No topic

Description

In “The Dreamer”, Junot Diaz’ mother wanted an education so badly that she was willing to make herself sick and see her mother go to prison for a year in order for that to happen.  Diaz writes that his grandmother didn’t believe that girls should be educated and that they should just work until they got married and then be their husband’s responsibility.  He states that his mother was severely beaten by his grandmother, and distinguishes “the beatings of the First World from the beatings of the Third – which you do not so easily shake off or forget” (par. 1).  How do you react to this distinction?  Why would beatings in developing countries be especially brutal?  Do degrees of abuse matter?  Why would any parent beat a child?  And why wouldn’t families, neighbors, or authority figures (such as teachers) step in to stop the abuse?  Were you ever beaten by a relative or authority figure when you were a child?  If so, why?  In some countries today, families still believe that girls don’t need to be as educated as boys, and that they should content themselves with being wives and mothers.  What are your thoughts about this?