Unit 1 Post

Margaret Atwood frequently mentions colors throughout her novel, and as we discussed in class last week, her frequent use of the color red stands out most to me. Although the color red can be associated with several meanings, I tend to associate it most with passion, love, and femininity. However, in The Handmaid’s Tale, it is used to signify the Handmaids as the fertile women, and therefore essentially the outcasts of society. I wonder why Atwood chose the color red for the Handmaids when a color like black might be more suitable for someone looked down upon and seen as an outcast. Even Offred mentions both the colors red and black when considering her current state and use of her body compared to the former way in which she used to look at herself.

In chapter 13 she says, “I used to think of my body as an instrument, of pleasure, or a means of transportation, or an implement for the accomplishment of my will… Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping. Inside it is a space, huge as the sky at night and dark and curved like that, though black-red rather than black” (p. 73-74). Although Offred recognizes that her body is nothing more than an instrument and has been stripped of any sort of feminist qualities or capabilities, she continues to associate it with the color red. If Offred had looked at her body as disgusting and hopeless, she would have associated it instead with the color black. Despite her circumstances, Offred continues to use the color red in relation to the woman’s body and because of this, I wonder if Atwood is suggesting that the Handmaids have accepted and adapted to their roles in Gilead. Are the Handmaids partly to blame for what they have become because they still attempt to see the best of their situation (as seen through their frequent use and mention of the color red)? Even after everything, they continue to be dutiful and do not consider their roles to be hopeless or disgusting. Although many of the Handmaids still look back upon their former lives, it seems that they have almost internalized their roles in society and convinced themselves that their treatment is acceptable.

Perhaps I only think this way of the Handmaids because of my interpretation of the color red?

Blog post

Thinking back to all of our classroom discussions and readings it was hard to narrow down what to blog about. I decided to focus on the Handmaids Tale. Our last class discussion we focused on the color red and its association with fertility. This is essentially the focus of the handmaid’s existence. Why are these women seen as fertility objects? I like how Lauren brought up how the fact that the handmaids actually do represent an antifeminist lash. Which makes me wonder how this book will end.

Reading the Handmaids Tale I found many one-liners that stuck out to me and made me question the text. One that particularly stood out to me was on

p. 9 “ She puts on a veil to go outside, but nobody much cares who sees the face of Martha’

Why do household servants/ Martha’s have to be women? More importantly why are these women not aloud to talk to handmaids and other people. Martha’s and handmaids follow these norms, so what is the author saying about even women following the norms of society?

Unit 1 Post

The Handmaid's Tale was written during a backlash against the feminist movement. In class we discussed how the color red is related to the social system in Gilead, how it "outcasts" the Handmaids, sets them apart, and makes them visible to the Eye. In further discussion, we identified how the handmaid's seem to be prized for their fertility but forced into this social position as a result of past decisions such as abortion, divorce, or infidelity. This can be seen as a punishment, resorting back to older social roles instead of supporting feminist ideals. To build on this, I'd like to discuss a passage in Chapter 13 in which the handmaid discusses her spare time and boredom. She refers to 19th century art galleries in which paintings were "...supposed to be erotic, and I thought they were, at the time; but I see now what they were really about. They were paintings about suspended animation; about waiting, about objects not in use. They were paints about boredom. But maybe boredom is erotic, when women do it, for men (p. 69)." It is evident in this passage that she struggles with the past and present, in the freedom she once had and the lack of freedom she has now. The boredom, restriction from books, the "practice" to enhance fertility are mindless for the handmaids. It appears to be all too reminiscent of the idea commonly used in slavery, that ignorance will prevent power.

I'd also like to point out another part of Chapter 13 in which ideas commonly used in defense of rape or abuse are evident in this new society. The handmaids are brainwashed. In "Testifying," the women are asked to repeat "Her fault, her fault, her fault" to Janine who admitted to being gang-raped (p. 72).

Furthermore, "Who led them on? Aunt Helena beams, pleased with us. She did. She did. She did. Why did God allow such a terrible thing to happen? Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson. Last week Janine burst into tears. Aunt Helena made her kneel in fron t of the classroom...For a moment, even though we knew what was being done to her, we despised her. Crybaby. Crybaby. Crybaby. We meant it, which is the bad part. I used to think well of myself. I didn't then (p.72)."

It is interesting how Atwood used these scenarios to demonstrate how women are often the most "powerful" tool in condemning other women. If women are taught they are to blame, they will teach other women, and condemn the women who think otherwise. It is a clever way in which men can inflict what they want, by using other women. This is evident in how our society has struggled to change the way in which the legal system looks at rape and abuse. I enjoy these passages because they also show the handmaid's internal struggle between what is being taught and what she knows to be true in her heart or from a past time. These passages are very powerful. I believe that this supports the feminist movement and through colorful writing shows how disgusting it is to demean women in this way.

I'd love to hear how the rest of you interpreted these passages or themes throughout the book.

Unit 1 Post

Not exactly sure why but I had a tendency to compare Gilman’s Herland and Russ’s The Female Man. One of the things that kind of stuck out to me was the idea that both books seemed to have characters to represent one extreme to the next. In Herland, Van represented the “average” man that was both able to accept and learn from the women of Herland, while Terry represented more the stereotypical extreme of a “man’s man” and Jeff was the weaker example of a man and believed that women were superior. From these three characters Gilman is able to create an atmosphere that allows us to see various outsider perspectives. Though The Female Man has 4 main characters that all seem to represent different points of view but in a slightly different way. Russ’s characters all use the “scripts” that are present through the entire book in different ways. Janet thinks the responses are ludicrous, Janine ignores the fact that there are any scripts, Joanne acknowledges the scripts but doesn’t really know what to do with them and Jael uses these scripts to her advantage.  Both of these authors seem to find it necessary to create an outsiders perspective within the book rather than letting the reader be the only outsider, and get their own point of view. It seems as though they are trying to create these dis/utopia’s, but by having the various extremes of character views they leave it up to the reader to decide which they would like to agree with.

Like Aimee brought up there seems to also be a significance of the cat character. and both of these stories also use a cat characters to get a message across. Though these two authors used seem to use similar approaches what is the significance of them doing so to create these dis/utopias. Are these familiar patterns in all books that would fall into these categories?

Post 1

This is building off what one of my group members was thinking about as well as what we talked about in class.

In class we began to discuss how Herland did not necessarily seem like as sexless utopia, in fact there were many "feminine" qualities to it. In Gilman's Herland, the first three girls that the men see are named Ellador, Celis and Alima. As soon as I read these names their nature struck me as very feminine next to the very masculine Jeff, Vandyck and Terry. Throughout the story, the females have names such as Maudine and Zava with the "dine" and "a" being very common feminine name endings in multiple world languages.

Next, the feline cat in American culture is a very feminine creature and is often a sex symbol for the female sex. (Think of the term "sex-cat", etc). The cat is the only animal besides birds that exists in Herland, and as the men stated:

By the most prolonged and careful selection and exclusion they had developed a race of cats that did not sing! That's a fact. The most those poor dumb brutes could do was to make a kind of squeak when they were hungry or wanted the door open, and, of course, to purr, and make the various mother-noises to their kittens.

Quiet, calm cats who take care of their young sounds like many female housewife women to me.

Also, as someone in my group mentioned, there is the whole "motherhood" deal being the most important concept in Herland.

The feeling in the air on page 19 was even "The most prominent sensation was of absolute physical comfort". Physical comfort given to men from women? Aren't they the first men to be there (and come out alive to record it)?

Finally, how on page 15 Herland is described as:

I have often groaned at home to see the offensive mess man made in the face of nature, even though I'm no art sharp, like Jeff. But this place! It was built mostly of a sort of dull rose-colored stone, with here and there some clear white houses; and it lay abroad among the green groves and gardens like a broken rosary of pink coral.

Also, the trees, flowers, and fruit (fertility, maybe?) are also picked out as beautiful (and implying utopian quality). Between the color scheme and the landscape, the country itself seems very "feminine".

So, I have a few topics to discuss about this. What are some examples of the non-feminine or "masculine" qualities about Herland (if there are any)? What is the balance of "feminine" qualities of the women in Herland versus the non-feminine or "masculine" qualities (if there are any)? Then, what does this tell about culture versus nature? Perhaps, the author is implying that culture creates the idea of femininity, and culture has engrained all of these characteristics as feminine in the readers minds, but really even when enclosed from other culture's influences (like the women of Herland having no connection with the outer world), these things would still exist in nature, Aka culture does not produce sex, nature does. Perhaps, the author was just ignorant in writing her piece of all the "feminine" characteristics she added, AKA culture does produce sex.

Thoughts?

Paper 1

What does the wall that is put up around Herland represent, and how does it ...? I feel like there is a significance of this wall that "traps" these women and lets no one else in. It is clear that this utopia would have never survived had this wall not been here. I know that this really isn't the best question and i'm sure it needs to be added to, but I'm trying to figure out how to use this representation, its quite possible that I am wayyy off on this one. I am kind of hoping that I will have better luck with this last book that we have to read before the paper.

Paper 1 Question

Herland depicts a feminist, socialist society in which men have been "eliminated." Based on the women of Herland and the travelers reaction to them, how are women viewed in each world? Are the view of men also stereotypical, and what is the author attempting to convey about the way in which gender plays a role in our society?


I am hoping to use specific passages in which the Herland women and the travelers discuss differences, and also more subtle ways in which gender roles are either challenged or enforced. What do you guys think?

Paper 1 Question - Allison Yore

So far this is what I have:

Twilight embodies all of the aspects of a typical love story and therefore has captured the attention of women all across the world. But despite its overwhelming number of fans, Twilight is not perfect and it raises many important question about the representation of gender. What do the women of Twilight, especially Bella, and their interaction with various men as well as one another, suggest about the role of women as seen by society and the relationship between genders?

I feel like I'm having the same problem as Alyse. I really like Twilight which is why I want to write about it, but I just want to be able to write about it with an non-bias view. I'm not sure if my question is specific enough, but I also don't want it to be too specific and limit myself. So hopefully by focusing on the women in the movie and how they act around each other and around men, I'll be able to keep the paper focused and precise.

Paper 1 Question Aimee Roy

The "I" and Janet from The Female Man seems to look down on Jeannine and Joanna's worlds. Their worlds often have characteristics of dystopias.

My question would be how do Jeannine and Joanna's worlds appear as dystopias to outsiders such as Janet and the "I" of the novel? I want to specifically focus on how does the over-obsessiveness and covetousness (overly or wrongly desirous attitude) appear as dystopian to outsiders such as Janet and the "I" of The Female Man?

Some examples I have so far are on p. 83 in the first paragraph where the "I" is stuck with Jeannine and speaking of the ruffles on shirts, hanging earrings, etc and is annoyed. It continues on the next page with another obsession....The Home. Also, page 86 when Jeannine buys the fishnets she won't ever wear then feels guilty about it, but just "had to have them". Also, p. 92 Jeannine suggests an attack technique of Whileaway and Janet responds that they don't worry about that stuff because the way to protect the Whileaway-ans would make life way too over obsessive.
I could also point out how Janet's world is very efficient and there's no nonsense add-ons because of obsession or covetousness. Or about Jeannine's obsessiveness to finding a man.

Should I just focus on Jeannine's world and outsiders since all of my examples so far have that? Or should I try and include Janet? Does my question make sense? Do you think it would make an interesting paper?

Thank you!!

PAPER 1

Twilight has been an undeniable phenomenon that has swept the nation. The combination of realistic fiction and a love story mixed together to create a popular hit on the big screen. From little girls to older women, Twilight has been specifically appealing towards the female audience. The question that arises is if this film could be omitting the wrong message/ stereotypes of female roles in society to its womanly audience. What is the underlying message this film is telling women/young girls in terms of what they are and need to do for men? 

1. I was not sure if this is too broad of a question. I found one quote so far I was going to use. It was said by Jessica: Oh my god, it's like , the first grade all over again,you're the shiny new toy.I was going to go on to discuss the kind of potential message this is sending. The part that I am having the hardest time with its that I genuinely like twilight so it is hard to dissect it.