"The Handmaid's Tale"

In The Handmaid's Tale, The main character, Offred, is caught in an oppressive society where women are merely objects of sex, baby production, and housekeeping, and the Bible is the only source of law and lifestyle. The society uses the Bible word for word. They follow the text, and not the meaning behind it. Through this, the author, Margaret Atwood, illustrates one of her many points -how literal interpretation of religious texts blurs what the religion is actually about. Due to this extreme interpretation, the society developed an exceptionally meaningless, bleak, way of life, without emotion, without human reasoning or feeling. Offred's narration is numb, even describing her personal account of forced sex in an un-phased manner, where in our society, that can be an incredibly traumatic situation. She is dead, emotionally. She is mechanical, along with the society. Because of the society's literal interpretation of the Bible, it has blurred the love the religion is supposed to teach. It has lost the faith the Bible is meant to bring, it has lost everything, but the text itself.
    Atwood does not just express her opinion focused solely on religious extremist, but all extremists. Offred's mother was a part of an extremist feminist group. When Offred was a young girl, her mother forced her to burn a pornographic magazine that she did not entirely understand. She had to burn it, because it was bad. There were no explanations, just the simple fact that it was wrong, and the mother forced that idea upon her. She did not allow her daughter to form her own opinion,she only allowed her to accept what she is giving her. Extreme viewpoints do not allow opposing views to be even recognized. This leaves minds closed and unaccepting, unwilling to even respect the opposition, and expects others to do the same.
     Personally, my favorite passage of the novel was when Offred was describing the room she had to live in, where everything was removed that "you could tie a rope to." This was disturbing to read, chilling to know that the sweetest escape would have been suicide. It illustrates the intensity of this oppression, and how the society is aware of it.
     I actually enjoyed this novel, because I agree with many of the points the author makes. Although analyzing every little bit of seemingly unimportant description grows tiresome, it does show the author's ability to weave in her points throughout all of the novel. I liked the bleak narration, as it gave insight into the way Offred felt, just by the way she phrased things. Overall, I like The Handmaid's Tale, and I could see myself reading it outside of class.

"We"

     In the novel, We, the overall theme particularly interested me. I enjoyed the use of numbers and equations to reflect the basis of an oppressive utopian society because, well, I absolutely despise math. However, that is beside the point! The author, Yevgeny Zamyatin, utilizes mathematics to eliminate abstract thought, leaving the citizens of One-State without any mental or emotional capacity for imagination. D-530 even deems such thought as preposterous, simply absurd and moronic. Why even allow yourself to think theoretically, when all answers can be found within an equation?
     That is exactly it though. There is no equation for emotion. There is no equation for love, hate, sadness or envy. There is no equation for life. The author displays D-530 originally completely consumed by concrete thought, finding comfort within numbers. Yet as he is influenced by I-330 (who is a direct representation of imagination; the "I" in her name is a reflection of the symbol used by mathematicians to identify imaginary numbers), he begins to develop the ability to think abstractly, beyond equations. This begins his mental revolution -  the downfall of his sanity, yet the beginning to his rise as an individual. Imagination and conceptual thought is what makes someone an individual. The ability to form ideas, and  to answer questions with those personally formed ideas, is what makes us human. Learning from each other is what progresses us as a species. Without imagination, there is no progression. Without individuality, there are no advancements. That is the essential theme of the novel - imagination and individuality makes humanity. The only characteristics that make the citizens of One-State human is their physicality. They are not born, they are produced. One-State produces machines.  They are exact copies of one another mentally, and near exact physical replications. All answers are found in concrete equations, and that is it. No exceptions. Because of this, they are forced beneath the oppression of the ultimate rule of the Benefactor, and there is no way above it.
     I found the passage of when D-503 is looking in the mirror and reflecting upon himself to be particularly interesting. The passage contains the line, "And for the first time in my life, I swear it, for the very first time in my life, I get a clear, distinct, conscious look at myself; I see myself and I’m astonished, like I’m looking at some 'him.'" This illustrates how he is finally realizing that he is developing, rather, the beginning of his individuality. He is a different person now; he is someone unfamiliar. However, he identifies the reflection as himself, therefore understanding that he is changing. This reflection is described as "clear", "distinct" and "conscious". It is his true reflection, his individual identity. What he found comfort in before is clouded compared to image of himself he sees now. He is a revolutionizing human, standing apart from his mechanical brethren. He is finally beginning to think, he had finally awaken his consciousness from the numbness of conformity. 
      We was definitely an interesting novel, with an interesting overall theme of the importance of imagination and individuality. However, this novel did not stand out to me, it itself did not seem unique. Perhaps I have just grown tired at this point of studying utopian societies. It seemed repetitive and easy to get lost in, leaving me to have to reread passages because I have lost interest. Yet, unlike most of the class, I enjoyed the way the author developes the character through his dramatic viewpoint changes, and how it became more frequent as the story progresses. It really shows how D-503 changes without him fully understanding it. It displays his development through the way he says things, than just what he says. Essentially, my feelings towards We is neutral - just another book we had to read in class.