Her or Me

Kyle Petras

4/26/16

Gubanich

Western Lit.

Her or Me

      In this week’s reading, our main character has an unfortunate procedure called the Ceremony done. Offred’s job as a handmaid is to have sex with the commander and try to bear a child. The quote that is focused on for this blog says, “Which of us is it worse for, her or me?”.

      During the ceremony, Serena Joy is in the room. Not only is Offred lying on Serena’s stomach and holding her hands, but she has to endure her husband in other words raping Offred. Both Offred’s and Serena’s situations are difficult to endure. For Serena, It is not necessarily a physical trial she needs to go through, but a mental one. She has to watch her husband do this to another woman while she is holding her hands. For Offred, she is physically having something done to her.

      In my opinion, I believe Offred has it worse. Another factor of this is the amount of comfort both are feeling during this moment. Neither are comfortable, but Offred is being raped while having her hands held by the wife of the man who is doing it to her. For Offred, she has a way of coping. This involves her trying to stray her mind from what is happening. An example of this would be how she remembered “ Queen Victoria’s advice to her daughter: close your eyes and think of England”(94). For Serena, I feel she just fights on through it and doesn’t really have a coping mechanism.

      In the end, Offred states the quote, “Which of us is it worse for, her or me?”. This has a little hidden secret. Why would she even be saying this? I have an idea as to why. Offred has some sympathy for her, otherwise, she would have never said anything like that. What does this mean? I don’t think that Serena has the same affection towards Offred because she treats her very poorly. When they finish the ceremony, Serena says to Offred to “get up and get out” with disgust(95). I do think both have it pretty bad, honestly. I surely wouldn’t want to be raped while being held by a woman from behind, and I definitely wouldn’t want to see my spouse having sex with someone else while holding that person.
      

      So the wire does come down to Offred. I think because she is being physically damaged, she has it worse.

Then and Now

      In “The Handmaid’s Tale”, our main character has gone through a lot so far. Her past is vastly different than her present story. All things seem to be normal until the war happened. After, our main character and others become handmaids. They are in other words maids for the wealthy families. These two opposite sides give a view as to who “she” was and what she has become as well as the world around her.
      In the beginning of the book, our main character is describing the setting. She is in a gymnasium and telling what used to happen in there. She begins talking about the basketball games and dances that took place in there and the smell of sweat. She then speaks of how the world has changed and the gym has now become a containment facility. The handmaids are held here and around the perimeter of the facility, there are the guardians who guard everyone inside as well as the aunts who are making sure no one talks to each other. As the story goes along, our main character glimpses into the past. Before, she had a significant other named Luke. Unfortunately for her, Luke loved his previous wife more than her and began having an affair with her. She also speaks of a woman who she remembers seeing on tv when she was younger. This memory becomes very important later in the story. These things that are mentioned about the past which are very important to the reader to see what happened and how it has changed.
      Our narrator, who we learn her name is Offred, has been recruited as a handmaid by a household. When she arrives, she recognizes the woman who open the door for her. When she finally realizes who it is, she thinks to herself that it was the woman who I saw on the TV all those years. Her name was Serena Joy. She was the Commander’s wife. She is very stiff and strict. She doesn’t allow her to call her ma’am and bosses her around. Offred resides in a room that is pretty much “everything proof”. There is no glass in the picture frames to prevent her from cutting her wrists, no chandelier to stop her from hanging herself and the glass in the window is shatter proof, to stop her from escaping. When walking to town, she must walk with another handmaid. She is not allowed to talk to men and has one purpose, to have sex with the commander and have a child for the family. Most of these points are based around control. This book seems to be based around control so far.
      Getting a sight of the present and the future gives some perspective on how life worked and works for Offred. In the present, control seems to be huge. Seeing the differences of the them gives two very different perspectives of our narrator’s life.

Anthem Final Essay

Kyle Petras

4/10/16

Gubanich

Western Lit.

Anthem Final Essay

      In Ayn Rand’s Dystopian Novel, Anthem, the protagonist, Equality 7-2521, lives in a world where he is different. He is not like his brethren. Not only is he taller than all the others, but also he is smarter and more curious. His curiosity leads to him wanting to discover things. His discoveries are monumentally new to him, but in the reader’s eye, it is just an everyday object. Even though we see the things Equability find on an everyday basis, these new findings make it ever more impactful and exciting for the reader.

      In the beginning of the book, Equality 7-2521 is on his way to the theater for the daily performance. He strays from the crowd and discovers “an old iron grill over a black whole” as “the earth fell in before us”(rand 17). Equality then goes down into the hole where he finds a tunnel. This discovery is immense for Equality. No one has ever seen anything like this before, but when reading it, we already know that it is just a subway. Equality’s description of the earth falling in and the old grate makes the hole feel like an endless pit, where no one had been for many years. This makes it special for the reader.

      Further on in the novel, Equality has made regular visits down to the subway. His first discovery has led to another, which is his finding of electricity, “a new power of nature”(Rand 35). Electricity is used everyday in our lives. As I write this, I am using electricity. Equality puts into perspective this power, this unknown, and how is would be very odd not having electricity in our society. There would be no Instagram or phones in general. What kind of a society would that be?

      While searching the subway track, Equality finds things hanging from the ceiling like orbs. These things are completely foreign to him and has no idea what he is looking at. He describes it as “wires that led to little globes of glass”(Rand 36). His unknowing discovery is light. More specifically, light bulbs. In Anthem, people live off of candlelight. Never has anyone seen bulbs that produce light. This finding is one of the lesser important but still key in the story. It makes the reader feel how life would be without light and gives perspective to how Equality felt in that moment.

      Continuing the topic of light, Equality begins to experiment with wiring. He soon discovers that light is produced when the wire is heated. Equality is stunned and amazed. Light has never been created this way before. He says that “tonight, we finished building a strange thing”(Rand 41). This “strange thing” is his version of light, his own creation. His creation leads him to wanting to show others this newfound thing. This, I think people can relate to in the sense that people do discover things and want to show others to impress them. That is what this quote makes the reader feel.

      Debatably the most astounding discover in the whole story is finding Equality’s reflection. While in the woods, Equality goes to find water. He stumbles upon a stream and when he looks down, he sees his reflection. Equality says “for upon the blue of the sky below us, we saw our own face for the first time”(Rand 58). This discovery is huge. Equality not only sees himself but also finds himself in this moment. We all have mirror and cameras to see ourselves. What would we do if we could never see our own face? It gives the reader that glimpse of what Equality was feeling at that moment.

      The discoveries that Equality finds throughout the book are very effective to the reader. It truly shows them what it’s like finding these things what we have and use every day of our lives. It emphasizes how lucky we really are.

The Future has become the Past

Kyle Petras

3/4/16

Gubanich

Anthem Blog #1

The Future has become the Past

Ayn Rand’s philosophies are beyond its time. Some of her ideas model what American and the world have become today. Not only is she confident in her philosophies, but also she is accurate. Ayn Rand’s ideas may seem outlandish, but they are so interesting and some even good sounding. If our government just opened their minds, maybe they would see a new route for America and its people. Even though Rand lived many years ago, her ideas accurately show where America is heading in its future.

With her philosophy of “individualism”, Ayn Rand believes that each man’s moral purpose in life should be his happiness and that everything is fixed. Well, all I can say is that man’s main and moral purpose in life should be his happiness. I don’t know about the world enough to know whether everything is fixed, but I can say that laws and the way the government works are fixed.

The next idea is “selfishness vs. altruism”. Rand believes that people need to figure things out for themselves. I believe that this is not present in today’s society, that some of the impoverished people of America depend on the government to provide for themselves because they don’t have to work. And then the upper class ends up paying taxes to pay for them and their wellbeing. This is just not fair. The upper class work for their money and then have to end up paying half of what they earned back to the government in taxes to spend on things for the country. Look, if my tax dollars goes towards things that I use, such as roads, bridges and others things like that, I would be fine with that, but when it goes to people that are being lazy and don’t have a job and sit on the couch all day waiting for food stamps to arrive at their doorsteps, I get irritated.

The Government has become too powerful. It has taken many rights away from us and restricted things the American people should be able to do. Surveillance is a big one. Why should I have to be watched everywhere I go? There are probably cameras watching me right now as I write this blog.

Love is a little confusing topic for me. I do think people should love others for their virtues and correct their weaknesses. If you correct them, you end up being a better person.

I could cover more, but I’m going over the word limit and ranting a little, but I truly think Ayn Rand’s beliefs are truly amazing. If I could live in a society that has her beliefs, I think I would. She is a genius and I admire her philosophies a lot.