Clinical Psychologist :Gilbert Renee
1. Author’s subjectivity.
Renee Gilbert PhD (2011) Shake your shyness. Retrieved from.
On September 25, 2012.
Gilbert Renee is a licensed clinical psychologist. In his website, he talks about shyness that affects both adults and children. His website is for the business world, to celebrities, to parents and to the educational professionals. He provides tips that will help parents to become role models, and nature the behavior of their children. This is through helping children identify their hobbies and talents and help them be creative in solving problems. Parents should seek medical advice to help their children overcome shyness. Renée also talks about shyness in the class. This section is for the educational professionals like me. The website offer s tips on how to deal with shy students, and how to work with them. The website generally offers a forum for sharing ideas and discussing issues on shyness. One of the tips to teachers is that they should let children know that feeling shy is normal, and it is OK. Also the teachers have to let the shy students know that there is room for change. This means that though the children feel shy at a point in their life, it does not mean that they will be shy at all times and in all the places. The advice shows the author’s subjectivity that has an impact to both parents and teachers.
B Impact on my role as a teacher.
Classrooms subjectivity is highly detrimental, and it can impact on the overall performance of students. One of my personal subjectivity is on the issue of religion. The issue of religion is a sensitive aspect when not well addressed will impact negatively on students.students have different religious beliefs. The religious beliefs can either be atheism or antagonism. In my classroom teaching, I might use examples that indicate either my religious or political opinions. These opinions show bias towards the student’s faith. This places students at an awkward position, and they will outwardly reject my opinion or agree just for the sake of avoiding conflict in class. I will encourage students to express themselves without fear.. For example, in my English classes, I tend to offer biblical allusions that are on my faith. I should consider incorporating other aspects from Islam, Baptists, or the Orthodox Jewish religion (Earl, 2012).
With the realization that my subjectivity differs from that of my students, I have to ensure that I create an environment which will ensure that all my students are able to express themselves freely without any fear. This is by ensuring that I openly communicate with my students on the controversial issues that are affecting our daily lives. These are students in high school who are much sensitive and highly aware of these issues. For example, I should not shy away from presenting provocative topics in class based on political and religious issues. I will then educate students on the importance of free expression. I will advice students on the essence of appreciating the different opinions we have and respecting one another (Earl, 2012). Maintaining objectivity in class is all about being professional and minding about the student’s interests.
Renee Gilbert PhD (2011) Shake your shyness. Retrieved from.
On September 25, 2012.
He writes that:
“My motivation for sharing this here with you is to help you understand how vital it is for shy children to know that they're OK. That there's hope and a chance that they can fit in---that just because they feel shy at one point in time, doesn't mean that they have to feel shy in all places at all times for the rest of their lives.
Earl, j (2012) The International Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Society, Volume 1, pp.115-122.
$12. A Concept of the Otherness.
The concept of the other mainly applies to ethnicity and nationalism that propose the existence of the significant Other. The other exists in contrast to the national Self, and it is a negative connotation and threatening. The approach that the national self takes is usually one sided. The otherness is from the concept of identity which means absolute sameness. Through the comparison, of people there exists similarities and difference. Certain characteristics that define groups may be looked down upon as a connection to the opposite one. This forms the concept of Otherness. The making of an identity comes about as a result of sameness versus otherness. The identity is as a result of the Alter ego that forms identities. For example, national identities leads to the development of the nationalist ideology in that people with this ideology will refer to themselves as, “us” or “we”. Yet, the development of the “we” means that there is “them”.
The concept of the Otherness is as a result of oppositional framework of exclusion and inclusions, of the Self and the other, and of differences and sameness. The concept of the other goes beyond the political institution. It includes other non national identities such as, people of color, individuals with different sexual desires, people of color, the nonwestern people, women, and individuals of the subordinate social classes.
B Claude McKay, “White House.
The poem “The White House “by Clause McKay indicates the hatred he feels towards the environment he is in. He writes that, “Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate against the potent poison of your hate.” (McKay, ln13-14) to show that the hatred he feels is from the by people around him. By reading the poem, one get understand McKay strong belief in equal rights for all people. He is against the bias and exclusion towards him African Americans and has no human rights. We see that he is willing to persevere in all the challenges he is undergoing by saying that he will bear the anger unbent and proudly with grace and courage (McKay, in 3and 4).
The poet goes on to say that he desires to have a sense of belonging because everywhere he goes he fills that the doors shut in front of his face. This shows that he feels like an outsider, and he does not belong anywhere. He desires to belong. Through this feeling, he demonstrates the concept of the otherness. He sees himself as not fit to be in houses with glass doors for these items belong to others and people above his class. He strongly indicates that the white Americans together with their laws do not apply to his fellow blacks. He blames the white Americans for the deep hatred he has for himself. The feeling of otherness is a result of the inequality he faces in everyday life due to the unequal law of the white Americans.
The other in this work is the African Americans who are hated by the white Americans for their skin color. The blacks suffer with no basic needs. The law of the white people only applies to the blacks for they do not have their basic human rights and treated unequally. The makers of the other are the white Americans. They see themselves as superior thus, making themselves the leaders of the nation while the subjects are the African Americans. The poet feels that he has minimal opportunities.
As a teacher, when I notice that a student in my class is ostracized by other groups of his pears, I will take serious steps in ensuring that the student gains a safe environment. Some of the symptoms I will watch out include withdrawal and absenteeism. I will not use unfriendly tactics or punish the child; instead I will create time to talk to the student and letting him or her open up the problem. Usually, students who encounter otherness do not participate in class for fear of the comments he will receive from other students. I will then go on to explain to the student concerning the aspects they do not understand that impact on their social life in school. For example, a child who is constantly teased by her peers will learn on the issue of dwarfism. This is because, when they gain the knowledge, they will be at a better position to deal with the challenge.
Another concept that will help prevent other students from being looked down upon is educating the class that every one of us is different and unique. The advice to students is that, being different is not a bad thing. I would then inform the students on how this world would be boring are all of us were one and the same thing. I will inform them that it is outwardly wrong to tease others for who they are. I will also inform parents on the importance of instilling significant habits to their children. I will examine the progress.
Poem Hunter (2003) The White House by Claude MacKay. Retrieved from.
On September 25, 2012.
$13. A Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark”.
Hawthorne’s poem “The the Birthmark has the same themes as those found in the story Frankenstein by Mary Shelley’s. This is especially in the religious aspect where human beings have supernatural powers to make them perfect. Aylmer is a man with no believes in the natural laws or God. This is well evident in his effort to take control of nature by trying to remove the birthmark in his wife. God’s intention to man is to care for nature and not to control it. He instead wanted us to be part of nature. The poem Birthmark also touches on the social aspects that preoccupied the people of the 19th century. These social concerns include the stem cell studies, cloning and other scientific inventions that are contrary to the natural law of God. However, in the effort of man fighting with nature, he ends up destroying the truly God’s creation and resulting to disaster. The birthmark in Georgina’s hand was simply not a mark but her soul. The other social concern is the desire for perfection that drives a man to do all things possible to look perfect. This is mainly a gender concern where ladies aim at looking at their truly best. Despite the birthmark in Georgina’s body being a symbol of sexuality, she does not see her uniqueness in the positive light. This is what makes her decide to remove the mark through surgery, but it causes her a tragic end.
In the modern day society, the issue of outward appearance and beauty are prominent. Beauty has come to be defined in different perspectives by among different cultures around the world. Some see beauty as being thin while other cultures prefer women who are fleshy. In my school, I have seen many girls trying hard to maintain their slim physic. Some go to the extent of skipping meals while others face the risk of eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia. I once had a friend in college who tried all means to be thinner than she was. She was a size ten lady and wanted to be eight or even less. This made her eat light means such as countable peas for supper and drinks during lunch hours. She became thin but looked pale and unhealthy. One day she collapsed and had to be rushed to hospital. That is when, I learned that my friend was anorexic, and had to be forced to eat in order to regain her health.
Youra, S (2006) the Fatal Hand, Confusion in Hawthorne's 'The Birth-Mark. Vol. 89. Detroit: Gale.
4: Assessment option 2.
Feminine Sexuality and marriage in women’s writing.
Marriage in the historical and the contemporary times is a vital social institution. Yet again, some may say that marriage has bindings and restrictions especially to women. According to the feminist theories, marriage is an institution for female subordination that diminishes women to home laborers. Economic empowerment of women is, therefore, becoming a vital aspect of debate concerning married women. It is in the recent past that women have emerged to gain their dependence, leading to an era of the “new woman”. The concept of the new woman has only taken effect in the 20th century, leading to a shift of focus on the, maternal role played by women to other social and economic roles in a society. This paper will compare two texts written by women during the late 19th and early 20th century. I will explore the situations and condition of women in these two periods and the role they played in the society within the marriage institution. The paper will look into the married life of women in the two texts based on feminist interpretations, critics, and movement on the institution of marriage. I will examine concept of the new women from the famine sexuality perspective. The main goal is to present the positions of women within marriage and also the various notions concerning marriage.
The paper will examine the social struggles of women in the early 20th century by looking at the works of Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway (1925), and Zara Neale Hurston‘s Their Eyes were watching God (1937). The novels were written in first wave of the Feminist movement. This is a period that focused on inequalities in gender and focused on women’s suffrage mainly in their rights to vote. The first movement of feminist started in the late nineteenth century to the early 20th century. This period marked the beginning of advocating for gender issues in literary works and other informational sources. The literary works dealt with the social construction of women as they were viewed as the other due to the social oppression that they were going through. Virginia Woolf is the mother of feminist literature of the 20th century. The thoughts of Woolf characters do usually contradict their inner feelings. The author manages to portray her characters’ emotional and personal experience. This is through a proper demonstration of their inner mental processes of the characters in order to display their characteristics. She uses a tunneling process to display her stream of consciousness through her novel. Mrs. Dalloway is the best novel that demonstrates the author’s stream of consciousness in an explicit manner. Each character sheds memory of their past to the present. This helps in bringing the past experience of the characters as well as their personalities. The novel presents a day’s event of two main characters. One of the characters is a middle aged wife to a politician and a soldier under trauma of the war. Clarissa‘s subconscious emotion is one with the powerful wish to gain control of her life. Her subconscious mind is like the wild beasts in a primitive jungle. The author says that,
“It raped her, though to have stirring about in her brutal monster! To hear twigs cracking and feel hooves planted down in that leaf-encumbered forest, the soul: never to be content quiet, or quite secure… (Woolf, 15).
This extract reflects the life struggle that Clarissa undergoes within her suppressed subconscious and her conscious self in a metaphor. The author tries to portray the conflict that exists between civilization and nature that is similar to the struggles found in human ideals and aims agonists the individual inner self. The conflict makes Clarissa faces a dilemma. This is because she finds it a challenge to conform to the social expectation that oppose her personal subconscious mind demands. Clarissa’s condition after receiving the news on the death of Septum’s. She thinks that she did not pity the man for killing himself. She even felt glad for the man to have killed himself (Woolf, 204). This further reflects her subconscious mind characterized with a conflict between what is expected by nature to her personal destruction and suicide. However, Clarissa manages to keep the urge of committing suicide aside by diverting her roles to the social roles and duties she has to do. Her standing on the window symbolizes the truly focal point that contrasts her uncompromising true outside and natures view with her social life. She has to assemble herself (Woolf, 204) by rejoining the party and make people know that she is a social person. Also, she has duties to accomplish though she just felt the ways that Septimus did.
There is also the concept of homosexuality in the novel. This is between Sally Stone and Mrs. Dalloway. Both women perceive their marriages as catastrophe (Woolf 39). In one occasion, Peter Walsh interrupts them in their pleasure (Woolf, 41). For a moment, Clarissa reflects back on one of her memorable experience with Peter Walsh when they first kissed. She thinks that if she had married him, his gaiety would all have been hers. She interrupts her thoughts by getting back to her artificial social life. Walsh thinks that Clarisse was just a simple woman but worldly; in caring too much and the society and the ranks in it (Woolf, 85). Clarissa’s marriage to Richard is not a happy one. This is because she had to look all things through the eyes of her husband, thus leading to marriage tragedies. Her unhappiness shows in her actions. She is highly affectionate towards her daughter, and this reflects that she is covering up her sorrows and bitterness. She managed to show her affection towards Elizabeth, her daughter. She also balanced between her innersole and her social self. Woolf in this novel criticizes the social roles expected of women as shown in the inner feelings and actions that are artificial.
The novel further reflects gender stereotype a shown in the perspective that the women characters have towards marriage. Lucretius, after the death of her husband Septmus, she thinks that she will be happy without him because she was in a bad marriage. She suffered yet she could not tell anyone (Woolf 80). This shows that Lucrezia sees that a man by nature should be selfish just the way her husband did. Though a brave warrior in the war, he was no longer a brave person to have committed suicide. She thinks that a man should not even think about suicide. She puts on laced collar, and a hat to attract her husband but, he could not see (Marsh, 51). Lucretius represents other women controlled by gender stereotypes. this makes her to conclude that she is not happy without her husband but, her husband is happy without her. She is under self pity, but she has no one to share with her feelings. The gender attitudes lead to relationships distortion. This is because stereotypes hinder the development of human relationships. Mr. and Mrs. Dalloway and the marriage of Lucretius to Septum’s reflect the social background that existed. Women in these marriages merely exist while the men were outgoing and explorative.
Zora Neale Hurston in her Novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God reflects the stereotypes that existed among African Americans and reflects the African American culture and life. The novel is about women consciousness; as they try to find their voice and to develop their personal power of narrating their stories. The novel involves, three consecutive marriages, story of love, and the feminist cultural aspects. Through the theme of silence and speech, Hurston reveals the social struggle in her main character Janie. Huston’s use of language parallelism is a reflection of Janie's struggle to find a voice. This is because language is the ticket to salvation, empowerment and selfhood. There is the character Janie who is in search for self recognition and identity. This quest makes her get into their marriages and later finds her roots. Janie goes back to Eatonville and place where she finally finds a voice and impresses her female friend Phoebe.
The readers get into a journey of Jeanie’s quest of self realization. The social struggle is similar to the struggle of Clarissa, and that of Lucretius in Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. They struggle to find their individual position and voices in the marriages. Lucretius and Clarissa are not able to get out of the marriage they are in. It is only until the death of Lucrezia’s husband that she finally gets her voice. Janie, on the other hand, is able to undergo three marriages. Eventually, she finds her autonomy and independence. She defies the previously existing stereotypes that represent women as tragic, mulattoes, jezebels and mammies. Janie is an enlightened woman. Through her marriages, she matures by realizing that marriage does not necessarily mean that love exists. This is an aspect that makes her different from the women in Woolf’s books. Janie is has a chance to attain her dream on the need to be treated like a special person by her husband.
The theme of conquest and power as a way of attaining fulfillment is also a reflection of the social struggle. This happiness is not what she receives in her first arranged marriage to Logan Kellicks. Her first husband is a farmer who made her work hard in the farm and did not listen to her wishes. Later Joe Starks comes to Janie's life. He promises her all the best things in life. She elopes with him, to start a new life in Eatonville. However, Joe also expects Janie to live in the way he wants such as not letting her hair loose and asked not to communicate with other men. This second marriage also proves to be a challenge to Janie for she does not have a strong grip on her identity. She is not herself. Her husband demands complete submission and restricts her from associating with the community. Starks, however, ends up killing himself. Just like Lucretius, she finally gains her sense of identity as seen in her loosening her hair for the first time since he met Joe (Huston, 82). This marks a vital point in the life of Janie. She is able to gain her identity. She later met with Tea Cake who allows her to speak herself. He does not force her to do things she does not want to. Unlike Joe, who thought marriage’s pillar is on financial security, Tea Cake provided himself, and he managed to be the best husband for Janie. The love and relationship in the life of Janie are her source of social conflict as she makes an effort of gaining her independence.
Gender roles are well exemplified in this novel. Tea Cake has the stereotypical gender attitude as he beats Janie with brutality to show his dominance over her. This is a phenomenon that many black women of the time had to go through. She welcomes the brutality because her life was not like that she had with Logan, who treated her like a mule. Her life was not also, like the one with Jody who treated her like an object of pride. Despite the love that Janie and Tea Cake shared, Janie as a black woman had to withstand the beating from men. After the loss of her Husband, Tea Cake, feels her life is complete for having experienced all what life has to offer in relation to love. She feels sorry to have killed the husband she most loved through accidentally killing him but, she continues to harbor the significant memories they shared.
Hurston in this novel shows Janie that America has started to grant power and mobility to women. Janie unlike the characters in Mrs. Dalloway has unique characteristics that separate her from other women. She manages to reveal her unique aspects through the three different destinations with different men with the hope of finding happiness and a piece of mind. The women suffer from violence and negligence. They are denied their autonomy and freedom. Janie thinks that God acknowledges both men and women. Therefore, one should be looked down upon. She gains her voice in her ability to shape her personal life. Though the voice was constrained as a result of the society that looked down upon the African Americans, she managed to survive based on her distinctive attitude, and attractive looks.
Hurston and Woolf are two writers whose economic, political, racial and cultural aspects are divergent. Despite the differences in their cultural settings, they have developed similar approaches in their character development and narrative aspects. This paper has examined the way the two authors managed to represent the social struggles of women characters through various literary elements.
Hurston, N (1990) Their Eyes were Watching God. Harper New York
Woolf, V (2004) Mrs. Dalloway. Jason Carter. University of Alabama in Huntsville.
Marsh N (1998) Virginia Woolf, the novels St. Martin’s press. New York.