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?