Extra-credit blog

1. What were your expectations when you began writing this blog together? How did you think it would work?
When we started this blog post, we had the intentions of relating our readings to things that we enjoy today, such as the TV show Gossip Girl. We expected that our readings in the class would relate to our interests today, however that wasn’t necessarily always the case.
2. Did writing the blog together work as you had hoped it would? Why or why not? What would you do the same? What would you do differently?
I think so! Every week we took turns writing a blog post and a reply and I think the work was divided up evenly which made it fair. We would do the same thing over again if we had to. Although, I missed a week, which is why I volunteered to do the extra credit blog post to earn back those points. We each have a different style of writing and views to bring to the table so I think us both doing posts gave our blog diversity. I am more of a summary and response writer on this blog, whereas Ruben has the brilliant ability to pick apart the texts and throw in some historical facts and even challenge the author’s viewpoints.
3. How closely did you adhere to the "blog manifesto" that you wrote early in the process? (Your blog manifesto was your first blog post.) Did it help the way that you thought about the topics you wrote about? Why or why not?
We didn’t stay close to our blog manifesto. We kind of did our own thing, writing our initial thoughts and feelings on the readings instead of focusing on relating it to something we liked. I think it worked out better this way, because our replies were honest and they contributed to the class discussion over blog posts, which made it easy for other classmates to reply to us and understand what our thoughts were.
4. Overall, what did you learn from this blog assignment?
I learned a lot about the kind of reader I am through this blog post, and through reading other blog posts because I was able to see how others interpreted the same text I read. It was interesting to see how other people connected their ideas to the text in ways I never even considered. I think having an open space such as the blog is really helpful because it allows students to see how other people read texts and opens up questions or ideas we may have that we wouldn’t have thought of without reading someone else’s ideas.
5. Other thoughts and comments?
I learned from this blog post that using the internet is a really great way to have students do homework. Ruben and I are both future English teachers, so we are always analyzing our professor’s assignments and the effectiveness of them so one day we might be able to use the same idea in our classroom. I think having a blog post is really effective because since our generation is obsessed with the internet, it made doing our homework on a social media site seem more fun.

OMG Edna belongs in Gossip Girl!

Spotted: Edna Pontellier smitten over Robert Lebrun. Doesn’t she know, you can only have one?

As we finished up The Awakening this week, Ruben and I noticed some similarities between the novel and one of our favorite TV series, Gossip Girl. Gossip Girl, much like The Awakening, is infused with drama and suspenseful situations that leaves the audience wanting more.
Gossip Girl consists of what some would call “over-privileged” teenagers dealing with a secret source known as Gossip Girl who is exposing all of their darkest secrets via text messages and a weblog. Although this anonymous source brings grief and drama to the teens, airing their dirty laundry makes each character more human and more relatable; behind the couture handbags and thousand dollar wardrobe pick for the day.

The world of Gossip Girl is much like Edna’s background living in an Anglo culture. No one shows their feelings; if they are sad, it doesn’t show. People are well composed and rarely talk about their issues. Much like the people who visited Grand Isle for holiday, Gossip Girl characters are extremely wealthy as well. Edna reminds me of the main character, Serena Van Der Woodsen’s mother, Lily Van Der Woodsen in one particular sense. Lily has two children: Serena and Eric. While she loves her children, she seems to be too preoccupied in some seasons with her own love life to pay sufficient attention to them. Edna loves her children, but doesn’t pay much attention to them or show them much affection. Edna and Lily also have something else in common, straying from marriages. In the upper east side of New York, affairs were not uncommon. Lily seems to never be pleased in her marriages, and always looks elsewhere to fulfill the void.

I have noticed both in The Awakening and in Gossip Girl that social status is very important to people, especially those with wealthy backgrounds. Serena Van Der Woodsen, the “it” girl of the city who comes from a family who is fabulously wealthy. She falls in love with an outsider, “Lonely Boy,” also known as Dan Humphreys. Because Dan comes from Brooklyn, dubbed the “outside and poor” part of New York, Serena must decide what she is willing to lose by dating Dan. Much like Edna struggling to find her identity, and finding it, but knowing what she will lose if she chooses to be her full self, there are always consequences to going against what society’s expectations are.
I am wondering, did anyone find similarities in this novel with their favorite shows, or another favorite book of theirs? The storyline in The Awakening seems to be common and I am sure there are other medias out there that can relate to the plot.

First wave feminism..is it for every woman?

As we discuss The Awakening and the radical ideas of this novel (at least for the time period when it was released), we need to be more critical of our understanding of first wave feminism. In class a student mentioned that feminism had not even began by the time that this novel was released.  First wave feminism actually began around the time that Kate Chopin was born. The Seneca Falls convention for gender equality occurred in 1848— 50 years before The Awakening  was released. This does not mean that feminism was as popular as it is today, but it is wrong to think that there were no feminist groups before this novel came out.

Having that said, we need to move on from first wave feminism and begin thinking of critical race feminism. Kate Chopin writes about motherhood and how not everyone was meant to become a mom—this alludes to the pro-choice movement started by Margaret Sanger. She founded the first birth control clinic in 1916. First wave feminists idolize her, whereas critical race feminists critique the political strategies that she used. Margaret Sanger has been praised for her ties to the Eugenics movement and the KKK. People thought this was a political strategy to obtain rights over women’s bodies. However, women of color have faced forced sterilization and Margaret Sanger was known to have ties to the groups that pushed for Eugenics. The Awakening is rich in its understandings of sexual liberation, but it also follows first wave feminist rhetoric that focused on the reproductive rights of white women.

I would argue that while The Awakening follows some of the rhetoric of first wave feminists, Kate Chopin shows a fluid understanding of sexuality. As a gay man, I related to this story because I understood the social stigma behind different kinds of sexualities—for Edna it meant having sexual pleasure in a world that constricted her to the de-sexualized role of motherhood.

Her relationship to Adele Ratignolle was also an interesting take on relationships and friendship. Chopin writes: “Who can tell what metals the gods use in forging the subtle bond which we call sympathy, which we might as well call love” (p . 18). This was written about Edna’s affection to Adele and they are later on holding hands at the beach. A queer reading of this episode would imply that Edna might have allowed herself to feel romantic feelings towards Adele; this, however, was not further developed in the novel. But it’s an interesting episode that makes me wonder if Edna might have been bi-sexual.

I am interested to see the opinions of others on Edna’s role as a mother. Do people demonize her for not having nurturing feelings towards her children? Or do people see Edna as someone who was forced into the role of motherhood, and it is ok for women not to want to be mothers. 

-Ruben