A Personal Response: Rape Fantasies vs. Blue Winds Dancing

A detailed Summary of A Personal Response: Rape Fantasies vs. Blue Winds Dancing

At first I thought my reaction to Margaret Atwood's Rape Fantasies was too personal, too distraught, to ever allow me to form a coherent response with any basis for understanding her main character, Estelle. It was not until discussing the story in class that I was able to assign some rationality to my feelings. It was then that I realized the extent to which experience shapes our understanding and appreciation of literature.

I normally do not have a problem in determining whether a certain character is appealing, or unappealing to me, or if I connected with them at all. Because of this, my initial connection with the narrator, Estelle, was clearly nonexistent Due to the fact that I am female, I became angered by the conversation that was being held between Estelle and her lunchtime pals, when it was implied that rape is not a hate-crime but more of an erotic fantasy. This is where I lost all ability to connect with anyone in the story.

As the story progressed Estelle started to take up the role of the story's narrator. Her characterization, at this point, struck me as being truly unusual. Through her use of absurd dialogue and descriptions regarding her own personal fantasies, I was left in extreme amazement. Estel

Similarly, throughout Tom Whitecloud's Blue Winds Dancing, I was bored stiff. The narrator of the story is Whitecloud himself, taking us with him on his travel back to his home on an Indian Reservation. He had left his town to go away to college many years ago only to return home now. This story was very unappealing to me. It was extremely hard to follow Whitecloud's keen observations and explanations for why he was so excited to go home. Since I am a Caucasian American that knows nothing else except for the civilization that he disapproves of, the feeling of inadequacy overcame me. I felt inferior to this man and all his culture. I was not able to connect with Whitecloud due to the simple fact that I am not a Native-American. I too, find beauty within nature and all my surroundings, but in not the sensitive, emotional way that he does. Observing a deer walking through the forest does not make me wish I had a gun, or become giddy from the mere sight, either. I am able to appreciate the true meaning that Whitecloud is trying to convey through this story, but sympathize with him, I can't. It is true that our society is very often a cruel place to exist, but that does not make it as a whole, a terrible culture. Simplicity of life does not necessarily validate our existence.

My view of literature has obviously undergone a metamorphosis, just as my personal response to Rape Fantasies has recently changed. Instead of fearing my reaction and debating its wort

Some common words found in the essay are:
Rape Fantasies, Caucasian American, Stress Syndrome, Native- American, Indian Reservation, Winds Dancing, rape fantasies, blue winds dancing, Blue Winds, winds dancing, , blue winds, estelle's character,

Approximate Word count = 995
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English