The reading this week, "No Name Woman" brought to mind a memory that I had from high school and I thought it could loosely relate to the story of the aunt.
When I was in high school, a girl in my class found out she was pregnant. She didn't have the best home life so she thought she would apply to be on the popular MTV show, 16 & Pregnant, which was just starting to gain noteriety with our age group at the time. MTV sent her a video camera to film bits and pieces of he life as part of her audition. When they asked our principal if the could shoot in our school, he denied them the ability to do so. He did not want our town to be featured on a show that might offer negative connotations and he did not want people to have opinions that every girl in our town was like the women at the focus of the show. He was protecting the town by using one girl as a scapegoat so to speak.
It made me think of "No Name Woman" and how the town reacts to the aunt's pregnancy, by essentially forming a lynch mob and going after her and have her exiled. In my opinion, the town knew of the negative connotations that could come from an unwed mother having a baby and they did not to be associated with anything like that. They had to get rid of the problem and prevent word from spreading. They were looking out for the town as a whole and the reputation of its people.
Granted we did not exile the girl in my class but, my teacher did prevent her from exposing her situation to the world.
I may be overreaching with the connection but, I thought it was fascinating how so many years later, a story like this can still be relevant.
I really like this connection. People in society today, as well as in past times are so quick to judge people for having babies out of wedlock, and I have personally experienced this when my sister had my nephew. My grand parents were so worried about what everyone was going to think because she was not married. It's sad that society can be so judgmental.
ReplyDeleteI like your post as well. I feel that 16 and pregnant is a show that allows young people to see how hard it is to raise a child when you merely are still a child. Had your principal let them film that one girls story could have made a huge impact on the town. Just like "No Name Woman" was told from a mother to her daughter which was likely to prevent the same situation.
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