Conversations (5-9)

Week 5
      The beginning of the story begins with a description of the town of Omelas. The descriptions depicts the town to be a joyous place, where the people are happy with what they have. They are a peaceful people who are about to enjoy their summer festivities. While reading the end of the story, the idea that the town was a happy place was in my head. I began to think, how could a town be so happy with such a dark secret? I was confused by the behavior of the people, I believe that the happiness is a mask. Le Guin creates tension in the text by slowly unraveling the truth behind Omelas. She explains how "Happiness" does not necessarily mean "innocence". Her pacing lets the reader know to stay buckled in till the end of the ride. She unveils all of the facts slowly so the reader has no choice but to continue reading. After reading, I was left with various questions. What deal did they make, and with whom? The small child is locked in a cell, and the reader's only knowledge of why is that so the whole town can stay happy. Also, a question that every reader probably has is where are the people going, the ones who leave? The author explains how it seems as if they have a destination, where is it?

Week 6

      Atwood tells the reader much about the world of "The Handmaid's Tale" by explaining the role that Offred is in, and explaining the surroundings that she sees. It is important to note that women in her world are completely suppressed. A handmaid's role is to reproduce, and they are not permitted every day things like reading, or travelling alone. They must not look at any man in a sexual way, for that is a sin. Offred's world has no separation of church and state. All of the rules and regulations are based off of the bible. Violators of these laws are punished; it was shown in the story that people were hung for the crime of abortion, even though that the act took place prior to the new government. Before her life as a handmaid, she had a family. She lived happily and unknowingly took for granted the freedom's that she used to have and exercise freely. In her new role, she is so powerless that she gets satisfaction from winking at a guard, or even stealing a little butter, since those things are basically the only things that she actually has control over. She has no control over who she can love, have sex with, or even talk to. She is allowed to talk to other Handmaid's, but even that interaction is cautious because of their fear.

Week 7
      In The Handmaid's Tale, there are two pasts. I suppose that the first past is her past before Gilead. Her time before Gilead is important because it gives the reader an understanding of how drastic the changes were. She had a family, had a relationship with someone who had their own family, she did a lot of things that were get her killed in Gilead. It adds to the absurdity of the rules of her new world, women are completely subdued. The second past is her time at the retraining center. Her time at the retraining center is important because she is "re-trained". In a sense, she has to re learn how to live an every day life, she has to throw away her previous role and take up a new one as a handmaid. Her time there is included to show the reader how Gilead "thinks", and the steps it took to get to where it is at the point in the story where we are now. Women were gathered and taught to be obedient, and throw away any independence that they have. The pasts that are spoken about in the story add to Offred's current story because without it, we would not understand what Offred went through to become a handmaid. Her past influences her life, her thoughts, and actions. The retraining center broke her down, Gilead does not view her as an individual.

Week 8
      The final section, the academic commentary, really changes my whole understanding of Offred's story. I really never understood how she got her story across. I figured she wrote it down on some hidden piece of paper and never spoke a word about it. This idea was my leading idea, but after I read the end, I realized that women were not permitted ordinary freedoms like reading or writing, so she probably had no writing utensils, plus she was probably terrified of being caught. The fact that her story was technically pieced together by recordings that were found, and people had to piece her story together. That is astounding to me, because it shows that even though she was in an environment where rebelling would mean her life, she still had the guts to take secret recordings so people know what life was like in Gilead. It re-framed the way I understood the text because now I get the full understanding of how dangerous a place Offred lived in. She secretly recorded her daily events so future generations would never revert to that lifestyle. The commentary ridicules that lifestyle as it should, and it is refreshing to know that Gilead's rain was cut short.