Dutiful Hijas

  I found the ideas presented in "Dutiful Hijas" by Erica Gonzalez Martinez very interesting because these are ideas I know personally from my own culture. Martinez spoke about her burden to her family, one that was predetermined by her culture long before she was born. the idea of taking care of one's mother comes from a older tradition were the youngest daughter was deprived of many privileges and force to cared for her parents until death. Even if this was not completely the cased for Martinez, it was still a huge burden to carried. There was a sense of guilt force upon her that controlled certain decisions in her life. If she did anything her parents didn't approved of, she would be consider a bad daughter by her whole family and that would really hurt her personally. The author mother would depend on her even for the most trivial task, the author felt like the mother instead of the child. After her parents divorce, Martinez mother didn't only depend on her emotionally but economically as well. The dependency along with the guilt were the factors that maintained the author under such cultural tradition. Even though she was trying to help her mother become independent, she felt bad of the thought of not being there for her. What was interesting of this tradition was that it only apply to females, males had nothing to worry about. The parents didn't expect much from the males and they were free to do whatever they wanted. I grew up in a culture were they was a greater number of expectations from the females compare to the males, so i know what is like. The way a female was supposed to conduct herself and behaved was totally different from what was expected of a male. This tradition is actually globally, everywhere around the world we are able to see a sort of difference of what is expected based on gender. I think its a form of disadvantages. we are all humans beings, why are there different privileges base on genders?

It's Not an Oxymoron: The Search for an Arab Feminism

  I think its great when a literary piece is able to show you the other side of an specific subject you were never exposed to, it broadens your perspective and change the way you think about such subject. This was  my experience with "It's Not an Oxymoron" by Susan Muaddi Darraj. In the U.S and many others technological advance countries, most of the information its citizens are able to obtain is control by the media and it limits such information to a single story. By reading " It's Not an Oxymoron" I was able to pull what I consider the other side of a single story. Darraj, explains from her own perspective what it is to be a feminist and an Arab women at the same time. In the search for her own type of feminist, one that spoke to her culturally and didn't divided her from her family, the author gained a sense of self awareness that she was able to maintain for the rest of her life. What I personally like about the essay was the misconception the media creates about Arab women and the way the author explain these misconception so that the reader is exposed to more than just what the media created. The author goes into great deeps to analyze why these stories are bias and misleading. she also analyze ideas that transcend cultures and we are able to find them in all type of cultures around the world. Never limit yourself to a single story. If you truly wish to understand something, get to know all aspects of such subject. Don't only take what is giving to you, find out more on your own. We can't ever be truly united if we don't understand each others cultures and backgrounds.