Journal #3

Handmaids Tale- Topic C

Although Atwood's tale consists of some truth due to the fact that a dictatorial government is completely possible, I don't believe that it will ever be able to reach this level. Human nature does not permit itself this level of submission, there would be too many uprisings. However, the idea of the government attempting to take this kind of control after a national crisis is believable. This is made more believable by the submissive behaviour portrayed by all the women within the book and anyone of lower status.
The hope that Atwood gives the characters within this novel is that children will someday be able to liberate all the subservient characters. However, Atwoods true message seems to be that with or without resistance, we will come to an end like this eventually. She expresses this through the description of Offred and her Mothers small rebellions.

Journal #2

Handmaids Tale- Topic B

Offreds Mother.

She is an extremely feminist figure in the time before the now present society was created. She advocated full equality in women, and managed to get women the right yo get abortions, have jobs, and stay independent. She acted out in various ways to promote her ideas:
"They must have poured gasoline, because the flames shot high, and then they began dumping the magazines, from boxes, not too many at a time" (Atwood 48). In this passage, Offred describes her mother burning pornographic magazines as a response to the degradation of women. Eventually we do not know what becomes of Offred's mother, but we know she was involved in a power struggle between women and the rest of society. Her resistance in unsuccesful, because even with all rebellions, Gilead was still constructed. Atwood seems to be saying that even if women had took charge, there was no use resisting the dictatorial government.

Journal #1

Handmaids Tale - Topic A

"As we walk away I know they're watching, these two men who aren't yet permitted to touch women. They touch with their eyes instead and I move my hips a little, feeling the full red skirt sway around me. It's like thumbing your nose behind a fence or teasing a dog with a bone held out of reach, and I'm ashamed of myself for doing it, because none of this is the fault of these men, they're too young.
Then I find I'm not ashamed after all. I enjoy the power; power of a dog bone, passive but there."

This passage comes from a novel set in a time of extreme female degenaration, and is from the main point of view of Offred. Although in the book women posses almost no power over decisions in their life and their circumstances, Offred demonstrates her want for even the most menial authority here. She uses her body in a sexualized form in order to taunt innocent young guards that are unable to affect her or their lives. Although she feeles ashamed at first, she rethinks that idea and decides against this feeling, for the want of meager authority. I think this passage goes to show that in this society women are degraded and disrespected to a point where they must rely on sexualizing themselves to gain power. I believe this is true even though they are falsely respected by guards who will salute them; this seems to be simply a facade in order to keep the society from turning into the raw sexual form of slavery that it seems to be.