Blog 25: Discussion Qs Week#5

What do you think could be done to stop our world from becoming like the world in the book? Would you WANT to stop the world from becoming that way? 

In the book "Feed" by M.T. Anderson, the dystopia part of the book is the use of the feed, basically internet connected directly to your brain. This sounds great but it doesn't become a dystopia because everything is good, this feed is the cause of global destruction, in the terms of it has destroyed all natural resources and the Earth is slowly dying, and we find out later in the book the US is to blame for all this. The only thing I can see preventing this is, for us as a group to not get that dependent on technology, that's the real big thing we can do to stop it. Would I want the feed to happen, well from my point of view I would love for technology like the feed, except less intrusive. Probably something like Google Glass would be fine for me, an interface that requires no monitor or anything of the sort.

What does the meaning of "Everything must go" final line?
I believe it means that since the Earth is dying, everything must go because eventually it will go.

How do you feel about all the characters in general?
I generally dislike almost every currently living character, the only character I don't have a problem with is Violet's father, because he's the only one in the bunch that has a brain

How long does this Earth have left?
Not long. wether it be nuclear fallout or environmental destruction. I give it a few months at least.

Blog Post #24 Fiction Blog #5 It's like LOST!

After completing the book "Feed" by M.T. Anderson, almost everything was wrapped up not so nicely. Sadly in the story Violet and Titus broke up, since we only have Titus' perspective we find out the he wanted to end the relationship months ago and only kept going because he felt like he had to because of Violet's condition. He says his main reason for wanting to end the relationship is because of Violet's clinging to him and planning out this future with him ( Which I personally don't see as a good reason when Violet is dying and doesn't have that long left to begin with. ) Then there is a time-lapse that brings us to Titus sitting next to Violet, who is now unable to communicate, move, and is bed-ridden. Titus is now going out with Quendy, but he feels horrible for what he's done to Violet and actually begins crying. Then a few months later Titus gets a message that Violet passed away, and that's the end, but there was a huge question left unanswered. We know how long Violet had, but how long does the rest of the US and the world have. During the story we get these pop ups about world issues, the big world issue towards the end is that every country is avoiding the US, and is also making weapons pointed at the US. Which we are lead to believe that it's the US causing this environmental damages that is destroying the world. Which makes me wonder how long will it take for every character we know to die from this impending doom.

Blog #23 Discussion Questions Week 4

In the story "Feed" by M.T. Anderson we are mainly centered around Titus and his friends, but there's a hidden story going around. From what we gathered from the scattered plots of information through out the story is that, the USA is responsible for the feed and because of the feed everyone has cut off ties with the US, no one from the US is allowed anywhere. Another thing is that the United States of America owns the moon, this is shown through a report that the moon is called the fifty-first state. Another thing is that every country is about to start a war with the US because of the feed and another big thing that I will mention in the next thing happening outside of Titus' bubble. That thing is that the United States of America is the cause of Earth slowly dying. They haven't mentioned how but it's stated that the USA is responsible for it. With all this going around its amazing that Titus and co. have no idea what's going on. I believe this is mainly because of the feed, they live off the feed, almost everyone in the US lives off the feed. The feed is created by corporations in the United States, so why induce natural panic when you can tell everyone's feed to just ignore it because it's too boring. This is why they haven't noticed any of this happening.

What are they other countries like in this world?

Link is a genetic clone of Lincoln, do you see any relation?

Will Earth ever be safe?

Blog #22 Fiction Blog #4 It's all Connected

In the story we have our two main characters that we follow along, Titus and Violet. Through out the story we see their relationship bloom but one big the leads it to a halt. Violet, because of having her feed put in late, is slowly dying from a feed like cancer. Now I would normally say the I personally feel like Titus in this situation but that is not the case by a long shot. Yes me and Titus are in similar situations ( Him with Violet and me with my mother ) but I definitely wouldn't ignore my mother's final wishes just because the list would be so long, I wouldn't purposely ignore her, what could be her final words, just because the messages were too long. I'm not going to say I feel a personal connection to Titus, I am going to say that I feel a connection between Violet and my mother. Though I do not know my mother perspective on it was truly the same, but from my perspective they are very close. Violet and my mother never let their sickness control them, they were determined to beat it till the very end even when the doctors knew they wouldn't, She always looked out for me, always wanted to make sure I was doing well and asking me how my day was, much like the messages that Violet leaves for Titus. They are both extremely passionate about what they believed in, for Violet it was the past and how she wanted to preserve it, and for my mother it was seeing her children and their children to be successful. This is why I am reminded of my mother when seeing Violet, especially now.

Blog #21 Book Discussion Prep: Week #3

Describe the relationship between Titus and Violet.

In the book "Feed" by M.T. Anderson, we've been reading a certain amount of chapters/pages a week. This week's pages seem to revolve mainly around Titus and Violet. They first met when they were on the moon, and they both got hacked and spent time in the same hospital, after that they started going out and they have continued dating. They seem like the perfect example of opposites attract. I say this because they are completely opposite of each other. Titus was born into a rich family, while Violet's mom left her and her father is a professor that doesn't pay well. Another big difference is that Titus loves the feed, can live without, but Violet was developing ways to avoid the feed, and she is a strong supporter of nature. The relationship seems great, only when they are alone, when with Titus' friends and family, Violet's manner of speaking and her ideas clash with them creating tension in the relationship. This then makes TItus angry at Violet because she feels uncomfortable. Which is bound to cause problems within the relationship.

Do you think Violet's slowly dying problem and wanting to live match to something in reality?

It reminds me of people who find out they have cancer and want to do all they want to do before they die.

Do you think Titus and Violet's relationship will last?

I hope it does but TItus might have to choose between her and his friends.

What are these meat farms?

To me they seem like GMOs gone wild, are meat vegetables now?

TItus = Good Enough Narrator: Feed: Week 3

In the story "Feed" by M.T. Anderson, we are told this story like most dystopias, in the first person. In the "Feed" dystopia setting we are told the story by a teenager with the feed, named Titus. From what we know Titus is born into a rich family or a middle class family, seeing how the bought him a car, called an upcar in this future, simply because he came out of the hospital, but with no major injuries, and that he goes on vacations on a whim. We have no idea what his parents do for a living, from what it seems his father's job requires him to work late occasionally, while his mother is always home in time for when they have dinner. Titus is like the average teen from what we know, he has friends, goes to School™, and goes to parties. This is one of the reason why I like Titus, in this dystopia he's a normal, average guy, though he is around certain things, he's not that biased (Which may be due to his limit intelligence on things he doesn't care about), but his attitude towards others and those he cares about kinda angers me, also this is the future, I would like someone to explain to me every new which Titus doesn't do because this is all normal for him. For example, I've been wondering how and where the feed operates from, like if it is an attachment on the body, or built in. This isn't answered until three quarters through the book, and Titus doesn't even tell us, his girlfriend Violet does. These are the main reason why I don't think Titus is the best person to tell the story, but he'll do for now.

Book Discussion Prep: Week #2

The word “school” is followed by the trademark symbol ™ and capitalized throughout the novel. What is the significance of this and what is the state of education?

When reading through this section of the week of the book "Feed" by M.T. Anderson, our main character and his current love interest Violet start dating. As their relationship grows we learn a lot about how different they really are. Violet grows up in a poor family which is strange because her father, from what we know, is a professor in an unnamed college or university. Which if you think about it, it's strange that their family is poor when one of the parents is a professor which pays quite a bit in this current time. This is a huge contrast from what our main character's lifestyle is like. From what we know about him, his family is rather rich, due to them just giving him a car for surviving the moon. Though we don't know their profession, they must be high paying. When they being to talk about education we find out that our main character was taught at School™. The trademark is what got me thinking, is it's trademarked it's owned by a company, and they would probably teach to promote their other products. This significance is important because we know Violet is home-schooled and our main character says she's smarter than him. Which shows that the state of education of the feed School™ is poor and manipulating the kids from a young age.

Why are these lesion popping up more and more, is it because of the feed?
I think the lesions are an effect of the feed and they use the media to brush them under the rug

What doesn't the feed corp own?
They seem to own everything on the feed, education, media, and advertisements.

Is there a rebellion against the feed?
We've already seen protestors but is there an underground revolution like in 1984.

Who Would Be Better?: Feed: Week #2

When reading this section of "Feed" by M.T. Anderson, we learn a lot about other characters throughout the book. In the book the gang and this new girl they met on the moon goes to a club on the moon. During the club scene they get hacked and their feeds shut down, they then wake up in the hospital without their feeds and are left to their own thoughts and each other to keep themselves entertained. Then after the hospital they go back down to Earth, we find out the new girl (Violet) and our main character are dating. One date they go to the mall and we see a plan that Violet has, she tries to overload her feed with useless information so that she becomes invisible to the feed. We then learn about her views on certain things, she enjoys nature even when it's dead, like when they are in the hospital and she shows our main character a dead old flower garden and says "Isn't it beautiful?" (page 62). We know that she comes from a poor family and that she isn't as reliant on the feed as the other characters we see. This is shown when she says to our main protagonist "Keep thinking. You can hear our brains rattling inside us, like the littler Russian dolls." (Page 91) This is why I think the story would be more interesting if it was shown through her eyes. Her views on everything is far different from our rich main character with all these friends.

Book Discussion Prep: Week #1

When reading the book the "Feed" by M.T. Anderson, it takes place in a future where kids begrudgingly go to the moon to escape boredom. One of the big things in this book is that this thing in the characters' mind that has an always on is something that is called the feed. It's not really specific as to what the feed is since the characters since the feed as some common occurrence. From what I read, the feed seems to be some sort of chip. This chips is located in the brain of everyone, at least everyone that we've been introduced to. This chip in the back in the mind, seems to be a constant supply of information. This is shown by them using it to find hotels, restaurants, and where they are. This also seems like a form of internet due to the pop us for food and big advertisements that you'd have to sort through to find your way. Finally it also seems like a TV because at the end of the chapter there are channels that surf through, like he's changing channels.

1. How would you feel if you were connected to the feed?

I would probably go insane due to the massive amount of information coming at me at once

2. How do you think the technology in Feed connects to the technology of today?

I feel like in connects in the way that we are always on our computers and we always have a device on us that could connect to the internet.

3. Do you think the main characters are really snobby and rude?

I think they've been really rude to each other and the people around them, they hurt each other, they hate on each others ideas, and they get frustrated easily.

Blog #16 - Feed: Week # 1

In the Fictional Dystopia "Feed" by M. T. Anderson, it takes place in a future world were people have basically the internet connected to their head and feeds through there head, completely with ads and pop ups as I saw in the first twenty pages of the book. Then they get bored and one of them suggests to go to the moon because of this cool new low gravity zone called "Ricochet", which they all don't really want to go because apparently in their mind, low gravity sucks. This is one of the reasons why I would not like to live in this time and place that is shown in the story. Number one, the people in the story that I'd have to conversant with are so snobby and boring that I would immediately despise all the people my age due to this. Another thing that would drive me mad is what the people say to each other. I never really liked the word "Dude" being said constantly, the future version of this word is now "Unit" which to me sounds like a computer-y version of this which seems almost insulting. The final reason why I wouldn't live in this world is the information, having this feed of information, though sounds great, but with the ads and popups it would get extremely frustrating, all this information flooding right in front of your face having to think it closed, I would get so many headaches if this were a thing. This is why I wouldn't like to live in this world

Is a Utopia Possible (Blog #15)

When reading the "Handmaid's Tale" by Margret Atwood. The setting was a sort of utopia to the leaders, dystopia for most of us and that got me thinking. If utopia's are so heavenly, why haven't we as humans created one. Even if we tried, why haven't they succeeded. Could a utopia even exist let alone exist forever? Another question that came to mind is that what would humans have to change to make a utopia survive. This is what I hope to answer in this blog post.

  The first question that I would like to answer is could a utopia even survive long term. I personally believe that a utopia could never survive, especially in todays world. There has always been natural laws in human nature. One of the most is Chaos Theory, this theory is that no matter how clean and pure something is it will always lead to chaos. We humans are no exception to this natural law. Another theory is the saying that the grass is always greener on the other side. Which means that if a peaceful utopia is set up in a part of the world, others will attack it out of jealousy or they don't agree with their ways. Then, there are about three possible outcomes about it. One outcome is simple, We'll lose the battle get invaded and destroyed. The second outcome is that the people in the utopia will establish some sort of forced army which will either lead to outcome one or if they win they'll suffer a lot of other problems within its citizens, especially the ones forced into the battle, which will then cause riots and then the destruction of the utopia. The final outcome is that the establish a sort of join if you want to army where people can fight for the utopia if they want to, which if they win it would be the only peaceful outcome. This means that a utopia can exist but not forever one little push on the cliff  of good with spend you falling into the pit of evil. 

 I do think it may be possible to create a sort of utopia. The only way to create a utopia on Earth is war. There are two examples that I can think of other media. One of them is George Orwell's book "1984" which ironically is know for its dystopian environment. In the book a big corporation called The Party is manipulating people to think there's this big war. The people are manipulated into loving their way of life and hating the ones they are at war with. This makes their living peaceful in their society alone. Another example is in the movie "Watchmen", the movie takes place in another world where Nixon is still President and the Earth is just about to enter a huge world destroying nuclear war. At the end of the movie it turns out the antagonist set up a terrorist attack to make it seem like it came from an extraterrestrial attack, which immediately stops the war and they all join together to prepare for this war that doesn't exist. This shows in order to have a utopia we have to unite with a common goal that effects the world as a whole.

This shows that currently there is no way to have a utopia in today's world. The only way it's possible for a utopia to exist is that the world has to agree on a common big threat to the world that will effect everyone. That is how I think that the only way to have a utopia is war.      

After The Ending (Blog #14)

After reading "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margret Atwood, rereading it, and reviewing it. I noticed the ending of the book was very open and left to the reader to make their own predictions about what happened to the characters that we've learned about. With the Historical Notes we know that "The Handmaid's Tale" was a story that was based off recorded tapes of Offred speaking about what happened. With that in mind we can assume that and the end of her story when she was being carried out she either escaped then, or she escaped later and got access to a US Military box, recording devices, and blank tapes to record on. I believe that when she escaped she either found or was taken to the Quakers, who are the rebel group very briefly mentioned in the book, and they gave her the materials need to record her thoughts and her story about her time in Gilead. One thing that I think happen is that she never saw her daughter, Luke, or even Nick ever again unless she was there during the fall of Gilead and it's ways. I say this because how could they see each other again. Offred's daughter we know is alive due to a photo provided by Serena Joy, but she's probably have the Gilead ideals and beliefs drilled into her and she may not even know she has a mother to begin with. The reason I think Luke isn't alive is mainly from what isn't mentioned in the book, Offred won't go looking for him because two out of her three ideas of what happened to Luke he's dead. Finally Nick had no need to go and be with her, he treated this whole thing as a job, he has no reason to leave his job and risk death for someone he doesn't care for. That's what I believe happened at the end of the Handmaid's Tale.

Recap (Blog#13)

In the book "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margret Atwood there was a confusing and peculiar last chapter called historical notes. I'm here to try to explain a reason why it's there in the first place. One of the reason could be through the outburst of religion at the time. As we know Gilead is an extremely religious society and there was another great powerful religion at the time of the book's publishing and people were beginning to question it. In the Historical Notes Gilead isn't even a memory that Archeologists find rare artifacts of. Then one of the Professors makes an article called "Problems of Authentication Reference to the Handmaid's Tale" which goes on to question if Offred's story was wrong. Which connects with real life because people started questioning their religious views at that point. This shows why the Historical Notes were included into the "Handmaid's Tale" and why Margret Atwood put it there.

The ending of "The Handmaid's Tale" was rather open and strange and from what people have said, they are outraged by this ending. I've come to view it in a different light which I would like to explain. I view it a much more happier light after re-reading the ending multiple times. The reason for this is because if you think of both possible outcomes freedom or death, both are positive alternatives to staying alive in Gilead. In the book the ending is that she gets "caught" and is taken away by Eyes to the front door and then that's it, the book ends and it's on with the Historical Notes. As mentioned previously any alternative would be better than living a life of lies and being miserable. So I prefer this open ending rather than a solid one. It fills one with hope that Offred's suffering will all be over soon.

Salvaging Case #1984 (Blog #12)

I Serena Joy, Wife of the Commander of Sector Thirteen, the Commander in question want to say my accounts on the matter of the case involving the scandals committed by our Handmaid Offred and the previously mentioned Commander.  After a couple days to go through the past months of memories with Offred and the past years with my "husband" I have collected myself and I'm prepared to account the days leading up to the report that I sent a few days ago when I learned of this horrible event that has been unfolded. A few weeks before making the report I noticed from my window that our Guard's hat position would change from time to time when working outside. When home I would stay out of his line of sight and see him move his hat I would then begin to hear footsteps from outside. At first I just assumed it was him running to get something, but on one of the last nights before I came to my conclusion I heard the footsteps disappear but then the Guard must've banged his foot because I heard him try to contain the scream of pain, whether he did it on purpose due to frustration I'll never know. There were other signs with the Commander too. The past few weeks he got shockingly "busy with official Gilead matters" to which he said he couldn't tell me anything that happened or even where these matters occurred when he left late at night. Now after writing this if they get to speak their mind of what they think happened I know what they'll say. They'll say that the other said they would threaten them either with blackmail or death, they might even try to blame me saying I forced them into this position which is dead wrong.

Mayday! Mayday! (Blog #11)

Mayday! Mayday! If you're reading this no one copied. I guess this could be considered a will, even though I don't really have any possessions to give to anyone. I guess I could tell whoever finds this my story but I'm afraid that I don't have enough time to tell you everything that happened to me. Time is valuable even more so when you're part of a secret organization against the horror that is Gilead. Knowing my fate I don't care about what I reveal anymore but I won't name names. To whoever finds this I choose you to give my only possession to knowledge. To the "new" Ofglen I want you to tell one of my only friend what happened to me. Remember this word because it may save your life. "Mayday." Try not to just say it because it will draw attention and you will most likely be tortured as to what you know. Work it into conversation, that's what the others that know this word will do and they will be on your side. Now back to this friend. She's lost everything freewill, family, and friends. She deserves freedom more than any of us. Help her, she may not like you at first, because she may think you as a replacement, but you have to tell her what happened to me. Who ever is reading this do this for me and I will be in your debt in the afterlife.

What did I read again (Blog #10)

In today's reading I read pages 323 to 333 on the PDF version of the Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. The pages I read covered the rest of section forty-one and all of forty-two.  It continues from Offred's and Nick's relationship, though they don't want to call it a relationship. Even though they said they basically love each other. Another shocking thing that happened was The Salvaging which was in section forty-two. The Salvaging is any event that Handmaids participate in where they watch criminals being executed and they have an opportunity to kill one in a barbaric manner which was really shocking to see.

What did I read? (Blog #9)

In today's reading I read pages 313 to 323 on the PDF version of the Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood. The pages I read covered section forty and a little bit of forty-one. I noticed in those sections that Offred is a lot happier when around Nick, when originally Offred kinda hated Nick which is an interesting development. Another thing I say was that we get another look inside Offred's mind to show what she thinks about the situation going on around her and what she wants. That's all I have to say about what I read today.  

Wedding Bells (blog #8)

Inside scoop on these "happy" weddings in Gilead. They are not so happy and joyful as we first thought. In my time I spent undercover in Gilead as a tourist, which wasn't easy due to there restrictions on what we can and cannot interact with. What I managed to see what these weddings were absolutely peculiar. It first starts out with twenty men lined up on one side. Note that it's not one husband to be and nine-teen best men, all twenty men are getting married at the same time. Another thing, which is more horrifying then strange is the brides. The twenty brides are in clean clothes but look dirty and weak. Almost like they've been dug up from underground caves, the light blinds them and hunger is seen on their face. I find out later from another source of information that these woman are from places that the Angles of Apocalypse have taken over to spread the good old Gilead influence. The older women are shipped to these camp areas, the younger ones are converted in these weddings. Before the weddings these women seem to be beaten, with welts on their feet, hands, and all over their bodies apparently so they stay in line. Then the wedding starts with words, not from a priest, but from a man that seems like a high ranking Commander. This Commander then places a red veil over them to symbolize them become the Handmaiden's. Unlike other weddings were the women in Gilead become Wives, these women don't get given that power, I believe it's because they don't deem the women as trustworthy. Instead they become Handmaidens. But the wedding isn't for love, them women have no say in this manner. They aren't supposed to love their new husband they are only suppose to do their tasks.

Discussion Time (Blog 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?

Alyssa

George

Michael

Alyssa and George thought that the events that took place changed Offred from this over cautious woman to someone who doesn't care about what happens. Which happens when we learn that there have been other mistresses with the Commander, because of knowing that there were other women Offred doesn't feel important which reflects toward her lack of emotion in the next chapters. We were all shocked by the Commander admitting that he's done this thing before but after reading a bit more we start to understand that he is the type of guy to do this mainly because he wants love and miserable Serena Joy won't love him then he'll have to find out who does. Another thing that we all agreed on was that it was nice to see a woman have power, this happens when she realizes that the Commander likes her but that is something she can exploit with the threat of her own death. After the discussion I end up agreeing with what Alyssa and George had to say especially with Offred not caring about what happens anymore, but this change also makes her more talkative to others especially Offglenn. This could mainly be a factor in the "she doesn't care what happens" standard that she has. She doesn't care about no talking rules, so she doesn't obey them. She cares enough not to do something to get her killed of course, but she's stopped following the little precautions she has set for herself   

100 Years of Godliness (Blog #6)

Today is the One hundred of our glorious way of life sprouting from a bud to the beautiful flower it is now. Now sadly our way of life wasn't always this righteous. Before these hundred years we had the Dark Ages. This was a time were religion was second to government AND they weren't even mixed. The nation thought it was better if they kept government and church separate. If they saw how we operate now the would clearly see their mistake, I mean the only reason they were there was because their forefathers want to express their religious views. They were sinners having officials like, Presidents, Senate, and Supreme Court. Instead of our more God pleasing views of Commander's, The Man Upstairs, and Handmaids. Of course as we look back at this sinful way of living we can remember how we rose this land from the pits of Hell and into the Heavens that it is now.

It first started slow. Money back then did grow on trees, sadly we were impatient a could wait for those trees to grow so we could make money. So the "founding fathers" of our way of life thought, why not just make all money data in a computer bank, thus was the invention of the Compubank. Though people still kept the old green paper money, it didn't mean anything, it was sentimental at best, a memory of once was. Next we decided to go on our next crusade were we chopped off the head of sin at it's source. The government that was sent in place was gunned down by what we can only guess was Islamic fanatics, not us. President and Congress all dead in a day. Thus we decided to suspend the Constitution "momentarily" and said it would return once we catch the culprits. Our next act was to start defying the suspended Constitution, we censored the press and media, including documentaries. Though we had some people questioning our way, there were no riots everyone was scared. So scared in fact, that they were comfortable with the mandatory Identipasses and roadblocks that were set in place. Then came another blow to the way of life for most of the population. Woman were now not allowed to handle money, all of a woman's money was to be transferred to their husband, father, or next male in their lineage. On the same day we started enforcing our way of life onto others with not allowing places of sin like libraries to exist. After that, bit by bit society adjust to our current, more righteous way of living, and those that didn't comply... well that's why we have the Wall.    

Blog 4

If there's one thing I was intrigued about in chapter eight-teen of "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. It is our main character's (Offred) thoughts on what I believe to be her hope of getting about of Gilead, or just hope to live on in general. I see that one of the things she hopes for the most is love, to feel love again and to be surrounded by love. I know this because in the chapter when talking about love she says " But this is wrong, nobody dies from lack of sex, It’s lack of love we die from " (pg 118 PDF) this shows her dependence on love. She doesn't just want it because it's nice to have, she wants it because she feels that she needs it to live. Now as far as we know there are two main things that she "loves" in the story, her child, and her father of her child, Luke. In this chapter it mainly focuses around Luke and what she thinks he's doing now, but it's not one story, it's three completely separate stories and she believes all of them at the same time. These stories are as followed. One story is that Luke is dead in a bush, and has been dead for a year and that he's just starting to corrode and rot away, she believes that he was shot three times, once in the head she hopes because it would be a painless kill. The next story she believes is that Luke has been captured and is being held prisoner or in isolation, he's in a constant state of being tortured for information the Offred doesn't know about. He's old but still alive and every body part hurts. On a happier note the last story is that he was never captured by the soldiers of Gilead, that he made it to the river and that he was rescued and taken in by the Quakers, a rebel organization against Gilead. She hopes that this exiled government excises, she has to the news has proved it. She also hows that one day she'll recieve a message from Luke, but it will arrive in an unusual way.

I Play Favorites Blog #5

Out of all the characters in the "Handmaids Tale" by Margaret Atwood. There are a few I like more than others, a lot more then others. In any story there's always a least favorite and favorite character and this story is no different in that aspect. After reading most of the Handmaid's Tale already I currently have a favorite and least favorite character. Lets start with my favorite character. So far in the current thirty chapters I've read my favorite character is Moria. Moria even though she's currently gone from the story, she so far has done a lot more than the other characters in the story. Though she hasn't had much character change that's not a bad thing. She works as Offred's motivation and mentor on how to live in this kind of lifestyle. She also works as Offred's reassuring factor that this living style that they're currently living in isn't the right one and you shouldn't be ok with it. She's crafty and cunning in that she escaped the city without only a hand full of people knowing.

Next character I want to talk about is my least favorite character. There are many characters I dislike whether it's how they act and treat other characters mainly our main protagonist Offred. Like Serena Joy, she's always cruel to the handmaids as we found out. But there is one character that I hate more than all the others and that's Luke. Luke always seems to only care about himself he has a family to look after and it seems that he doesn't care. From Offred's memory it seems that Luke was the reason for getting caught. Also if he did escape wouldn't his first priority be to get Offred back from the clutches of Gilead especially after he knows what is going on in that place. It just angers me that he only seems to care about himself.

Nick, spelled N-Eye-C-K

Just got a new command from the Man Upstairs. Apparently he wants me to mess with my sector's Commander's newest Handmaiden... AGAIN. He always wants to make the Commanders' Handmaidens crack and he usually does, but Offred, Offred is different, it seems like she wants to be free, she wants to rebel against our better world, but she won't or she can't. She's one of the most perfect handmaidens that's from the Darker Age, but she's also one of the Handmaidens with the most meaning to escape. Unless she truly doesn't care about her family, her husband (maybe just boyfriend, not sure), and her daughter, cute kid too takes after her mother I suppose. I shouldn't worry about that though that's later tonight. Ugh then there's that awkward Ceremony after that. Out of all the drastic changes that came from Gilead, that one is the most unsettling things. Sex is supposed to be a pleasurable and comforting experience, not a medical operation. Ugh anyway I got to get ready. Putting on this Guardian uniform, acting all buddy buddy with the other Guardians. Most of those guys make me sick. Most of them are just horndogs, ha, aren't they in the wrong profession. Well I'd better head off to the Commander's house so I'm not late. Now that I'm here I guess I have to think about what I should try this time to push Offred closer to death. I've already winked at her but she just seems to ignore it so I should step up my game. I know! She usually has to just stand there and kneel in the moments leading up to the Ceremony. She can't move, so I could do anything so long as the Commander is there. That's what I'll do and she'll have to freak out or at least crack a little bit.    

Blog Assignment #2

We all face choices in our lives that will affect us in small and huge ways. One choice that I am currently struggling is with deciding what college to go to. There's one that's a good price but with a bad neighborhood around it, there's one that has friends and seems really friendly but priced pretty high, and there's one in the middle. This choice reminds me of the book we are currently reading which is "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood. Which tells the story about a dystopian Earth where women are mainly seen as objects and have tight restrictions put on them. In the book our main character Offred is at the doctor's for her monthly checkup. During the checkup the doctor gives her a decision, he can impregnate her so that she can have a high power's "child" or he could leave her alone and she might never have a child and face death. Just this power of choice frightens her because she finally has power, even though it's a little power it will still affect her life. This is almost exactly like my choice where no matter what I choose it will effect my life permanently and it terrifies me. This why I can connect to Offred with her fear of choice because no matter what you'll never know what happens if you choose the other option(s).

Blog Assignment #1

What is something that's yours but others use it more than you do? My name is my identity but I feel that my name in particular is so common that I just blend in with everyone else and as a result I'm called by my last name to differentiate between the others. To be stripped of my name is to be stripped of my identity.

Maybe I can stand out

It's never me

Can a name mean different things to others

How can one live without a name

A confusing roll call at school with multiple Michael's

Everyone knows my name even if they don't know me 

Love me name either way