हन्द्मैद'स क्रेप

To be straight up and blunt, this book sucks. I am not saying this just to be a pessimistic downer, only to depict my frustrations with this book. As the story drags along I find it harder and harder to keep up because my general interest declines at an exponential rate. The only thing worse than a book that plays with the idea of woman’s rights, is a book about woman’s rights with a futuristic Nazi regime resembling setting. It could be that I do not pick up on the intellectual references and merely am angered by the horrendously drawn out descriptions of random shit of no importance. “I saved the cupboard until the third day. I looked carefully over the door first, inside and out, then the walls with their brass hooks- how could they have overlooked the hooks? Why didn’t they re-move them? Too close to the floor? But still, a stocking, that’s all you’d need. And the rod with the plastic hangers, my dresses hanging on them, the red woolen cape for cold weather, the shawl.” BLAH BLAH BLAH. I’ve had enough of reading about a description of things like oranges for a page and a half. The one quote I liked in this book really related to me and is probably the only thing I will care enough to underline. “I lie in bed still trembling. You can wet the rim of a glass and run your finger around the rim and it will make a sound. This is what I feel like: this sound of glass. I feel like the word shatter. I want to be with someone.

"A Rat in A maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze"

In the world today many people are limited by the rules and regulation of a bigger power. Although some may claim that they are "free" they are still seriously limited. some of these include school, jobs, parents, and many more. In the Haidmaid's Tale, Offred is trained to believe that she is free, but she is so limited. she is completely dominated by the opposite sex, and the more elite. However, she is much to smart to think that she is considered free.

My favorite scene we have read so far is the scene in the doctor's office. Offred is confronted with an offer. an offer to sleep with the doctor and easily become pregnant, however she is smarter, and has much more dignity. She denies the offer, however, if i was in her situation i don't know what i would have done. The doctor informed her that she was slowly becoming less and less able to have a child. I would feel so much pressure to become pregnant and not be killed, that I very well might have taken him up on his offer.

Post-Apocalypse Novel? Hell Yeah!

I am digging this book currently. I might not be digging the actual content between every page, another feminist novel is not a plus in my book, but if its post apocalyspse I'm in. i have always been drawn to that particular theme. Everyday when we are dicussing the commander and Offred actions or the situation that the fertile women have been put in, I am indulging myself with thoughts of how it got the world, and America got to be this way. I am aware of the great war, the bibles having some involvement in this war. Now apparently the Commanders have taken over America, as far as we know it does not reach past the American borders so I can assume there was a collapse of government and a shift in power and contorl in America. Now i would say it had to be somewhat planned out by the commanders because of the obvious sucess they had( You don't take over a country, certainly noty one like America with out some planning). This means that they would have to bring down democracy first. The easyiest and most effeint way to do that would be to first envoke fear and chaos, most easlily done with an grand act of terror, similar to 911 but all across the board. This would put the government into defense mode, all that matters is gaining control and matianing protection. This would make it easy to ease out of democracy and into more of a dictarorship. Next you would have to divide the people(united they stand divided they fall). You could do this through political manipulation, and desperation. Take away what people need and they will look for a side to fight on. Take away there money credit cards and bank accounts, and now you really have chaos. Next you must take out comminication. With cellphones and internet gone people cannot band together but must choose to follow one side for that is all they can organize. All that is left is the war, Get half the people behind you ,and simply kill, pilllage and starve the otherside till it submits. Take out food sources, commit atroucities to inspite fear, take away needed reasources(oil, clean water, ect.). Eventually the weak ones on the otherside will submit and the strong on the other side will die off. and there you have it, you just overthrew a great country and people and gained unlimited control and power, do with it what you will.

Blogging on The Handmaid's Tale

"A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze." I think this applies to almost everybody at some point in their lives. Every on is traped or restricted by rules, some more than others but at some point every one is restricted from doing something. It is just up to that person if they want to break the rules and risk the real freedom or live inside the boundries with no hassle. I feel like this is a major turning piont in how people become who they are. Some choose to live freely always doing as they are told and never stepping out of the red line. Others choose to run their lives the way the always choose. No matter what any one esle says, they ar in Charge and they will go to any lengths to keep it like that. Certain examples of this are listening to your parents or your school or even the law. If this rat was born into the maze then there would be no need for it to care about what was on the other side of the maze walls. A rat that once lived a happy life in the world and then was put in this maze would always be looking for a way to get out. Part of the decisions we make is curiosity, and wonder. Unfortunatly I think this book is more about a way of getting back to how things used to be then just searching for something new. I hope Offred tries to escape and she tries to do something with her sorrow rather then just thinking and hoping that one day Luke will come find her. I hope we get to some part of the book where all hell breaks loose. At this point were still getting used to the way she lives, i think it is really weird how together these people are. Like how the wife witnesses the sex and the whole community witnesses the birth of a child. Im not sure i like the society at all. I would raise hell.

Babies, Wall, Stopwatch, Commander

Generally, I like the book because it is basically feminism on crack. Females are supposed to appreciate their bodies, be proud of their gender, and make healthy babies. However, females aren't allowed out of this realm and the baby is the most important aspect of their lives, the amount of children defines their success. This situation brings out classes of people through fertility and pregnancy. The only way to be upgraded is to have a child. What I don't understand is why having a baby so important. I understand that children represent innocence and hope, but why does a quality life depend on it.

The quote "a rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze" is confusing because around that same page she describes how she is outside of the wall. The entire story I thought that they were enclosed, but it's the university that is within the wall and she believes that Luke is in there. Perhaps in the library. Why are they on the outside? What is really on the inside?

In my life, the only things that control me is school and my mother. My mom tries to argue that she has no control over me and that she hardly even sees me recently. However, she threatens me to behave and stay in her realms of rules or else she won't pay for my college. Then I am controlled by high school and college. Everything has it's own rules and if I want to be a part of it I must abide by them. In at 8 15. Out at 3 15. Monday through Friday. Do homework daily. College applications by November and January. Personal Portfolio. Good sportsmanship. Sprint faster. Its a stopwatch that measures if I am on track, on time, and how fast can I do it. Life is a stopwatch of how much you can succeed within 80-100 years.

My last thought is that I love how the author makes Fred, Offred's Commander, a wimp who gives her power over his wife from his interests. He breaks the very rules that has made him successful. He represents males; putting his desires over the law when he feels like it, and using the law when it fits to his benefits.

The handmaid's tale

As boring and uneventful as this novel has been so far, the book certainly portrays the theme of false freedom and control in a very insightful manner. The book makes the statement against the extremes of society, extreme left, extreme feminism, extreme right and extreme religion. The author depicts a society where the extremists have taken over and now run the government in which they control the lives of the people on a personal level. To justify this, the people in charge tell the citizens that they are better off than they were before because they have been given freedom from rather than freedom. This clearly correlates to real fascist and communist governments in which censorship and control are prevalent. In governments of the past, this manipulation of freedom has been present in various regimes, and it is a major part of fascism because it allows the people to believe that their lives are better off controlled and protected rather than exposed to the dangers of a free government where people are free to express themselves.

Handmaid's Tail... Depressing

Although the plot of this novel, and the idea of a civilization collapsing under the weight of war and transforming into a controlled system is unique and creative, the tone and pace that this book reads with is unbearable. I understand that this piece is supposed to have a slightly depressing undertone to emphasize the monotony of the situation that plays out everyday in these handmaid's lives, but at the same time I don't think it is neccessary to pinpoint every detail and continue to talk about until it is nothing more than another meaningless object. Because the author does this it makes the reading go very slow and sluggish, there are definitely sections of the novel that keep you reading more than others, but the majority of this book is dull and I find myself tired after reading a chapter. Part of me wants to read on to see if anything more interesting will be residing in the next chapter but after a couple pages in you realize it is just the same, somewhat repetitive, depressing descriptions and guidelines (by guidelines I mean the fact that whenever Offred thinks of something she always contradricts herself and decides the smart and boring option that never leads the book anywhere). Towards the end of the reading for today, Wednesday, she did start to step out of her boundaries a little bit and the novel became a little more interesting, with her deal with the Commander and the idea of a secret society of nonbelievers, but for the most part I find it slow and not entertaining to read, not because of the story line but because of the continuous depressing mindset.
The quote on page 165 where Offred says, "A rat in a maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays in the maze," explains how the Commanders give these handmaid's a somewhat false scense of freedom, the freedom to wander around and get the food, but at the same time they must stay within the confines of the walls and travel with others so there can always be someone watching. This also applies to the minds of the handmaids. They are free to think as the wish as long as they stay in the boundaries, Offred knows exactyl what is acceptable and what isn't, such as no showing of emotion or connection to others and the inability to read or converse. This shows that the Commander has not only placed boundaries around their physical precence but their mental precence as well. Overall I think that the plot and idea for this book are unique but the repetitive dullness is this novel's downfall.