The Handmaid's Tale Topic Proposal

image source: http://www.find-dvd.co.uk/dvd/The-Handmaid-s-Tale/1090190.htm

My guiding question for my research essay is why were the women treated in the manner in which they were?  Why were they robbed from their freedom and subject to be child bearers and treated as chattel?  I think what confuses me the most about the text is to find out when did this begin and why did the government do this to its people.  As I do further research on mind control I will obtain knowledge on what methods were used.  I have an idea of some of the techniques used to brainwash people especially women.  But I would like have additional knowledge on the reasons why the government began to do this to their people.  Offred explains that she remembers being able to work, read and dress in whatever she wanted.  My curiosity is to find out when did that stop and why?  The topic that I plan to research is going to be about the methods of totalitarian thought control and how this was used on the people of  The Handmaid's Tale.

I chose this because I feel that freedom is something that we all take for granted or we just feel that it's a given.  However, in many countries this is not the case and in this day and age the thought just baffles me.  This is what happens in the Republic of Gilead where the people's freedom is abruptly taken away from them without any regards or consideration.  I don't think this is correct and this is the reason why my interest was geared towards totalitarian control and the methods used on the people.  As I do further research on the methods of brain control I will understand why the people of the Republic of Gilead were controlled in that manner.

Informational site:  http://www.luminarium.org/contemporary/atwood/handmaid.htm

Cover Letter

25 March 2011

This class started out very interesting and perplexing.  Learning how to do a video to introduce myself to the class was uncomfortable but I managed to do it.  Also learning literary analysis has been a challenge but I think that so far I have been okay, granted there have been some mistakes that I have made because this is something that I had not done in the past but slowly I have been able to do the my work.  I feel that with practice I can get better at this.

My first paper was to read a poem and then write about what the writer was trying to convey to the reader. Writing a literary analysis paper was very different from anything else that I have written in the past.  Analyzing the poem then having to write about only a few stanzas and keep my focus on that proved more challenging that what I had expected.  I would then write about what the writer meant or what he was trying to deliver as he was writing the poem.  I had a difficult time trying to understand the process but after many rough drafts, multiple revisions and with the help of the tutor I was able to complete the essay.  I was pleased with the results because this type of work was out of my comfort zone and very foreign to me, but the outcome was very pleasing.  On the other paper I had to read certain chapters of Tim O’Brien’s book The Things They Carried, then choose one of his stories and write about it.  This was difficult to write about because of the content of the book.  The story that stuck out the most to me was “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong,” this particular chapter made me think a lot about how much soldiers witness and the trauma that they incur from what they see.  When they are discharged from their duties they have to go back to their old hometown and make believe that what they witnessed stays there and that once back home they continue where they left off, well unfortunately we are all human and not computers where we can reboot our mind when it begins to overload.  Soldiers cannot erase their memory and make believe that they have not gone through much.  I felt really bad and I would be lying if I would say that it did not have any effect on me because it did.

I would like to say that the biggest challenge for me this semester was writing about literary analysis. It was something that was unfamiliar and therefore, it took me longer to comprehend what was required for that paper.  I was very pleased with the results and I learned about the complexity of literary analysis.

My goal this semester is to be a better writer.  Although I will not be majoring in English or anything that has to do with writing I feel that obtaining further knowledge of writing helps me as I work towards my nursing degree.

Sean Huze "The Sand Storm"

Image source:  knowwar.com

My initial reaction to Sean Huze’s play was very mixed because the content of it was so real and cruel at the same time.  As I began reading the play I thought that this would be about soldiers telling the viewer their stories but the further I got into the play I realized that the play was written in a form in which the reader can be really engaged and sort of relive what the soldier lived.  I just couldn’t believe what the soldiers go through as they are fighting for the freedom of others.  I can only wonder what they go through and feel compassion for them but as they are telling us what they are going through one cannot help but to wonder how they are living there.  In the first act Sargent Diamond is mentions how his kills an Iraqi man and how he didn’t realized what he was doing until someone else snapped him out of the trance in he goes on to say:

I kicked and stomped on the first man, but by the time my gunney stopped me, my right boot and trouser leg were soiled with blood and sand that mixed together into a gruesome paste.  I was so zoned out that I didn’t realized that the private, following my lead, unleashed his own fury on the other fallen man.  I completely lost control of the situation and kicked the shit out of this man for no justifiable reason.

And he was right there was no reason to treat this man the way he did, but I also wonder in what state of mind was this soldier to have harmed this man the way he did.  In this scene Sargent Diamond explains that they were trying to search a group of Iraqi’s but because of a language barrier they were not compliant and in a moment of rage and frustration the Sargent unleashed his fury and harmed this man so bad.  I understand that the U.S. is there to help the people in Iraq but to what extent.  Innocent people are getting hurt and thousands of lives are being taken due to this war.  Many soldiers are returning back home but with a totally different outlook of life.  They live with the images that are instilled in their minds because of what they have experienced and the people in Iraq will still struggle for their freedom.  I appreciate the devotion of each and every soldier and I hope for this war to be over soon.  I also hope that the efforts that this country has put into Iraq will eventually pay off and give that country the freedom they deserve.  

 Image Source: Scrapetv.com

Good site to check out:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20110313/pl_ac/8051138_iraq_war_timeline_1

The things they carried

Image source: http://www.statesman.com/life/books/novelist-tim-obrien-wants-us-to-remember-my-716982.html

 After reading the first chapter of the book "The things they Carried" by Tim O'Brien, I soon realized all the things a soldier carries while at war and away from it.  Emotional baggage is the heaviest one that a soldier can carry.  While at war they carry the responsibility of each other and protecting the soldiers in their platoon. It’s not only the equipment, their personal belongings but they also carry the responsibility of succeeding in the war and coming home safely from it, with the assurance that they have served their country and hopefully accomplished the purpose in which they were drafted for.   While at war they carry the necessities of survival but they also carry the memories of the loved ones that they have left behind, and the attachment that they get from their fellow soldiers and realizing that for some their days are counted because at war not every soldier comes back and if they do return back home, they always bring back with them the memories, the sorrow and grief  of losing a fellow soldier which they have become to love as their own family but also for the many innocent lives that they taken due to the war.  A soldier never comes back the same way they departed they always come back with shattered spirits and with painful memories because of the lives they have taken while being at war.  Their state of mind is never the same and many have a constant battle with their own minds.  The dreadful memories that they carry back home are the ones that I think have a greater weight than anything else.  The things that they carry for survival are ones that they can remove when they leave their duty however, the memories will always remain with them and they will carry those for the rest of their lives.

Image source: http://www.statesman.com/life/books/novelist-tim-obrien-wants-us-to-remember-my-716982.html

Cite to check out: http://www.biographybase.com/biography/OBrien_Tim.html

"Poetry of Witness"

Image Source: http://vietnamw.wikispaces.com/

Reading poetry and understanding it has become a little difficult but after reading them over more than once I think finally some are making a little bit of more sense and I can understand the message they are sending across through poetry.  Although it was difficult for me to choose I was able to relate to “Immigrants in our Land”.   As I was reading the poem memories of what my parents and grandmothers would talk to us about them coming from Mexico seeking the American dream came to my mind.  Both my grandmother and father worked in the Calexico fields in California.  They were paid less than the minimum wage because they were undocumented.  They often stressed how hard it was for them working twelve hour days, six days a week just so they can provide for their families.  When Baca states, “We are born with dreams in our hearts, looking for better days ahead”(Baca 1). That is exactly what I recall from my grandmother when she would tell us stories of her past.

While I was reading, “Songs of Napalm” I began to envision what Bruce Weigl was describing. It was hard to imagine what he has lived through while being at war.  I have never been in a situation like his and neither would I ever want to be.  I could only imagine that the things he has seen and the war experiences must be very hard for him to forget.  When Weigl mentions, “Still I close my eyes and see the girl, running from her village, napalm” (Weigl 3).  I begin to imagine what he’s feeling and come to understand on how awful it was for him to witness so much death.  After reading the poem and how he expresses himself about what he has witness one could only imagine what kind of life he must live.

A website to consider about "Songs of Napalm" http://www.thebeckoning.com/poetry/weigl/weigl.html