Unit 9: Gender

Question 1

Compare the following text on Thomas Paines “Rights of Man” and the excerpts from Mary Wollstonecrafts “a vindication of the Rights of Women” and find out which aspects Paines political principles apply to the gender issue in wollstonecrafts text.

Answer 1

Paine
Natural rights (of men)
No justification of privileges in the past
Against kingcraft, lordcraft and priestcraft
Pro welfare distribution, maternity benefits, marriage allowance
Pro democratic parliamentary reform

Wollstonecraft
Most simple truths (natural rights)
Access to all studies for women (physicians, nurses, politics etc.)
Women should pursue business
Independent from men (marriage allowance)
Rational fellowship vs. slavish obediance

Question 2

Read the poem “La Malinche” (1978) by Carmen Tafolla and answer the questions:
a) In which sense can the story of La Malinche be considered an example of intercultural mediation?

Answer 2

-Malinche herself was an interpreter for the Spanish colonisers.
-The poem was written in English and Spanish and has a lot of cultural idioms in both languages (Chingada-Screwed)

Question 3

b) How important were her gender and status in her role in history?

Answer 3

-She was an interpreter but also a lover, advisor and in conclusion had a lot of power over powerful men
- “They could not imagine me dealing on a level with you”

Question 4

c) Who used La Malinche worse, her own people or the conquistadores?

Answer 4

-Their own people
tell her chingada and traitor and was raped

Question 5

d) Why do you think the poem is written in English and Spanish?

Answer 5

-Because she was an interpreter and it shows the difficulties she encountered while translation
-the conflict in her faith to one or the other people (Spanish or English)

Question 6

e) Find references to US shared culture (Self-Reliance and Civil Rights movement) in this poem.

Answer 6

-“I saw and I acted”
-“I saw a dream and I reached it”