"Nobody's Child" (7)

While flipping through my Vogue magazine on the flight to the Cayman Islands, expecting to find add after add and read a few mindless articles, I came across one of the most shocking articles that I have read in awhile. It was the story of an author, Taylor Stevens, and how she had been raised in a religious colt since birth. It explained the rules of the colt and her life as she progressed through it, hoping in the end, to remove herself from the colt, and the struggles she had after she did remove herself.

A man that went by the name of David Berg founded the colt that Stevens was born into. He did not want his followers to find jobs, maintain a family consisting of a mother, father and children, or stay in one place for a long period of time. Family bonds were broken, children did most of the work, and privacy did not exist. Steven’s, at age fifteen began begging in Osaka, and talked about how that it was the dead of winter and she was wearing flip flops, but that “no one cared. I belonged to a colt, and I was nobody’s child.” Stevens mentioned that her most prized possession was a cassette recorder that played Greek classical music. Because music and reading of any kind was band, she often played her cassette recorder at night on the lowest volume possible. When she “craved diversion,” this was her escape.

In the late 90’s, Stevens got to choose the next place she wanted to go and she chose Africa. She chose Africa because she wanted to distance herself from the colt. She then married a man from Europe, who was also a part of the colt. She said that they didn’t have the best romantic chemistry but then followed with a very interesting sentence. “We were the only two members of a similar age in the area. As I like to say, did Adam really have a choice about Eve?” 

Once they had their first daughter, Stevens realized that she did not want her daughter to live the same life that she had. They finally left the colt.

“I will never forget how elated I felt the first morning I woke up in our own small apartment, finally free of the eyes that had been watching and judging me my entire life. Going to the grocery story, buying clothes, scheduling doctors appointments—All the ordinary things most adults take for granted—Were frightening and novel experiences for me.”

After reading this article, I began to see similarities between Steven’s story and The Handmaid’s Tale. Steven’s had a loophole, her cassette player, when she needed an escape. This is similar to Ofred and her tricks to keep her sanity. She might not have had anything tangible like Stevens did, but in the scheme of things, it was an escape. One of the things that I found most interesting about this, this article paints a picture of what life out of Gilead would be like if Ofred had escaped. Terrifying. Just doing daily tasks by herself, without someone watching was frightening. The Handmaid’s Tale left us to create our own ending and I feel that if Ofred does get out of Gilead, that she would succeed, like Stevens. She worked so hard to keep her sanity so that if she did get out of this society she would be able to survive.

Stevens is now 38 and has only been educated up to the sixth grade level but has “succeeded.” In the article she talks about how everyone was told that if they left the colt that something bad would happen to them. Well, in Stevens’ case, this was not true, and because she took the risk and left all she had known, she wrote an amazing story. Yes this is only the story of one colt, but this could happen anywhere, just like in The Handmaid’s Tale, and if it does, we are going to want as much knowledge about those situations as we can get. We have a lot to learn from Taylor Stevens.

http://www.vogue.com/magazine/article/nobodys-child/

Cat (6)

Have you ever wondered about the importance of a name? If you do not have a name, who are you? Do you exists? In The Handmaid’s Tale, characters are given new names once the new society is created. The handmaids are given names like “Ofglen” or “Offred” which is our narrator’s new given name. Authority figures, depending on who they are, go by names like “Commander” or “Aunt.” While thinking about this in class the other day, something that I found myself relating this too was the classic story, Breakfast at Tiffany’s. The main character Holly refuses to name her own cat. She claims that its because she feels that the cat does not belong to her and that giving it a name adds personal identity to it. So, through out the entire story, she would always refer to her cat as “Cat.”

When you think about the thought of naming a person or animal, it’s a delicate process. Parents often think of names for their children months before they are born. And how often do we find ourselves stressing about what to name our next dog? A name is something that determines who you are, your existence. I found that in The Handmaids Tale, women are given new names, in order to de-personalize the situation. We are first introduced to this very early on in the story, as the society begins to change. Luke and the narrator are in the processes of planning their escape when they realize that they cannot leave their cat alone. Luke soon comes to the conclusion that the only thing to do is kill the cat. He then tells the narrator he will “handle it.” After the narrator hears her husband say that phrase she says, “and because he said it instead of her, I knew he meant kill. That is what you have to do before you kill, I thought. You have to create an it, where none was before.” The husband was creating a less personal situation for the family, by de-humanizing the cat.

Later on in the book we see this same thing happen, only with one of the handmaids, Ofglen. Ofglen kills herself and there is a new Ofglen that replaces her. When Offred asks if Ofglen has been transferred, the new Ofglen replies saying, “I am Ofglen.” The narrator then goes on to talk about how she never did know Ofglen’s real name. “That is how you can get lost, in a sea of names. It wouldn’t be easy to find her now.” Because we are never revealed Ofglen’s real name, it’s as if she does not exist.

This society has it down to a science. Take away their name, and it becomes a lot easier to do awful things and feel better about themselves. We do not only see it here, but in everything that is done. The Commanders treat the Handmaid’s like sex slaves without guilt because they don’t know their real names, their personal identity. To them they are someone’s property, the property of Fred or Glen. They might as well just call them “Cat.”

So next time you are naming something, remember how important a name can be, because without one, you can just become another “missing person” (p. 113). 

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGVwPA4SPyFfQr5uZtpywxswwpklu0H0eDIa6KfcTb3OAeS71Tis5mSfu_n0FG5ZtgVMuT3SoO-PIE9BXwFAv4fgZC8bRsGWYMAN7XSX0ChSfEr4r1FUuK673vWuA1j8YLk-KeeRYK5Hdo/s400/cat-breakfast_at_tiffanys_4txxwa.gif&imgrefurl=http://imfashiongeek.blogspot.com/2010/12/catcatcat-and-cat.html&usg=__AbL6E208AURZLKmlIxVDS_leF2A=&h=225&w=300&sz=56&hl=en&start=0&sig2=3GXO-Kr5UzsE9T8NrB3XCQ&zoom=1&tbnid=-6R11uojqlrPCM:&tbnh=160&tbnw=213&ei=CL50TbH7LYnChAe91OE0&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbreakfast%2Bat%2Btiffanys%2Bwith%2Bcat%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dsafari%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Den%26biw%3D1249%26bih%3D664%26tbs%3Disch:10%2C79&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=380&vpy=53&dur=1029&hovh=180&hovw=240&tx=50&ty=134&oei=CL50TbH7LYnChAe91OE0&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0&biw=1249&bih=664

Sanity II (5)

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred has a constant desire to keep her sanity. In her mind this is the only way of survival.

“I know where I am, and who, and what day it is. These are tests and I am sane. Sanity is a valuable possession; I hoard it the way people once hoarded money. I save it, so I will have enough when the time comes.”

As I mentioned in my previous post, I felt as if the society, unknowingly, helps her keep her sanity by placing a cushion with the word “FAITH” in all capital letters on it in her room. But Offred has her own tools to help her keep her sanity. One of the tools she uses most often is making distinctions about valid objects. “The red of the smile is the same as the red of the tulips in Serena Joys garden.” She demonstrates this on page 43 when she is observing the dead bodies hanging in white. She takes her time to pick apart details and make connections, but she knows herself there is no connection. This paragraph seems quite pointless to us, but this is how she goes through her daily life without completely giving herself over to this new society.

We see her again making distinctions between two different things on page 120. When she receives her egg she then makes a distinction between the egg and the moon. At a time where most people would just sit and eat their meal, she talks about how Good must look like an egg. And how the life of an egg is on the inside and how there must be life inside the moon. She then goes to talk about how in reduced circumstances there is a desire to live, which then attaches itself to strange objects. She goes on about how she would like to own a pet.

The mind is a very powerful thing. I think that we underestimate the ability it has to help keep our sanity. At the same time, our mind can also cause us to go insane. But Offred uses her mind to its full potential, in hope that by doing these tests and making distinctions between objects, when the time comes she will not have lost herself. I think that Offred, through all of this, realizes that her mind is her best friend in this isolated society. 

Sanity I (4)

There is something I came across in the first reading of The Handmaid’s Tale that has been on my mind ever sense. From our reading so far we get the idea that Offred is a very optimistic women that has to use her mind to keep her sane. If she gives herself over to the new society there is no going back, and if she goes against the new society then she fears what might happen. To keep herself intact with both lives, she often recalls things about her loved ones and details about what she thinks happened to them. There is an entire section in eighteen about what she thinks happened to her lover Luke. She assumes the best and the worst all at once. She even says on page 116,

“The things I believe can’t all be true, though one of them must be. But I believe in all of them, all three versions of Luke, at one and the same time. This contradictory way of believing seems to me right now, the only way I can believe anything. Whatever the truth is, I will be ready for it.”

But alone her mind cannot keep her sane. I have found that through out her daily journey she receives words of optimism. I first noticed this when she was in her room.

“I go to the window and sit on the window seat, which is too narrow for comfort. There’s a hard little cushion on it, with a petit-point cover: FAITH, in square print, surrounded by a wreath of lilies.”

I found it strange that in a society that forbids reading, they leave a word like FAITH for women to read. As if it is a gift from God saying to have faith in Him and all will be all right.

The next place that I noticed a word like this come up in the story was on page 116. This is just after she has come up with all of the scenarios about Luke and she says, “One of the gravestones in the cemetery near the earliest church has an anchor on it and an hourglass, and the words: In Hope.”

This might be a bit of a long shot, but I feel like these words that are left for her viewing subconsciously lift Offred’s spirits and keep her optimism strong. 

The Freedom to Choose (3)

Have you ever thought about a life without freedom? I am sure we all have once or twice, but we never imagine it happening to us. We are often told not to take things for granted, but have you ever really thought deeply about it? In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood the women have lost every ounce of their freedom. All they are aloud to do on their own without supervision is breath. They have become “two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices”, says the narrator on page 146.

The only word that comes to my mind currently is, “shocking”. I am shocked that these women are turned into breeders and sexual intercourse has turned into something that is only seen for its main purpose. That they are no longer given the freedom to chose what they would like to wear on any given day or where they would like to walk or sit. They can’t even take a bath when they want to.

This is when I actually began to realize how important it was not to take things for granted. In the areas where we live we are given the freedom to do almost anything. I can come home any day and sit down to watch my favorite show, or read my favorite book without being punished. These women live in fear or doing something wrong and becoming an “unwomen”. This is a rather short entry but this has been on my mind since I read the first few chapters. This book and many other’s, like Fahrenheit 451 teach you to treasure the simplest things like reading and writing. 

Sweat (2)

After our class discussion last week in Women’s Literature, I realized how much I actually enjoyed the short story “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston. Not that I did not enjoy it the first time I read it, but while going through and discussing different things about the story, it brought many things to my attention that I found quite interesting.

Sweat was not easy to read. The language was difficult because it was written as one might really talk in the Deep South a long time ago. For example instead of writing “I don’t care if you ever finish”, the narrator would write “Ah don’t keer if you never git through.” I often found myself reading it aloud to figure out what the characters were saying. But apart from the hard to read dialect, Sweat was full of really interesting spiritual references and also the concept of “karma”. 

The main feminine character, Delia, is not your average woman. She is strong and straightforward. I think that no one would want to be in the situation that she is in, but because of how strong she was and the way she reacts to her situation makes her admirable. Her husband physically and mentally abuses her soon after their marriage for 15 years, and it never stops. But even though sometimes she takes the beatings, she never gives up. I know for a fact that if I were in that position, I would have hit the ground running after the first beating. But she knew that her husband would get what he deserves. She even said after her husband and her had had a fight that, “Sykes, like everybody else, is gointer reap his sowing.” And until this day would come she would stand firm, and because she did so, she is rewarded and he is punished at the end of the story.

Another thing that I found very intriguing about this story was the many references to parts in the bible. Growing up in a Christian home, I picked up on these references quite quickly. Religion seems to be a big part of this short story. Going to church on Sundays and sacrament are mentioned countless times. Her husband even gets angry with her for cleaning when she mentions she had just “taken sacrament at the church house” but had come home and returned working. He even calls a hypocrite for doing so. This is because Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. But what really caught my attention was the description in the last paragraph of the story.

“She could scarcely reach the Cinaberry tree, where she waited in the growing heat while inside she knew the cold river was creeping up and up to extinguish the eye which must know by now that she knew.”

This reference to a river rising is suppose to illustrate justice. The Nile River in the bible represents purity and this is the river of purity “extinguishing” the eye (her husband). I just thought this was such a great way to describe her husband getting what he deserved. Anyone could have just said that her husband died because he did her wrong. Another obvious biblical reference is the issue of the snake. Serpents in the bible represent the devil, and when he brings the snake to the house, the snake ends up being what kills him.

I think that Sweat just goes to show all of us that what goes around comes around. ;)

The End of Men (1)

Since birth we have always been told to "push boundaries and break stereotypes." Women have had to work hard to get freedom and have a say. And once they got it, they kept pushing. They are constantly breaking stereotypes while men are falling behind. My question is, why are men so afraid to attempt things that might make them seem "feminine," when women have no fear of working in a "manly" position. If, like it says on page 6, that the list of growing jobs is heavy on nurturing professions, then why are men so afraid to take advantage of that?

Another thing that frustrated me while reading this article is the way that Rosin made women look as if they were incapable of loving a spouse and having a family, while being successful in the workforce. "Marriages fall apart or never happen at all, and children are raised with no fathers, (11)". Who’s to say that women cannot be successful and raise a family at the same time? Women have always been good at multitasking, why ignore that now? Also, on page 11 when she says, "The women don't want them as husbands, and they have no steady income to provide. So what do they have?" Well, call me old fashion but I like to believe that a husband has love to offer. What happen to the obsession with romance and wanting to spend the rest of your life with someone that you love? She makes it seem like all that is important is if the man has a steady enough income to provide. Not that being able to provide for a family is not important, but love to me is pretty high up there in importance. 

Although it seems like this article frustrated me more than entertained me, I can honestly say that I enjoyed reading it. What woman wouldn't want to read an article about how far they have come and that they have broken the stereotypes from many many years ago? Women now feel like they can do whatever they want, which they can. But in my opinion there is a happy medium. Any woman can be successful, have a family and still be capable of love Becoming a successful businesswoman does not dehumanize them.