Now That I Am Forever with Child
Teresa Schopp
English 266
Women Writers
October 11, 2010
Now That I Am Forever With Child
I would first like to quote from an author who is in our
text. But we have not read her yet. Her name is Dilys
Laing and she says that, "To be a woman and a
writer / is double mischief". This is in her biography
pg. 591. So if being a woman and a writer is
double mischief then in 1976 being a writer, a
woman, and a black woman to boot, must have been
triple mischief. So this author challenged every
cultural stereotype there was, took the bull by
the horns and wrestled, with feminism, racism
and with her own sexuality. As well as being a
wife and a very devoted mother, of two
children by her husband of eight years. .
This women opened doors and avenues for other .
women of black decsent as well as other cultures.
Even through great adversity, with the struggle
with breast cancer, her refusal to have
reconstructive surgery after her mastectomy
in protest of the difference between women
who still have their breasts. And those who
have had to have their breasts surgically
removed. So was she saying that by not having
reconstructive surgery, that not having any
breasts does not make you any less of a
woman. She says that much of what she
did in her life is owed to the "legends of...
struggle and survival." Which were her
ancestors from Africa and the West
Indian island of Carriacou.
English 266
Women Writers
October 11, 2010
Now That I Am Forever With Child
I would first like to quote from an author who is in our
text. But we have not read her yet. Her name is Dilys
Laing and she says that, "To be a woman and a
writer / is double mischief". This is in her biography
pg. 591. So if being a woman and a writer is
double mischief then in 1976 being a writer, a
woman, and a black woman to boot, must have been
triple mischief. So this author challenged every
cultural stereotype there was, took the bull by
the horns and wrestled, with feminism, racism
and with her own sexuality. As well as being a
wife and a very devoted mother, of two
children by her husband of eight years. .
This women opened doors and avenues for other .
women of black decsent as well as other cultures.
Even through great adversity, with the struggle
with breast cancer, her refusal to have
reconstructive surgery after her mastectomy
in protest of the difference between women
who still have their breasts. And those who
have had to have their breasts surgically
removed. So was she saying that by not having
reconstructive surgery, that not having any
breasts does not make you any less of a
woman. She says that much of what she
did in her life is owed to the "legends of...
struggle and survival." Which were her
ancestors from Africa and the West
Indian island of Carriacou.