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.
Hey Akash,
ReplyDeleteyou make somes wondefully insightful and though provoking comments on the book itself, and in being in love in general. It brings to mind the quote, "be careful what you wish for you may just get it". For sure young women from all creeds and backgrounds dream about their prince charming and once they feel they have realized that dream they are filled with doubt and misgivings and pain, loneliness and isolation. And yes once they experience heartache they over analyze and perform a post mortem investigation that only leads to self blame. So love while being an overpowering emotion can become a self destructive one wher even the most confident and intelligent women can become victims. As the song goes, "what love got to do with it, love is a second hand emotion," as it makes you lose self control and powerless and leaves you vulnerable and ready for a fall, with a hard bump to the ground.
Huh. Your commentary is interesting; even more so because It is totally different from mine.
ReplyDeleteYou interpreted the passage as saying that love is a very negative force; I took it to convey the message that love is a positive force.
If I interpreted your commentary correctly, your main point seems to be that love is bad because it causes pain. You focused a lot on diction to support this stance. Atwood herself uses those words like "pain," "dire," and asks those complex questions that keep us up at night, all for love.
I focused more on the metaphors and images. When she compares people who have never felt love to "mutants" and "creatures," I thought she meant to say that love makes us human. When she says "God is love," I took it to mean that love is divine. Because Gilead has not love, it is a society of godless "mutants" and "creatures," a true dystopia.
I also looked at the negative words she uses. Sure,love can cause pain. Sure, its out of our control and we are helpless to avoid it. But that is what makes us human!
Your thesis statement is very broad. I'm no expert, but I would suggest narrowing it a bit and then going broader in your conclusion.
Now, because I read the passage, I can tell where your ideas are coming from. However, some of your ideas seem disconnected from the quotes you use to support them. Perhaps it is merely because we interpreted differently, but make sure your not just making assumptions.
So yeah. Great job! You make some interesting points and introduced me to some new ideas. Rock on!
Hi Akash, I think that overall you've done a splendid job in interpreting this extract, however, it would be nice if you expanded more on the use of literary devices. One of your quotes include a simile comparing humans to "mutant, a creature from outer space." The effect of this is outstanding and discussing this would be good maybe? You also have another quote (how love is a downward force...), this is a great quote and introduces imagery! You could also talk and expand on this. Maybe mention it in your intro?
ReplyDeleteAlso, like Nina said your thesis is actually quite broad, and if it was to be a bit more specific that would help a lot! And then while writing this there would be less chance of going off track or struggling to find information to back up your point.
Overall, good job!
Hi Akash, you did a marvelous job interpreting the extract. Your ideas were in depth and straight to the point. It’s a shame that you chose to discuss one single literary device and not more because there is more than one way to look at the text. You used description as one of your literary devices but I must disagree with this: description can be many things such as imagery, tone, structure or metaphors. You have to be precise in your statements and avoid being too broad. The idea that love is a downward motion is an idea that I had as well, so I’m glad that I’m not the only one interpreting the poem this way, however I feel that you could have related this to imagery? The image of love being a fall. It’s easy to fall but hard to get back up.
ReplyDelete