Women's Writing Worldwide

Words: 283 Anne Frank is widely known for her diary on her life and experiences of being in World War II Amsterdam as well as being woman and how her identity existed within that context. She originally was from Germany when rose to power and left with her family. Her father Otto Frank took them and moved to Amsterdam and lived there for a while. Eventually Hitler took the Netherlands and got Amsterdam. Instead of leaving, the Franks stayed and hid in one of the buildings Otto owned. They were hidden under Otto’s employees. Here, we get to see some of the early works from Anne’s diary. After they were caught and sent away, the letters were found scattered among the remains. After Otto got out of the Holocaust, he then later published the letters of the diary.  Anne Frank presents herself in a way that is very authentic and personable in her diary. The text is organized with little to no dialogue but more like a letter. On Friday 9 th , Oct. 1942, she writes, “I’ve only got depressi...

 Word Count: 298 Emily Hahn is a woman whose life is filled with many tremendous and adventurous things. From being the first woman to graduate from the University of Wisconsin, traveling to Africa and working at a Red Cross outpost, and visited China. Throughout her adventures she writes and brings an understanding to her experiences. In the excerpt from “Times and Places”, she writes about her experience with meeting and marrying a man named Major Charles Boxer whom she had a child with. Boxer was eventually arrested by the Japanese as well as other events. The text is organized and formatted like a string of thoughts and experiences from Hahn’s head. The dialogue is very minimal and the description of Hahn’s perspective of certain events helps bring the reader into the mindset and understanding of the writer and humanizes her more. Hahn’s addiction or relationship with opium was something held onto her throughout the majority of the excerpt. She is willing to join it at first an...

 Words: 222 Margaret Mead was born Philadelphia and grew up there for most of her life. Her writing came from her studying in anthropology at Barnard. She learned from her experiences that more could be learned from other cultures. She then looked into Polynesian culture and learned certain tools they used that might help problems that adolescences have. Her research helped anthropology be viewed more generally and became more appealing. Her writing from “Blackberry Winter” came from her time in Samoa where she did her first field project. The text in this organized in a way like a diary. The beginning of the excerpt has thoughts and ideas expressed in a first-person perspective and really gives insight into Mead’s thoughts and how she feels about her experiences. Her “audience” feels like she’s giving a lecture about her time or writing an account of her experiences for herself to look back on in the future.  It often sounds like she is teaching the reader and she seems genui...

 Word Count: 250 Eugenia Semyonova Ginzburg lived a life full of strife and turmoil. She was originally a teacher and journalist who loyally followed the USSR Communist party. She was a mother and lived a normal life until she was arrested on the accusation of terrorist activity that was counterrevolutionary in nature. She was then imprisoned for a long time, expected to be sentenced to death later on but was luckily only given a ten-year sentence. She thought she would be released earlier as she expected to be proven innocent soon but was held for 18 years before she was freed.  She suffered through numerous trials and periods of captivity which she gives insight into in an excerpt of her book, “Journey into the Whirlwind”. The text is developed through experiences and scenarios in which the writer puts herself in the first-person position as if these events are playing out in front of her and we as the readers get insight into what thoughts go through her head. Her stru...

  Word Count: 313 Marguerite Duras was a novelist, playwriter, and screenwriter. She was born in Vietnam to a French family and moved to France when she was 17. Once there, she participated in a resistance during WWII and later wrote numerous plays and novels. One of them, “The Lover” helped her reach a wide audience in America as well. In this excerpt from “The War”, she combines her diaries in her search for her husband after the concentration camps. From this excerpt, Duras gives off the impression that she is a unyielding person. She is also introspective and is great at analyzing events and breaking them down in her writing. She manages to carry a refreshing sense of clarity, understanding, and storytelling, all at the same time. The way that this excerpt is written is gives off the idea that her main audience for someone close, wither a friend or for herself to reflect on in the future. Duras’ relationship with the audience is like that of a close friend she is writing a lett...

 Word count: 289 Le Ly Hayslip was born in Quang Nam Province in Vietnam and lived normally till the war with the French overtook her village. Her account, “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places”, was written from her experience going back to visit her mother back in Vietnam years after she had married an American and moved to California. The type of person that Le appears to be based on this excerpt is someone who is strong-willed, and focused. She has a mindset that helps her overcome certain trials in her imprisonment. On page 372, when all the other girls are tied up as ants bite their feet, she remained steady, saying “The ants want honey, not me, […] So I will stand to let them have it”. She alone realized that if she kicked and screamed like the other girls, she would cause more trouble for herself. Later on in the prison when she was being interrogated, she knew that in order to survive she could not just say she doesn’t know anything, but rather decided to ruin the interrog...

  Word Count: 299 Santha Rama Rau was born in India and raised Hindu under her grandmother. Still, she traveled quite frequently due to the nature of her father's job as a diplomat. She lived in many countries , starting in England and going as far as Japan. Eventually she went to the United States and became a writer. She then went on to write numerous books and stories. In these, she eventually wrote her autobiography. We get to see part of her early life experience in an excerpt from “Gifts of Passage”, which talks about her time in school.   In this excerpt, Santha appears to convey herself as someone who was curious, smart, and introspective. She also shows a tremendous ability to captur e the mindset of achild while still telling a detailed story.   The way Santha writes to the audience is like giving an account of a story in a diary. Things that have happened in the past b ut still feel current as if it only happened a little while ago . She gives decent con...

 Words: 253 Bernadette Devlin was a Catholic woman who lived in Northern Ireland. In her time, Ireland was under British rule. Devlin was active in many civil rights movements for Irish people and Catholics. Because of the nature of the government at the time, Protestants and British ideals dominated their country. Devlin eventually obtained the Republican nomination and then was elected to the British parliament. In her autobiography “The Price of my Soul”, she describes a brief period in her life from this excerpt. Her introduction, not the political sphere began in her younger years when she was ten due to the republican nature of her school. Devlin came from a how of talented children who all excelled at numerous things. Still, her mother made sure to keep them humble. When she was younger she often got into situations where she is put at a disadvantage. One day she was reciting a speech by Robert Emmett and people were furious. Page 189 says. “I was hated and look(ed) people s...

 Word Count: 256 Jill Ker Conway came from a farming background in the outback in Australia. Jill writes about her journey from South Wales to America. There were almost no opportunities for woman scholars in Australia and she was given little choice in how to lead her life. From the lack of opportunity to her family struggles, she was able to move to America. Though she had escaped the farm life, her struggles were not yet done. The excerpt, “The Road from Coorain”, goes over a brief section of Jill’s early life and how she perceived it. In Jill’s life on the farm, she performed numerous tasks. She bounced between the life of studying and learning and working at home. Jill was somebody who was always developing. On page 154, she refers to studying as “as a leisure activity. A gift without price”. Still, her mother often acted as a stumbling block to her. In other places around the farm, her family was struggling with the farm. It turned her home to a realm of anxiety and tension...