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Beneath The Shadow Of The Freeway Analysis

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The poem Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway written by Lorna Dee Cervantes, and the movie Hidden Figures originally a book written by Margot Lee Shetterly both convey the theme of empowerment to hard-working, strong women who can be just as smart and diligent as a man without the actual help of one. Both Dee Cervantes’ poem and Shetterly’s movie/book voice the importance of being strong willed as a women and making a life for yourself regardless your situation. Two concepts I found in these pieces of literature that I would like to obtain personally is the topic: focus on what you can control, not what you can’t, and cultivate a strong support group to achieve your success. Focus on what you can control, not what you can’t. In the movie Hidden …show more content…

One of the more uplifting themes in Hidden Figures is the power of sisterhood. The three women NASA mathematicians depend upon each other for advice, laughter, support and a safe haven from the daily stresses of their lives and workplace. In Beneath the Shadow of the Freeway, Dee Cervantes lives in a woman family where both her mother and grandmother found their places in each others lives. Her grandmother, the “innocent Queen” and her mother, the “Swift Knight, Fearless Warrior”. Both given Dee Cervantes knowledge upon their years. Her grandmother, wears loose braids and she trusts only what she build with her hands. She likes the way of birds because "They don't leave their families borrachando." Her mother, gave Dee Cervantes wisdom: "You're too soft . . . always were. You'll get nothing but shit. Baby, don't count on nobody." This only sparked something in Dee Cervantes and in her later years, every night she sleeps with a gentle man, wears her hair in loose braids, and only trusts what she builds in her own hands. The women in her life impacted her and pushed her to make a better life for herself. She had her support group just like Katherine Johnson had. I believe it is important to have a strong support group in order to acquire success because everyone needs this kind of connection. We need people who encourage us, believe in us, support us, and remind us that we are not alone. For women, this kind of support

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It is encouraging to see how powerless women can come together to build an empowering impact. The beginning of the paper showed how people from all backgrounds came together to honor the late Sister Mary Irene. This single individual was able to use her life to create an organization for women and children. It was said how history books tend to leave her out as a public figure, but her achievements should be recognized worldwide. This subject matter relates back to our class discussions where we talked about the privileges women were deprived of.

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Women are viewed as fragile and delicate, but strong enough to keep a house clean, kids in line and a happy husband. Women are expected to be stay at home moms and depend on their husbands for everything while having no opinions of their own. However, there are women who have overlooked those expectations and proved that women are capable of doing anything. Deborah Sampson and Elizabeth Van Lew are just two women who have helped break the norms of women’s roles in society. Sampson’s impressive braveness and loyalty to fight for her country against all odds have proved that women are capable to endure harsh horrors.

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We know we should support our friends, but sometimes, things happen, and although we know we should, we don’t do it nearly enough. I understand we don’t think or talk about this is because it is not an easy subject to bring forward. Support comes in many different forms, and not just the one I tried to implement in my speech. By talking about my experiences, I hope to help my audience discover that people have many dimensions to themselves and are not just the image they project and seem to be. Appearances can be deceiving, so we should not assume we know what another person is going through based off of our own expectations.

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I remember those. I try anyhow. I tell myself, Dede, concentrate on the positive!” ” Alvarez asks her how is she able to keep being so happy-spirited when a tragedy like that happened to her, and Dede’s response is to focus on the positivity and all the good times she has had with her sisters. This illustrates Dede’s courage because she has learned how to overcome this barren by focusing on the days where there was sunshine rather than the rainy days.

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Furthermore, Dee-Wangero’s relationship with her mother and sister is very strained. Throughout the story you can see Mrs. Johnson’s resentment towards Dee-Wangero. Dee-Wangero’s persistence in trying to teach her mother and sister and lack of respect for her family’s heritage also cause a gap between her and Mrs. Johnson. Misunderstandings play a role in their relationship, for example, Mrs. Johnson used to think that Dee-Wangero hated her and Maggie (Walker 744). However, according to Susan Farrell, “elsewhere, as well, we see that Mama is often wrong about her expectations of Dee and her readings of Dee's emotions” (1998).

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This theme is developed through the mother yet deciding to stand out and do life her own way. As a woman, the mother in this story is expected to act like everyone else. Women in

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Hidden Figures, was written and published by Margot Lee Shetterly on September 6, 2016, and soon after the movie came out in December 25, 2016. This is a story about the influential contributions made to NASA by black computers (women) at the Langley Research Center. It reveals history about the work that had been done during the testing time period of segregation and discrimination that led to America putting a man into space. There are many contrasts between the book and the movie which left me slightly confused throughout watching the movie. To begin,there are many people named throughout the book with backgrounds of their lives that did not appear in the movie.

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The family leads a hard working, simple and minimalistic life that allows them just enough to get by. Mama is described as a “large, big-boned woman with rough, man-working hands” (Walker 418). Her day to day life doesn’t allow for the high standards of her eldest daughter Dee. Dee is described by Mama as being unappreciative and bratty. Mama makes is clear that the family’s socioeconomic status would never be good enough for the eldest daughter.

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Cultural theories by Kathleen Rowe, Laura Mulvey and Stuart Hall can help the audience seek an explanation to how these stereotypical gender roles are portrayed in the movie and how it can create power for the specific

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Hidden Figures is an inordinate movie that gives us the lesson that everybody has the potential to do great things if they work hard towards those things. In this movie, an exceptional girl named Katherine is given the chance to go to an extraordinary school so that she can get the education that she needs to fulfill her dream and become an engineer at NASA. The movie showcases the struggles, hard-work, and discrimination that she has to go through while working at NASA. Although some examples of racism are more easily noticeable than others in the movie, all of them show that many Americans did not particularly approve of African-Americans in the mid-1900s.

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And, womanism here represented through Mama, calls for a critical relatedness to the heritage. The narrative articulates the shallowness of Dee’s

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