Blog assignment 10

I read pages 267 to 281. In chapter 42 Offred talks about an execution that is about to take place. Two handmaids and even a commander's wife are being hung for a crime, but we're not sure what the crime is. Apparently this has become a rare occasion to hang handmaids and especially wives because Offred says "Slavagings are not frequent. There is less need for them. These days we are so well behaved." and this had gotten me thinking of what the Republic of Gilead has done to these women. The Republic of Gilead will execute people for things even as small as talking against them. So I saw that sentence as just how much control they have over the people, especially the women. The Republic of Gilead has struck so much fear in everyone that nobody tries to fight them anymore, even with words.

Blog assignment 9

I read pages 251 to 263 of The Handmaid's Tale and in these few pages there were some very interesting things that happened. One of the things that really stuck out to me was the fact that Offred was, in a way, forced to have sex with two different people. One of them was the commander at the prostitute house and the other was Nick, just another worker, at the commanders house because Serena Joy basically told her to. Offred technically could have said no to them but at the same time she really could not have said no. I started to think more about her relationships with all of these people and thought about how she is the side women in many different ways. Before the Republic of Gilead took over Offred was the other women to a guy named Luke and ended up stealing him from his wife. Now that she is working for the commander as a handmaid they should not have any kind of relationship, however he is having her come to a secret room quite often without Serena Joy knowing. Most recently Serena Joy told Offred that she should have sex with Nick because she wants Offred to get pregnant as soon as possible. That in a way is Serena Joy cheating on the commander.

Blog assignment 8

In chapter 38 of The Handmaid's Tale we learn that Moira has tried to escape from the red center a few times in the past. One time she was really successful and managed to make it very far away from the Red Center, but just as it seems she was going get over the border and get away with escaping there is a problem and she gets busted. The Eyes beat her and tortured her. They tell her that she can not go back to the Red Center because basically she was too much of a problem so they gave her an option to either go off to a place called the colonies or work at a place called Jezebel's as prostitute for the commanders that come in. The Eyes also show her a video of what the colonies are like. They are places where they send unwanted or unneeded women to clean up dead bodies after battles and clean up poisonous radioactive chemicals without any kind of protection which means they will likely die in only a few years. So Moira chooses to be taken to Jezebel's to work as a prostitute for the rest of her life. She makes up these weird reasons for why she thinks that Jezebel's is a better place to work, like the women live a little longer in there, the food is not that bad and they give hand lotion to the women working there. I feel that Moira represents the people who stand up for what they truly believe in or for what they believe is morally right.  She is rebelling against the power that is trying to suppress her. She stands up for what she really believes to be good not only for her but for all woman and all humans and does not back down for a long time even when she is being beaten as punishment. I think what Margaret Atwood is trying to tell the reader is that even somebody who really fights for what they believe can be broken down.  Moira had her spirit broken and she gave in and worked at the prostitute house for the commanders and actually said it wasn't a bad place.  It may have been better than the alternative of working in the colonies, but not by much.  In my opinion she was still fighting to go on otherwise she would have opted for the colonies and wanted to die sooner.

Blog assignment 7

When Offred learns the meaning of the Latin phrase in her cupboard, what else does she learn? As readers, how do you feel about these moments of revelation? Are you shocked? Disappointed? Excited? Something else?

Kevin Leese, Kurt Holtzer

We talked about what the Latin phrase "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum" and what it had to do with the rest of the book as a whole. We came to the conclusion that she learned that he has had other women in the special room before so she is not very different or special herself he is just using her. I felt it was kind of exciting to learn all of these different things about the commander. The fact the the commander has done this to other handmaid's is interesting. It is almost like he is really just not happy with his wife anymore and he is almost bored with her and by bringing different handmaid's to his special room brings him excitement and happiness

Blog assignment 6

In chapter 27 of The Handmaid's Tale an interesting topic up that is introduced but a place called Soul Scrolls. Soul Scrolls is a place where you can order a prayer either for health, wealth, a death, a birth, and a sin. Nobody works at the stores there but when you order a prayer you do it by putting a number in a machine for which one you want. Then the machine will print it out again and again and even read it to you if you want it to. When they first started talking about these machines I started to think it was a little funny because that is the way some Christians act now and even back then. I feel like it was a big metaphor for people like that. The wives are the extreme version of people why act Christian but do not fully care about it or do not follow everything they should. First, the wives only order a pray or more when they need something for thyself or if they just need to make their husband look better. They do not do it all the time just because it is good thing to do. Second, when they do decide to pray they do not even really do it them self. They just push a few numbers into a machine and then sit back as the machine does all the work. They do not even need to read them because the machine can do that for them too. I feel like most of them just pretend to be Christian and this is one of things they just do so they can technically still call themselves Christians.

Favorite Character 5

One of my favorite characters in The Handmaids Tale would have to be Offred’s best friend from college, Moira, because she is just so different from everyone else in the book. She is not like the other women who all seem to have given in and have accepted that they are just going to be handmaids until they either have a baby or are considered unwomen and sent away to die. Moira is very strong, determined and overall defiant against the authority trying to control her. She very strongly sticks to what she believes in and will not let anyone keep her down. She tries to escape on many different occasions and even though they stop her and beat her until she can not walk she does not give up and will not be suppressed by the government. As characters in the book go, she is the complete opposite of most. She just wants to be free to do what she wants. Maybe she’s just a rule breaker or maybe she knows what they are doing is wrong and wants to stop it. Maybe it is just a little bit of both. Either way she is a very important character in the book. She represents a lot of important things that maybe more people need to realize like no matter how bad it gets you must stand up for yourself in any way, shape or form.  My least favorite character in the book would have to be almost anyone else. All of them kind of blend in with each other. If they are not conforming to what the government is making them do and staying in line they are the government making other people stay in line. But if I had to choose one character that I liked the least It would have to be Serena Joy. Even before the government took over she was not the best person. She would talk in front of big audiences about the idea that women should be home all the time taking care of their husbands and their families. She may have her problems now, but she still shouldn't act the way she does.

Hope 4

I find chapter eighteen in this story very interesting because it really talks about the idea of what the feeling of hope can do for a person. Offred is in a really horrible situation where all of her loved ones, and even her child, have been taken away. She is forced to work for a commander and basically be a baby machine for him and his wife. Offred is having a really hard time living in a situation like this, but through it all she does not kill herself to take away the pain. She spends a lot of time thinking about a man named Nick who turns out to be her husband before the government took over and separated them. She tries to think about his face what kind of clothes he was wearing and little things he did that would make her happy. She also thinks about her child she had with Nick that also got taken away from her when the government took over. I would think that thinking about these things all of the time would drive me crazy, knowing I will probably never see them again. Thoughts like that might cause me to loose hope in life and kill myself. However, somehow Offred creates stories about what happens to Nick even though she does not know for sure. She thinks these things and tells herself these stories so many times she forces herself to believe these things happened and that makes her feel a little bit better about the situation. The stories she makes up are about Nick and that he has either been killed and is laying in a ditch somewhere being left to die or other stories that he had got away and is running free and getting help from many people. Any way the outcome of the story is, by Offred making things up like this she is keeping herself sane. It seems like she had no closure with him because she does not know what happened to him after he was taken away. It gives her something to think about plus it gives her hope that her family is not dead.

Beauty Products 3

If all beauty and health care products were taken away at this moment I would be very lost trying to think of what I should use to keep clean. Just the thought of not being able to clean myself would drive me crazy. The three products I would miss the most would be tooth paste, shampoo and deodorant. The very first thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and I can not do without that. I heard however if you take the peal of a banana and rub the inside of it on your teeth it will take off plaque and even whiten your teeth as well. Another thing I could use instead of tooth paste would be baking soda and water. As for trying to make my breath smell better I would chew on some mint leaves or something like that. Now if the government was keeping me from taking a shower or a bath like in The Handmaid's Tale I do not know what I would do to keep clean. For my hair I would probably want to cut or really shave most of it off just so it does not start to feel greasy. Not having anything to clean my face would be a problem too. I am always cleaning my face with soap and water. Sometimes I also use products that are used to keep acne away. To keep that from happening I would have to learn to not touch my face as much to keep grease off of it. I think taking all health care and beauty products away would really change how people looked at each other and how they cared about how they looked. When the Republic of Gilead decided to take all health care and beauty products away from the women I think their intention was to make those women physically unappealing so no man would become attracted to them and really want them. The Republic of Gilead wanted to make sure these women were looked at almost as just workers or machines. Atwood might be trying to say that the beauty industry is putting too much pressure on people. That we as a society are willing to try almost anything to look beautiful.

Blog assignment 2

Offred was given an option by the doctor that would change her life either for the better or for the worse. He said he could try to impregnate her, instead of the commander, so she did not have to keep living the way she was. This was a huge risk however, horrible things would happen to her if she got caught and they found out it was not the commanders baby. She was afraid that she would get caught so she made the decision to not let the doctor impregnate her. I am not completely sure if Offred did not let him do it because she was afraid of punishment or if she still thought she could get pregnant from the commander but I think she made the right decision in this case. I would not have let him try something like that either. I think the risk vs reward was not in Offreds favor at this time. I would still hold on to the hope that I could get out of my situation in a way with no risk. Only in a very last minute, hopeless situation would I try something like that and it was not Offreds time to give up.

Blog Assignment 1

I have never really thought about my name being connected with my identity at all, but I never thought about my name being taking away. If my name was taken away by the government and replaced with anything else I would feel like a small part me was taken away.

Kind of disorganized but
Efficient.
Very quite
Indecisive
Nonconformist