If you’ve read The
Grapes of Wrath, you’ll remember the book ends with Rose of Sharon Joad,
still grieving her stillborn baby, breastfeeding a starving man. Any English
teacher will tell you by having Rose of Sharon give of her most valuable gift
after all the tragedy she’d endured, Steinbeck is commenting on man’s capacity
to extend humanity to his fellow man in even the bleakest of circumstances and
how collective sharing is the only way out of despair.
So here’s my question, is Salma Hayek much of a reader?
Much has been made about Hayek’s breastfeeding of a starving
African child, an action that seemed more impulsive than premeditated. The
lovely Ada
wrote a piece at Time noting Hayek’s action might bring about a change of
perception about breastfeeding in Africa, where men denounce it because it
interferes with their sex life.
Could Hayek’s action also be the first symbolic salvo in
America’s commitment to Africa’s future? (Yes, I am aware Hayek is not
American, whatever) Many critics accuse our country of doing too little to help
the depressed people of Africa, and those critics are likely right. One of my
favorite examples is how the Bush administration planned to tackle the AIDs
epidemic in Africa by giving the people abstinence training (guess no one told
Bush a big source of AIDS spreading in Africa is rape. Why won’t those darn
rapists just abstain?) Forgive me for making a somewhat stretch literary
analogy, but the Salma Hayek BFing incident conjured The Grapes of Wrath to my mind and made me think that perhaps in
the new administration we will take a more active role in helping Africans out
of the horrors they face every day.
Too much of a stretch??
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