tentative paper topic

The unstableness of the society

The Handmaid's Tale pages 251-311

Serena Joy gets Offred hooked up with Nick. Offred doesn't stop after that night though, she continues to go see nick. The ceremony of the hangings had a big impact on Offred. After seeing that she felt that she would do anything just to live. When meeting up with Ofglen the next time she noticed this was a different Ofglen. She was very skeptical of this Ofglen and wondered what had happened to the previous Ofglen. Then this Ofglen told her that she had hung herself. Offred didn't know if she could believe her but upon hearing this considered that plan for herself. She had suicide running across her mind especially when Serena Joy accused of doing something wrong. The black van came and she was worried that her punishment was coming. However this punishment was not from Serena Joy to her surprise and it may not even have been a punishment after all. Nick Told her not to worry that it as "Mayday" and seh was being saved. As readers we never know what really happened to Offred. It is up to us to make our own assumption. I believe Nick truely was a good guy and was trying to help her, otherwise why would he have kept letting her in his door night after night. Of course, this is what everyone wants  to believe.

The Handmaid's Tale pages 199-250

Serena Joy wants a child, badly. She told Offred that she would help her conceive because there was a big possibility that it was her husband's fault. She told Offred that she could put her and Nick together and in reward she could give Offred a picture. This picture she was referring to was of her child. So we now know that Offred's daughter is alive! However, this is a big risk for Offred to take. Janine conceived her baby this way and it turned out not making it after all. The commander has become very interested in Offre's opinion. She tends to be a little sassy in response too. Ofglen informs Offred that they know that she is meeting with the commander alone. Ofglen seems to know everything. She tells Offred to find out anything she can.

The Handmaid's Tale pages 151-195

Offred begins to reveal how the society came to be. The transistion seemed rather sudden. She explains how one day she went to buy cigarrettes at the store on the corner and her card number was rejected even though she had thousands of dollars in there. Soon after that instance, she describes how she was let go from, her job. Offred still visits the commander frequently. He has began to let her read and on the last visit they even had a conversation. Offred finally learns what the Latin phrase means, "don't let the bastards grind you down." The comander sees it as an old joke he used to use when he was younger but Offred sees how it makes perfect sense in the circumstances. When the Commander asks if there is anything else she would like Offred responds, "I would like to know" "Whatever there is to know" "What's going on." At the end of this section we see Offred beginning to pray, pray for help. We see Offred evolving so much in this section she is becoming stronger and has an urge to make a difference.

The Handmaid's Tale pages 49-99

In this section we see a lot of change taking place. First of all we learn that Moira has escaped. Through an ingenious plan Moira was able to disguise herself as Aunt Elizabeth and get her way out of this place. Offred also has an intesting meeting with the Commander. He invites her to play a game of scrabble and asks for a meaningful kiss at the end of their "date." I am not sure as to why the commander is doing this but the first thought that ran across my mind is that maybe he is testing her knowledge because he is afraid of what she is capable of doing. The words Offred was spelling out showed that she must be very intelligent. At the end Offred starts reflecting about the holocaust, and is starting to make a sort of connection.

The Handmaid's Tale pages 49-99

We start to learn a lot more about the narrator in this reading. We finally learn her name, Offred, but we don't know her real name for she likes to keep that hidden. We learn that she has a kid although she doesn't know if the child is dead or alive for it was taken away from her when she came to this place and the child was only about 5. Offred always talks about her friend moira from college, and in this section Moira comes to join Offred in this place. Moira isn't handling the situacin very well. She has tried getting out but to no avvail. In the last part Offred is being fucked by the Commander. She prefers to use this way of stating the circumstance because it was by no means enjoyable to the both of them, but she couldn't consider it rape either because she had in a way made this choice. Her saying that she had a choice in it makes me question what kind of choice she had.

Handmaid'd Tale pages 1-49

I was a bit lost at the beginning of this book because it jumps right into the story. Not giving any background inofrmation at all. However, as the story goes on the explanation for why things are the way they are begins to be revealed little by little. The setting of the story is very odd, it seems almost like a prison, with barbed wire surrounding the area and guards watching over. It descibes how the place has no ropes, chandeliers, or anything that someone could strangle themself and how no one can talk or write. This sounds like a very dissatisfying place to reside. The purpose of the narrator in this situacion seems to be of reproduction. The narrator tells how she hadn't always lived like this. All of this makes me wonder why this situacion is the way it is, what is going on here.

Presentation Experience

Acting out our scene was fun although it was a bit difficult to distinguish the characters since we had to play more than one character. Preparing it made me think more about what was actually happening. Reading it in old english feels kind of awkard and is hard to understand at first but when breaking my lines down and seeing what I was actually saying helped me to better understand what was going on. Overall it was a good experience and I think it got the main point of the situacion across to the viewers.