Wilson Geraldo
Bio
Wilson Geraldo is a graduate from the Community College of Philadelphia. He has his degree in English, and Creative Writing. His work has been published in CCP's Limited Edition magazine.
Stories (6)
Filter by community
A Matter of Perception
As a student of the occult (hidden knowledge), I have always been fascinated with witchcraft and the magical arts. Interestingly, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s "Young Goodman Brown" is set in Salem Village Massachusetts, the site of the infamous witchcraft trials and executions of 1692. There, the main character goodman Brown (goodman refers to his humble birth, it is not his name, for it isn't capitalized in the text) departs from his wife Faith for a night to meet up with a distinguished older figure which can only be described as the devil. Although it is unclear if young goodman Brown knows this or not, Hawthorne gives us a hint in the text. He writes, “With this excellent resolve for the future, goodman Brown felt himself justified in making more haste on his present evil purpose” (620). The phrase "evil purpose" suggests that goodman Brown had some foreknowledge of who he was dealing with. As the two travel through the dark Forrest together, the devil reveals that he’s had dealings with goodman Brown's father and grandfather, who were Puritans, and with many of the prominent people of the town, including politicians. They also encounter historical figure, goody Cloyce, who in actuality is Sarah Cloyce, who was accused of witchcraft during the Salem witch trials of the late 1600s but was subsequently released. She was also Goodman Brown's catechism teacher—someone who he looked up to. In the end, all of the so-called good people in Salem village that he looked up to were in one way or another, aligned with the devil, including goodman Brown's wife Faith; thus, shattering his faith and leaving him disillusioned in the end. Hawthorne's short story is full of gothic elements, occult references, and historical figures from the Salem witch trials. Through his use of characters and setting, Hawthorne challenges the concepts of good and evil and highlights the protagonist's disillusion and loss of faith.
By Wilson Geraldo8 years ago in Geeks
Gender Criticism of Junot Diaz's 'The Cheater's Guide to Love'
In today's society, gender plays an important role in almost every aspect of our lives. Much like racism, and religious intolerance, sexism is a learned behavior. It is prevalent in many cultures, including our own. For example, in our last presidential election, the objectification of women became a key narrative. At that time, candidate Donald Trump was secretly recorded speaking vulgarly about touching women’s body parts with Entertainment Tonight's correspondent Billy Bush. He later justified it, by saying it was only “locker room” talk. Despite this, Donald Trump still became president. What does that say about our culture? It says that, when it comes to gender roles, we have not made much progress. Generally speaking, so called "locker room" talk is common among most men in our country. It is obvious that there are still many elements of sexism left in our culture. Dominican author Junot Diaz's touches on this, in his short story, "The Cheater's Guide to Love," which is the culmination of a collection of short stories called "This Is How You Lose Her." In the story, there is no question that the narrator, Yunior, is a womanizing sexist. However, some gender based critics contend that even though Yunior is a sexist, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the story is sexist.
By Wilson Geraldo8 years ago in Viva
