Girl Interrupted

Girl Interrupted Prezi

The Dress Lodger

Set in a time where women had the rights of children, none, Sheri Holman's The Dress Lodger is a tale about 15 year old Gustine. Gustine has a sick baby with a heart deformity and in order to take care of herself and her child she is forced into a life of prostitution. During the day she works as a potter's assistant and by night, she rents a blue gown from her landlord so that she can attract a higher clientele. Gustine is imprisoned in many ways throughout the book. Her sickly baby, although she loves him with all of her heart, imprisons her daily by essentially making it necessary for her to prostitute herself in order to keep clothes on his back, a roof over his head, and food in his belly. The blue gown she wears itself is a prison for her. The "eye", an elderly woman paid by Gustine's landlord to follow the dress and watch over it, follows Gustine throughout the streets and alley ways as she gives herself to men for money to pay the rent. Imprisonment can be physical or mental and Gustine suffers in both ways. She is forced into a life she has to lead in order to keep herself and baby alive. Up until her child's death, Gustine's prisons continuously haunt her on a daily basis. However, once her child is buried in the ground,  she is able to make a life for herself and make decisions based on her needs and wants, and only hers. The dress is no longer necessary and she is eventually freed from the prison she once called life.

Women's Prisons: Real and Imagined

What do you think about when you hear the word prison? Most people correlate the term with criminals and the prisons/jails they are housed in. My blog will expand that term to involve women as female criminals in real prisons and also the metaphorical prisons that society, gender, age, and other factors create. This blog will take an in-depth look at women's prison writing from a critical and analytical perspective through books and films that are able to enhance the issue from a variety of perspectives. The books focused on will include The Dress Lodger, Where are you Going? Where have you been?, Alias Grace and Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Not only will this blog delve into women's prisons literary works, but also a movie that I feel are indicative of women's imprisonment, Girl Interrupted. My blog entries will not only analyze works based on women's prisons, but will also call out to my viewers for their input on the topic through discussion questions that I will post in each section. Starting now.....

1. The word Prison---what are the first things that you think of when you hear that term?
2. What kinds of women's prisons can you think of? Why are they considered "prisons"?