#ismar

I wanted to draw sapphics so i did. Those are original characters for a story I'm writing but the model here is this wonderful marimand fanart by @artofangelo. Their art is so beautiful. Go support them on their page please !

This section was a little eye opening for a few reasons. We saw an explanation about Beli’s fast from before her time with La Inca, we saw what had happened to her parents, and we even learned that she had siblings. On top of that, La Inca was outed as the source for the information about Beli.

I remember bringing up in class that Yunior must have had some close relationships with the Cabrals given his extensive knowledge on them. It makes sense that La Inca would be the source because she was Beli’s mother figure, and she is also the cousin of Abelard (Beli’s father.)

Abelard’s story was particularly sad because he was only trying to protect his beautiful daughter, Jacquelyn, from being raped by Trujillo. In typical dictator manor, Trujillo is upset that he doesn’t get what he wants. This is enough justification for him to just destroy Abelard for defying him. This whole ordeal really upset me-- I found myself physically cringing while reading. I was so affected by reading a telling of the realities of life in the Dominican Republic at the time, and it was fictional. I would not be able to handle the pressure of living under a dictator that could kill you, and/or rape and kill your family whenever he wanted. I’m really glad the nation made the comeback that it did. I don’t think it would be such a popular vacation destination if someone like Trujillo was still in power.

The part about Beli being sold into slavery as a child really hit me hard, too. She was born at a terrible time, so she was being punished for it. She was orphaned right away, then sold into slavery. I felt so bad for her, and even more so when I read the part about her owners throwing hot oil on her. The girl just wanted to go to school, but she wasn’t even allowed to do that. I feel almost a personal investment in her, even though I saw how she turned out. I’m glad she ended up going to El Redentor, but I guess I’m still a little upset that her life isn’t as good as it can be. She’s struggled her entire life, and now she’s going to lose her son. Life can just really suck sometimes.

This book was an easy read, but it got a little confusing whenever it changed perspectives. The story included a large italicized portion in the beginning of the second chapter that was written in the 2nd person. It took me a minute to figure out that it was from the perspective of Lola.

Lola also seems to be a stereotypical depiction of the strong Latina woman. It’s almost a little uncomfortable at times, but given that Junot Diaz is Dominican himself, I guess it’s okay.

Oscar really rubs me the wrong way. He seems like yet another one of those “nice guys finish last” people. This might just be a product of his environment given the open conversation about sex that his family has with him. I just really don’t like people that think they need to have sex by a certain time or that they deserve sex at all. It’s really objectifying, but it’s also just really weird. I’m getting those kinds of vibes from him, but we’ll see how he turns out later on.

Ana is also kind of annoying in that she goes back to Manny despite him having abused her. I do understand that this is likely a mental issue that arose from her abuse, and partner violence can really damage some people. However, it still really irks me to see her run back to him. I don’t really care if Oscar ends up being with her; I just don’t want Ana running back to Manny.

Sending Lola to live with their family after she ran away was a little funny to me. Her mom really tricked her, and her punishment is exactly what a foreign mom would do. My own mom has threatened (jokingly) to send me to Bosnia so I can learn my lesson by herding sheep and having the internet speeds we had back in the 2000s (NetZero shoutout).

Overall, this book seems like it can be interesting. I’m guessing that Oscar is going to kill himself or something because his death is talked about when Lola spoke about putting “Mister” on his gravestone. If he does do it, I’m thinking he’ll do it because he isn’t able to get with the girl that he wants.

Act 4 really started to get juicy with Iago’s clever maneuvering. Granted, it was really annoying to read, but that’s just how Shakespeare is. The way he convinces Roderigo to take care of Cassio is genius in a sick, twisted way. Iago told Othello that he would take care of Cassio, and he delivered on that promise. Love seemed like a recurring theme in this Act more than in the others. Iago was able to use love as a tool to destroy the other main characters by playing to the love between Othello and Desdemona as well as the love that Roderigo has for Desdemona. This crafty utilization of their feelings lets Iago continue to act as a puppet master and destroy everyone.

This led me to think more about Iago’s motivation. Sure, he was passed up for the promotion to Lieutenant, but that doesn’t really seem like enough justification for ruining the lives of everyone around him. If it was me, I would probably be annoyed, too, but I don’t think I would go on a quest to kill everyone involved. It just seems like Iago is pretty immature, and he can’t handle not being the most qualified person for the job. If he truly was a better candidate than Cassio, then he would have gotten the position. Politicking is also important in those kinds of scenarios, so he should have actually been nicer to Othello if he wanted the job. However, this is not in the spirit of Shakespeare. The end is nigh, and it’s pretty obvious what’s about to happen. Desdemona will probably die, Roderigo might kill Cassio, Othello will probably kill himself out of grief, Roderigo will figure out a way to die, and, hopefully, Iago will just explode. I wouldn’t be surprised if his own wife, Emilia, finds herself caught in the ring of deaths. Iago definitely deserves pain, and I would like to think that seeing his wife die as a result of his actions would hurt him. Having seen how he hid his intentions from her, I’m not sure if that would be the case, and Emilia dying would be another unnecessary tragic death. Then again, this is a Shakespearean play.

I had to reread a lot while reading this play. I feel like I should be used to Shakespeare by now, but it was really hard to follow towards the middle of the first act. I was confused who the actual villains would be up until the end of the act when it became obvious that Roderigo and Iago were the guys to watch out for. I can sort of understand Roderigo’s frustration with Othello because he did not promote him; instead, Othello promotes Cassio. Roderigo feels that this is wrong because he is a better soldier than Cassio, so he sets out to destroy Othello, naturally. I think poor Cassio is definitely going to be caught in the crossfire, and he might even suffer the most given that he did not do anything other than be a good soldier.

I can not, however, understand Brabantio’s dismay that his daughter is married to a moor. Well, I can understand it in the context of a racist Italian peninsula a few hundred years ago, but I don’t support it. His frustration with his daughter having married a black man is just silly. Of all the people she could have fallen for, Othello doesn’t seem to be one of the worst. He’s an accomplished military leader, of high rank, and seems to be a well-mannered and good guy. Even the senators said that Othello’s story would probably make their own daughters fall in love with him. Brabantio’s little racist rant is really annoying to read, but I can understand it in the context of the story. This was written in a time when moors were not everyone’s favorite people. In fact, Othello is almost certainly Muslim given his Moorish background, so he shares the religion of their enemy-- the Turks. If Brabantio was fearful of Othello being a spy, then I might be able to give him a little but more credit, but that’s a dumb reason to dislike him as well. I do feel for him when he said his daughter has betrayed him. She got married without telling him-- that must have been a deep blow to him. In hindsight, he should have been more open minded so that she wouldn’t have to hide her marriage from him, but that would have made just too much sense.