The Handmaid's Tale

(Image Source: http://polilladelibros.wordpress.com/2010/07/25/the-handmaids-tale/)

The Handmaids Tale by Margret Atwood is a very mind boggling story that had made me question things often throughout the story. Atwood is an extremely descriptive writer whose work is a bit challenging to understand. She tends to skip to and from past to present without notification, but clear enough to where the reader knows there is a shift in the story.  The Handmaid’s tale is a story that seems to consist of a new world order type them. It seems as if there is a possibility of brain washing due to the way people act and how there be no signs of rebellion. The story made me wonder how a whole society could change in what seems to be only a few years. The way our country is now, an event like what Margret Atwood presents in her story almost seems impossible. The part of the story that made me most confused was how the main character, Offred, talked about the “old days” of when people were free to do what they wanted, like it was only a few years back in time. For something like new world order or brainwashing to take place there would have to be a very large government type organization taking action all at once, and must have been planned for years before the event occurred. The topic I chose to help me understand Atwood’s story is new world order. The possibility of a Government or secret society taking over is the only plausible thing that comes to my mind when thinking about such a dramatic event like what happened in The Handmaid’s Tale. There are plenty other events in the past that could help me understand the story better such as Hitler’s reign over Germany. The reason I chose new world order as my source reference is because we have already proven that something like Hitler’s take over can only be successful for so long. Margret Atwood’s story seems to have a full proof plot with no flaws which is why I will be researching new world order to better understand the story.

Here is a LINK to a website with a brief overview of new world order is anyone is interested. :)

Letter to Laura Cline

Dear Laura Cline,

                This semester has been a great pleasure of mine to participate in your course. The last couple of months have really taught me about the differences in writing a good paper versus a bad one. It has been tough to keep up with all the reading and writing due to my other classes but I’m still hanging in there and keeping my head up. I feel I have learned a lot this semester with things like analysis compared to summary. I wasn’t very clear at the beginning of the semester on analysis but you have made me understand it and how to use it effectively. There are still plenty of challenges I face which I plan to improve throughout the rest of the semester.

                I would have to say that the one thing holding me back from creating my most successful work is the fact that I am busy with other classes. I still find myself struggling a bit because of the type of essays we have been writing as well though. I am not use to the types of assignments we have had with having to really read hard in poems and stories to figure them out then put it in our own words. Putting all those skills to the test has really opened my eyes and helped me out a lot this semester. I feel my work would not have been as strong as it has been if you had not shown me all those great techniques and skills. I feel I am progressing in my writing which was one of my hopes and goals for this semester. I think my biggest success was sticking with everything and not letting all the work get to my head. I have found that trying really does get you where you want to be if you keep pursuing it.

                Reading has helped a lot with getting me where I want to be in addition to everything else. The stories we have read are much different than any reading I have done in my past. I have never been too much into war stories but Tim O’Brien’s book was very interesting and opened my eyes to see just what war is really like and how it can affect someone for the worst. Sean Huze’s play was a bit more difficult for me to keep up with because of the shift in characters but was still interesting to read. Both Tim O’Brien and Sean Huze have great styles of writing that were interesting to read all the way through which is a hard thing to accomplish. I hope to achieve that kind of writing skill by the end of this semester as well as to keep improving my work every day.

Sincerely,

Doug Perry

Tim O'Brien - On The Rainy River

(Image Source: https://wiki-land.wikispaces.com/The+Things+They+Carried)

Tim O’Brien has some very interesting stories of war which I usually find to be quite boring. The story I chose to respond to is “On the Rainy River.” The reason I chose this story is because I feel if I was in the same situation as his, being drafted to a war that you see no reason for fighting in, I would have made the same decision to run. Although they don’t use the draft now-a-days, it is a scary thought. The fact that they could easily bring it back at any time and out of the blues draft as many people as they want is something I would find hard to cope with. I’ve never been too interested in enlisting in the army, air force, or marines. Not because I don’t want to protect our country, just because I feel there are so many greater things that I could accomplish in life other than killing people and putting myself at risk for being killed. I have a strong feeling though that if the United States were to try and bring back the draft it would not turn out well. There are so many people today opposed to going to war. There would most likely be multiple protests and possibly riots. Today’s society is a lot different than it was when Tim O’Brien was drafted to the war. I don’t think that people today would have to worry as much about embarrassment of opting out of a draft. I feel if Tim O’Brien was in the same predicament in today’s world, he would have made it to Canada and not worried as much about what people thought of him. However all in all I respect Tim O’Brien for the decision he made and feel that it was a brave decision that turn out to benefit him throughout his writings. 

I found this article on DRAFTING in today's world to be very interesting. Feel free to read if you'd like. :)

Responding To A Poem

Image Srouce: http://obrag.org/?p=15436

The two poems I chose from the poetry of witness folder are “Songs of Napalm”, by Bruce Weigl and “Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting”, by Kevin C. Powers. The Reason I chose these two poems were because they relate to each other in a way. Both poems have a background from people who were in the war. The First poem I read was Songs of Napalm which gave me a few mixed feelings. The beginning of the poem had me a bit lost, but as I got towards the end I had a bit of disgust in mind. You could not tell what the poem was about just reading the first few lines. The way Weigl described the brightness of the explosion in the line that stated, “The grass was never more blue in that light, more / Scarlet; beyond the pasture” (Weigl, Lines 10 and 11) was very breath-taking after I found out what the poem was talking about. I think this poem brings sadness to the reader because of its content, unlike the other poem I read.

            The poem Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting is similar to Songs of Napalm because the two authors are in the war, but Powers poem is a love letter which brings a completely different emotion to the reader. He has a strange way of expressing his feelings towards whoever he is writing to. He states in the first line, “I tell her I love her like not killing” (Powers, Line 1). I find this strange because most people would not use feelings of war to describe their love for someone. This poem did not create much of an emotion for me; I was more baffled than anything because of the references Powers uses. The title and content of the poem make it seem like a love letter but when the author uses statements like “I tell her in a letter that will stink,” (Powers, Line 5) it redirects my mind from the thoughts of a typical love letter. Both poems were great and had tons of imagery that really gave the appearance of what exactly it was they were seeing and going through.

Works Cited

Powers, Kevin C. "Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting by Kevin C. Powers : Poetry Magazine [poem/magazine] : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry." The Poetry Foundation : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry. Poetry Founddation, Feb. 2009. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182821>.

Weigl, Bruce. "Poetry Foundation." The Poetry Foundation : Find Poems and Poets. Discover Poetry. Groove/Atlantic Inc., 1999. Web. 10 Feb. 2011. <http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/print.html?id=171470>.

After reading these two war poems I decided to look into more war poems. If anyone is interested, THIS site has many plenty of great poems that also contain lots of imagery and could be classified as poetry of witness.

Sam Hamill "The Necessity to Speak"

Sam Hamill has a very blunt perspective on domestic violence. He also seems to think that most people who are battered when young grow up to batter others. I’m not sure if his opinions are influenced from a personal experience or another cause. I don’t think I can completely agree because I personally have known people who were battered as a child and grew up to be the nicest people.  Hamill tends to repeat himself a lot throughout his writing and claims that a person who commits domestic violence will continue to which another part that I don’t completely agree on is. However, his suggestions on how to get peoples voice heard by poetry are an amazing idea. I agree with him 100% when he says that people are embarrassed by poetry and that men are taught not to show their feelings. Too many people dislike poetry for Hamill’s method to become successful. If more people could realize what good poetry could bring to anyone I think he might have a chance of getting people with problems the help they need. The fact that most men are destines to be tough is what I believe will keep this idea from affecting them. Women are different and can express themselves through poetry without fear of people judging them as harshly. Sam Hamill has a great start to something that could affect us all for the better whether it is through poetry or not. Domestic violence is a horrifying problem that many families face. If we don’t start trying to figure out better ways to reduce domestic violence, generations after ours are going to accept it more and more and think that it’s okay. Sam Hamill is very brave for standing up and putting the message out that all people are all affected by domestic violence and something needs to be done about it. 

Image Source: http://www.askdro.com/2010/05/should-i-stay-in-an-abusive-relationship/

I thought this SITE had a lot of info on domestic violence for those who are interested in learning more about it and its negative effects on people.

Good Readers & Good Writers

There are many qualities that Nabokov suggests one must have to be a good reader. The four major qualities he focuses on are: having a good imagination, memory, artistic sense and having a dictionary. Nabokov also claims that a good reader is someone who rereads stories to better understand them. I do agree with some of the qualities that he suggests, but not all of them. I think that having a good memory and keeping a dictionary handy are two good qualities that can be effective when reading. Without memory reading obviously will be challenging. You need memory to be able to think back on the story and analyze it, or better understand it. Dictionaries can be helpful to look up unfamiliar words to know exactly what the author is trying to say. When it comes to imagination and artistic sense, I feel those are not necessary for every type of literature. Having those qualities will often times make the book more interesting and pull you more into the story, but I don’t think they are always necessary to have. Often times when I am reading a speech or presentations I don’t use my imagination or artistic senses to better understand the passage.

                In my opinion the number one quality to being a good reader is to be interested in the book or passage. Not being interested in a story can instantly distracts you and quickly pulls you right out of a story. There have been multiple times where I have been reading a story and soon find myself at the end of a page and I don’t know what had happened. I consider myself to be a terrible reader. I have never been too big on reading book so I feel I lack a lot of qualities when it comes to reading. Memory and the occasional use of a dictionary did help throughout some of my reading experiences but nothing compares to the effects of connecting with a story and being brought deep inside it to fully understand everything within it.

I thought this was another informative way on how to become a good reader. http://www.ehow.com/how_4614946_be-good-reader.html

English 102 Intro Vid