1. The Handmaid's Tale; Margaret Atwood; Published in 1985; 277 pages.
2. I chose The Handmaid's Tale because, it had great recommendations and I looked up a few reviews and the plot summary and it caught my interest. I believe reading this novel could benefit my knowledge and understanding of greater aspects in society, as well as with other topics discussed in class. I found themes of power, feminism, sexuality and ones place in society intriguing.
3. From what I have read so far, the book is a bit bland and emotionless. It starts out with a lot of detached detail about her surroundings and it doesn't really focus a lot on the information about whom she is or where she falls in the story yet. I find that the beginning of the novel drags on with the impassive aspects of her daily routine but I haven't read far enough for it to really liven up to me.
4. I have not gotten very far in my novel yet, I just received it, and have not had very much time to read it. I have gone through the first few chapters (up to about chapter 5). I read it at night and in my MSIP if I have time.
5. So far in the novel, a woman has described how her and a bunch of other women slept in what had once been a gymnasium. She goes into detail about how the gym looks, and smells. The women take walks around the football feild - which is fenced in by barbed wire, twice daily. While out on their walks they are watched over by gaurds called angels. At night, since the woman are not allowed to talk they have learnt how to lip-read and they exchange names. The storyline changes to the present and she is now in a room with only a chair, a table, a lamp, a single bed, two white curtains, a framed picture with no glass, and a window. The window opens only part way and the doors do not lock or shut all the way. The narrator is a handmaid, and all handmaid's dress in red, excluding the white wings that frame their faces. There are servants called "Marthas" who wear only green
and the commanders wives all dress in blue. She sometimes listens in on Rita and Cora's (Marthas) conversations because she cannot form a relationship with them. She then collects tokens from Rita to go shopping. While she is leaving she rekindles the memory of the first time she met the commanders wife. She had told her to keep out of sight and that the commander was her husband forever and permanently. At that moment she recognizes who the commanders wife really is - Serena Joy, a singer from the sunday morning gospel program. As she walks out she sees a Gaurdian who winks at her, she ignores it because she fears he may be an eye (someone testing her). she then waits for another handmaid - Ofglen, at the corner because handmaids must travel in pairs. They meet and exchange conversation, at the checkpoint they are greeted by two young Gaurdians. The younger Gaurdians are usually the more dangerous, one shot a martha because he taught she was a man in disguise with a bomb. Leaving the gaurds at gate she subtley teases them with her walk. She thinks about how they must be craving sex because of the fact that they cannot masturbate, marry without permission, and porn magazines and movies are forbidden. The gaurdians hope to one day become angels and get the privalige to marry eventually get a handmaid of their own. While they wait in line, she recalls the days when the Republic of Gilead was not protected and the women were not to open the door to strangers and ingnore the comments from men on the street; now touches or talks to the women. The stores in the town are marked by pictures of food, the lettered signs are to tempting. A pregnant handmaid walked in the store and roared up excitment, it's expected that she is only out to show off her pregnancy. She then thinks of her husband and their daughter and their before life. After they finished shopping they started to walk back when they encountered a group of Japense tourists and their interpreter who asks the handmaid's for a picture. In suspiscion of being an Eye, they decline and stare in awe at how the women are dressed. The interpreter then asks if they are happy, she replies yes, very happy.
6. Some of the themes being shown so far are feminism, power, and sextuality. For the theme of power i believe Margaret Atwood is trying to say that there is a great presence of power and munipluation within the population. There is a higher power controlling everything. In the theme of feminism, it is clearly a feminist society - the women are greatly respected. Especially in comparison to the way the narrator compares how the Repbulic of Gilead is now and how it used to be. Sex and sexuality seems to be contained and controlled by the government, there is no sexual clothing aloud, no pornographic films or magazines. It feels as though they are trying to separate sex from sexuality.
7. I have not yet found any secondary sources on this book.
8."There is more than one kind of freedom...Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don't underrate it." - Chapter 5, page 24.
This passage from The Handmaid's Tale spoke to me becuase, it made me think. Although, they are in a time of oppression and restriction they are proctected and given a right more so than they think. Aunt Lydia says "Now you are given freedom from. Don't underrate it." this statement made me think about how even when you feel as though you have had your rights taken away from you, you have to look at the bright side because it could be worse. It makes me think of a lot about the third world countries that are like this, where they are resrticted by their government and they have to just go with it. You could have the freedom to do something or you could have the freedom from something but you could think of it as the freedom from, being harmed or violated in the sense of this novel.
