Wiser News

The books Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math by Jeannine Atkins and My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson are amazing books from world literature written about aspects from the past. The first mentioned book is set in many different time periods, since it talks about the story of tremendous women who changed science and improved the time period they were living in. These women are still talked about when it is talked about science and technology improvement, even after a lot of time. For My Brigadista Year, readers meet Lora, a teenage girl who wanted to become a brigadista to help people to read and to write. On her way, there were people who thought she wouldn’t make it only by the fact to be a girl. In the end, she fought the war to illiteracy and helped her country to achieve a better community. Even at first sight, it is seen many similarities within books, such as the suffering from gender segregation and the effect it causes on women; and even the lessons these books teach to the readers about yourself and being a better person. Even though the books Grasping Mysteries and My Brigadista Year are similar in numerous ways, the way these girls fight, even due to the time period, are plenty different.

Grasping Mysteries by Jeannine Atkins and My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson are similar in tremendous ways. For both of them, gender inequality is present in almost identical ways. For Grasping Mysteries, women must fight for what they wanted if they didn’t wanted to be beholden. In their path, there were several people telling them how to act and how to behave, due to the unequal mind of the 1800s society. For My Brigadista Year, Lora has to deal with her mother having ideas of what a girl should be. Also, her own brother said “but you’re only a girl!” (p. 11), when their younger brother was born. Which implies that the mind of the 1960s society was not an inclusive one, since a little kid had this gender limitation in mind. He wouldn’t have something so disrespectful in mind at this age if something, or someone, got it there for them. To add to that, one of Lora’s brigadistas colleagues asks the leader of the brigadistas, “what if a man doesn’t want a girl for a teacher?” (p. 44). It shows us that girls had twice as much work as men just because men could not accept female help to read and write, obligating them to convince men first, then teaching. All this work because men didn’t wanted to be taught by girls, upgrading gender inequality and segregation. Women were there, giving all they had, without their parents, family, homes, and yet, men could even have such a luxury to imply that they didn’t want to be taught by girls. Similarly, Grasping Mysteries brings us strongly the idea of women trying, being there, given all they could, fighting, determined and strong; but men still didn’t mind women’s effort to conquer the same as them. Caroline Hershel, for example, went over her mother’s ideas of what a girl should be. Herschel heard many times in her childhood that girls can’t join military bands or that girls shouldn’t study because it would spoil them and they wouldn’t want to work as a maid. Even Marie Tharp had to deal with men stealing her discoveries. She and a colleague from work created a map of the whole ocean floor. But when she saw the published version, her name wasn’t there in the paper. For both of the books Grasping Mysteries and My Brigadista Year, bring up the society telling what girls should be like, behave like and look like. The two, even though in different eras and in different ways, went after what they wanted to do, instead of what the society told them to do. 

Similarly, both Lora and the terrific women Jeannine Atkins wrote about learned that if they want to achieve something, they must persuade that with determination and fierceness. Lora didn’t even think twice about entering the brigadistas. When the trouble with the bandidos happened and the brigadistas were told to stay home, not to use their uniforms because they might be killed by bandidos if they recognize the brigadistas, teaching in a more reserved place, and all the necessary safety measures; Lora didn’t thought in giving up on the brigadistas and her students, even though she was certainly frightened and afraid. Even with the amount of things happening, Lora thought about coming home not even once. Not when her parents invited her to come home, not when her father traveled all the way to where she was, not when Lora’s parents said that there was no shame if she wanted to come home. That is, even with difficulties, Lora gave up not once. That shows a lot of who she is really. She’s a determined, fierceful, strong girl who loves challenges and is able to learn with them. For Lora, life was easy until she became a brigadista: she could study and eat everyday, she could play outside and with her brothers. She never worked or experienced poverty. However, when she became a brigadista, she started to work as a teacher and help her new family to accomplish house chores. She lived with fear of dying because of so many bandidos around and people being caught. And yet, she stood still, helping her new family and accomplishing her chores. She continued fighting for what she thought was right. You expect a better act of courage than that? Then take the example of Grasping Mysteries. Caroline Herschel spent her whole childhood hearing what girls shouldn’t do, or that she couldn’t study because it would “spoil” her, hearing that girls couldn’t join military bands or that she’s “just a girl” and couldn’t do what men do. Anyways, she took a step forward. As soon as she could leave Germany, she went to England and started to work there, making her own discoveries, even hidden. She fought, with a lack of chance of winning but she did it anyway. At last, this fight was worth it because the king and queen of the time paid the first salary to a woman for scientific research. After all, if you let fear hold you back, it will consume you. She felt the fear and did it anyway. Many of the female protagonists mentioned before, had fear, rage, disgust or anger as fuel to many of their accomplishments. Both Lora and Caroline learned similar things: how to keep improving in life and don’t give up when fear comes to hold you back. 

Contrastingly, the very way Lora and the women in Grasping Mysteries fight for themselves is undoubtedly different. Already as a brigadista, Lora saw three air forces being destroyed by a US plane which had insignias painted on it to look like Cuban planes, which is totally unloyal. The USA were afraid of socialism and communism, so they exploded three air forces in the most dishonorable and reputable way possible. Since they thought that Cuba would join the Soviet Union against them, they thought that they could explode Cuban air forces. “Why would a country that fought to gain its freedom oppose our effort to be free? And why would a nation with leaders like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, heroes whom we have studied about in school, want to support a terrible man like General Fungêncio Batista? Because they were afraid? Truly? It was hard for me to believe such a thing…” (p. 48 and 49). Such a powerful country was afraid of Communism and socialism. Readers can infer from what Katherine Paterson wrote that the country that has the most power, always are the ones who disappoint the most. Power does many things to the head, it makes our desires grow bigger and accomplish them whatever way possible. The least powerful ones are the ones who suffer the most. These countries can be associated with so many people. Similarly with Cuba and the USA, Lora is always the one who has the least power, as a teenager, as a female person, as a brigadista. But this war, Lora fought only with persistence, grit, tenacity, disposition and ardor. Lora definitely grew up emotionally with this. She got genuinely strong, not giving up on her work, even afraid, frightened and with doubt about all of the conflict. But still, she continued fighting herself against her own to win this war for a better and more dedicated person. On the other hand, women like Florence Nightingale, the one who created several charts about hospital hygiene, and Marie Tharp, who created a map of the whole ocean floor; fought for themselves in an unquestionably drastic way. Tharp did the work, insisted on it, fought for it, went over the men in the company who were not taking her seriously and they thought they had the right to erase her name of a work that was majorly hers. In the 1950s, men were still in charge over women. Men were in power and were denying women in the company. When finally one woman entered, they erased her name from her work that took years to be accomplished only because according to them “It’s the information that is important […] our names are better known, so this will get more attention.” She verbally fought for her right to get her name on the project. For Nightingale, life was also tough. She always thought that she could do everything if she was strong-willed. In 1854, when she recruited many nurses to work in the Institution for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen, the general said “Go home. This is no place for ladies”. She always thought that she could do it, that she could fight without turning back. However, not only the general but the whole society at the time had a different idea of what women should do, what women should be. They had a full perspective of what a female person should behave like: like a maid for men. However, women like Florence Nightingale and Marie Tharp hadn’t agreed with that. Unlike Lora, who fought silently for what she wanted; women in the 1800s and 1900s fought verbally and ran after freedom and things that were theirs by right.

Even though there are coincidences between the books Grasping Mysteries: Girls Who Loved Math and My Brigadista Year such as gender separation and the consequences in female beings; and the theme the novels imply about being the best of your own; the way these women battle, mainly as result of the time period, are distinct. These protagonists learned that a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor. Fortunately, Lora, Caroline and many other women didn’t give up on their lives when they had the least power in their society, who told them what was right, what was wrong and what should be done. Even in different ways, they fought for safer and healthier communities, even not knowing or meaning so by taking the smallest step even, which makes a big difference. In the end, it is all about if you are paralyzed by fear, or if you can be brave enough to chin up and keep going. There’s much work to be done, however, look at the half full glass for a minute. Our end will certainly be greater than our beginning because, added, a baby step is better than no step at all.