How I Learned To Sweep By Julia Alvarez

Historical:

“How I Learned to Sweep” can easily be viewed through a historical lense due to the mass amount of history and war that plays a main part in the story of the poem. Although the Vietnam War lasted for a long period of time, America did not get involved until they believed that they had no choice. In the poem, the author Julia Alvarez, was a young girl watching this on television as she “turned to watch the President, / live from the White House, talk of war: / in the Far East” (16-18). The goal at the time under President Lyndon Johnson was to help the South Vietnamese people and teach them how to defend themselves against the north and to also cut off the supply through the Ho Chi Minh trail that ran through the country. As a

Along with her four other sisters, they experienced the U.S. soldiers occupying Santo Domingo and also as she talks about in this poem,the Vietnam War. The main type of fighting was through Jungle Warfare, where the Viet Cong (North Vietnamese), would attack the US and South Vietnam in big unexpected groups. Using booby traps and explosives, they had a definite advantage over the US because of the lack of experience from the American soldiers. Also, the fact that Americans could enter a village and did not know whether some women or children could be the enemy and possess the ability to set up traps and explosives kept everyone on the lookout. Soldiers were dropped in as Alvarez says, “our soldiers were / landing in their helicopters / into jungles” (19-21). The war had a big impact on everyone throughout the country, especially due to the media. The graphic images and video shown on the televisions during that time made it possible for everyone watching, including children to witness

In the very first sentence of the poem the young girl states, “My mother never taught me / sweeping…. (1-2). This clearly displays the stereotype that women are only 'used' to sweep and keep the house clean. During the entire poem, the girl is sweeping her house while she watches the men do the grunt work, such as going to war, on the television. Also she also compares her sweeping to another type of cleaning when saying, “Her floor was immaculate / as a just washed dinner plate” (15-16). Here when analyzing the newly cleaned floor that she has just swept, she compares it to cleaned dishes, implying that she washes dishes as well. Through her expertise in several types of cleaning, the reader can see the gender role of women being chained to house work. The judgment passed on women that they know how to clean and how to do it well serves as one of the main feminist point of views in today’s culture. This demonstrates the classic opinion of women’s role during important times of history; the women of the family simply stay at home and clean while the husband is most likely off fighting in the