Deerskin - Robin McKinley

            I think the goal of Deerskin was to provide an honest story of a young woman's survival and recovery and to engage the reader in Lissar's life, her struggles, and, eventually, her achievements. This story is full of emotion and strength. I found that I was drawn into Lissar's emotions, confusion and fear just as if I was a part of her mind throughout the book and that I grew with her. I think that McKinley succeeded in engaging the reader in different aspects of Lissar’s life. It was extremely easy to become engaged with Lissar and relate to her is because her character was so realistic. She was completely damaged from her father, and she doesn’t just recover all of a sudden like magic. It takes time for her to heal. Even in the end, she is not magically healed; she says that she is going to try to keep growing stronger. Another aspect that many people can relate to is her love for dogs. It makes a lot of dog lovers, such as myself, so attached to Lissar because of her dedication to Ash and her puppies.

This is an important book not just because it’s tackling a generally difficult subject and doing it well, but also because it takes the darkness that is at the heart of fairytales and doesn’t flinch away from dealing with it. Fairytales express universal truths, in a symbolic way. We all know these stories, Western culture and we have heard them since we were kids. Disney often beautifies them, but McKinley realizes that they’re more than that. They are darker and older and connect to deeper parts of people, just like we connect with Lissar on a deeper level. 

ALIEN - Ripley

Ripley's character in Alien was phenomenal! So many qualities added up to make Ripley such a kick-ass character. Initially a nervous wreck, Ripley is renewed as a warrior. She goes through hell to save Newt, whom she views as a daughter. This shows how kindhearted she is. Ripley has a softer side and a rebel side. She is the most level headed and observant of the crew, who can see the danger before the other characters. She is the only one who sees the potential risk in letting a first alien creature onto the ship, no matter how it is brought on board. Also, Ripley is definitely resourceful in extreme situations, particularly when she kills the alien.

With all of these characters it is no wonder she is such a strong female figure! Ripley takes on tasks that, through societies eyes, are viewed as a man’s job. She is so independent in this movie, and is a great character to look up to for that reason. She has to fight against the philosophy of the Company, different kinds of male figures and of course, against the Alien. She is looked at as sort of a joke to the marines, but her independence and power quickly show the marines whose boss!

I think if Ripley’s character were dainty and very “girly”, the movie would not be the same in any way. Instead, she is represented as a strong, independent, headstrong woman. This adds so much interest and really draws you into Ripley. You see her do something badass and immediately think…”wow, she is so cool!” She takes everything up a notch and is not your typical female character. Let’s see more women like Ripley in movies! (The picture says it all!)

Sex Roles in LHOD

When asked by Estraven how women on Earth are different from men, Genly responds, “It’s extremely hard to separate the innate differences from the learned ones. Even where women participate equally with them in the society, they still do all of the childbearing, and so most of the child-rearing..” After Genly says this, it kind of makes him realize how little the differences are between men and women. Yet, the roles in society are completely different. Le Guin creates a race of people who do not have to live up to the expectations of gender identity. Therefore, their characteristics develop in response to their environment and situation. This would make it extremely difficult for anyone raised on earth to be a successful envoy, because we would all have trouble knowing what they are thinking.

We are so used to thinking of human identity as divided into girl and guy groups. We see people like us or unlike us. Because we are raised this way, it would make it so hard for any of us to go to a planet where there is only one gender. We base our thoughts off of gender more than we really think. For example: if a 5 year old boy wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween, society would think of that as wrong. We have these gender roles already built in us since the day we are born…just like a girl would get a pink baby blanket and a boy would get a blue baby blanket. Le Guin makes us look at how these gender roles really shape us…that is more than we can even realize!

So, what really is feminism?

(This picture related to talking about "Feminazi" in class)

Feminism usually is initially thought of as women who are ‘overly emotional’ and angry at the world. Because after all, ONLY women can’t control their emotions and men just don’t have them…right? (Sarcasm font)

I guess if someone went up to me and asked me if I was a feminist I would say no. However, after really thinking and reading about what feminism is, I would have to say yes, I am a feminist. So where would I be today without feminism? Without the right to vote, reproductive rights, educational rights, vocational rights, and sexual rights. I think that feminism is really about individuals and us. It’s about everyone deserving equal rights and accepting people for who they are, not because of their sexual preference, appearance, or background. Feminism is more of an action than some sort of fixed identity, and I absolutely agree. Being a feminist is more about what you are doing than who you are, even if all you’re doing is making changes in your own life and your own actions and beliefs. I don’t see it as being about being considered equal to men. If we just focus on being equal to men then we’re missing the point.

Now I’m not an expert on this subject or anything, I’m just saying how moved I am from learning more about feminism and what I think it TRULY stands for, its so inspirational!!!

Did Estraven and Genly Fall in Love?

The hands playing with rope, symbolizing connectivity, friendship, strong bonds.

The second half of the book is about the trip that Ai and Estraven make across the ice in order to reach safety in the country that they both left under threat. Estraven and Genly fight elements together, and through this they are able to learn about each other. They get to see each other’s strengths and weaknesses. They are, in a sense, bound together. They are isolated on the ice and faced with such trials and forced to rely on one another. This gives them a chance to tell stories and give opinions that they never had a chance to when they were in society. The mind-speaking technique that Ai teaches has strange results: to Estraven, Ai's voice sounds just like Estraven's brother's, and when Ai hears Estraven he thinks that the voice he is hearing is his own. This leads to the question…did they fall in love?

I think that they did fall in love, but not a romance love. Being away from society helps them to both let down their guards and gets to know each other on a much deeper level, and develop a strong connection. Relying on each other for survival resulted in them forming a bond unlike anything that could have been formed when they were in society. When they were in society, they both were playing social roles and they were guessing what social role the other was playing. When Estraven and Genly looked at each other, they were home and they were each other’s comfort.