Writing Log 1B

My name is Ellis Battista and this is my personal reflection followed by my hot-spots.

A moment in my life I have felt I did not fit in was when I decided to join a school play. None of my friends were in it, and they all constantly made fun of me for it. It got to the point where I almost quit because of all the jokes and names they would call me. The all went to the play after the few months of me practicing for it and in the end they told me it actually was not “gay” and it was pretty cool.

One hotspot I found in this story was on page 142, when the author said “Being a male is the unmarked case”. The reason I liked this quote is because I believe it is true. It is nearly impossible to be a marked man in today’s society and not get bias toward you. Men do not have many chances to “mark” themselves and the ones who do are looked at differently in many cases.

Another hotspot I like in this story was on page 145, and said “some days you just want to get dressed and go about your business. But if you’re a woman, you can’t, because there is no unmarked woman.” I like this quote because it is almost opposite of what is said about men. With men, it is very hard to be “marked”, but with women it is very normal to be “marked” and is actually not normal to be “unmarked.” In society, a woman is looked at as lazy or like she does not care if she is not “marked” enough or “marked” with the right things.

One of the hotspots that were noticed in this story was on page 131. The author stated that “A woman who kills her male partner can plead the Battered Woman’s Syndrome; a man who kills a violent female partner cannot plead it. That is simply unfair. That makes you feel that we think women are incapable of hurting her spouse and that men are the only ones who do it. Another hotspot that was found was on page 134, it states that “when not enjoined to be all boy, or our young lad will be urged to be a big boy, be a brave soldier, and to be a man. This is something that affects every male. If always happens and usually the male will do something stupid or take whatever is causing the taunts just because he has to be masculine in society.