Beyond Silence

Lara is forced to live her life not only for herself, but for her parents too. Both her mother and father are deaf, so she has to communicate with them through sign language. She can hear and they can not, so she is always going back and forth. She has to communicate with certain people through two different languages, but she does it very well. Music is her passion and she loves to play, but her father does not want her pursuing to become a musician. I partly think this is because he can not hear her play and since it is his daughter's talent, he is bothered he cant experience it with her. Throughout the entire film Lara never really got a break for herself, except for at the end. Ever since she was a little girl she had to be the caretaker of her parents and help them communicate with others around them, since they could not speak for themselves. She had to be the translator and do all the work, whether it was with accountants at the bank, her school teachers, or anyone else. She was the child, but the reality of the situation forced her to become the adult, and her parents the children. Lara had to baby her parents and was the mother figure to her younger sister.
Lara seems to get along better with her mother than her father. Her mother is more lenient and open to things, especially her playing the clarinet or going to visit her Aunt Clarissa. She doesn't ever object to anything, even when it secretly bothers her. Lara's mother explains to her husband that even though Lara is their daughter, she isn't their property. He comes off as being stubborn and even somewhat abusive when he slaps Lara. He orders her around and makes her stop playing the clarinet, turn off the music, and do her homework. He is never open for "discussion" with her and basically shuts himself out of her world. He is jealous of his sister Clarissa from unresolved issues from their childhood, and he opposes Lara spending quality time with her. I feel like Lara's mother and father are very happy together and love each other. They never fought and since they were both dead they could relate to one another on a whole new level. Her mother helps her father to understand the situation better, and come to peace with it. She even buys two tickets to a professional clarinet concert for Lara, even though she knew she would not be able to hear the music herself. When Lara's mother dies, her father becomes especially detached and lost because his comfort zone, lover, and best friend are forever gone.
At first, Lara has a great relationship with her Aunt Clarissa. She wants to be like her and look like her and play music like her. Clarissa was her role model growing up because they shared so much in common and Lara was just amazed by her Aunt's talents and beauty. Even in the opening scene they are ice skating together and Lara cant stop smiling. She got to experience everyday things with her Aunt that she could not experience with her parents because of their condition. They went swimming in the lake, rode bicycles, went camping, drank wine, took pictures, traveled, and played the clarinet together. In a way they were like mother and daughter, best friends, and sisters all at the same time. We learn of Lara's relationship with Clarissa when she allows Clarissa to cut her hair. Lara was so fascinated on looking like her when she was her age that she let Clarissa chop all her beautiful hair off. Once it was gone, though, Lara begins to cry because she missed her long hair. As the movie progresses and Lara is in Berlin, she begins to pull away from Clarissa and sees the bad things about her, and not just the good. Even at dinner Lara can no longer keep her mouth shut and tells Clarissa how she now really feels. She attacks Clarissa saying she is jealous of her music and only wants her to get into the school for her own sake, and not Lara's. She doesn't understand why Clarissa didn't want her playing slow peaceful music, but instead fast and upbeat notes. Lara got so fed up to the point where she actually moved out of her Aunt's home and into her Uncle's new apartment.

Duras 3

My first quote is, "I never really knew how much I liked wine" (p 100). Anne says this and for some reason it caught my attention because ever since the murder she has drank glasses of wine for the past seven nights. I find this ironic because she goes from having her old everyday routine of taking walks with her son and living a boring life, to developing a new daily routine. This new routine, though, is much better than the old one because she is finally having fun and getting to do something for herself. She gets to drink and get drunk, associate with people her own age, and get away to do something she has never done before. She is a full grown woman and since she states this comment I come to believe that Anne has never really been much of a drinker. Since she finally has the opportunity to sit down, relax, and consume alcoholic beverages, she gets to act somewhat mature and feel like an adult.
My second quote is, "They lived in an isolated house, I think it was by the sea. It was hot. Before they went there they didn't realize how quickly things would evolve, that after a few days he would keep having to throw her out. It wasn't long before he was forced to drive her away, away from him, from the house. Over and over again" (p 103). Chauvin states this because Anne continues to ask him for more details about the love affair between the couple so she can understand it better. This quote gets me because its obvious since the man kept making the woman leave he didn't want her around. Since she didn't stay away and kept coming back, he finally put an end to it. In order to keep her away for good and out of his life he had to kill her, and that is exactly what it led to. The man probably still loved the woman to a certain extent, but he was unsure of what he really wanted at that given moment. Maybe his feelings changed and he didn't know what to do or how to handle the situation, so he became paranoid and brought himself to commit murder.
My third quote is, "As you know, Anne is defenseless when it comes to her child" (p 109). I chose this quote because Anne is all about her little boy. She doesn't really act like a mother to him, but instead like his best friend. She lets him get away with everything and even though they do everything together, she doesn't discipline him. When he ignores the teacher during the piano lessons Anne just laughs. She doesn't correct her son or tell him to apologize. Usually mothers get angry with their child when they disobey or disrespect an elder. In a way i think Anne is just scared of losing her son because he is all she has, up until she meets Chauvin. At that point, she doesn't really care anymore about the fact that her son is alone in the middle of the street outside, while she is getting drunk with a stranger in a cafe.

Duras "Moderato Cantabile"

This novel begins with an opening of a piano lesson. Usually music is considered to be peaceful, especially the harmony coming from a piano, but in this case it was quite the opposite. There was a mixture of confusion along with anger and carelessness that led way to a frightening scene. The boy, the teacher, and the mother are in the room for the boy's lesson and it is not going well. The teacher, Mademoiselle Giraud, comes off as being very strict and doesn't have patience. She doesn't tolerate mistakes or stupidity, which the boy is presenting on purpose. She continues to order him to play the piano certain ways and asks what "moderato cantabile" means, which the boy should easily know. Instead of answering and doing what she says he continues to act as if he is dumbfounded because he doesn't have any interest in the music, and rather sit there and stare out at boats in the ocean. The teacher knows he is only pretending to not know the material and gets frustrated because she is aware of his talents, but he isn't cooperating. The mother, Anne Desbaresdes, continues to tell her son to participate, but she doesn't scold him. Instead, she has the basic mother instinct to talk genuine to him and basically baby him. The mother and son have a very close bond that is obvious, and clearly the boy wasn't raised to have respect the way he should. We learn that Anne comes from money because she is married to a wealthy man, so the son is basically spoiled and doesn't have manners. Anne just laughs every time he messes up the keys or ignores the teacher, as if it is a joke and not serious. As this scene goes on another scene is happening outside the window on the streets, where a woman was just murdered in a cafe. The woman screams and then everyone crowds near the door and sirens follow indicating that the police are about to be there. So, the novel opens with two scenes that are based upon troubles and have a sad tone, instead of a happy one, which is unusual for a beginning.
I think the scream was from a random woman who was murdered by her husband in a local cafe because it gave sense to help Anne figure out her own self, and come to reality. Anne and her son had a daily routine where they would go for walks and then Fridays was the piano lesson. It seemed like their lives were actually quite boring and neither one of them were very happy, so they had fun together doing simple things. Anne had all this money so her family was considered to be wealthy, meaning that they were "required" to perform the same roles in society as the other upper class residents. However, money clearly didn't buy them happiness like it did for others. So, when the scream interrupted the music lesson, Anne right away became intrigued with the whole scenario and "had" to learn more of what happened and why. She needed to know every detail and she learned parts of the story from a man she drank wine with in the same cafe. This man, Chauvin, was there at the murder scene, so he walked Anne through the steps. In a way, by learning of the murdered woman and the husbands' affair, Anne and Chauvin engaged in their own new love affair. Anne did things she never normally did, like drink a lot of wine and sit at the cafe for hours talking. She finally did something she wanted to do for once, and the heartbreaking story of the murder and the love that the woman felt for her husband, was the missing puzzle piece to help bring Anne's own life and love interest into better perspective. A tragic moment led to an enchanting moment.

Dora 2

Every time Dora tells Freud about her dreams he always corrects her statements and forms them into his own ideas. He constantly underestimates her and takes whatever she says and puts those words into his own perspective of how he views the situation. It is like he doesn't believe she is being honest with him or herself, and is underlying her true intentions and feelings. She explained to him about the jewelry box, the cigarette smoke, the bed wetting, and the fire, and every time he turned around and formed his own stories. He would listen to what she was saying, but he wasn't really hearing her out. Instead, he would believe she was somewhat in denial and steering away from the truth and he was right, since he could never be wrong. Freud would view Dora as hiding the facts and oppressing her own fantasies, so he would call her out on them and convince both himself and her that his ideas were correct. I think Freud has to be correct in all of his statements because he is doubted by so many others. Dora is young, especially compared to him, and she is the weak one in this case because she is the one coming in for treatment. He is the one who has the upper hand because it is him who is doctoring her and diagnosing her disease. So, to him, he cant be wrong and is holding the power over her because her dreams are an association of reality.
Transference is defined as being an act of transferring or a redirection of feeling. This plays into the therapy sessions because Freud feels as if Dora has secret feelings for him which she is trying to play off onto Herr K and her father. Whenever she tells him about her dreams he insists that they are of sexual intentions. It is almost like he doesn't think the dreams are that serious because they are just based upon sex. However, to Dora, that is not the case. She is well aware of feelings being there and having sexual connections, but she also is serious when talking about water and fire and the elements of life. It doesn't seem as if Dora has fantasies about Freud, but she very well could. In his eyes she does because she is a very horny young girl who has also had sexual interactions with another older man, Herr K. Freud claims Dora feels this way for Herr K because she is secretly in love with her father and upset at the fact that he loves Herr K's wife and not her, in a sexual manner. So, whenever she doesn't get the love back in return she turns to another man, whether it is her father, Herr K, or Freud.
I honestly think Freud is full himself and is in his own world. He is too stubborn to be considered wrong and doesn't believe Dora is ever being completely honest. Part of his theories do make sense because Dora does seem like she is very sexually disturbed, but I believe there is more to her dreams than what he is making them out to be. Freud is only believing what he wants to believe and isn't considering the reality of the situation. Even if he was completely accurate on his opinions of her thoughts when she is in the unconscious state of mind, he shouldn't tie everything to sexual feelings. It is almsot like his ego is so huge that he is so self absorbed and conceited with himself.

Under the Sand

The "traumatic event" in the film was when Jean suddenly disappears at the beach. They were on vacation and even though we only saw him briefly, he seemed very depressed. Marie was cheerful and didn't seem to make anything of it, but he didn't engage in conversation with her and there seemed to be some sexual tension. When they went to the beach he rubbed her back and made it seem like he was going to take a dip. When he never came back, though, it wasn't very shocking because it seemed like he was building up to leave her. We don't know what really happened, though, whether he really did drown or if he actually did just walk away from her to start over.
Marie forces herself to believe Jean never left her and nothing has changed. She talks about him still in the present tense and when her friends try to change the subject or confront her about the issue, she ignores them. There are several scenes where she comes home and "conversates" with Jean. We see him "hold" her and "sleep" with her. One morning she even refuses to go to work and "eats" breakfast with him because she would rather stay at home with him than go off to work. Every time she comes to reality and believes that he really is gone, she forces herself to be in the moment with him again. She is in denial and wont accept the truth. Even when her accountant tells her she is broke, she just says Jean will take care of it.
When Marie goes to the morgue to identify the body, she insists that she see it. The doctors tell her that it is an awful sight and it will traumatize her because the body is so mutilated, but she claims she needs to see it to come to acceptance. After they look at the body and the doctors show her the swim shorts and watch she just laughs. It was shocking when she did this because the situation is not funny at all and nobody could understand why she thought it to be so humiliating. She finally said that the watch was not Jean's and she should know because she was the one who bought it for him. It is unknown at this point whether or not the body was Jean because Marie claims it wasn't his watch, but the doctors say his dental records match up and they are 90% accurate.
At the end when Marie is alone on the beach and crying, I still wasn't clear whether she was lying and the watch really was his so he was dead, or if she was telling the truth and he really did leave her. In a way I felt that she had come to closure and finally was letting go because he left her to start a new life. He moved on and she should do the same. It was all really confusing, especially when she saw a man that appeared to be Jean. I was so excited as she was running to him because I wanted to see if it really was him or not, but then it just ended. So, for me, I still do not know what truly happened to Jean. 

Dora 1

I believe Freud's case study of Dora can be compared to literature because he focuses on a subject, the girl and her psychoanalysis. He is telling us readers a story of a person who is dealing with her own issues, but also seeking treatment. In a way this one story is like several separate stories because we are not only hearing it from Freud, but we are also being informed by Dora. He is the one questioning her and providing her the treatment, so she is telling him of what is going on with her, and then he is telling us of her problems. The story focuses on Dora and everything she is going through, but at the same time we are learning about other characters who play huge roles in her story. There is the father, the mother, and the couple who seem to cause a lot of trouble by having affairs. So we are being involved with Freud's version of Dora's story, the real story from Dora herself, and also the story as seen through the other characters' eyes. Both literature and psychoanalysis have conflict in common, especially "internal conflict." Literature revolves around storytelling, while psychoanalysis deals with dream interpretation, theory, exploring, revealing, and investigating. A story reveals itself through a variety of subjects and interests, so does psychoanalysis. Both involve stories being understood, interpreted, and spoken about to reveal everything out into the open.
Freud talks a lot about sexuality and gender, especially when it comes to the mother and Herr K. He introduces the mother as basically being no good and being over compulsive with cleaning. He even mentioned how she made everything so perfect that nobody wanted to even eat off the clean dishes. Dora was very close to her father, but did not get along with her mother, and she even took notice to the fact that her parents were no longer sexual with each other. Her father had turned to Herr K's wife and they had a secret love affair. They were constantly sneaking off together to spend time with each other, and then they even all moved to Vienna. However, it was Dora who Freud instigated about the most when it came to sexual tension because of her passion with Herr K. When she first told him about Herr K trying to kiss her and she ran away, Freud made his opinion clear about what he thought had really happened. He believed that Dora very much liked Herr K, but she became scared of the excitement he had shown through his pants. Freud instigated that since she was so young, she could not fully understand what was going on and also got too excited, herself. Dora claimed she felt nothing but disgust and couldn't believe what had happened, but when Herr K was confronted he even claimed, "She took no interest in anything but sexual matters, and that she used to read Physiology of Love and books of that sort in their house on the lake. It was most likely that she had been over-excited by such reading and had merely 'fancied' the whole scene" (p 19).

Sor Juana 3

Writing poetry came easy for Sor Juana because like she had originally stated, she learned how to read and write at the age of seven. It wasn't difficult for her to put her feelings and opinions down on paper because she was both highly intelligent and inspiring. She wanted others, including her readers and especially women, to hear her out and come to agree with her. Sor Juana discusses several topics throughout her poems, but she mostly focuses on men and their treatment towards women. She writes about passion, truth, love, jealousy, suffering, and how they affect a person's life. Within these topics she argues how they interfere with emotions, fantasy, and cause difficulties until death. Sor Juana mostly focuses on the principles between men and women, constantly bringing up the fact that men cause nothing but problems for women. Women do nothing but love and care for men, while men always feel the need to downgrade them and have the upper hand. Men use their power to overrule women and torment them for anything they feel is wrong, but in reality it is the women who are right and the men who are wrong. I think that she liked poetry better than prose because she could get her point across more easily by using ways of rhythm and verse. It flowed better and could be seen more clear. Earlier she even stated how verses help her think and it isn't difficult for her, but instead it comes easy. 

I really liked poem 165 on page 161 because once again she is depicting love and comparing it to happiness. She claims love is a spell that is the cause of women being content and in a fantasy world. Love is what women most embrace and desire, but at the same time she compares it to jail because of how men tend to ruin it. Women have so much to offer, but men always neglect the feeling of love for lust and do nothing but flatter then disappoint.

I thought poem 92 on page 165 was very interesting because she downgrades men for belittling women. It is always men who are on a higher pedestal than women, but Sor Juana is proving that women can take the lead, as well. She argues how men never take the blame are claim they are never at fault, but she gets her point across that it is them and not the women who they cast it upon. She focuses on scorn because no matter what women do, whether they admit their love or deny it, they are always seen as foolish. Just like lines 30-31  state, "and fails to admit you is ungrateful; yet if she admits you, too easily won." Right after she explains how women may be foolish, but men are also seen as fools because they can never own up to their cruelty or low self-esteem for being at fault.

Sor Juana 2

The first passage that interests me is, “If studies, my Lady, be merits (for indeed I see them extolled as such in men), in me they are no such thing: I study because I must. If they be a failing, I believe for the same reason that the fault is none of mine” (p 77). I chose this quote because I believe Sor Juana is trying to express the fact that she knows of her intelligence, and so, she is never at fault. Merits refer to being of excellence and success, and demonstrating achievement. Since she is well-educated, she upholds these qualities because she is smart, especially more smart than others. Sor Juana doesn’t just study because she “must” or she is forced to, she does it because she takes pride in it. Being studious is something she is passionate about and enjoys, so by her phrasing it like this, she is just trying to hide these facts for other reasons. She is partly sustaining from the truth and not being honest with both herself, and others.

            The second passage that caught my eye was, “To such men, I repeat, study does harm, because it is like putting a sword in the hands of a madman: though the sword be the noblest of instruments for defense, in hands it becomes his own death and that of many others” (p 81-83). I chose this because it reminded me of the first quote since both argue about men. They each compare men to studies in their own unique ways, but they downgrade men at the same time, showing comparison between the two. Sor Juana is talking down upon both men and intelligence, but again for the wrong reasons. Her passages are not honest and she is more or less making things up to hide her true feelings. In a way she is sharing some truth in the statement because study does do harm, since it caused her harm. Others disliked her for her intelligence and so this caused her to believe being studious made her harmful. So, to take the pressure off of her, she instead focuses on men and how them being smart is more harmful than she is. 

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

This title fits perfectly for the story because throughout you can see the constant misfortunes and hardships the women have to face. On a daily basis women become crazy and overemotional mostly because of men, and this is especially true for Pepa. She is head over heels in love with Ivan even though he is a manwhore and player, but that doesn't seem to phase her at first. She is in the state of mind where nothing else matters except him and she cant live without him. This happens to every woman, even in reality, including myself. Women tend to get lost  in men and begin to act crazy and foolish. Men hold that power of women and feed off it because they know they have us wrapped around their finger. Women act out and do things they would not normally do because they can no longer think straight. That is the power of love, not the good side, but the bad side.

The telephone plays an important role in the film because it is constantly ringing and every time Pepa gets her hopes up. She continuously believes it is going to be Ivan trying to get in contact with her, but it is almost always Candela. Pepa drives herself crazy because of the lack of communication there is between herself and Ivan, and she even gets to the point where she throws the phone out the window, several times. She can no longer handle the fact that her lover doesn't wish to try and get ahold of her, so whoever else is, including Candela, doesn't matter to her. Even though Candela is worried about Pepa and also needs her help for her own issues, Pepa still does not call Candela back or take the time to finish listen to her messages. The phone is also portrayed to be very ugly and not attractive at all. It is red and the answering machine is hideous and they are both shown like this because of all the problems they both cause. 

Even though the film is supposed to be serious and sad because of the emotional states the women are in, especially Pepa, there is also a lot of comedy. It is considered to be both a romantic and comedic film because there is a lot going on that has a serious tone, so some parts are needed to cause laughter to cool down a little bit. Just as the title states, these women are about to lose their minds and have a nervous breakdown, and that is the farthest thing from funny. In reality, breakdowns are extremely serious, especially when people try to commit suicide or are considered to be mentally ill. In the movie, though, we see Candela try to jump off the balcony and cant go through with it. She is sick in the head, which definately is not supposed to be funny, but us as the audience still laughs because her issue isn't portrayed to be serious, but rather comedic. She is being grabbed and felt up in appropriate places, horns are being beeped by cars, and her screams are irritating. If this were real life, the fact that someone is hanging off a balcony hundreds of feet in the air above a street would be almost sickening because of the horror. This is a movie, however, so even though parts are considered real, it as a whole is fake. 

The Answer Part 1

I believe Sor Juana realizes she is extremely intelligent, but others downgrade her for it. She goes on and on about how much she loves learning and keeps trying to pursue an education, but towards the middle of the story she begins to put herself down. At first, she seems to take pride in knowing that she wants to get the best education possible and even takes the opportunity to attend classes behind her mother's back, but after she loses the excitement over her passion for learning. She begged her mom to send her to that specific University in Mexico City so she could study science, and when her mom refused to let her go she went anyways, on her own. Sor Juana knew of her intelligence and even stated how when she was only seven years old she already knew how to read, write, and sew, which was unusual for such a young girl to be educated in so many different areas. She wanted to attend the school so bad that she even pleaded to her mom to dress in her men's clothes, stressing the idea of how much she wanted this opportunity. Wanting to look like a man was one rhetorical device to make her point clear, but the main one was how she continued to cut her hair every time it grew. She chopped it off once the length was there was again as a form of punishment to herself. To me, its like she knew how smart she really was, but it was humiliating to herself because of what others thought of her intelligence as her being a woman, so she underestimated herself. She both pretended and caused herself to believe she had grown dumb, which she was not, and she even states, "Then I cut my hair right off to punish my dull-wittedness, for I did not think it reasonable that hair should cover a head that was so bare of facts" (p 51).
One quotation that really interested me was, "For as love itself is union, it admits no distant extremes" (p 59). I chose this quote because I do not quite understand what it means or what it is in resemblance of. She talks about experiences of life in community, nature, and how they work together to find happiness, but then she moves on to love. I believe Sor Juana is using love as an example in comparing it to a union to show how they work together to create happiness, just like community and nature does.
Another quotation that really caught my eye was, "But upon seeing so many and diverse crowns, I pondered which sort the crown given to Christ might be; and I think it must be the obsidional crown, which conferred the greatest honor and was called 'obsidional' from obsidio, which means 'siege'" (p 69). I chose this because throughout the whole letter Sor Juana continues to talk about God, the disciples, the Holy Mother, and Christ.  She relates her own stories to those of Moses and others from the Bible, so when she brings up crowns, it was in relation to how a crown would be fit for someone of such Holy power.

Disenchantments of Love 7-10

Blanca decided to things differently with the marriage situation, which made her different than other women. She knew she was going to be marrying a prince and would be of great wealth, but i believe she went about it the way she did in order for the prince to prove his love for her. She didn't want to marry someone who just desired her for beauty, but who actually was in love with her, more than just infatuation. There have been many stories where a man falls head over heels for a woman, but like we discussed in class, its more lust than love. The love isn't real because it is just based off of appearance and fortune. So, Blanca wanted to get to know this stranger who she would marry a year later to come to know his true feelings for her. If he would take the time and have the patience to wait one year without any physical romance, but just conversations through windows, then that would prove his true feelings. They soon fall in love with each other, the real love, and Blanca becomes so unhappy because she causes herself to believe that as soon as the "mystery" is over and they marry, things will change for the worst. Once marriage sets in shes afraid his feelings for her will change from love to hatred and he will also become unhappy because there will be nothing left to win. The game of trying to capture her heart will be over because he will already have her, and the good times will come to an end. Blanca knew her time was running out and that is what caused her to become nervous and uneasy. She even stated, herself, "I'm in even greater despair because the time is running out so quickly and if they think it's too long, i think it's too short" (p 253).
Blanca was always jealous of Arnesto because of the time he spent with her husband. The prince soon payed no attention to her and was all about Arnesto causing her to believe he was of bad news. She thought her husband was cheating on her and having affairs with other woman behind her back, and that Arnesto was to blame. Truth is, though, that Arnesto was the one her husband was having the affair with and she had no idea up until she saw it with her own eyes. As soon as Blanca walked in on them she immediately left and just sat in her room with her face in her hands, not being able to believe what she had just witnessed. Even though nobody knew about the prince and his gay lover, when they were caught by Blanca they did not care. Instead they just laughed it off and one of the men even said, "That sure spooked the Spanish woman" (p 265). With this i think the prince had really fell in love with Blanca and still had love for her, but he was now in love with someone else. He wasn't gay nor straight, but instead bi-sexual. His feelings for Blanca had changed due to him becoming bored with her, his father's hatred for her, and his new love interest. To him, he didn't cross any boundary because it was his life and he did not want her to be a part of it any longer.
Gossip has been around forever and if anything, it has just gotten worse. It is a cruel form of making up lies and deceiving others for cruel reasons. It never ends on a good note, but instead causes humiliation and betrayal. Stories transform into unbelievable lies that never even really happened, and enemies are transformed. Friendships are ruined and the gossip just continues to spread causing no good the entire time. Eventually, if the person is lucky, new gossip will come into effect and the old gossip will just begin to fade. However, that is still not a good thing because in clarifying my point, it is STILL gossip. Truth is gossip is always going to be there, whether we want it to or not, and there isn't much we can do about it. We can try to avoid it or tell our side of the story, but the whole truth will never come out. Gossip is a form of speech that is used for misfortunate reasons. It is a form of bad language and lies that extends from the truth as much as possible. It is done in order for others to be heard when they cant be heard during other times, mostly when the truth is spoken. Gossip is the evil kind of language which comes from our very mouths, and denies the truth to put others at fault for our own amusement.

Disenchantments of Love 4-6

In the introduction the narrator claims that if women didn't focus so much on beauty and appearance, but instead of education that they would excel men. Women are known to be looked down upon when compared to men because the truth of the matter is that men are actually nervous about how much greater women are in reality. Men take pride in knowing that they have more power over women, but its no secret that women could out beat them any day, if given the chance. Instead of women being able to pursue in learning or engage in activities that only men usually perform, they are forced to only partake in motherhood and chores. Just like Filis states, "Because of men's fears, women are put down and obliged to do only household tasks" (p 140). I think its both unnecessary and downgrading for women to not be able to pursue their own dreams just because men don't want to humiliated or overruled. If women had more say, then they would not be mistreated or disenchanted, which is the factor of the stories. Instead, it would be the men who would learn the hard way and "get wounded by their own sword."
The skull in story 4 clearly resembles the love and affection Elana had for the cousin. She may not have been in love with him, but she was close to him and they shared a tight bond. He was killed for no reason except out of jealousy, and the skull was given to Elana to torture her. It is obvious the skull did not scare her or haunt her in any way because she drank out of it on a daily basis. I would say that is unusual, but at the same time I believe she did this to show both her and the cousin were innocent and his death should be repayed out of loyalty. The cousin was known to be a traitor and had lies made up about him, but in reality he was as honest as he could be and was not harmful. If anything, he was going to tell don Jaime about the Negress and her obsession, so that shows he was both caring and watchful for his "friend." His head was in a good place, but this was not well known until the end, when by then it was, too late.
I feel bad for Dona Ines because she was portrayed to be a deceitful woman even though everyone learned of the truth, and knew she was innocent. She did not willingly partake in the affair, but instead she was under a cruel spell. She was seen as a monster and not the loyal woman she really was. She was torn apart by the three closest people in her life, including her own husband and brother, and she did nothing wrong. She was outcasted and treated unfairly for years. Dona Ines didn't know the circumstances about the dress and the other woman who portrayed her, but when she found out she immediately came forth with the truth that wasn't her. Then after the spell took place she was humiliated again and instead of being secured, she was tormented and locked away. If she was of no wrong, then why would the husband, brother, and sister-in-law be out to get her, the innocent, and not the guilty?