From Nisa Analysis

 Quotes that stuck out to me while reading From Nisa: The Life and Words of a !Kung Woman:

“My older brother said, ‘Mother, don’t punish her today. You’ve already hit her too many times. Just leave her alone […]’ “(p. 644).

“I thought, ‘Am I going to give birth today? I am only a child. How am I going to give birth? Will I be afraid?’ “(p.653).

    Nisa was constantly reprimanded as a child for everything she was doing wrong in her parents’ eyes. She was constantly crying. I think her crying was a want for the attention she felt that she did not fit into any part of the family as a middle child. She couldn’t have her mother’s attention because her focus was on the new baby. Nisa also was not allowed to go hunting for food with her brother and father. I believe she would steal and go against her parents’ ideas because she wanted attention from them even if it was negative. She was constantly beaten by her mother and father when she was so thin and fragile.

    I cannot imagine the difficult times she went through constantly feeling that she was still a child through marriage and motherhood. She was always treated as someone’s property from her parents to her husband they had a lot of control over what she did and how she was supposed to act. Nisa had no idea what independence was like because they were so controlling over her. She relied on them even though they hurt her mentally and physically. Even when she tried to leave the situation and escape to her grandmother’s house or tried to protect herself from her husband wanting to have sex with her. Nisa remained stuck because she was constantly told she was doing the wrong thing and was returned to the same position.

Word Count: 309

Comments

  1. Women and Gender StudiesMarch 22, 2021 at 6:34 AM

    I did not think of it in a way of her wanting attention from her family but I see what you mean. I thought of her as kind of selfish taking from her brother when she drank his milk and would not share food with her mother. I do feel for her that her whole life was kind of controlled and set for her she really had no say in what happened in her marriage or what she wanted to do. You provided a new perspective for me.

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  2. Ellie O'ConnorMarch 22, 2021 at 6:39 AM

    Your analysis of her crying is a great observation. She truly is constantly crying and even realizes that she was crying. When I go through something that upsets me and I re-tell the story, I do not even think to mention my tears. However, when she tells stories from her childhood, her tears are spread across the page. I like how you also mentioned that she is someone else's property throughout her whole life. I also found this to be true. There is always someone who has ownership of her life and she is constantly being controlled. I feel as if because she found that she truly loved her husband, she had more freedom. I also felt like she relied heavily on others. She was always needing attention, food, and validation from others. This might have been due to her childhood or how she felt like she needed to obtain attention.

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  3. Gianna GraviusMarch 29, 2021 at 7:17 PM

    I agree that she remained stuck because she was constantly told that she was doing the wrong thing. Instead of helping fix the problems, she was always just being reprimanded. This kind of negative reinforcement never taught her how to change her behavior and she always reverted back to the same behavior. This became evident when she got married, and wanted to return home to her parents after how horribly they treated her.

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