typical questions

For Week 6 assignment we are asked to read Dew Breaker  and write about typical questions that are asked by readers who come from a feminist critical position.

I read The Book of the Dead.

 In this short story you are being told the story of how Ka's dad destroyed, and why, the statue she had made of him while they were delivering it, from Ka's viewpoint. In this story what constitutes masculinity and femininity to me is the fact that her dad was apparently this brutal police officer/murder in Haiti, but changed for a woman, who is represented as reserved and well behaved. 

I enjoyed that there are several different portrayals of women, such as the actress who is waiting to receive the sculptor is shown as strong, but also kind of bitchy, especially when she got the news of the statue being destroyed. Her personality seems almost as over bearing. On the other side of the spectrum we have Ka's mom, who is reserved and avoids confronting things she is not confident with like when she is dealing with non- Haitian customers she doesn't like to carry a conversation with them and etc. 

Ka is seen as struggling to understand what is going on in her family and who she really is. She seems fairly strong and hard headed at times. Being slow to anger when she finds out her father has destroyed her statue, but still annoys enough and going out of her way to let him know that he disappointed her.