Blog 1: The Handmaid's Tale

Reading this story over break was really long, but I like it better than The Left Hand of Darkness. at first it was kind of hard to really understand what was going on, but i think that applies to a lot of books. Anyway, for a moment I thought that the society that these women live in was a convent or somewhat similar to a convent, but then i later realize that it's a place where women are prevented from escaping so they could give babies. this was very weird.

In a class discussion i had today with my group, a lot of things were brought up. things like, their apparel, their winged hats. while discussing their apparel, my group and i had come to a conclusion that certain women in this society were not allowed to draw any attention to them. we've analyzed that it's to prevent them from, falling in love? there was a quote, " he looks at me, and sees me looking.....i drop my head and turn so that the white wing hide my face....." (p. 18) i think that eye contact was not allowed which is why the women there were required to wear special winged hats. this custom, is somewhat similar to religions where women are not allowed to wear a specific type of clothing.

another thing we've talked about is, why are the Guards, or the angels keeping the women in? we've discussed that the angels aren't necessarily good, but are guards to keep the women in and not out. but why keep the women in? well, i think its because the women there are very fertile, and the commander and his wife want them to make babies because, i think, im not so sure but, the commander's wife can't have babies.