How Would YOU Feel?

            In James Wood’s How Fiction Works he is greatly in favor of an author exercising the “free indirect style.” His perception of how an author should write a book is in correlation with McCarthy’s approach in The Road. The entire book is written in third person; in fact, it never even mentions the names of the main characters. McCarthy never tells us what emotion the dialogues are spoken in or the emotion that it is conveyed in. One must take into account the setting and structure of the scene to make an educated guess about how the characters are feeling. The Road leaves a great deal of room for the reader to use their imagination and further build the characters for themselves.

            It is true that in any book numerous readers will see the characters differently; however, with McCarthy’s approach the readers could have such distinctive thoughts about the character that they are unrecognizable to one another. Saumya said in her blog, “Throughout the book as a reader I never felt fully connected to the Man or Boy because I was not always completely sure of what they were feeling, a lot of the assumptions had to be made by me from what I think they would have reacted. McCarthy even during conversations always kept it simple, and never added a “happily said” , etc. I think he wanted to leave lots of room for the reader to decide.” (http://saumya22.wordpress.com/)

            I completely agree with what she says, whilst reading the book I was never sure of how the characters felt. Moreover, I think this style of writing is what made The Road such a delightful read. By leaving so much room for interpretation up to the reader, one can decided for themselves how they would’ve felt under The Man and The boys situation. This book touches the reader at a personal level; it employs them to put themselves in The Man’s shoes and imagine their reaction under the same circumstances.

            As long as you don’t get carried away with “Free indirect style” it can be used to great advantage and force the reader to develop the characters themselves.

Practice Commentary

            At this point in the book Offred has begun to meet the commander during late nights and discuss subjects she is meant to have no knowledge of. For a woman who has no rights and no voice, the ability to share stories and express one’s self is amazing. As Offred starts getting more comfortable with the Commander, Atwood exercises diction and the vivid descriptions of love to express the fact that woman live an awful life with no power whatsoever.

            By the way that Atwood decides to convey the story, one can see that women fall in love to soon realize that they become powerless. As women fall in love, they start to undoubtedly trust their partner and as a result of that they are left vulnerable to pain and disappointment.  In the beginning she says, ‘I don’t want to be telling this story.’ This portrays the fact that Offred was ashamed of how love took her over, yet, at the same time that feeling was so wonderful that she feels obliged to tell the story. Atwood writes, “If it never happened to you, not ever, you would be like a mutant, a creature from outer space.” She’s articulating that love is a feeling that everyone must feel, in fact, if you haven’t you aren’t human. Yet, at the same time this passage shows that women get hurt and lose even more power if they fall in love. She expresses these two opinions and doesn’t feel that it’s the least bit contradictory? Perhaps, it’s because women were doomed to such a life, where they must feel a feeling that will seem great only to find out it’s the reason of their downfall.

            Atwood describes love in such a manner, that one understands exactly why the feeling fools everyone. She says, “… this downward motion so lovely, like flying, and yet at the same time so dire, so extreme, so unlikely.” Falling in love is a feeling that every woman wants to experience. It is unfortunate, as the feeling itself is extraordinary, but the betrayal that comes with it is excruciating. Woman are cursed in this sense for the feeling that will bring them the most joy is also the one that will bring them the most pain. Atwood ends the passage by saying, “What if he doesn’t love me?” As a man begins to toy with a woman’s feelings she starts to question his loyalty. If that happens, then the woman has already lost all her power in society or on the man. For if he is lying to her then she will drown from an agonizing pain, slowly making her ‘mad’. And if he is not lying to her, once you have had a suspicion it never completely goes away. One will keep on asking themselves questions until one goes mad and can no longer tell whether the questions being posed are sane or not. Either way, women lose their power and rationality.

            It is sad really, that women are forced to encounter a feeling that will most certainly lead to their downfall. Atwood states the fact that if you haven’t felt love then you are not human. So, women linger for the day when they will find love, and once they do get it they realize they couldn’t have been happier. Until one day when everything is taken from them and all they have left to do is blame themselves. This society is accustomed to bringing women down.

            

Enough With The Whining!

            There’s no doubt that women used to be unfairly treated, but that time is behind us. This article, The Beauty Myth, is absolutely useless and it presents no valid points. Women got what they wanted, but this article suggests that what they got was a lie. It is an undeniable fact that both men and woman will always face problems, but that isn’t a sign of discrimination.

            In the article it says, “The affluent, educated, liberated women of the First World, who can enjoy freedoms unavailable to any women before, do not feel as free as they want to.” This article agrees with the fact that women are fully liberated and that they can now pursue the highest of educations. Yet, Naomi Wolf, the author, doesn’t find it the least bit contradictory to present this statement. The matter of the fact is that, it is contradictory. Wolf goes on to say, “American women told researchers that they would rather lose ten to fifteen pounds than achieve any other goal.” It is sad? Yes, of course it is, but it is most definitely not a result of discrimination towards women. In fact, men face the same problem, there’s no doubt in my mind that a man would rather look strong and impressive than anything else. Shall we now write an article about how men are being discriminated? No, of course not, that would preposterous just like this article’s baseless accusations.

            This article makes a joke out of the struggle that women have faced previously. However, if the accusation of discrimination would’ve been brought in a book like The Handmaid’s Tale then it is absolutely justified. The women in the book had absolutely no rights; handmaid’s weren’t even taught how read or write. They couldn’t express their opinions or thoughts at any given time. Accusing men of not letting women be free because of looks is a far-fetched and ridiculous claim. We live in a society that has made its people accustomed to the idea of looking ‘good.’ This pressure is not only felt by women, but by men as well. However, we learn to live with it because we know that complaining isn’t going to change the public’s state of mind. No matter how much you protest people will always judge you by your looks and you will only be called ‘pretty’ by the society if you wear nice clothes, have nice hair, and an appealing body.

            There’s no use in complaining, the world functions this way, women are meant to be slim and pretty; and men are meant to be strong and handsome. Women should be grateful and proud of how far they have gotten, and in my opinion, they are now equal to men. Men were wrong in the past to discriminate against women, but that world no longer exists. Accept the way society functions, and live a happy life knowing that women have achieved a great deal of things in the past 30 to 40 years. 

Society Says: You're Never Too Young To Worry About Looks

            Klaus Barbie, and other dolls I’d like to see is a very interesting article because it shows how a small little toy can manipulate the minds of so many young and older girls. Everyone wants to look beautiful, be a princess, and a bride just like Barbie! This hype over Barbie causes a lot of misjudging, kids will see a girl and decide whether she is likable or not by the way she looks; the more like Barbie the better. Personalities don’t matter anymore it’s all about looks.

            It is sad that kids let themselves be influenced by the Barbie and as a result their self-esteem goes down significantly. Susan Gilman, the author of Klaus Barbie, and other dolls I’d like to see, states, “Somewhere, somehow, a message stepped into our consciousness telling us that we weren’t good enough to be a bride or a model or a queen or anything because we weren’t pretty enough. And this translated into not smart enough or likable enough, either. The thought that kids start feeling bad about themselves at an early age because of a ‘pretty’ doll is quite depressing. The problem is that small girls are vulnerable and when you’re exposed to a society that strives its people to look ‘gorgeous’ it will obviously have a negative affect. Moreover, because all girls want to be like Barbie they are destroying their own personality and following that of a plastic toy. It is the parent’s job to tell their kids that they are beautiful just the way they are and if somebody wants to judge them because they don’t look like Barbie, then they are better off without that person.

            Reading this article does show me that boys have a lot less pressure when it comes to this subject. Boys don’t really have a doll that they must look like. Sure, they have toys that everyone thinks are cool like G.I Joe, but we are not judged if we don’t look like him. In fact, people might think it’s weird if we dress like them.

            This idea of Barbie and looks taking over the lives of little girls does make me look at The Handmaid’s Tale in a new fashion. In the book all handmaid’s have to wear a red dress; every group of people have their strict dress code and everybody must abide by those dress codes. This method does take away the entire jealousy factor and the tempting need to look like somebody you are not. However, I’m not sure I can say this is system is any better than the Barbie society because as far as I know women LOVE shopping and dressing up. So, by taking that away you might also be taking away a trait that is often found in women. The answer to which system is better can only be answered by a women.

            We live in a society that urges its people to look beautiful and be slim, but by doing so they damage the growing up of young girls. Girls become more obsessed with how they look and don’t give themselves time to decide which looks they like, they just follow what Barbie is doing. The other option is to follow the system that is used in The Handmaid’s Tale. In my opinion, that is a horrible system and should never be allowed to see the light of day. We just have to accept that we live in a society that pressurizes kids into looks at an early age. This also becomes a test of personality, which girls will fall into the deep black hole and become just like everybody else and which one’s will be able discover who they are without the influence of Barbie. 

Thank You For This Assignment

Taking Back and The handmaid’s tale is an awakening that shows us how fortunate we are to be able to express ourselves. Although I am man and these pieces of writing are based on woman, it’s not hard to imagine how horrifying life would be without the ability to express our feelings and thoughts.

One can just imagine the thousands of things we take for granted that some people desperately want. For example, I am writing this blog because it was assigned to me in English class. The people in The Handmaid’s Tale and Bell Hooks fantasize about being able to express themselves through a blog, where you simply just write what comes to your mind.

Bell Hooks states, “To make yourself hear if you were a child was to invite punishment.” A world like that would be nothing short of a disaster. Everybody should have the right to express themselves no matter what the situation. Moreover, if you are forbidden to talk then you cannot possibly develop your own possibility because all you hear is everybody else’s thoughts. In fact, in The Handmaid’s Tale the situation is even more out of hand, if you can believe that. The women living in the republic of Gilead are not even thought how to read or write. The women living in Gilead might hate this situation, but they have grown accustomed to it. If I were living in a world like that and had the knowledge of what happened in the 21^st century I would most certainly lose the will to live. Living in a world where your skin color and gender determine your privileges seem truly outrageous. The worst thing about all this is perhaps the fact that as women you see other people having the privileges you so desperately want.

After reading Talking Back and while writing my script I realized how lucky I am to be able to just write my opinions on a blog. I’m very sorry for what happened to Bell Hooks when she was a kid, but in a way her writing is very helpful to everyone living in the 21^st century. It helps us in being more appreciative about our freedom of speech. Dystopian novels represent the most atrocious lifestyles; however by showing us how bad life can be are they actually helping us value what we have? Is that their purpose?

Men Remain Superior...

               

Blame it on feminism shows that woman’s rights are better than that in The Handmaid’s tale. Unfortunately, this improvement isn’t big enough, women still suffer today. They are given jobs, but they are not the same post as the men or their salary is undersized. Although women are being given more freedom, one big similarity between the women at the close of the 20^th century and the one’s in The Handmaids’s Tale stands out. The fact that women are to exercise their bodies to have kids is still present in the 20^th century.

            Women of the 20^th century are given more liberty, but by no means are they treated as equals to men. There is a clear progress from the women in The Handmaid’s Tale; however, women are not being given the rights and life they were promised. The arguments of people against woman’s rights say that women are being given the same jobs as men, and they are presented with the same opportunities. The matter of the fact is they are not. The article says, “If American women are so equal, why do they represent two-thirds of all poor adults? Why are more than 80% of full time working making less than $20,000 a year, nearby double the male rate?” These are valid questions for women to ask. They were told that they are seen a equals to men, but this article which is full of data, declares otherwise.

            Another argument to show that the improvement we have observed is not enough by any stretch of the imagination is that women are still pressured to have kids. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women’s sole purpose is to have a child, and although in the 20^th century this may be articulated differently the fact remains the same. In the book it says, “I almost gasp: he’s said a forbidden word. Sterile.”This shows that the women only have one purpose which takes priority over everything else, have children. In this case, it is so extreme that the people of The Republic of Gilead believe so strongly in the ‘purpose’ of women that they eradicated any explanation that would keep you from having a child. Moreover, women are then accustomed to feel the same way; they pray and hope that they will have a child in order to fulfill their duties. When Offred goes to the doctor’s office it says, “Yes, I say. It’s true, and I don’t ask why, because I know. Give me children, or else I die. There’s more than one meaning to it.” If Offred doesn’t give birth to a healthy baby then she is most certainly going to die. In Blame it on Feminism, these extreme and harsh measures don’t exist, but the belief that a woman’s purpose is to have a child is still at hand. A woman in the article states, “My biological clock is ticking so loud it keeps me awake at night.” I don’t believe that the women truly feel that way, I think it’s more that they been familiarized with the fact that they have to have kids before they reach a certain age.

            It is clear that women and men aren’t treated equally, but at least there has been an improvement. Women are accustomed to do certain things like, being a nurse, giving birth, and taking care of the family because that is what society tells them to do. In a world where men and women are one, women would not receive any pressure to do anything; they will have ‘absolute freedom’. Just like men.