Final Post

"I love walking in London" (3). Lauren thought of her as she walked towards Hyde Park.  The sun was out for five minutes like it always would be, but the clouds were ahead and she could already see the rain by Marble Arch.  A remarkable dream to be living in London.  Something about Hyde Park always struck Lauren as home.  When she was in the center it was as if she left the city; for one moment she remembered home; the green grass that was only damp in the morning and always running into those whom she knew.

A rain drop awoke her from her memories at home.  It seemed as if rain drops were the only ones waking her up from her day dreams lately, for in a big city it is rare to find those who know you well.  She laughed realizing she had been off to another world for some time now.  While her world was turned upside-down, it truly was a dream to be there, in Hyde Park, "anyhow there was no bitterness in her"(68).   She crossed over the bridge with rushing traffic, cars damp with rain as they drove out of the storm.  She thought of how she was walking towards it the rain; she was always walking towards the rain, "bursting into tears this morning, what was all that about?". (70).  

Out of the house is where she longed to be, so there Lauren walked, away from home.  She had never met a June so cold.  She thought of her friends so far away and thought of the strangers she past.  It was a rare day to find a smile on these streets in London; those who sound so friendly are only rushing to be where they need to be.  Lauren thought about those rushing workers: "if they looked good, kind people, just to say to them 'I am unhappy'"; would they care? (73).  

She stops again and stares at Hyde Park.  A smile comes to her face when she thinks of the sun being over the house across the park.  Ironic to have the sun over that house where she feels so trapped, and then here, in the rain she can find her way to where she has been walking all afternoon.  She knew she was short on time and picked up her pace.  It was typical that Lauren missed every light while walking, for even when she was in a rush luck never seemed to be on her side.  Lauren wondered about the barclays bikes and how they are always one second away from being trampled by those big, red busses.  She always believed those people had a death wish getting on those bikes. Even being luckless and stuck in the rain Lauren could never get on one of those bikes.  

"Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeing the impossibility of reaching the centre which, mystically, evaded them; closeness drew apart; rapture faded; one was alone. There was an embrace in death" (163).  Lauren crossed the road cautiously; still new to the rush of city life.  They were always the same, boring, lifeless people that were nothing like those in her home where the sun would shine before and after June.  She walks up knowing that this night will not be different from any others.  She presses the buzzer to get let inside another night of nothingness.  What is a night out without her people? Lauren needed her people, "in the middle of my party, here's death, she thought" (162).  For every party felt like death for Lauren.  

Mrs. Dalloway and Life in London

When I began reading Mrs. Dalloway I finally felt like I knew London as a city.  I can understand what Clarissa hears when she describes "a particular hush, or solemnity; an indescribable pause; a suspense before Big Ben strikes"(2).  I can also relate to Mrs. Dalloway as she says "I love walking in London" (3).  It is one of the first books I have ever read that I truly understood and envisioned the setting on the novel.

While walking around Westminster for our class field trip, I feel that everyone became a little bit closer to the city as a whole.  It was a sad and serious day due to not only the real life tragedy of losing a teacher at our school to suicide, but also losing Septimus in the same way.  How death is described in this story is extremely sad and also very eye-opening about how some people see the world.  It makes it more clear to me why some people feel that death is the only escape, although I will never be able to fully grasp the concept of someone taking their own life. “Death was defiance. Death was an attempt to communicate; people feeling the impossibility of reaching the center which, mystically, evaded them;” (163).  Clarissa sees Septimus' death as a positive thing and wishes she had the strength to do the same.  It is amazing how through nature and death, Virginia Woolf is able to beautifully portray such a sad and confusing thing.   


Taking Mrs. Dalloway out of London was also created an even more interesting story line.  We were able to see her mentally, physically, and emotionally in the movie Hours.  We were also able to see Virginia Woolf as a writer and realize more about why she wrote this story.  By watching Hours, I felt I was more connected to the characters in the story and more importantly I was more connected to Virginia Woolf.  Several of the books we have read this year have had a lot to do with the authors and by getting to know the authors I have developed a much greater understanding of why these books were written.  

Grandmother Interview

I did not get a chance to talk to any of my Grandparents about women's rights and whether or not they played a role in trying to help women, but I did talk to my mom and my Aunt Lorraine in order  to have some background for an interview.  

Aunt Lorraine is 10 years older than my mom, so she had a much closer look at what women were trying to do in order to have equal rights.  I was shocked about what she told me and was a little disappointed that she was not more involved.  Aunt Lorraine said that she was in college at the time that active protest were going on but she never felt that she was not an equal to men so she never felt the need to get involved.  I still have mixed feeling on this because of what I have learned and what she has told me, but I can completely understand how a college student working to become a special education teacher had better things to do than protest women's rights. I guess I understand that she knew she would be successful in life no matter what and felt that it was most important to look out for herself.  

I asked my mom what she remembered about her family life growing up.  I was interested to find out that she grew up in what would be your typical family of the time.  She said that her house was always spotless and dinner was always being put on the table the second her father got home from work.  Her mother (my grandmother) also worked part time as a secretary but was always home in time to cook dinner and make sure everything in the house was in order.  

I find it interesting that both my aunt and mom both became professional, full-time working women when they were both raised in a typical family with a stay at home mom.  I guess that even if they did not know it at the time, they were helping to change the stereotype of women everywhere.  

Mean Girls

The movie Mean Girls takes everything we have learned this year and adds some laughter to it.  It takes one girl, Cady Heron, out of her media-free life in Africa and enters her into girl world.  Throughout the movie Cady learns what its like to be one of the Plastics.  We also see the dynamic between girls in the movie and how they can relate to literature we have read this year.

In one of the earliest scenes of the movie, Cady and the Plastics (Regina, Gretchen and Karen) walk into Regina's room.  Regina, Gretchen and  Karen immediately walk to the mirror and begin criticizing themselves saying things such as "I have man shoulders", "my nail beds suck", and "my pores are huge". The three girls stare at Cady and wait for her to criticize herself.  Cady, a very confused girl responds saying, "I have really bad breath in the morning" and then thinks to herself how she didn't think there was anything more than skinny or fat.  This directly relates to The Beauty Myth and shows how women expect other women to think poorly of themselves.  In reality, when girls think negatively of themselves, all it does it point out flaws to everyone else.  If everyone could be confident with themselves, maybe everyone would start being nicer to each other.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWMtOxlKFRw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUFT35S7Jb4&feature=related

These two scenes in Mean Girls relate to the The Vagina Monologues.  While both these scenes are clearly in this movie for the purpose of humor, it also shows how women may be scared to speak up because of what others will think about them.  I guess women don't talk about certain things for the same reasons they don't like to talk about their vaginas: "I was worried about what we would think about vaginas, and even more worried about that we don't think about them" (3).  Just like the girls in Mean Girls, once the women Eve Ensler began talking, they could not stop, "They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn't stop them". (5).  Women can benefit from talking about things that are uncomfortable.  The girls in Mean Girls opened up and found peace after talking about things that were once secrets, just as the women in The Vagina Monologues were empowered by talking about their vaginas.

Dieting Won't Kill You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RLAGxUbp-U

The youtube video above explains not only my relationship with food, but also almost exactly how all my diets end up.  I know that I am not alone in this love-hate relationship with food.  I know Naomi Wolf is not saying that obesity is the best way to get healthy but that "women may in fact live longer and be generally healthier if they weigh... [more] and they refrain from dieting'" (187) seems pretty unrealistic to me.  If a person already had a healthy lifestyle where they eat well and exercise then they could most likely live their whole lives at a healthy weight for their body and be able to maintain it.  If a person eats junk food and does not exercise, there is no way that this could possibly be more healthy than dieting.  I am not a doctor or specialist in any way but I know that when I am eating well and going to the gym (aka dieting) I feel 100 times better then I do when I am living a less healthy lifestyle.  Wolf then goes on to say that dieting "may indeed cause... obesity itself," which seems nearly impossible.  I can only slightly agree with this statement because I know that it is when I lose weight that I can gain it back the quickest.  

Rather than criticizing Naomi Wolf, I am just going to nicely disagree with her on this subject because I  strongly feel that there are right and wrong ways to diet.  It is extreme to think that every diet means starving yourself or excessively going to the gym.  Diets such as weight watchers are safe and personal for every person who joins.  Wolf sees writing down everything you eat as obsessive, but the truth of weight watchers is that when you write down your food you see how much more you could eat without  one, big unhealthy meal.  I don't think Wolf could disagree with having a big, healthy salad over nachos grande! 

The Sad Truth

One day I plan on having a family of my own.  It will be 10+ years from now, but I hope one day it will happen.  If I have a daughter I am going to be TERRIFIED.  One would find that very confusing since I am a daughter and have only a sister.  The truth is, every generation of girls gets more and more promiscuous.  I know I would do the best I could to scare her away from anything completely out of line, but if girls continue on the same path they are on, my poor daughter will end up locked in her room with a chastity belt (half-kidding).  These horrible thoughts about my daughter's future were triggered two summers ago when I was talking to my family friend Nick who was in seventh grade at the time.  He told be how the cool thing for girls and boys to do is to give blow jobs on the busses on the way to Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.  I couldn't even believe what I was hearing.  In seventh grade I was hoping to have a boyfriend that I could talk to somewhere else other than AIM over the computer or maybe get a kiss on the cheek.  But these girls were giving blow jobs on the way to their friend's bat mitzvah?! That is NO mitzvah if I ever knew one.

The point I am trying to make is that it is evident that girls are being extremely effected by the beauty myth from an extremely young age.  The behavior of these young girls reflects on what we learned from "Killing Us Softly 4".  Some ads we were shown showed full mature women dressed as children or children piled on with makeup to look like a women.  Clearly when young and impressionable people see these things, it make them believe it is ok to do completely inappropriate things.  It is true what Kilbourne says that "ads create an environment we all swim in... a toxic cultural environment".  Although I don't feel the media has effected me too much as a person, the fact that it is influencing people around me by causing eating disorders and promiscuous behavior has made a huge impact on my life.  While watching TV or reading a magazine everyone should keep in mind that "ads sell more than products... They sell concepts of normalcy...The tell us who we are and who we should want to be".  Hopefully years from now I can rest easy when my children open a magazine or turn on the TV.  I would hate to see more generations sucked into the beauty myth.

Jealousy

My mom is not the hugging, loving, shopping-with-your-mom kind of mom.  She extremely serious, and even when my sister and I are upset she's all business.  Nothing makes her more mad then when my sister and I have those "I'm so fat and ugly days".  She always says the same thing, "Go outside and look around. You girls are prettier than 99% of those people".  Of course she's our mom and she has to say that.  Now thinking about that statement, although totally harmless, I know it is part of the problem.  For years women are constantly comparing themselves to other women.  It is like there is a constant competition for something that is impossible to win.  Is there a prize for being most beautiful? Is even the hottest guy worth constantly trying to look the best? The answer to both of these questions is obviously no. So what is with the constant jealousy ladies?!

In A Vindication of the Rights of Women by Mary Wollstonecraft tell on many occasions about this jealousy that girls have for each other.   Wollstonecraft compares men and women and says, "but women are very differently situated with respect to each other-for they are all rivals"(121).  It is amazing to me how even in the 1700s women were competitive and  rivals.  I am confused why this rivalry had been going on for hundreds of years.  Wollstonecraft makes a valid point in bringing up how by paying so much attention to your physical self, one can forget to respect what is on the inside.  She says, "Did women really respect virtue for its own sake, they would not seek for compensation in vanity, for the self-denial which they are obliged to practice to preserve their reputation, nor would they associate with men who set a reputation at defiance" (88).  If women joined together rather then constantly fighting each other, not only would we have more respect for each other, we would have more respect from the men who are apparently so important to impress.

Feeling Beautiful

Prom is just around the thing and there is only one thing girl have been talking about: Pre-prom diets.  What is it about prom that makes girl want to look so much better than every other day? I have to admit that I am 100% guilty of the pre-prom salads and nightly gym sessions.  I have to say that between my friends and I, it is rare if at least one person doesn't bring up NEEDING to eat healthy, or expressing guilt before eating something delicious.  In reality, I can't think of one friend, or even one girl at ASL who has any sort of weight issue.  The Beauty Myth has me constantly questioning why my friends and I always want to be thinner and prettier.  It seems crazy that the source of all our insecurities could be from the media.  At this point, I am convinced that we, women, are the ones keeping the beauty myth alive.

In the chapter, "Beyond The Beauty Myth", Wolf talk about ways to get past the self-concious lifestyle that most women trap themselves in.  Naomi Wolf brings up several of the same questions I have about the beauty myth and where it is headed in the future.  She asks, "Can we extend that idea?" (the idea of the beauty myth) "Or are women the pliable sex, innately adapted to being shaped, cut, and subjected to physical invasion?" (270).  Wolf goes on asking questions related to the beauty myth and how women view themselves for nearly a page longer, which reinforces the ridiculousness of how women view themselves.  She asks, "Are women beautiful or aren't we?" (271).  My answer to that question is that if a women feels beautiful then she is beautiful.  I hope that all women can reach a point when they really feel beautiful in their own skin, and hopefully this beauty does not come about just because of a successful diet.

Advertising Gone Wrong

Since the turn of the century, advertisement towards women has had always had a very clear message.  Even in victorian magazines, "Glamour, he claims, was a main tool in the enlistment campaign" (62) for men to join the army.  Next, in the 1950's, even after women had just finished working several jobs for their husbands while they were off at war, TV ads were almost entirely based off the the stereotype of women being they housewife.  After all these years women are still being labeled in advertisements: "Women are deeply affected by what their magazines tell them" (70).  The fact that this issue is only getting worse makes me want to do everything in my power to reverse the beauty myth.

Advertising is always something I have been interested in.  I have always found it scary and exciting that a picture you see on TV or in a magazine can have one meaning on the surface and millions of other reasons hidden beneath it.  This is also one reason that I have been on the edge about advertisement.  This class has had me thinking about women, and now I have more of a goal for my future in advertising.  I would love to help reverse the beauty myth by creating ads that are in favor to women.  It would be amazing to see more commercials just like the Dove commercials that promote more than one type of beauty.  I would also love to involve humor into my commercials and find a way to mock the ridiculous ads that are all over TV and magazines.

Education

Education plays a huge role in both The Beauty Myth and A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.  In The Beauty Myth, it is constantly reminded that women need to know about the stereotypes of women and how the media influences society.  Naomi Wolf urges the importance of speaking about the beauty myth: "For any one women to outgrow the myth, she needs the support of many women" (282).  This means that unless women are talking with each other about their insecurities they will not be able to overcome them.  A Vindication of the Rights of Women states that women in general need to be educated in order to be seen as virtuous in society.  Mary Wollstonecraft believes that "ignorance is a frail base for virtue!" (70).  It is amazing to me that two books, one from the 1990s, and the other from the 1700s can be compared on the same subject.  The sad part is that even virtuous and educated women are suffering from the effects of the beauty myth.  The biggest difference between these two books is that The Beauty Myth separates men and women, while A Vindication of the Rights of Women wants women to be exactly like men.

A Vindication of the Rights of Women has me thinking about how little progress has been made over hundreds of years.  The fact that this subject of women in society is still an argument makes me what to do as Naomi Wolf says and tell people about the issue at hand.  The other night I was showing my best friend from home pictures of ads of women that were completely offensive and degrading.  She was extremely interested by it and kept asking for more examples of how the media effects how women perceive themselves.  By educating my friend about this subject, I am already helping to remove the beauty myth from our culture.  Maybe by educating everyone, one day society could chance and women can be beautiful in their own ways.  

My Old Town

I grew up in Bergen County, NJ, a county that is known for having housewives with plastic faces and silicone boobs.  The town I lived in is right next to Franklin Lakes, NJ where the Housewives of New Jersey are from.  I just moved this year from a school called Ramapo High School where I went to school with several sons and daughters of people with superficial lifestyles.  At Ramapo High School, it was not uncommon to see girls walking into school with bigger boobs or new noses after their 16th birthdays.  My parents are not superficial people so it is surprising that we lived in a town for 17 years that was right out of a reality TV show.  Like many parents in town, they saw a good school district, safe streets, and a quick train ride into New York City for work.  Little did they know, walking into Ramapo High School was like walking into a firey-pit of judgmental people.  The girls were always expected too be thin, pretty, smart, and just overall good at everything.  My friends from home are the same people I was best friends with in first grade, so luckily we've all managed to stay down to earth.  As a whole, the girls at Ramapo look nice, but they are not nice at all and do not do nice things.  This is probably why they have been called "Ramahos" generation after generation.

The Beauty Myth and Killing Us Softly 4  remind me of how superficial my old school was.  It is really true that "Today, what hurts is beauty" (219).  Striving to be beautiful is what causes the girls at Ramapo to be so superficial.  What is even worse is that the girl who do not think they are pretty enough will become a typical "ramaho" in order to be visible to the boys at school.  The girls at Rampo truly personify what was talked about in Killing Us Softly 4. These girls make me wonder how much the media actually influences our society.  I would love to know if it is the superficial environment of the girls, or if over all their years, they feel their expectations for themselves are actually realistic and necessary because of the media.

Identity 2

While in Paris with my friend Jaclyn over break, we began talking about our names.  Jaclyn is not a very common name and Alex is an extremely common name.  This started to get me thinking about Jasmine and how she constantly associated herself with whatever names people called her.  Jaclyn and I then came up with the question: does your name have anything to do with who you are? Shockingly, Jaclyn, which  is the more unique name, is more shy than me and my common name.  Maybe over my years I have become more outspoken and outgoing because I need to compensate with always being one of several Alex's.

Jasmine's name seems to drive her through most events in her  life.  Her name depends on whichever guy is most prominent in her life and that persona is who she tries to be in that moment.  For example, when Bud refers to her as Jane, that is who she decides she wants to be: "Plain Jane is all I want to be. Plain Jane is a role, like any other" (26).  Jasmine sees each of her names as a role to be played and that is how she defines herself.

To answer my question (does your name have anything to do who you are?): I feel that your name gives you identity but does not show who you actually are as a person.  I feel that it was a weakness for Jasmine to view herself in the way that each of the men in her life viewed her rather than as an individual.

Who decides how women are viewed?

The Beauty Myth has brought to life several different stereotypes and realities about women.  After reading the beginning of The Beauty Myth, my question is, who decides how women are viewed? It appears that while men may expect women to dress and act a certain way, it is the women who keep these gender differences alive.  While some women dress nicely because they like to look and feel pretty, there are most likely women in the world who are dressing the way they do to get a head start.  The book states that their are more men than women using their looks to get ahead, but if I had to guess I would assume it was the opposite.  It is sad what a shallow world we live in but in reality, more women taking this survey my have just been too ashamed to admit that they have used their looks to get ahead.  "By the 1980s, the agents who head hunted anchors kept their test tapes under categories such as, 'Male Anchors: 40-50' with no corresponding categories for women, and ranked women anchors' physical appearance above their delivery skills or their experience."  This shows the double standard for men and women, and how even if males were trying to use their looks to get ahead, it probably would not make a difference.  

On the ABC show The Voice, the judges have their backs turned away from the performers so that they can be voted purely on looks alone.  A show like this give a fair chance for everyone and allowed the people with the best singing voices to make it the furthest in the competition.  What is so interesting about this show is that when a pretty girl comes on stage and the judges don't put their button because they did not love their voice, they are always immediately disappointed that they didn't vote for them.  It is as if the second they see they are a pretty girl, the fact that their voice was not as good as the other contestants is completely forgotten.  This is parallel to how attractive women in an office who may be doing sub-par work can still get away with having their job, simply because they are pretty.  As hard as people may try to have complete equality, as long as people can see, it will be impossible for people not to judge.  Knowing this, I find that it would be very difficult for women to completely reject trying to have a nice appearance.  This also means that both men and women are involved in how women are viewed.  

All or Nothing

Women are very complicated.  A lot of the time it does not make sense that we expect to have all the rights as men, yet expect to be treated different then men.  Jenna Marbles, a youtube celebrity, brought this to my attention.  Women expect to be treated as equals in the work place, but still believe that the man should pay for dinner.  Why should girls get gifts randomly just because they are the girlfriend in the relationship?  Yes, I'll admit, when I have a boyfriend I would be shocked if he didn't at least offer to pay half the bill.  But why is society so prone to believing that women deserve to be pampered when we have worked so hard to become equal to men in every way possible? 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ7wT4CUprQ 

The women in The Handmaid's Tale are only used for sex.  The way the society in Gilead is set up is so women are only needed to get pregnant and have babies.  It is interesting how women in our society appear to have the luxury of having a job, being a wife, a mother, and still being pampered just because that is how women are supposed to be treated.  It appears that when women are seen as for only sex, all of those other  positive things in a women's life disappear along with it.  This explains why the women in Gilead are seen as objects.  Also, when the women in Gilead begin seeing themselves as only being used for sex, they begin to lose site of who they really are.  Even Offred, one of the strongest Handmaids, gives up hope and just let fate take control of her situation.  "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Fat lot of good it did for her. Why fight?" (237).  Moira is completely overtaken by the idea that she is only needed for sex when she trades her dignity for some handcream and cigarettes.  "The food's not bad and there's drinks and drugs, if you want it, and we only work nights" (261).  Moira has completely forgotten that women have any other purpose besides sex, and therefore sees her situation as a positive one.  

This makes sense of why women feel the need to have all the benefits that men have and more.  This also proves why there is a double standard between men and women in general about sex. By taking everything away from the Handmaids, we see how important everything women have in our society is for their self-esteem and security.  

Justified #2

In an earlier post I discussed if women in the short stories A Jury of Her Peers and Sweat.  After reading The Handmaid's Tale, it is obvious that when people feel they are doing something wrong, they try to justify their actions.  We saw this in the women in both of these short stories, and we see this in both the men and woman in The Handmaid's Tale.

Women in The Handmaid's Tale try to justify the life they are being forced into living.  Because they so vaguely remember their lives before they lived as handmaids, these women are trying to justify their new life so they aren't completely miserable.  The most disturbing part about this justification is that at some point these women begin to believe in the society that they have been forced into.  When Janine tells the other handmaids about how she had been raped when she was fourteen and got an abortion, rather than feeling sympathy like they would in their old lives, the handmaids blame Janine for the rape.  After seeing Janine in despair and chanting things like "her fault", "teach her a lesson", and "cry baby", Offred thinks to herself, "we meant it, which is the bad part" (82).  This proves how eventually these women have been completely taken over by their new life.  The biggest example of justification in women is seen in Moira.  "So here I am.  They even give you face cream. You should figure out some way of getting in here. You'd have three or four good years before your snatch wears out and they send you to the boneyard.  The food's not bad and there's drink and drugs, if you want, and we only work nights." (261).  Moira is essentially living in a brothel and she is completely trying to justify what she is doing.  Offred understands that Moira's lifestyle is degrading and wrong but all Moira sees is that now she has face wash and a different kind of freedom.  This shows how some women have really forgotten who they are and have completely given into this new society.

The only reason this society can function smoothly is because the men who are leading the society are trying to justify their actions.  It appears that most men understand that what they are doing is wrong, they just try and convince themselves otherwise.  The negative things from the past are driving this horrible society to continue functioning.  They also make exceptions to the strict society that they have created.  "Nature demands variety, for men.  It stands to reason, it's part of the procreational strategy.  It's Nature's plan." (249).  It is clearly much easier for men to be happy in Gilead. The commanders will try and say the old society was wrong, when in reality they are trying to hold on to those old ways any way they can.

Reflection

In class we discussed the second paragraph on page 196 of "The Handmaid's Tales".  This paragraph truly embodies the power of knowledge, how the handmaids feel about men, and what "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum" means.

When Offred is finally able to write something down, everything she has been thinking in her head seems to come to life.  This proves the overall power that the pen holds and how just knowing you have the knowledge to write something down can empower a person completely.  Being able to physically write out "do not let the bastards grind you down" may be the push Offred needed to truly believe and live by those words.

This paragraph also shows what the handmaids feel about the men who control their lives.  In class we came to the conclusion that "Pen Is Envy" clearly stands for "penis envy".  This means that whoever holds the pen holds the power, and in this situation, it is only the men who are allowed to use this power.  This leaves women with only envy for the knowledge and power that men have.  Envy is also one of the seven deadly sins in the bible, so I am curious to see if a religious connection comes into play with the phrase "pen is envy".

"Nolite te bastardes carborundorum" means "do not let the bastards grind you down".  While this holds a powerful meaning in the words itself, I think the most important thing about this phrase is that it connects Offred to the women who lived in her room before her.  It is a reminder to Offred that whoever this women was got out of her bad situation.  It is also a reminder to Offred that the stories that are so fuzzy in her head are true.  This phrase is a continuous reminder that men are not supposed to be treating her the way they do and that society was not always the way it is portrayed in this novel.

Identity

"The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood had me thinking about identity and the importance of having one.  The women in this novel are completely stripped of their identities in this new world that has been thrust upon them.  They have taken away their real names, clothing, education, and even their children.  It is as if whatever they knew before they lived in this lifestyle is completely removed from memory and replaced with subjective information that is completely brain washing these women.

The treatment of these women feels similar to how Jews and other minorities were sees as less than human and had their identities taken from them in the holocaust.  The treatment of these women in "The Handmaid's Tale" proves to me that women are only seen as objects and are only sees as useful if they are fertile.  If women weren't needed for reproduction, it appears as if their fate would would parallel to that of Jews in the holocaust.  Just as the women are giving labels of property, Jews were given numbers as their identity and were forbidden to use their real names.  Just like the women in this novel, Jews would secretly call themselves by their real names as a reminder who who they truly are.  "We learned to whisper almost without a sound.  In the semi-darkness we could stretch out our arms, when the Aunts weren't looking, and touch each other's hands across space sideways, watching each other's mouths. In this way we exchange names, from bed to bed" (14). What is so terrifying about the women described in this story is that they are beginning to believe the things that they are being brainwashed about.  For example, when one women is raped, the other women truly believe that she brought it upon herself.  Perhaps if the holocaust had gone on longer than it did, Jews would begin to believe that they were unworthy and that they had no identity.

Just as the narrator of "The Handmaid's Tale" continues to tell us, a story must be told even if no one is listening.  Telling her stories is what is keeping the narrator sane through out this novel.  Telling stories of their past lives and using their real names is what helped to keep oppressed Jews sane during the holocaust.  When someone loses site of their overall identity, that is when hope is lost, and when the oppressors have achieved their goal.

Justified?

"A Jury of Her Peers" by Susan Glaspell and "Sweat" by Zora Neale Hurston made me think a lot about if people can be justified for their actions, especially extreme ones.  "A Jury of Her Peers" also made me question whether keeping quiet when you know about something wrong is just as bad as actually committing a crime.  As we also discussed in class, I, along with several other students, believe that Delia in "Sweat" was much more justified in killing her husband than Mrs. Wright was in A Jury of Her Peers.  While both women were clearly tortured in their everyday life, Delia appeared to be completely consumed by her husband's abuse and never had an escape from his consistent torture.  Mrs. Wright had friends, and seemed to be subjected to things very typical to women of this time, such as being bossed around and disrespected overall.  I feel that what connects these two short stories is not only the fact that these women are being degraded by the men they surround themselves with, but also the huge power of doing and saying nothing.  The women in Jury of Her Peers collectively decided that they weren't going to tell the authorities or their husbands about the information they had on the murder.  "The women did not speak, did not unbend". By saying nothing, these women made the choice to save their friend from being arrested for the murder of her husband.  This proves the power of keeping silent.  For Delia, keeping silent meant that her husband would end up dead and she would make it out of her horrible life alive.  By keeping quiet, Delia made the most powerful statement possible by letting her husband die.  "She lay there. "Delia. Delia!" She could hear Sykes calling in a most despairing tone as one who expected no answer. The sun crept on up, and he called. Delia could not move--her legs were gone flabby. She never moved, he called, and the sun kept rising." keeping quiet, these women all contributed to women universally joining together to create a bond that lead to an overall revolution for women.  Obviously not on the same scale as these women, my sister and I understand that in some situations it is more important to cover for each other rather than be in trouble by our parents.  Trust is extremely important, and just as the characters in these short stories weight out their actions to the consequences of confessing their actions, my sister and I sometimes need to do the same for each other.  

Women's Literature: Week One

Majority of what we read this week reminded a lot about my mom.  My mom is an extremely high-strung, competitive women.  She has been working in a male-dominant career most of her life, spending each day buying and trading stocks.  She is a portfolio manager.  The problem my mom has is that when she comes home from work, she never shuts off the drive that she needs at work everyday in order to compete with the boys club she is surrounded by.  The other night while talking to  my dad about my mom's attitude and need to create a debate over every little thing, he tried to explain to me about how male-dominated my mom's career truly is.  All I asked my dad was, "Why don't you come home from work and act the same way you do in the office?"  He had no response.  This leads me to believe something about women in male-dominate careers.

My mother loves what she does, and she is extremely good at it.  In "Power" by Adrienne Rich, Adrienne speaks about Marie Curie and her overall impact from being a female scientist in the late 1800's and early 1900's.  Curie denied the hardships that came along with doing what she loved. "She died a famous women denying".  Marie Curie and my mother have that in common.  My mother appears to have almost completely emotionally checked out of her own life.  Everything is a competition, and nothing seems to be as much fun anymore.  While getting to the professional level my mom has exceeded to is an incredible accomplishment, sometimes it would be nice if she wasn't always mentally in the office.  Women in male-dominant careers have a certain edge to them, and it is a good edge to have, but I feel they need to always remember that they are still emotional women.  The world may be moving to "The End of Men" in a sense, but women as we know them may be changing to be more like the men who have been running the corporate show all these years.  I may be wrong though, maybe if there are enough women in an office, they can find a moment at work where they don't need to compete with men.  Hopefully this could make them more like my dad who can come home and unwind from his long days at the office.