Source Evaluation

Beauchamp, Gorman. "The Politics of The Handmaid's Tale. " The Midwest Quarterly 51.1 (2009): 11-26. Research Library Core, ProQuest. Web. 25 Jul. 2010.

This article by Gorman Beauchamp talk about the reaction of England, Canada, and the United States to Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale according to an interview Atwood had with the New York Times. While it talks about how all the countries view it differently, it also adds an insight to what Atwood was thinking while writing the novel. She said that England had the most relaxed response saying that her book was simply fiction while Canada was worried that the United States could one day turn into something similar to that of Gilead. Interestingly, most people’s response here was how long do we have?

The article also talks about Gilead and the religious connections it has which directly relates to my topic. Beauchamp talks about how Gilead is a theocracy where religion is a common denomenator in the way the society is run. He also says that Atwood used Iran as an inspiration for creating Gilead. At one time Iran was very similar to Gilead and prosecuted its citizens for religious crimes frequently. This is an example I can use in my own paper because I was finding it hard to find examples of places like Gilead. Atwood said that nothing she put in her book had not happened somewhere or is already happening in our world today. This is very interesting because it makes one think, could this really happen? This article will be very helpful to me when writing my essay.

Turner, Dr. Nick. "Margaret Atwood". British Council. 7.23.2010 .

This article by Dr. Nick Turner is a credible source because of the author and the website it came from. Dr. Nick Turner got his degree from the University of Manchester in post-war British women literature and has done extensive research on female authors. He has a background in women’s literature allowing him to talk about Atwood because that is what he is educated in. The website is a collection of biographies and analysis of different contemporary writers and is a scholarly site.

The article gives a biography on Atwood and also talks about some of her political beliefs and her feminism. The article talks about how feminism is a main focus in many of her works. The article gives an overview of many of her works and the different awards they have won.

Essay #3 Proposal

What I want to know more about in the book is the way they use language and religion as a form of power. Throughout the book people are referred to as “Sons of Jacob” or “Children of Ham”. When researching these terms they are referring to Jews and African Americans. These titles separate them from the other people in Gilead. Even the women have ranks that separate them from each other and these ranks are part of a vocabulary created by Gilead.

I plan on researching how language, especially religious language, is used as a form of power and a way to oppress people. Gilead is a totalitarian society but also a theocracy, there is no separation of church and state. I think there are examples of this in our society and in other societies throughout time.

I chose this topic because it is such a reoccurring theme in Atwood’s book. At first I did not understand what the book was about and the names of the women and the way the society was set up made it confusing. I thought Gilead was some sort of magical place but once I read more and more it made sense that she was trying to explain what our world could come to. I think this will help me understand what Atwood really thinks about how our government works because she obviously thinks that one day we could become this totalitarian, theocratic state.

Image taken from: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/417SV938KJL.jpg

First Half Check Up

The biggest challenge for me so far in this class has been doing the reading and being able to transfer what I have read into my work. Reading is not something I feel like I am good at and something I do not do often. There are some readings that I can remember and write about it right away but most of the time I have to.
The most successful part of the class for me right now I being able to stay on top of my work. In most of my classes that are online you have all your work due on one night. So I really have to make sure that I constantly look at the assignment folder.
I think the reading in the class are very interesting and powerful. I was a little skeptical at first about them being about war. I have found the reading very interesting and have given me a completely different view on soldiers. They go through a lot in a time of war and have a lot of emotional ups and downs.
Literary analysis is a lot different from other writing I have done in college because it is more in depth. The other writings are either research papers or simply writing about something I read from more of a summary standpoint. I think that literary analysis will help my other writing because I will be able to give a more in depth response readings.
My goal for the second half is to finish strong. I want to be able to turn in better work because I am used to the formats and I know how all the assignments work. I think this will help in finishing strong. I also want to keep improving my essays. I think being more familiar with literary analysis will help.

For information about literary analysis:http://www.goshen.edu/english/litanalysis.html

The Things They Carried Poem

The things they carried all had a meaning
Jimmy Cross, a strobe light, to help his men to safety
But also photos of his love Maria to keep him sane
Mitchell Sanders, a radio to keep them in communication
Rat Kiley, a canvas full of medical supplies to save lives
Henry Dobbins, an M-60 to stop anything in their path
But what they carried also varied
Different weapons for different missions
Mine detectors, Bibles, and night sight vitamins
Everything they carried had a reason
To stay alive, one way or another

Picture taken from:
http://blackopstoys.com/catalog/images/SS-SFG-propic-backpack2.jpg

Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong

Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong by Tim O’Brien is about a story told by an officer in the Vietnam War. The person who tells the story is named Rat Kiley. Rat Kiley was a story teller and all of the stories he told he swore were true; but they seemed a little farfetched. The sweetheart of Song Tra Bong refers to a young woman by the name of Mary Anne. Mary Anne was the girlfriend of Mark Fossie who was stationed at a base on the outskirts of Tra Bong when Rat was stationed there. With some careful planning and a lot of money, Fossie had managed to fly his girlfriend out to the base where he and Rat were stationed. Everyone loved Mary Anne, she was nice, good looking and everyone enjoyed being around her. After a while she stopped wearing dresses or worrying about her hygiene and started to become like one of the guys. Fossie was not concerned with this at first but then she started not coming home at night. Fossie was concerned she was sleeping with another person at the camp. It turns out she was; she was sleeping with all the Greenies, but not in a sexual way. She had become this Greenie that could not get enough of the jungle and the war; she was entranced by it all. One day she went out and did not come back for days. When she finally did, she came back and went straight to the Greenie’s hootch. Finally after days of her not coming out Fossie and Rat went into the Greenie’s hootch in search of her. What they found was a completely different girl, standing in front of them with a necklace made of tongues, and telling them with no emotion that they did not belong inside that hootch. After that Rat did not know what happened to her because he as shipped off to a new base. All he had heard was that one-day she went out into the jungle and never came back.

Tim O’Brien’s Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong is an entertaining yet farfetched story. The story told about Mary Anne by Rat Kiley immediately draws you in with suspense and figurative language, but when it is all said and done, the story is hardly non-fiction. The whole story starts off with an absurd story about how an officer at a base named Mark Fossie flew in his girlfriend Mary Anne from Cleveland. Rat in his story says, “At Evening chow Mark Fossie explained how he’d set it up. It was expensive, he admitted, and the logistics were complicated, but it wasn’t like going to the moon. Cleveland to Los Angeles, LA to Bangkok, Bangkok to Saigon. She’d hopped at C-130 up to Chu Lai and stayed overnight at the USO and in the morning hooked a ride west with the resupply chopper.” (O’Brien). Rat had said that the base was pretty lenient in terms of rules and regulations but a soldier would not be able to fly his girlfriend out to visit him nonetheless. It would be nearly impossible to arrange such a trip and the military would not let some girl ride in their aircrafts around Vietnam during a hostile war. The story becomes even more farfetched when Rat starts elaborating on how Mary Anne had turned into this hardcore Green Beret: “She wore a bush hat and filthy green fatigues; she carried a standard M-16 automatic assault rifle, her face was black with charcoal.” (O’Brien). Even if somehow a soldier were to have flown their girlfriend half was across the world to his base, she would not be allowed to handle weapons or go out with Green Berets. Green Berets are one of the toughest and highly trained groups of individuals in our army and they would not go on missions with another soldier’s girlfriend. O’Brien’s story is one of fiction but it is an example of how soldiers kept themselves occupied with each other by telling stories like this one.

Picture taken from: http://sites.google.com/site/wordandworld/thingstheycarriedcover2.jpg

Poetry of Witness

The first poem that really spoke to me was Song of Napalm by Bruce Weigl. The reason I reacted emotionally to this is because of the way Weigl was able to capture the horror and the sadness of how violent napalm can be. When I read this poem it makes me think of the famous picture from Vietnam of the little kids running down the street screaming as their skin burns from the napalm slowly melting their skin away. It is amazing how Weigl can take such horrific imagery and turn it into poetic language. What makes this poem even more chilling is the fact that Weigl actually served in the Vietnam war so his words are not just coming from his imagination but they are coming from first hand experience which makes his poem even more real in a sense.
The second poem that really spoke to me is Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting by Kevin C Powers. When I first read the poem I did not really understand what it was about but after reading again I realize that it is about war. The poem to me makes me realize all the things that we take for granted on an everyday basis that soldiers do not get on an everyday basis. We can sleep for more than ten minutes, we do not have to kill people, we do not have to worry about our lives, which every soldier in every war has to do. What I like most about this poem is I can visualize a soldier writing a letter to his wife talking about all the horrible things that he has to do and all the hardships he faces on an everyday basis, it makes the poem more surreal. Everyday we wake up and most of us take for granted what we have and do not realize that there are men and women all over the world fighting for our freedoms, and for that I am thankful.

Bruce Weigl's Song of Napalm
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=171470

Kevin C. Powers' Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=182821

What Makes a Good Reader

I think Nabakov’s idea of a good reader is one that can really get themselves into what they are reading and has an open mind about everything in the text. A good reader must be able to have a good imagination in order to visualize what the words are saying. Nabakov also says that in order to be a good reader we must reread. Since reading can be a straining physical task on the eyes Nabakov says that in order to really get everything out of the text you must reread. I think that Nabakov’s idea of a good reader is fair. I think that having a good imagination helps a lot. I think rereading is important but I also think that you can get away with not doing it.

Aside from Nabakov’s ideas I think that a good reader must read critically as well. I think that when reading text you should have an open mind but also question what you are reading so you can seek the truth. I also think people try and read way too fast. Reading slowly is not a bad thing it can help make sure you do not miss anything and you retain as much information as possible. I think that I am an ok reader. It is hard for me to sit in one place and try to read for a long time. Even when reading the Nabakov essay my mind started wandering toward the end and it was hard to concentrate.

Image taken from http://www.gltech.org/library/Reading/Images/ziggy-slowReading.gif