Hmmmm. This is the last blog post I have to write for this class.
The passage, or rather, passages I choose is how they outline the women's roles in society. I didn't like it. I bet that Mrs. Saunders didn't like it either. Really, any good, intelligent person would not like giving women set roles.
Here is an article about Sharia law, and here is another. What the articles describe is disgusting. The first one reports that Islamic states have rejected the UN's attempt to stop violence against women as it would violate their Sharia law. I find it hard to respect their Sharia law if it condone's violence against women, and I find it hard to respect those states if they abide by Sharia law. The second one describes how two teenage sisters and their mom were shot and killed for dancing in the rain. Seriously? It sounds like a sick joke. The two sisters and mom were dancing, a video of the dancing went viral, and so they were shot and killed. Apparently it violated the Sharia law. Hmmm. Further on in the article it reported that 77% of the people arrested for the murders in cases like this were acquitted.
The passage and articles are related in that they have laws that subjugate women. The passage is relevant to today's society because Sharia law still is in effect in many Islamic countries. And while in the U.S. we have no laws that discriminate against women there still is sexism.
Also, there is something that I noticed to. This book is obviously dystopic. It is dystopic in the United States though - Offred tried to escape with her daughter to Canada. It is dystopic due to the Religious law. And then in the real world most of the countries that are ruled under Sharia law (read: religious law) are not doing that hot either. Countries should not be ruled under religious law.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Blog 10 Handmaiden's Tale
The passage I chose was when the terrorist attack was described. The terrorist attack was done by a Christian group and it killed a lot of people.
The article that relates to the attack is this one. It is about how Anders Breivik killed 79 people in a terrorist attack in Norway. Lo and behold, Breivik is also Christian.
In the book, the group "Sons of Jacob" uses their terrorist attack to gain control of the United States. Not cool. It is obvious that they had bigger plans with their attack. Breivik, on the other hand, did not really want to accomplish much in conjunction with his attack. He did, however, have a "Manifesto" which he published online the day of his attacks. He didn't like Islam, he supported Zionism, and oh, look, he opposed Feminism. The group in the book were really mean to women and they took away their rights and generally degraded them. So there's another parallel.
This passage relates to the real world in that we still have terrorist attacks. Heck, we had the Boston Bombings not too long ago.
The passage also relates to the real world in that the Sons of Jacob framed the attacks on Islam. There is a lot of this today, this Islamophobia. If you read some of the comments on Fox News article online it is pretty disgusting. What I am saying is that the Sons of Jacob capitalized on society's collective Islamophobia to gain power over the United States. It seems farfetched, but there sure is a lot of Islam fear and hate today.
The passage is relevant to society today in that we still have terrorist attacks and we have Islamophobia.
The article that relates to the attack is this one. It is about how Anders Breivik killed 79 people in a terrorist attack in Norway. Lo and behold, Breivik is also Christian.
In the book, the group "Sons of Jacob" uses their terrorist attack to gain control of the United States. Not cool. It is obvious that they had bigger plans with their attack. Breivik, on the other hand, did not really want to accomplish much in conjunction with his attack. He did, however, have a "Manifesto" which he published online the day of his attacks. He didn't like Islam, he supported Zionism, and oh, look, he opposed Feminism. The group in the book were really mean to women and they took away their rights and generally degraded them. So there's another parallel.
This passage relates to the real world in that we still have terrorist attacks. Heck, we had the Boston Bombings not too long ago.
The passage also relates to the real world in that the Sons of Jacob framed the attacks on Islam. There is a lot of this today, this Islamophobia. If you read some of the comments on Fox News article online it is pretty disgusting. What I am saying is that the Sons of Jacob capitalized on society's collective Islamophobia to gain power over the United States. It seems farfetched, but there sure is a lot of Islam fear and hate today.
The passage is relevant to society today in that we still have terrorist attacks and we have Islamophobia.
Reflection on Children of Men
I liked this book. I am partial to the "band of survivors" type of Dystopias. While the 5 Fishes weren't the only survivors in the whole world, they are the book's "band of survivors."
First off, this is one of the scariest types of dystopias/apocalypses. If everyone were infertile then we would all die out within 100 years. However, if we had access to fertile sperm we could prolong our race for a bit longer. If it happened now we could still get sperm from fertility clinics and sperm banks. That wouldn't last us too long. With nowaday's technology scientists would most likely be able to grow people. Or grow sperm cells. Scientists in Japan have recently grown a mouse from a drop of blood. Neat stuff.
Buuuuut this happened in 1994. We wouldn't have had the technology back then.
There is something that kinda is annoying me though. It seems that their society is pretty darned orderly. I just don't see how there can be something so catastrophic and there not just be a massive upheaval of society. I don't think that humans have the capacity to come together after something that big, especially if after they died there would be no more people to live on earth. Hell, if that happened I would probably riot, then move out to the countryside and fend for myself.
The idea of the Omegas is pretty weird. I don't like how they received special attention and were buttheads about it. Also, I don't really understand the concept of a "generation." Where is the cutoff? I know that there was the Baby Boomer generation, and their kids were a generation, but doesn't that generation line get blurred along the way? Anyway, I didn't like the Omega's status.
This was a pretty good book overall.
First off, this is one of the scariest types of dystopias/apocalypses. If everyone were infertile then we would all die out within 100 years. However, if we had access to fertile sperm we could prolong our race for a bit longer. If it happened now we could still get sperm from fertility clinics and sperm banks. That wouldn't last us too long. With nowaday's technology scientists would most likely be able to grow people. Or grow sperm cells. Scientists in Japan have recently grown a mouse from a drop of blood. Neat stuff.
Buuuuut this happened in 1994. We wouldn't have had the technology back then.
There is something that kinda is annoying me though. It seems that their society is pretty darned orderly. I just don't see how there can be something so catastrophic and there not just be a massive upheaval of society. I don't think that humans have the capacity to come together after something that big, especially if after they died there would be no more people to live on earth. Hell, if that happened I would probably riot, then move out to the countryside and fend for myself.
The idea of the Omegas is pretty weird. I don't like how they received special attention and were buttheads about it. Also, I don't really understand the concept of a "generation." Where is the cutoff? I know that there was the Baby Boomer generation, and their kids were a generation, but doesn't that generation line get blurred along the way? Anyway, I didn't like the Omega's status.
This was a pretty good book overall.
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