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