In the story, “Cooking Lessons” by Rosario Castellanos, a Mexican poet and author, known for her articulate writings about gender oppression which influenced feminist theories, uses food images to reflect gender roles. Castellanos also uses an interior monologue to represent the fact that women have no voice and are expected to just do and know certain things as opposed to men, for example, cooking. Eloquently written, Castellanos illustrates the inner thoughts of an educated and independent woman who has to forget all she knows and enter a unknowing world where she must depend on a man and take on the traditional role of a woman; a housewife. The nameless narrator stands starring hopelessly into a kitchen not knowing what to do or where
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Everything from its color, the seasons, size, and the way it’s cooked reflects the perception of women. The red of the blood reminds the narrator of her sun burnt back and how it ached as she too was used as a piece of meat for the pleasure of her husband. While consumed in her inner thoughts of her marriage, she refers to herself as “The piece of meat” (45). While the meat is cooking, the narrator daydreams about entrapping the attention of a mature man, bumping into overly jealous husband, and pleading for a divorce when, what seems to be the Judge in her imagination, replies with “Your momma forgot to tell you that you were a piece of meat and should behave as such” (49). For centuries, women have been seen, by most men, as an object of primal sexual desire; an object to satisfy a man’s sexual hunger, rather than a valued …show more content…
While the narrator prepared her dinner, she reflects on her honeymoon when a hotel employee had called out to her but she didn’t realize it because she wasn’t “accustomed to the new one” (45). Sometimes, women opt out of replacing their last names with their husband’s name, merely for the fact that that’s their name- their identity, but that wasn’t always an option for women. There was a time when women had no choice in the matter. Once wed, one’s identity changed, which seemed to be one of the many things making the narrator
Everything from its color, the seasons, size, and the way it’s cooked reflects the perception of women. The red of the blood reminds the narrator of her sun burnt back and how it ached as she too was used as a piece of meat for the pleasure of her husband. While consumed in her inner thoughts of her marriage, she refers to herself as “The piece of meat” (45). While the meat is cooking, the narrator daydreams about entrapping the attention of a mature man, bumping into overly jealous husband, and pleading for a divorce when, what seems to be the Judge in her imagination, replies with “Your momma forgot to tell you that you were a piece of meat and should behave as such” (49). For centuries, women have been seen, by most men, as an object of primal sexual desire; an object to satisfy a man’s sexual hunger, rather than a valued …show more content…
While the narrator prepared her dinner, she reflects on her honeymoon when a hotel employee had called out to her but she didn’t realize it because she wasn’t “accustomed to the new one” (45). Sometimes, women opt out of replacing their last names with their husband’s name, merely for the fact that that’s their name- their identity, but that wasn’t always an option for women. There was a time when women had no choice in the matter. Once wed, one’s identity changed, which seemed to be one of the many things making the narrator