I Was My Own Route
About
the Author: Julia de Burgos
Julia de Burgos (1914-1953) was born in
Carolina, Puerto Rico, and came to New York, where she worked as a journalist,
and then to Cuba, where she continued her education at the University of
Havana. De Burgos, a freedom fighter, returned to New York after two years in
Cuba to work as the art and cultural editor for the progressive journal Pueblos
Hispanos. De Burgos’ poems deal with issues of women’s liberation and social
justice, and they predate the Nuyorican poetry movement. In her poem “I was my
Own Route,” de Burgos, a predecessor to contemporary Latina/o writers, portrays
how women are shackled by patriarchal ideals from the past. As a result, de
Burgos encourages women to separate themselves from the past to find their
identity within.
Summary:
The speaker Julia de Burgos, a
radical feminist, challenges the masculine concept of defining a female’s
existence and journey via traditional paths in the poem “I Was My Own Route.”
She links male mentality to gender inequality and male prejudices towards
women.
Women’s own freedom and liberation are portrayed in this poem. She also rejects
the masculine ideology of deciding a woman’s life and journey along traditional
paths as a result of this. She connects masculine thinking to gender inequity
and men’s prejudices against women. She’s looking for a new path to take on her
own journey, one that she can choose. She supports women’s rights and freedom.
This poem demonstrates that a man and a woman are equally important. As a
result, her life should not be influenced by the ideas of others, as the law
guarantees females the same fundamental rights as men.
Above all, the poem teaches us the moral that men and women are both members of
the same society, and they both require freedom, liberty, independence, and
other aspects of life, and they should be permitted to pursue their own paths
rather than those dictated by patriarchal society.
Poem Analysis:
Stanza 1
I wanted to be like men wanted me to be:
an attempt at life;
a game of hide and seek with my being.
But I was made of nows,
and my feet level on the promissory earth
would not accept walking backwards
and went forward, forward,
mocking the ashes to reach the kiss
of new paths.
In the first stanza, the speaker emphasizes the
differences between what was expected of her and who she was. She rejects
patriarchal thinking and wishes to build her own path rather than participate
in the customary game of hide and seek. She discusses her own personal independence
as well as women’s empowerment through this. She’s looking for new ways to
manage her journey, rather than following the road that has been established or
set by masculine members of society. She mocks these paths and chooses a new
road that she prefers. As expressed by Julia de Burgos, this poem makes an
agenda of gender discrimination as a response to the social inequalities that
existed at the time.
Stanza 2
At each advancing step on my route forward
my back was ripped by the desperate flapping wings
of the old guard.
The speaker encounters several male-made social
conventions as hurdles in her freshly forwarded path in the second stanza, but
she overcomes all limits and old determined feet. She describes how, with her
shattered heart and old blogs, she was thrown back to view the old traditional
way.
Stanza 3
But the branch was unpinned forever,
and at each new whiplash my look
separated more and more and more from the distant
familiar horizons;
and my face took the expansion that came from within,
the defined expression that hinted at a feeling
of intimate liberation;
a feeling that surged
from the balance between my life
and the truth of the kiss of the new paths.
The speaker suffers a lot in the third stanza with a
sense of liberation to balance her own life to continue along the new and true
path of life. She wishes to travel far into the horizons and experience all of
the liberations that the male members of society have already experienced. As a
result, she kisses multiple different pathways to experience various levels of
freedom and joy in life.
Stanza 4
Already my course now set in the present,
I felt myself a blossom of all the soils of the
earth,
of the soils without history,
of the soils without a future,
of the soil always soil without edges
of all the men and all the epochs.
The persona finds herself in an already predetermined
situation in the fourth stanza, where there is no history, future, edges, or
anything else besides the world and the limitations of men and females under the
shadows of males. Patriarchy has erected various barriers for women, confining
them to the four walls of their homes. Her current suffering is surrounded by
several difficulties and patriarchal society’s norms. It depicts a world in
which women appear to have no hope.
Stanza 5
And I was all in me as was life in me…
I wanted to be like men wanted me to be:
An attempt at life;
With the phrase “And I was all in me as was life in
me…” in the fifth stanza, the speaker seeks to convey the feeling of strength that
comes with choosing one’s own path. It was a great opportunity for the speaker
to meet and connect with her actual selves. Her life is now completely
comprehended and self-sufficient.
Stanza 6
a game of hide and seek with my being.
But I was made of nows;
when the heralds announced meat the regal parade of
the old guard,
the desire to follow men warped in me,
and the homage was left waiting for me.
The speaker reveals to her what she was and what the
male members of the community desired her to be in the sixth stanza. Then she
goes on to state that she was everything in herself because she tries so hard
to be who she wants to be. Returning to the first stanza, the speaker reveals
her own attempt to be different from what patriarchal society desired. She is
quite depressed about the dark future ahead of her, and she is determined to
overcome the difficult conditions in her life.
Moral/Theme of
the story
The moral of the poem teaches us, women and men both are
human beings. They must get equality in society. Women are not birds who live
in the net, they are humans with an independent will. A woman also has the
right to take part in every sector in which a man gets. And the other moral of
the poem; the women detach themselves from the past so as to locate their
identity within.
ANSWER
THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS.
a) Why did the speaker try to be the way men wanted her to
be?
The speaker tried to be the way men wanted her to be because she
wanted to see what the male expected her to be like and how they will behave
due to their hegemonic male concept.
b) What do you understand by her feet 'would not accept
walking backwards'?
By her feet 'would not accept walking backward! We mean that she
was not ready to accept inferior concept of females by males rather she wanted
to race like male with equal food of the ultimate goal of liberation and
equality.
c) Who are the old guards? Why did they grow
desperate?
The old guards are the traditional people preoccupied with
patriarchal concept. These people grow desperate as they find the poetess
uplifting the life styles of poor people and is working for the emancipation of
the people.
d) How did the speaker have ‘a feeling of intimate
liberation'?
The speaker had a feeling of intimate liberation' as she has
crossed the barrier of patriarchal society and kissed a new path of liberation
rejecting the old one predetermined by men.
e) Why did the desire to follow men warp in her?
The desire to follow men wraps in her because of patriarchal
society and its norms prevailed in the society. She wanted to feel liberation
and pleasure but she is forced to follow traditional concepts and ideas
predetermined by men.
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'?
When the speaker says she was playing a game of hide and seek with
her being in the 3rd line of first stanza and once more at the end of the poem,
she means to show her rebellious nature and rejection of male ideology which
limit female in the surrounding of four wall. It further means to state that
she needs liberation to escape from gender stereotype image of female and
choose the route of her own choice.
b)
Why,
in your view, was her back ripped by the old guards as she was advancing
forward?
The old guards put many obstacles, traditions, norms, and threats
of patriarchal ideology as she was advancing forward as a result her back was
ripped. Here, the old guards refer to old traditions, cultures, norms and
patriarchy determined values but she requires liberation and race in a journey
of freedom. Thus, restrictions, hindrances, obstacles, difficulties and
blockades created by the old guards in the society make her back ripped and
suffered a lot.
c)
What,
according to the speaker, did it feel like to be free?
According to the speaker, to be free means to fly like a bird
without any social restrictions of male restrictions. It means to walk and feel
like male in the society and to receive long awaited liberation for what they
were longing for. For her, it is as same as walking in the path of her own
choice and to conduct the task by her own will. d. Why does the speaker prefer
the present to the past? The speaker prefers the present to the past because
her history was terrible, painful, and troublesome. She suffered a lot in her
past. Patriarchal ideology made her suffer a lot. She was limited by the male
restrictions. She was the subject to play and laugh. She didn't realize the
liberation and emancipation by her heart. She was restricted to do things by her
wish. She suffered from family domination, exploitation and starvation. But at
the present, she feels liberated and free from male beliefs. Male ideology is
declining day by day. Females have started realizing the fruits of liberation
and strict male dominated beliefs have been declining in the contemporary
society. She feels herself completely free in her choices and decisions. She is
permitted to work and visit of her own choices. Therefore, she prefers the
contemporary society than the history
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?
d)
Why
does the speaker prefer the present to the past?
Because her history was so terrible, the speaker preferred the
present. In the past, she was not the only one who suffered from starvation;
one of her siblings also passed away. She had been subjected to masculine
dominance and was one of the victims. She was surrounded by a patriarchal
culture. Her upbringing was shaped by
her family's history.
But at the present, she feels more protected as the patriarchy is
slowly on the verse of eradication. She's paved the way for all the ladies out
there who want to follow their own path and find their own sense of self-worth.
She's proud of herself, and she deserves to be recognized for it. The present-day hero worshipers see her as a
trailblazing woman who can save the female race from extinction.
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?
John Donne is a
proponent of peaceful coexistence. "No man is an island " is a famous
poem written by him. No one is really self-sufficient, as stated in his poem.
According to the poem, all life must be valued and respected. Each and every
one of us is a component of the total. Humanity is made up of all humans, no
matter how different they may be. Because we are social creatures, we cannot
exist in isolation. To survive and prosper, people need to depend on the
companionship and support of others.
I support John Donne for the notion of providing equal
opportunities to both men and women and their co-existence. But, Julia De Burgos,
completely dismisses the importance of male role models in helping shape
women's identities, in her poem "I was my own route". Actually, her
plan is unrealistic; it's really simply an outlet for her anger towards
men.
Males and females are on an equal footing, and their coexistence
helps to keep society in check. Burgos seeks to liberate women while avoiding
the presence of males. She seems to be a radical feminist who believes in a
fundamental reorganization of society that eliminates male dominance in all
social and economic settings. Burgos is incorrect since it is stated that
a man and a woman are two wheels of a cart. Breaking a wheel completely stops
the cart from moving forward. Reading "I was My Own Route," I
came to this conclusion that John Donne opines really practical notion.
Reference beyond the text
a) My Idea of Freedom
Our freedom is what enables us to
live unrestricted lives free of restrictions and limitations. Freedom means
raising our eyes to the stars and following the deepest aspirations of our
wandering hearts. As Sir Rabindranath Tagore famously put it,
"Freedom" exists when the mind is free of fear. According to me, I
have a specific idea of how the freedom should be.
In order for me to feel free, my
country must allow me to voice my views and allow genuine art to be heard
without being branded as a censor. Freedom is when I'll be able to take a month
off from work and go on a bike ride across the Sunauli (India-Nepal Border)
without any fear. When a rape survivor no longer has to lie in shame throughout
the days in society, they have achieved freedom. When I achieve freedom, I'll
be free to pursue my goals without hindrance. When I'm free, I'll be able to
express my preferences openly without worrying about being judged. With freedom
comes the ability to stand up to the strong and prominent stupids who are to
blame. To be free, I won't have to look at my partner first when I approach
another person to start a conversation. I'll know I've achieved freedom when I
can stroll around the streets of a larger city of Nepal at 11:00 PM without
fear. When a homosexual guy is free from fear of being exposed to the harsh
world, he has achieved true freedom.
In conclusion, Freedom is
more than simply a desire to be free of restrictions or obligations. In order
to be free, you must be free to make your own decisions, whether little or
large, such as what you want to eat or your professional path. It's about forming
your own opinions without being swayed by others. Freedom, in my opinion, is
all about being able to think, analyze, and see the world for what it is.
Assessing circumstances independently, without relying on others or delegating
responsibility for choices is freedom. Being free means being who you really
are, both physically and psychologically.
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 labor 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?
William Faulkner,
in his novel Requiem for a Nun, says, “The past is never dead. It’s not
even past. All of us labor in webs spun long before we were born, webs of
heredity and environment, of desire and consequence, of history and
eternity". To go ahead, everything we do and experience becomes
history. In the webs we've been weaving from the beginning of time, we're
caught in the crossfire of history and karma that began before we were ever
born. Time moves in a straight line, and so does our existence. The past will always
be with us. We can't say something happened if we're still thinking about it
and making choices based on it today. It doesn't matter what happened, it all
becomes a part of our history, but the memories they evoke live on in our
brains, thus the past never really ends. It implies that we're stuck in the
past all the time. It will be with us till the end of time, 24 hours a day,
seven days a week. Our memories and actions are shaped by our past experiences.
In Faulkner's view, there is no such thing as the present; everything is
constantly relying in the past. Consciousness records all we see and hear.
Everything that happened in the past is still there for the time being.
From the
poem of Julia Burgos, we can infer that, because her history is so dreadful,
she aspires to be completely free of it. It is, however, impossible to do so.
The freedom that Julia de Bures fights for completely disproves the notion that
there was a past too. She wants to transcend the presence of men in order to create
her identity by denying the past and disapproving the existence of men.
However, the world will come to a halt if men are avoided. The fact that she's
a radical feminist means that she's outraged by the way men dominate women. For
the sake of humanity's survival, it is critical that both sexes be
present.
Our history
forms our identity and assists us in every choice making. His view of the past
is grounded in reality. We cannot ignore it, as Burgos states in her poetry.
After reading these two authors, I have to say that Faulkner was right.
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