Book vs. Movie

            The movie and book for The Handmaid’s Tale were different in displaying the story. I liked reading

 

 the book and the movie made it easier to understand some of the things that I did not get in the book.

            One of the main things in the book that made it difficult for me to read and comprehend was the continuous switching of past and present voices from Offred. In the book she would come across something and it would trigger her memory and she would have a flashback and relate that experience to what she was just doing. Offred in the book had a lot of flashbacks to the academy where she was being trained to become a handmaid, in the movie it never showed any of that. In the movie it clearly differentiated the present and flashbacks that Offred had. I was never confused on when Offred was having a flashback or when it was showing her in the present. 

            The book showed Offred on a more personal level because the reader heard her thoughts and feelings. In the movie the viewer can only see is the emotion that Offred shows on her face and by her body language. I like reading the book better because I could read and sense her feelings. It made me as a reader understand her feelings and be able to relate to her. In the movie I could imagine how she would feel but could not be positive because the actress did not show a lot of emotions.

            The movie did a better job of clarifying little things that the book mentioned, but did not go into detailed. The opening part of the movie shows Offred’s flashback of how she came to the Republic of Gilead. In the beginning of the book I was not clear on what had happened to Offred, her daughter and husband. The movie displayed her husband being shot by the guard, which appeared as if he died. In the book she goes through a few scenarios on what had happened to her husband. The ending on the movie was not clear either to me, I did not know what had happened to Offred and Nick and the baby that they had conceived together. The book left the reader to imagine what had happened to Offred in the end, but the movie showed her being freed and living in the mountains waiting for Nick to come back with her daughter. I believe this is the way the director of the movie wanted to portray the ending the way they wanted it to end.

            The movie showed more excitement when Offred was receiving her gifts from the Commander. In the book the reader could tell that Offred liked getting the gifts, but it was not clearly described how much she like them. In the movie she showed how much she enjoyed the lotion and magazines by her facial expressions. The movie showed them more as gifts then just things she received from the Commander.

            In the book during the birth ceremony it seemed a lot more upbeat and happy then it did in the movie. In the book it seemed as if everyone was happy and excited for the new birth. In the movie the expression on the wives and other handmaid’s faces did not show a time of joy. Similar instance happened during the ceremony where they murdered the man who had raped a handmaid. In the book the reader could feel how angry Offred felt in the way this man was being punished. In the movie she seemed more nonchalant and was more of an observer. In the book the reader understood her feelings, but the movie did a better job of showing what had happened to the man. It made it clear how horrible it was and how involved the other handmaid’s were.

            Overall I think that I would rather watch the movie because it made more things easier to understand, but the book was a very emotional book and that made it easier to relate to. The movie and book were very closely tied together.

             

           

Topic Proposal

 The guiding question that would help me understand Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids Tail is why only the women were tested for fertility and not them men. I feel that if it was so important for their society to produce then why didn't they test the men to so that the two fertile people could get together to produce a child. I want to learn if there is a major difference in the fertility of women and men over time. I plan to research records and statistics regarding fertility of both women and men over time to help with this paper. If there is a major difference between the fertility of women and men then I want to see if Atwood portrayed them completely. I chose this topic because there were several instances in the book where Atwood talked about ways to show if women were fertile and not, but not if men were. It confused and irritated me reading these parts because it seems so simple to just test the men as well and get two fertile people together. I know that male dominance will never go away in our society because it has been around so long. I realize that in this book testing men for fertility would cause a dent in the male ego or dominance. I believe that if the "perfect" society was really striving for children that much which was emphasized by the book they would test male fertility as well. I feel like researching this topic would help me better understand why Atwood choose not to write about men being tested as well. It would put a lot of instances in the book together in a way that makes sense to me. I plan to put a little of everything above into my paper and hopefully when I am done understand the book a little bit more.

talk.org

Thesis Statement

1.  (Weak) I'm going to write about Darwin's concerns with evolution in The Orgin of the Species.
     
     Darwin's concern with survival of the fittest in The Origin of the Species leads him to neglect a potentially conflicting aspect of his theory of evolution-survival as a matter of interependence.

2.   (Weak) An importand part of one's college education is learning to better understand others' points of view.
    
       Although an important part of one's college education is learning to better understand others' points of view a persistent danger is that the students will simply be reuired ot substiture the teacher's answers for theones they grew up uncritically believing.

3.   By inventing terms, such as "loose fit" and "relaxed fit", the jean industry has attempted to normalize, even glorify, its product for an older fatter generation.

       (Weak) The jeans industry targets its advertisements to appeal to young adults.

4.    (Weak) Othello is a play about love and jealousy.

       Although Othello appears to attack jealousy, it also supports the skepticism of the jealous characters ober the naivete of the lovers.

5.    (Weak) The songs of the punk rock group Minor Threat relate to the Feelings of indiciduals who dare to be different. Their songs are just composed of pure emotion. Pure emotion is very important in music, because it serves as a vehicle to convey the important message of individuality. Minor Threat's songs are meaningful to me because I can identify wiht them.

      The punk rock group Minor Threat uses emotional lyrics to appeal to their target audience, which considers itself individualistic and therefore the lyrics must convey a message of individuality.

My Thesis Statement:

The tragic My Lai Massacre is virtually unknown to the public, and history of the Vietnam war because it shows an unfavorable light on the United States.
1. No.
2. Yes original and arguable.
3. Yes

sillysoft.net

Source Evaluation

Author Robert C Prewitt. On google it came up saying that Prewitt was a United States Marine. It did not have any information about his term in Vietnam. The article was written in February 2006. Prewitt's article had information regarding the Quang Ngai Province, which is my essay topic. It describes the area and enemy surrounding him. Since it is a personal experience reference I did not try to search elsewhere. The fact that it was published in the Marine Corps Gazette made me feel that I could trust it.

Amazon.com
Tim O'Briens lecture was film of what he said. I do not know when the lecture was given, it was not on the website. I know that the lecture was given at Brown University. It was also on their website so I feel that is ery creditabl. Since it had it written out and had audio I felt it was very reliable. The lecture was very informative and O'Brien talked about numerous stories and experiences.

Robert C Prewitt. Marine Corps Gazette. Quantico; Feb 2006. Vol. 90, Iss. 2; pg 63, 2 pgs.

O'Brien, Tim. "Writing Vietnam". President's Lecture. Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. 22 Oct. 2010. Lecture.

Mid Session Check In

Dear Mrs. Cline,

This class has been very enjoyable. My biggest challenge has been writing the papers, I have a difficult time grasping the concept of literary analysis. I am learning and trying to write A papers, and it is difficult. The biggest success I have had would be correcting and learning from my mistakes. I think that my challenges and successes are fairly equal.
The readings have been really interesting and were greatly informative for me. I have never read poems or stories that were so graphic. The poems gave me a lot of different emotions reading them. I enjoyed reading O’Brien and Huze. I have never read a book about war and what happens during a time of war, but those two authors were great to read. It broadened my horizons on that topic by reading them.
Literary analysis is different because the writer does not talk about his or hers experiences as much, or that is not the main point of the paper. The point of the paper is to really understand the writing and what the author is trying to get across. It is hard to write literary analysis papers, at least for me.
My goal is to get better at writing literary analysis papers and keep learning about them. I want to become efficient in writing them. I want to improve my last two essays in case I choose to use them for the final portfolio. My overall goal in this class is to accomplish an A, so I just need to keep improving my work and learning to achieve that.

Sincerely,

Kirsten Lambertson

Summary vs. Analysis

Summary vs. Analysis

“On the Rainy River”

Summary:

            Tim O’Brien talks about his way of becoming a soldier. He tells the reader about his life, going to college, his job, and his girl friend. He goes home after work one day and receives his draft notice. His body goes into a mental overload and shuts down. He has an extremely important decision to make that will change his life as he knows it. He has two choices and both will change his life. Tim can either go to war in Vietnam or flee to Canada. One day after work Tim goes on a drive searching for something to help him in this difficult decision. After all his driving he ends up at this lodge. An old man runs the lodge and allows Tim to stay. The old man doesn’t ask any questions and allows Tim to fall into his everyday chores. Tim works for the old man for a couple days until the old man decides to take him fishing. Once they get to the river Tim breaks down, and cries until he can’t anymore. Tim leaves the next morning knowing what his choice is.

Analysis:

            Tim is an average college student, balancing school, a job and a girlfriend. When Tim receives his draft notice he is angered because he has a life. He does not want to give up his life at home and go to fight in Vietnam because he does believe the war is right. Tim thinks that people who support the war should go and fight it in full. Life is unfair to Tim because he is left with two options that both require his life to change. Tim does not want to go to war in Vietnam and he does not want to flee to Canada. He takes a trip and comes to a lodge where he believes the old man was his savior. The old man takes him to a river where Tim makes the final decision. Tim considers himself a coward and goes to Vietnam to fight the war he does not agree with.

image found at faculty.smu.edu.

Tim O'Brien Review

Tim O'Brien Response

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-zBIqqA32c