LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been taken, developing new skills in the progress.
I joined the service Yoga with Tampines MINDS so I could try something out of my comfort zone, I try not to think too much of what I do when I am in these instances, I just try to push myself towards the finish line whenever I am faced with a situation I am unsure about. I think a challenge that I had to overcome was getting used to the fact that I was interacting with people who had learning difficulties. It was a challenge as I had never been exposed to the stigmas and stereotypes that come with interacting with people who have learning difficulties and experiencing it first hand was quite jarring. It was also a challenge learning how to effectively communicate with our clients. Through learning how to communicate with our clients, I have learnt to be more patient. Individuals with learning difficulties may learn yoga poses and general instructions at a different pace from us, while it is hard to slow down a bit so you can get accustomed to their pace, it has taught me to respect that not everyone can do things at the same pace and that just because we aren’t exposed to people of a different pace, does not mean they don’t exist.
I find that the main aspect that is addressed within Penelope is the issue of women that base their personality and their lives based on their husband. This is supported by the lines, “who mourned him with his warm head on my knees” and “six months of this.” These two lines suggest that as she mourned the loss of her husband, she essentially lost all the things she could do. Perhaps these lines imply that without her husband, Penelope was nothing but a shell of a woman. Through the lines, “and when the others came to take his place” and “disturb my peace.” These lines suggest that it is considered standard for after a woman has lost her husband, it is only natural for somebody to take the husband’s place because how can a woman possibly survive independently? The line “disturb my peace” also suggests that these suitors coming to replace her husband did nothing but bother her. Not because she did not want any of the suitors but because she did not a husband in general.
The issue of growth is also quite prevalent in the poem. Evidence of this can be seen in the structure of the poem. How the lines go from “thinking to amuse myself” to “but found a lifetime’s industry instead” right after as well as, “my thimble like an acorn” to “pushing up through the umber soil.” The placement of these lines indicate a growth within Penelope. How she saw sewing as a hobby but it ended up contributing to the maintenance of her freedom as well knitting helping her grow from an acorn to an oak tree – very much indicating a large growth. The evolution of what she describes herself as throughout the poem is also significant. How she goes from “girl” to “maiden” to “widow” and ends at “woman.” This trend is also indicative of her growth from having her identity be to do with innocence and men to finally becoming her own person and giving herself strength. This is seen through how the term, “girl” is to do with vulnerability and innocence – suggesting that when you are just a girl, you are at risk because you do not have a man in your life to protect you from the horrors of this world. The term, “maiden” suggests sexual innocence. What a man once protected is now a man’s want. The term, “widow” also shows how now that her husband has died, her identity is based on the fact that she has lost her husband. All of these terms all have Penelope to do with men. It is only until the end when it is revealed that she is tricking the patriarchal systems through the line, “I tricked it” that the term, “woman” is used. This suggests that she is now her own person now that she has to husband or no man in her life.
There is also the aspect of self-control through the use of colour within the poem. The fact that Penelope selects what colour threads she uses to create her surroundings shows that she is in control of her life and chooses what goes and what does not. It is also significant that in the end, when she hears the “far-too-familiar tread outside the door” she does not halt the picking of the tapestry despite her husband possibly having returned. The fact that she licks at a “scarlet thread” is also significant. Throughout the poem, the colours of the thread are similar to that of the objects she is creating. If we go along with this idea, the “scarlet thread” could be representing blood – which then implicates killing, death, violence. Perhaps it is Penelope finally accepting her husband as “dead” to her and sewing almost the “crime scene” where she would be able to see that she really had lost him. While it would be a gruesome visual, it would be indicative of Penelope’s final acceptance of the loss of her husband.
Overall, the poem has a melancholic tone. It gives off the sense of melancholy through the way that it presents growth through the loss of a loved one. How you can completely change from losing somebody and end up happier and more independent than you were. While it may sound immoral at first, at the end of the day, all kinds of events can affect individuals in a variety of ways.
The first thing that came to mind when talking about SAINTHOAX was the topic of feminism. Just a quick google search of SAINTHOAX’s art campaigns and you would see several different artworks based around women. I found it very interesting that within my group, we all assumed SAINTHOAX was a man despite obviously showing their support towards the feminist movement. Perhaps this is because it has been unintentionally indoctrinated into us by the people that surround us that being so bold and brash is only acceptable if done by a man. The mention of this also brought forward the idea of men being feminists. Personally, I do not know any males that have explicitly said they are feminists, I even know some women who are afraid to say they support the feminist movement. I feel that this is because people have misunderstood what it means to be a feminist. On social media, I see many of posts that essentially imply (or even bluntly state) that women are better than men. I also noticed that many people have praised posts like such because they believe claiming something like how females have superiority over males is considered feminism. Many people of different ages who are feminists seem to have forgotten what the basic definition of feminism is. “the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of the equality of the sexes” Is implying women are better than men align with this definition?
