A Hopeless Romantic in Disguise Professor Ramos Blog

A Hopeless Romantic in Disguise Never Marry a Mexican by Sandra Cisneros paints a picture of a young woman named Clemencia who has spent her days as a homewrecker and in love with a man that will never belong to her. When her mother told her â€Å"Never marry a Mexican†, she truly took that to heart and swore never to marry- not just Mexican men, but any men (Cisneros 68). Clemencia’s reasoning behind this is that she knows how terrible men really are on the inside: â€Å"I’ve witnessed their infidelities, and I’ve helped them do it† she states (Cisneros 68). Even with all the men she had these relations with, she couldn’t help but fall in love with one- Drew. Sadly, she knows deep down that she can never have him for herself and this angers and saddens her a great deal. One may think of her as just some promiscuous female who takes great and deliberate pleasure in committing adulterous acts- but beneath it all, she’s just another sad, hopeless romantic who knows that because of women like her and men like Drew, marriage will never be a harmonious thing in her life. â€Å"I admit, there was a time when all I wanted was to belong to a man,† Clemencia tells us (Cisneros 68). However, she’s always had her men â€Å"borrowed† because she believes she’s too much of a romantic for true love (Cisneros 69). â€Å"Marriage has failed me, you could say,† Clemencia says. â€Å"Not a man exists who hasn’t disappointed me, whom I could trust to love the way I’ve loved. It’s because I believe too much in marriage that I don’t. Better to not marry than live a lie.† (Cisneros 69). In this phrase, she foreshadows how her father disappointed her, how all the men she’s been with disappointed her, and most of all, how Drew disappointed her. Clemencia tells us how after her father died, it was like her and her sister, Ximena, didn’t matter (Cisneros73). â€Å"Once Daddy was gone, it was like my ma didn’t exist, like if she died, too,† Clemencia writes (Cisneros 73). She tells us the story of how when she was younger she had a small finch that got its leg twisted around one of the bars in its cage and the leg eventually just dried up and fell off (Cisneros 73). After the leg fell off, the finch just went on living, and lived a long time, without it (Cisneros 73). She explains how her memory of her mother is like the finch’s dead, dried-up leg (Cisneros 73). Clemencia says, â€Å"†¦ and I stopped missing where she used to be. Like if I had never had a mother†¦. It was as if she had stopped being my mother. Like I never even had one.† (Cisneros 73). This phrase here is a huge indicator of mommy issues. She even goes on to say how when her father was dying, her mother was already seeing a new man and that she can never forgive her mother for doing that (Cisneros 73). Drew and Clemencia met because he was her teacher. She says how he â€Å"took her under his wing and in his bed† (Cisneros 76) - she wasn’t even nineteen yet; she could have even been a minor, but she doesn’t say how old she was when they first started sleeping together. She says how she was honored that he’d done her that â€Å"favor† †¦ that she was that young back then to see it as a favor rather than an abuse of power (Cisneros 76). She became attached to him, even with all the other men she borrowed. Drew was her favorite; the one man she truly loved. Being her first love, she was insecure and got her view of her own self-worth from Drew’s eyes rather than her own. This is shown when she says, â€Å"You said I was beautiful, and when you said it, Drew, I was† and, â€Å"I liked when you spoke to me in my language. I could love myself and think myself worth loving† (Cisneros 74). This flame inside of Clemencia that was ignited by her first love, Drew, starts to burn more fiercely- but not in a good way. Clemencia becomes incredibly jealous of Drew’s wife by acting like she’s so much better than her because his wife is white. She says if Drew’s wife was brown, she may have had a harder time forgiving herself (Cisneros 76). She says how she’s the one who â€Å"gave Drew permission† to give his wife a child because apparently Drew was going to leave his wife for Clemencia (Cisneros 75). Clemencia was sleeping with Drew the night his son was born- in the same bed that his son was conceived in (Cisneros 76). Clemencia has this strange fascination with wrecking homes. She even says that this wasn’t the only time she’s slept with a man while his wife was giving birth and that it gives her some sort of crazy joy to â€Å"kill those women like that, without their knowing it† (Cisneros 77). One time, Clemencia was drunk and called Drew at four in the morning, only for the phone to be picked up by his wife, Megan (Cisneros 77). Clemencia told Megan that she wanted to talk to Drew and Megan didn’t even question why some woman was calling her husband at four in the morning, just handed the phone to Drew and said, â€Å"Excuse me, honey, it’s for you† (Cisneros 77). Clemencia thought it was hilarious that Megan did that. She was so jealous and hateful of Megan that Clemencia shoved gummy bears in all of Megan’s things just so she would know Megan would be off-put by it; that Clemencia had been there and would always leave a mark on their family (Cisneros 81). Clemencia waited nineteen years. Just to be with Drew’s son. To get Drew back, even if it was just a piece of him, because she knew she could never get Drew back. And it wasn’t the same as having Drew for herself. â€Å"People dont fall in love with each other because its convenient. They fall in love because they fall in love, and thats it.† ―Harriet Evans (Goodreads). Cisneros, Sandra. Woman Hollering Creek: and Other Stories. New York: Vintage; 1st Vintage contemporaries ed edition, 1992. Print. Goodreads. â€Å"A Hopeless Romantic Quotes by Harriet Evans.†Ã‚  Goodreads, Goodreads, goodreads.com/work/quotes/516280-a-hopeless-romantic. Image: Keller, Maria, et al. â€Å"Does Cheating Always Mean The End Of a Relationship?†Ã‚  Love Dignity, 30 Jan. 2017, lovedignity.com/does-cheating-always-mean-the-end-of-a-relationship/.

Otto Von Bismarck, Iron Chancellor Who Unified Germany

Otto Von Bismarck, Iron Chancellor Who Unified Germany Otto von Bismarck (April 1, 1818–July 30, 1898), a son of the Prussian aristocracy, unified Germany in the 1870s. And he actually dominated European affairs for decades through his brilliant and ruthless implementation of realpolitik, a system of politics based on practical, and not necessarily moral, considerations. Fast Facts: Otto von Bismarck Known For: Prussian aristocrat who unified Germany in the 1870sAlso Known As: Otto Eduard Leopold, Prince of Bismarck, Duke of Lauenburg, Otto Eduard Leopold Fà ¼rst  von Bismarck, the Iron ChancellorBorn: April 1, 1815 in Saxony,  PrussiaParents: Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Bismarck, Wilhelmine Luise MenckenDied:  July 30, 1898 in Schleswig-Holstein,  GermanyEducation: University of Gà ¶ttingen (1832–1833), University of Berlin (1833–1835), University of Greifswald (1838)Honors: Bismarck was a hero to German nationalists, who built numerous monuments honoring him as the founder of the new  ReichSpouse: Johanna von Puttkamer  (m. July 28, 1847–Nov. 27, 1894)Children: Marie,  Herbert, WilhelmNotable Quote: Anyone who has ever looked into the glazed eyes of a soldier dying on the battlefield will think hard before starting a war. Early Years Bismarck started out as an unlikely candidate for political greatness. Born April 1, 1815, he was a rebellious child who managed to attend university and become a lawyer by the age of 21. But as a young man, he was hardly a success and was known for being a heavy drinker with no real direction in life. From Atheism to Religion In his early 30s, he went through a transformation in which he changed from being a fairly vocal atheist to being quite religious. He also married, and became involved in politics, becoming a substitute member of the Prussian parliament.​ Throughout the 1850s and early 1860s, he advanced through several diplomatic positions, serving in St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Paris. He became known for issuing sharp judgments on the foreign leaders he encountered. In 1862 Prussian king Wilhelm wanted to create larger armies to effectively enforce Prussia’s foreign policy. The parliament was resistant to allocate the necessary funds, and the nation’s war minister convinced the king to entrust the government to Bismarck. Blood and Iron In a meeting with legislators in late September 1862, Bismarck made a statement which would become notorious: â€Å"The great questions of the day will not be decided by speeches and resolutions of majorities...but by blood and iron.† Bismarck later complained that his words were taken out of context and misconstrued, but â€Å"blood and iron† became a popular nickname for his policies. Austro-Prussian War In 1864 Bismarck, utilizing some brilliant diplomatic maneuvers, engineered a scenario in which Prussia provoked a war with Denmark and enlisted the help of Austria, which derived little benefit itself. This soon led to the Austro-Prussian War, which Prussia won while offering Austria fairly lenient surrender terms. Prussia’s victory in the war allowed it to annex more territory and greatly increased Bismarck’s own power. The Ems Telegram A dispute arose in 1870 when the vacant throne of Spain was offered to a German prince. The French were concerned about a possible Spanish and German alliance, and a French minister approached Wilhelm, the Prussian king, who was in the resort town of Ems. Wilhelm, in turn, sent a written report about the meeting to Bismarck, who published an edited version of it as the â€Å"Ems Telegram.† It led the French to believe that Prussia was ready to go to war, and France used it as a pretext to declare war on July 19, 1870. The French were seen as the aggressors, and the German states sided with Prussia in a military alliance. Franco-Prussian War The war went disastrously for France. Within six weeks, Napoleon III was taken prisoner when his army was forced to surrender at Sedan. Alsace-Lorraine was overtaken by Prussia. Paris declared itself a republic, and the Prussians besieged the city. The French eventually surrendered on January 28, 1871. The motivations of Bismarck were often not clear to his adversaries, and its commonly believed that he provoked the war with France specifically to create a scenario in which the South German states would want to unify with Prussia. Bismarck was able to form the Reich, a unified German empire led by the Prussians. Alsace-Lorraine became an imperial territory of Germany. Wilhelm was declared Kaiser or emperor, and Bismarck became chancellor. Bismarck was also given the royal title of prince and awarded an estate. Chancellor of the Reich From 1871 to 1890 Bismarck essentially ruled a unified Germany, modernizing its government as it transformed into an industrialized society. Bismarck was bitterly opposed to the power of the Catholic Church, and his kulturkampf campaign against the church was controversial but ultimately not entirely successful. During the 1870s and 1880s, Bismarck engaged in a number of treaties which were considered diplomatic successes. Germany remained powerful, and potential enemies were played off against each other. Bismarck’s genius lay in being able to maintain tension between rival nations, to the benefit of Germany. Fall From Power and Death Kaiser Wilhelm died in early 1888, but Bismarck stayed on as chancellor when the emperor’s son, Wilhelm II, ascended to the throne. But the 29-year-old emperor was not happy with the 73-year-old Bismarck. The young Kaiser Wilhelm II was able to maneuver Bismarck into a situation in which it was publicly stated that Bismarck was retiring for reasons of health. Bismarck made no secret of his bitterness. He lived in retirement, writing and commenting on international affairs, and died in 1898. Legacy The judgment of history on Bismarck is mixed. While he unified Germany and helped it become a modern power, he did not create political institutions that could live on without his personal guidance. It has been noted that Kaiser Wilhelm II, through inexperience or arrogance, essentially undid much of what Bismarck accomplished, and thereby set the stage for World War I. Bismarcks imprint on history has been stained in some eyes as the Nazis, decades after his death, attempted at times to portray themselves as his heirs. Yet historians have noted that Bismarck would have been horrified by Nazis. Sources Otto Von Bismarck Ohio.edu.â€Å"History - Otto Von Bismarck.†Ã‚  BBC.â€Å"Otto Von Bismarck Quotes.†Ã‚  BrainyQuote, Xplore.