not the ending i was expecting

I have finished reading The Handmaid’s Tale this past week and I have to say I’m a bit unhappy with the ending. Towards the end of the book, a new Ofglen was introduced. I thought she was incredibly weird compared to the previous Ofglen. When I found out that Ofglen had hanged herself, I was sad that she caused her own death. I’m pretty sure I would’ve been sadder if she was murdered. Either way, Ofglen’s death was not something I anticipated. In the last chapter of the book, Offred was taken away into a van by the Eyes. Before being taken away, Nick told Offred that the two men were actually with Mayday, but Offred found that difficult to believe because the Eyes surely would know about Mayday. If I was in Offred’s position, I would’ve been hesitant as well just like her. However, I would not have gotten into the van. The book ends with Historical Notes on The Handmaid’s Tale. Here we find out that the Republic of Gilead no longer exists and the fate of Offred was never discovered. I thought this ending was terrible because it was like a cliffhanger. I’m pretty sure everybody who has read this book was very into it towards the end, but became upset after the sudden ending. Offred’s fate after going into the van should’ve been clarified.

thinking about history

Chapter 38 of The Handmaid’s Tale talked about Moira’s attempted escape. She would move from one house to another with only the previous people helping her know where she is headed and nothing else. This path to freedom is called the Underground Femaleroad. As soon as I read those words I immediately thought of the Underground Railroad. The Underground Femaleroad parallels the Underground Railroad in that they both attempt to free “slaves” from their current positions by guiding them up north. This movement shows that there are people in the book who despise what some women have to go through, and I really favor that aspect. Sadly, but obviously, Moira was unsuccessful in her attempted escape as she was captured while trying to board a boat. What I would like to know is exactly how Moira’s escape attempt was leaked. Even she doesn’t know because she has to speculate about how the Eyes surrounded the area. After learning that Moira’s attempted escape failed, it made me wonder about how many other women have tried to escape. Not only that, but how many were successful? Or unsuccessful?

new technique doesnt work for me

In class today we did this new technique where we read out loud and then just interrupt ourselves with our thoughts. The process seems like a big hassle; it’s time-consuming as we interrupt ourselves and it’s also difficult to maintain my place on the page as I let my thoughts wander. Although this may be an effective reading technique for some people, it does not work for me. As I continue to read The Handmaid’s Tale, it seems that Offred and the Commander are quite enjoying their meetings together. The Commander is beginning to drink and the two continue to play Scrabble. Sometimes, the Commander even drinks as he plays, which causes him to get a little silly. If I was Offred in that certain situation, I would be a little hesitant in the presence of the Commander. Being under the influence of alcohol, some words or actions may be expressed that can possibly ill-affect Offred, such as being struck as the Commander fails to win at Scrabble.

this is starting to become tedious

In the beginning of chapter 24, Offred reveals that her name is Offred now, which means she used to go by another name. However, her former name isn’t revealed and she has to forget secret name and past life. No matter what experiences she may have gone or will go through, I do not believe she will ever be able to forget about her past. Such memories are encoded and stored within the mind for the rest someone’s life. Offred also reveals that she is thirty-three years old with brown hair. Given that description, it confirmed my belief that she is a young and pretty woman. In chapter 25, an arrangement is made where Offred visits the Commander two or three nights a week. In this society, a handmaid is only supposed to be with a Commander once a month as an attempt to become pregnant. However, by visiting multiple times a week, it seems that interaction between the Commander and handmaid are no longer just strictly business. To me, the continuous interaction means that the two are meeting more for pleasure now. The only problem with this is how the society views handmaids. Handmaids are only there for reproduction and Commanders should have pleasure with their wife instead of the handmaid. This “norm” of society seems to be questioned by this certain situation and it makes me curious to know what might happen if it was revealed.

it's just gotten very strange

I have recently read chapters 21-23 of The Handmaid’s Tale and chapter 21 was mostly about a woman, Janine, giving birth to a baby girl. However, although Janine is the mother of the child, it is the wife of the Commander who keeps the child. I see that as splitting apart the bond between a mother and her child. It should be the birth mother’s decision as to what happens to the baby. To make matters worse, Janine doesn’t get to name the baby; it’s the Commander’s wife who names the baby instead, Angela. I view that as taking two things from a mother who will never get them back: the naming of the baby and the bond between the two. That should never happen in any society. Of the three chapters that I recently read, I found chapter 23 the most disturbing. The Commander invites the narrator, Offred, to play Scrabble with him. The first thoughts that came to my mind were “how does he know whether she can read or not?” and “should Offred play and reveal she can read or act like she can’t?” I thought she would play dumb, but I found out I was wrong as I continued to read. After Offred revealed that she can read, I was unsure how the Commander would react. His response just utterly caught me by surprise; he told Offred he wanted her to kiss him. That whole situation was completely awkward, and it made the Commander seem like a slave master who just does whatever he wants.

here we go again

In class we are reading another book. This one is called The Handmaid’s Tale. I was not looking forward to it at all after reading such a long book in The Left Hand of Darkness. Fortunately, after reading the beginning of The Handmaid’s Tale, it was much easier to read and understand compared to The Left Hand of Darkness. I found myself somewhat interested, even though it was pretty confusing at first. Initially, after reading the back of the book and some attention-grabbing chapters, I wondered about how this society came about. As we were discussing some questions in groups in class today, I was told that there had been some sort of nuclear war in this story. However, I still do not know how the nuclear war even occurred. Also, after reading how the narrator, Offred, talks about her husband and child, I assumed that they were killed during the nuclear war and she now misses and reminiscences about them a whole lot. As for the part where handmaids have sex with the commander, it seems unreal that the women would allow that to happen to them. Although Offred mentioned that she had a choice in the matter and she chose to be with the commander, I don’t believe that was a good choice at all. Before Offred mentioned that was what she chose, it would have been nice to know what her other choices were.

a whole new story

When I first read the story, “When It Changed,” I initially thought that the main character was a male. In the first sentence of the second paragraph, it said “Katy and I have three children between us” and that made me think of a husband. However, it wasn’t until later on that I found out that the men died out generations ago that I realized that the main character was a female. After the men died out, it made me wonder about how the women reproduced and have children. Unless it was something really bizarre, like in Left Hand of Darkness, I didn’t quite understand how reproduction was possible. Also, another interesting fact that I noticed was that the women were really short, midgets by our standards. For them, one meter was already extremely tall. That put into perspective just how short the rest of the population must be; the average height may have only been around 0.75 meter. Later on in the story, Katy tried to shoot one of the men who came to Whileaway. Afterwards, she was shaking and said that she never touches a rifle because she knew she’d kill someone. I believe that the author, Joanna Russ, was trying to show that even in a society without men, destructive human traits still exist. In this case, Russ showed that women are also capable of killing others.

such an abrupt ending

We have just finished reading The Left Hand of Darkness today and I have to say that the ending of the book was the part that made the most sense. Throughout this book the language was a little unusual and hard to understand. Unlike the other chapters, the last couple of chapters were very straight forward and the language was easy to understand. At the end of chapter 19, Homecoming, Estraven is sadly shot to death as he headed down the mountain. As Genly is holding Estraven right before his death, Genly reveals that he loves Estraven, although not verbally. Personally, I did not expect Genly to feel that way towards Estraven. I thought the two would just be very good friends. Also, I believe that Genly saw Estraven as a man, even though he was androgynous, which is what made Genly’s love a bit surprising to me. In chapter 20, A Fool’s Errand, Genly’s ship lands and a woman steps out. The woman didn’t even recognize Genly after all this time. She was also the first woman that he has seen in three years, so I can understand the awkwardness of the situation. I believe that Genly’s view of men and women will never be the same again after spending three years on Gethen and with its androgynous inhabitants.

everlasting darkness

In chapter 15, To The Ice, Genly mentions how the first Envoy to a planet always comes alone; if two came, it would be like an invasion. I completely agree with this reasoning. If a planet has never had an alien from another planet come by, the inhabitants may be weary of having one come over, but likely will not be too afraid. However, if two or more aliens show up at once, the inhabitants may become afraid and fear a possible invasion. If a group of aliens were to ever come to earth, chances are the scientists and science fiction fanatics will welcome the aliens and try to learn as much as possible about them. However, most humans will be afraid of the aliens and won’t even bother with trying to give them a chance. In chapter 17, An Orgota Creation Myth, it tells a myth about how Orgota was created. In it, when the world was first created, it was all pure and innocent and peaceful. However, when the humans were born, darkness was introduced to this new world through death. In the end of the chapter, it said “‘Why are my sons followed by darkness?’ His kemmering said, ‘Because they were born in the house of flesh, therefore death follows at their heels.’” I believe that this quote is trying to say that humans will always bring darkness into the world. By darkness, I mean characteristics such as greed, lust, and dishonesty. Even without such characteristics existing in the world, humans would still bring darkness into the world through death. No matter what happens, all humans will eventually die. Even natural deaths will sadness to the world.

false arrest

In chapter 12, On Time and Darkness, the first sentence is “Meshe is the Center of Time.” According to the chapter, it seems to me that Meshe is some kind of powerful being that exists outside of time and space and looks over everything. That may be how he can possibly see through time. However, because a man from Sheney came and spoke to him, it seems unlikely that Meshe exists outside of time and space. In the beginning of chapter 13, Down on the Farm, Genly Ai was arrested and I wasn’t quite sure why. At first, I thought I just missed the reason, so I reread the section. However, it didn’t say why, so I assume that maybe it’s because Genly is starting to become a bit of a suspicious figure. Not only was Genly arrested, he and a group of people were locked naked in the back of a truck. Inside the truck, a man died in Genly’s presence, and Genly wore his blood as “clothes.” Personally, I am disgusted at the thought of a body covered in blood. I cannot stand the thought of someone covered in someone else’s blood; excessive blood and bodily injuries are two things that can really disturb me. Also, the jail that Genly was brought to reminded me a bit of concentration camps. In class earlier today, Vincent mentioned how the jail made of him think of communist Russia. In a way, I sort of agree with that perspective as well. However, the thing about chapter 13 that bothered me the most was Genly being arrested for some reason that I don’t understand and having to go through what he did, particularly the man dying in his presence.

sex & treason, not in a way someone would expect

Chapter 7 of The Left Hand of Darkness was definitely an interesting chapter, one that really caught my attention. The chapter was called The Question of Sex. It talked about how the Gethenian sexual physiology could have possibly come about. According to the book, it was an experiment gone wrong and then abandoned. This is something that I would expect to be involved in a science fiction book, experiments that most humans would find either fascinating or disturbing. Personally, I would be one of the disturbed people. The experiment seems like something a mad scientist would do. Also, in this chapter, the Gethenian sex cycle and “laws” regarding sex were explained. For a while, I was unclear what “kemmering” meant. According to the sex cycle, individuals who enter kemmer are “sexually active” and are either male or female. This stage of the cycle only lasts about a couple of days. The “laws” of kemmer were also explained. “Incest is permitted, with various restrictions.” I found that to be very repulsing. If a child is born through incest, then there’s a possibility of genetic abnormalities. However, I’m not sure if this applies to Gethenians. Maybe there’s no such thing as genetic abnormalities and that’s why incest is permitted. In chapter 9, Estraven the Traitor, Therem was called Estraven the Traitor because he gave up half of the land that was disputed over to the other domain. Land was viewed as a sign of power. Although Therem gave up land and “power,” he did bring peace between the two domains. For that, I do not believe Therem should have been called Estraven the Traitor. Nowadays, that would most likely be viewed as a peace treaty instead of an act of treason.

what a strange beginning

The book I am currently reading is The Left Hand of Darkness. I find this book to be pretty strange because I usually don’t read books about aliens, other worlds, and a lot of made-up words. Not only am I unfamiliar with this genre, I also found this book hard to understand. The first chapter of the book, the one about the parade, was hard to understand because of the language and exotic words to start off with. However, the next chapter, the place in the blizzard, was much easier to understand. A word that stood out and is repeatedly used later on is “kemmering.” At first, in the context of the chapter, I thought that word meant an attraction, a relationship, possibly sexual implications. Also, because “kemmering” was used involving brothers, a thought that came to my mind was incest, and I was repulsed. However, as I continued to read this book, later chapters made it clear what “kemmering” was; the last couple of days where you’re either male or female. I no longer have a bad connotation of that word now that I know what it means in the book’s context. In chapter four, the nineteenth day, foretelling was introduced, the ability to tell the future. Initially, my first thought about telling the future was Bead Women. In class, we recently read Bead Women, a story about women telling the future through beads and patterns. However, I found it strange how the first question asked to be answered was “on what day shall I die?” Personally, I would not want to know when I am going to die or any other information relating to that topic. Death is a sketchy topic to me that I am not comfortable talking about. Also, I thought the last question asked at the end of the chapter was a little weird. Instead of asking when someone is going to die, the question was “how long would the person live?” To me, that seems like the same question is being asked, only phrased differently.