Nicole's Journals

mood: satisfied

music: Do the Panic

             I’m saying she escaped. Offred wasn’t the most wise or bright one in the bunch, but she did make good friends. The ending in The Handmaid’s Tale is one of invoking thought and letting the reader decide the protagonist’s fate. Since most of the novels and short stories we have read in this class do not end on a happy note, I’m making this one end with some hope. By the end of this book I’m very certain this is set in the US, because the Constitution was suspended, the Congress was massacred, and a lot of things from the previous time have US emblems printed on them.   

The historical notes did give some more to the story and gave some information that Offred could not know in her position. I had not read that portion of the book on my first read through. It answers some questions about how they took over and tells us that there was, indeed, a secret society trying to help the women. This speech was held in the future implying the Gilead times were short lived and women have been reinstated with the freedoms that were taken from them.

The Handmaid’s Tale was not the most interesting book I’ve ever read. I think it is due to the fact that I cannot see the US going in that direction. This book seemed ridiculous to me. Even the men would not want this type of world. I took this as a warning and Atwood giving her thoughts on the feminism going too far. This might have even been deliberately absurd to point out the flaws in this society.

mood: irritated

There are times when reading The Handmaid’s Tale that I like it and other times when I want to throw it across the room. How could women let themselves get into this situation? It boggles my mind! These are women of the twentieth century. They are sex slaves to the men and have no control over their body or even their mind. No Handmaid is allowed to read and all of them have been brainwashed to like the situation they are in. Women are valued for their ovaries. I don’t think I could even call this world patriarchy at its prime. This is such a sick and twisted world, which even the men are unhappy (or discontent I should say). These men are not allowed to look or touch the Handmaids. There is a little bit of hope: women like Moira.

            Moira is Offred’s hope. It is because of Moira that I like this book. She is a strong woman who the audience can connect with. She acts out and is strong. She is the kind of woman Offred wants to be, but knows she is not that strong. Yet, Offred is willing to risk her life and her daughter’s to try and escape the horror that has befallen the society she lives in. All of the Handmaids do not like the way they are treated, or at least most of them don’t. I’m not sure about anyone else, but those Aunts are creepy and need to be hit.

mood: energetic

          The ending of the movie Brazil was insane. Was this real or was he dreaming? That was to be expected from Terry Gilliam, the animator all for Monty Python creations. I would have liked to see a happy ending, or as happy as an ending can be in one of these stories. As soon as the house was sitting all peaceful in the countryside I knew there was going to be some sort of happenings. For a second I was waiting for the house to blow up, since in that society a bomb going off is a very common attraction.

            Having the happy ending is just what the public wants to see. Keeping the ending how it is, even with creepy baby faces and melting corpse, should give the masses something they don’t want to see and get them thinking. Even though not appeasing the people is probably the reason this movie never took off or did very well at the box office. People are living in la-la land and do not want some movie to ruin their day by bringing them to reality. Most movie-goers pay the nine dollars to escape reality not face it. By ending the movie on a depressed note I think it gives hope for the people watching it. It will get them to scrutinize their own government, seeing the good and the places where some fixing needs to be done.

            Gilliam had something in mind when he directed this film and changing it would its meaning. The end was a wrap up of the movie. It brought all dreams, awkward moments, and people Sam met throughout the movie.   

location: Bed

mood: relieved

music: None :(

              The best critical approach for my paper (Julia is in on the conspiracy to trap Winston) would be the Feminist criticism. I could go into how women are the corruptors of men and that having Julia be the key part of the trap would be promoting patriarchy. She used her body to seduce Winston for her part. This is a perfect picture of how women are thought of in a patriarchal world. They are the Playmate, use them then dump them. How else is Julia pictured in 1984 that is stereotypical? Can this be interpreted as a way of marginalizing women and encouraging exploitation of women’s intelligence? To be a Thought Police you must be intelligent, so Julia having to use her body, rather than her brainpower and strength of mind, is demeaning to womankind and shows what Orwell (and society) believes women capable of.   

            A Reader-Response criticism could be used for my topic. Julia’s involvement in the scheme is not outright stated in the text and it is the reader’s choice whether to believe Julia was really in love with Winston or she was just as manipulative as Mr.Charrington. The defense of Julia by another person would be useful in a rebuttal for my topic. I could not only focus on Julia’s motivation to betray Winston, but my own reasons for believing her to do the things she does. Also, I would like to get other’s opinions on her actions and why they have chosen that side of the argument. I have already searched for journals or papers regarding this subject and would like to find more.   

mood: hopeful

                    The more I read Brave New World the more bored I get with it. The book does not have many twists and turns. Most books have ups and downs. Brave New World is flat lining. There are no cliff hangers or a question waiting to be answered at the end of the book. Huxley gives up all the information on this society early in the book. There is no mystery to be found. Although, (we talked about this in our group) that could be what Huxley was going for. The society is very open and nothing is kept secret. Everyone knows who is sleeping with whom. That might be the reason Huxley wrote the way he did.

mood: dorky

music: Disney

           In the world of We math is the key idea. Everything must have logic behind it and be rational. I have always excelled in math and love it. It all makes sense. There is one answer and if you don’t get it then that’s that. Maybe that is what is so appealing to me in this book. The whole world is centered around these traits. Something that is asymmetrical or irrational confuses these people. Like the modern art of today. Why would someone pay thousands of dollars for something they could have done themselves or looks like a pile of trash? I know it is about what the person takes from the painting or work of art, but it still floors me. When D describes something in mathematical terms I get it. Most of it is from calculus. The square root of negative one is actually fun to manipulate and work with. There are even formulas for i’s that make them easy to work with.  

mood: curious

music: Respect

So, I have just finished reading 1984 for the third time. What was surprising was the fact that I enjoyed it more than the first two times reading it (not a common theme in my reading history). My teacher who made us read this book last time asked us for our opinion on a subject: Is Julia in on the trap for Winston? When I read 1984 again I found some points to support and not to support Julia’s involvement.

                I would like to think that Julia was not in on the plot, that she really did love Winston. She would tell Winston things in her past and didn’t seem to be hiding anything. Her fear in giving him the note was real enough and her surprise when the Thought Police came for them was plausible. She had affairs before and lived to tell the tale. Then at the end when Winston and Julia talk she has scars and looks horrible.

As most of know Julia was the one to point out the “rat” and the “bugs” in the room. No one knows if there really was a rat under that painting. That could have been Julia trying to find a weakness in Winston (so O’Brian could use it later in room 101). As we know she is the one he confides in and the “bugs” behind the painting overhear everything. If she was a Thought Police she could have easily lied to Winston and explains her military like manor when she was explaining the route Winston was to take.

There is so much more. I really would like to know your opinions because I think this is the topic I’m going to write about for the paper at the end of this class.

mood: mellow

            “Down in the street little eddies of wind were whirling dust and torn paper into spirals, and though the sun was shining and the sky a harsh blue, there seemed to be no color in anything except the posters that were plastered everywhere.” (2)

“The voice came from an oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall.” (2)

            “Outside, even through the shut window pane, the world looked cold.” (2)

            The imagery that Orwell uses in 1984 for life in the city is vivid yet it has no color. The second and third quotes are examples of what the first is commenting on. Nothing is bright (unless it is a harsh bright) or pretty. The buildings they live in are old, disgusting, and poorly lit. No wonder these people aren’t happy they have nothing to make their day a little better just by looking at it, which is what Big Brother is trying to do. He wants all their joy to come from the only source of color and eye-catcher: the poster where his face is plastered.

mood: pleased

“He walked on. The bomb had demolished a group of houses two hundred meters up the street… When he got up to it he saw that it was a human hand severed at the wrist. Apart from the bloody stump, the hand was so completely whitened as to resemble a plaster cast.

            “He kicked the thing into the gutter, and then, to avoid the crowd, turned down a side street to the right. Within three of four minutes he was out of the area which the bomb had affected, and the sordid swarming life of the streets was going on as though nothing had happened.” (84)

            In this scene Winston is thinking about how the Proles are the answer to revolution yet he will kick a piece of them into the gutter like it is nothing but a piece of plaster. He is all for revolution and a change, but he has so much to change in himself. Winston has been so well desensitized by the Party already it makes you think if there is any hope for anyone.