Anjelica Freeman

The Entangling Net

Rough Draft

May 9, 2007

    Let me first start this ridiculously rough, rundown of ideas and favorite quotes from the stories told in "the entangling net" by really emphasizing how much i enjoyed reading this book. i'm not gonna lie, the other readings we have been assigned have not really done it for me, but this has all but made up for the others. The women profiled were so eloquent and articulate, fields says in the introduction, "each knew she had a story worth telling and each knew she was capable of telling it" (fields, 8), preparing us for the lively bunch of extremely, strong, capable, and confident ladies.

    "Women on the sea have occupied limited spaces. They have clung to bowsprit, their carved, angular breasts breaking ocean into wake; their faces have gone to sea on men's tattooed arms; their names have labeled the bows and sterns of men's boats. But few have themselves ridden the waves and worked the boats that sail them." (Fields, 54).

    "It wasn't an identity crisis; it was more like an identity playground" (Fields, 43). 

    "You're either bored to death or scared to death" (Fields, 18)

    "She speaks in the first person omniscient; she's aware of everything. Isn't that like the female experience? Like constantly bathing in empathy. It's like you're here and you're there and you're there and you're everywhere, and you can talk and you can do"  (Fields, 42).

    These women profiled make up the tiniest percent of a not just a male dominated industry, but also live in the male dominated wilderness that is Alaska. They seem to revel in it though, these women, the hard work and the obstacles only fuel their already extraordinarily strong constitutions. It's the whole experience for women, the journey, "women have an affinity with the process instead of the price" (Fields, 41).