Jan
20
The message and the monster
Posted by: jtraynor | January 20, 2009 | Comments Off on The message and the monster
I actually quite enjoyed both of these pieces assigned for this week. Evitas message, I found, was inspiring and poetic.. however not quite realistic. She lumps together the people of an entire nation making emphasis on ‘women.’ She makes bold points about escaping imperialism and exploitation, but she does so by saying that everyone wants the same thing. Of course the ‘people’ want to be treated fairly and gain dignity, however people are diverse. With class stratification, and hierarchies of power, it would be quite difficult to unite the masses to achieve the same goal.
Most importantly though, I believe the ‘message’ is an important piece for the empowerment of women. She strongly acknowledges the strengths of her husband and the good he has achieved while outlining her parallel abilities. She finds a good balance of showing what women can believe and achieve apart from men while not undermining the power of her husband. Her political ideologies and passion for the people is quite incredible.
‘A Celebration of the Monster’ contributed another interesting perspective of who ‘the people’ are and what they are capable of. Unlike Evitas message, the people are not always the victim downtrodden on by a corrupt power structure. Instead, they are capable of their own evils and selfishness. The writing format was also quite distinct from Evita’s. Rather than being formal and idealistic, it is written in a way that you feel like you are being told a story and can almost hear the voice of the author.