatible and hence had to bare each other in marriages. The woman, in this case, had no one to associate with such that she spend most of her time alone, taking care of household duties and bearing children. The differences between Rosie and her mother represent the gap between the immigrants and their children born in American soils. Rosie is unable to comprehend her mother’s behavior in regards to her Japanese cultural background (Yamamoto). The story highlights the challenges that immigrant women went through during her stay in the U.S. and what she had to sacrifice to adjust to the new environments and meet the needs of her children born in the American soils.

Still, I Rise by Maya Angelou is another literary piece that presents the struggle of women. In her poem, she focuses on empowerment such that no matter the struggles that are presented to her, she will not give up. She explains that words may be used to put her down, she may be judged arrogantly and shown plenty of hate. However, despite all the afflictions, she states, “like air, I'll rise,’ (Angelou 4).

As stated earlier, from a literature perspective, several works that were published before 1950 by women illustrate the challenges and the struggles that the woman went through in exercising her rights. The Works, How It Feels To Be Colored Me by Zora Neal Hurston, The Peckerwood Dentist, and Momma’s Incredible Powers by Maya Angelou, Woman Hollering Creek by Sandra Cisneros, A Worn Path by Eudora Welty, Seventeen Syllables by Hisaye Yamamoto and Still I Rise by Maya Angelou are good pieces of literature illustrating the struggles of the woman before becoming empowered. They depict the struggle, fear and the confidence of a woman in the pursuit of freedom to express herself.









Work Cited

Gilbert, Sandra M., Susan Gubar. “The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women: Early twentieth-century through contemporary”. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2007. Print.