Summary
The poem ‘I Was My Own Route’ written by Julia de Burgos is about women’s liberation and social justice. She herself is the speaker. She urges women to locate their identity within.
In
the first stanza, the speaker talked of making an attempt of breaking different
levels, patriarchal boundaries, and standards of society which were the reasons
for gender discrimination. She decided not playing hide and seek with her
being. She challenged every norm and value made by males that deprived women of
getting equality. She stood to break the chain of these past patriarchal
ideologies and form a new path.
In
the second stanza, the speaker explained all the difficulties that she faced
when she wanted to break the chain of these past patriarchal ideologies and
form a new path. While introducing a new path, many people of the old
generation stopped her from doing such acts. They pulled her back but she
advanced her steps bravely and courageously on her route forward.
In
the third stanza, the poet expressed her feeling after acquiring a new path
that was more and more different from a patriarchal society. She was very happy
after getting intimate liberation from male dominance society. She made the
balance between her life and the truth of the kiss of the new paths.
In
the fourth stanza, the poet compared herself to a blossom that flourished in a
difficult place. She was happy after introducing a new path for women.
In the fifth
stanza, the speaker admired herself because she knew that it was a difficult
task to introduce a new path that led to the intimate liberation of women from
past patriarchal ideologies safely.
Understanding the text
Answer the following questions.
a.
Why did the
speaker try to be the way men wanted her to be?
Ans. The speaker tried to be the way
men wanted her to be because she wanted to rebel against patriarchal ideologies, in the same manner, the males had forced her to be and because they had shadowed
her identity.
b.
What do you
understand by her feet ‘would not accept walking backwards’?
Ans. By her feet 'would not accept
walking backwards', I understand that she would not accept the old and outdated
traditions at all which had been established in favour of males only. Instead,
she would like to move forward and forward paving new paths of freedom.
c.
Who are the
old guards? Why did they grow desperate?
Ans. The old guards are those conservative
orthodoxies who want to conserve patriarchal norms and values. They grow
desperate to find the speaker's bold protest against them. They are desperate
for fear of their dominance getting into danger.
d.
How did the
speaker have ‘a feeling of intimate liberation’?
Ans. The
speaker chose her own new paths leaving the paths of patriarchal norms and
values. Her feelings surged from the balance between her life and the truth of
the kiss of the new paths. As she was getting victory over patriarchal
ideologies, she had a feeling of intimate liberation.
e. Why did the speaker’s desire to follow men warp in her?
Ans. The speaker's desired to follow men warped in her because she suffered a lot when she followed men. Her identity had even been shadowed.
Reference to the context
a.
What
does the speaker mean when she says 'she was playing a game of hide and seek
with her being’?
Ans. When she says 'she was playing a game of hide and seek
with her being’, she means that she was offering her consent to work in
accordance with patriarchal ideologies. At the same time, she was seeking her
own being and thus wanted to liberate herself from the cobweb of fatal patriarchal
ideologies. Now she is fully determined to renounce the patriarchal concepts
ensure her own attempts.
b.
Why, in your
view, was her back ripped by the old guards as she was advancing forward?
Ans. In my view, as she was advancing
forward, her back was ripped by the old guards because they knew that her
attempt to go against the deep-rooted patriarchal ideologies was a big threat to
their dominance. They tried to stop her from going forward in the mission of
women’s liberation and social justice.
c.
What, according to the speaker, did it feel
like to be free?
Ans. According to the speaker, to be
free, it felt like a blossom of all the soils of the earth which are without
history, without a history, and without edges. It felt like a blossom of all
the men and all the epochs. The speaker is now free to do what man can do. She
is free to choose her own rout of life.
d.
Why does the
speaker prefer the present to the past?
Ans. The speaker prefers the present
to the past because She has made her present as per her expectation. She has
cherished triumph over patriarchal ideologies. She is free to make her own
decision. She can work and go anywhere. She supposes herself as a blossom that can flourish
anywhere on earthly soils. But her past was not good enough. She was living with her repressed longings.
She was living her life without her identity. Her present is so nice with
intimate liberation. where she supposes.
e.
John Donne,
in his poem “No Man is an Island”, says, “No man is an island entire of
itself.” Would Burgos agree with Donne? Do you agree with Donne or Burgos?
Ans. John Donne, in his poem "No
Man is an Island", says, “No man is an island entire of itself.” Here,
he expresses that man can’t prosper being like an island. An island is
generally is isolated and thus undeveloped. No man is fully self-sufficient. Neighbourly and mutual help is required for
them to survive. They need to be part of a community in order to thrive.
No, Burgos wouldn't agree with Donne.
In her poem, she supports separated life for establishing identity. She
struggles alone avoiding the ideologies of men.
Yes, I agree with John Donne and support his
concept of communal assistance and social equality between men and women. He
has emphasized the importance of society where both men and women are
functioning as two equal wheel to run the car of society.
Reference beyond the text
a.
Write an
essay on My Idea of Freedom.
Ans.
My
Idea of Freedom
Different people have different opinion about freedom. In my idea, freedom is the state of being free. It is a state of independence where we can do what we like without any restriction by anyone. The entertainment of choices is freedom.
Freedom
can be a boon if it is used for constructive works. For examples, if we get the
freedom of choosing the career of our interests, we can be successful. We can
do better in the interested field. We can easily embrace the summit of success. freedom can be called a state of mind where
you have the right and freedom of doing what you can think off.
However,
unnecessary freedom can be baneful in our life. Thus, freedom is good only
within required fields. It should not be exercised in every field. There should
be restriction in the fatal fields. For examples, if students are given much
freedom to do whatever they like, they may spoil their lives. They may spoil
their studies. They may get into the
wrong track. They may turn delinquent. They may burden of their families.
To sum up, freedom should be linked with happiness. It is only for doing good works. It ought not be used to steal away the freedom of others. It mustn’t be used to violate other’s rights. it can’t’ be used to disregard other rights. It should be used to enchant each and every one’s wellbeing.
b.
Not all
people, however, seem to agree with the kind of freedom upheld by Burgos in
this poem. For example,
William Faulkner, in his novel Requiem for a Nun, says, ‘“The past is never
dead. It’s not even past. All of us labour in webs spun long before we were
born, webs of heredity and environment, of desire and consequence, of history
and eternity.” Do you agree with Faulkner? Why? Why not?
Ans. Yes, not
all people seem to agree with the kind of freedom upheld by Burgos in her poem,
“I Was My Own Route” because she is quite frustrated to see her life under
patriarchal ideologies that were established in the past. Faulkner disagrees
with her. I agree with Faulkner. It is
because I also feel that our present has a deep connection with past. We are linked
to our pasts and our consequences. The time is spent but it is never dead. It
becomes past for some of us, but that particular past remains alive within us for
our entire lifetime. This connection of the past is quite long enough. The
process of connection keeps on weaving its webs before we were born. We all
labour in these webs of heredity and environment, of desire and consequence, of
history and eternity. our life keeps on moving being connected with the past. we
never escape this great reality of this planet. Past always plays a vital role
in our life. Past never dies nor it becomes old. It keeps on moving with us. we
always remain with this connection and struggle all the time.
