Gilead: A Credible Society Essay -- Essays Papers

Gilead: A Credible Society In Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale, a society whose purposes are functional and practical roles is depicted. In Atwood's eyes, a society like Gilead's was perfectly credible, and in many ways I agree with her. The purpose of writing about such a radical society is not for one to panic into thinking that this could happen any time, nor is it for one to completely discard the idea. Instead, it's purpose is solely to warn us of the dangers already present in our own society, such as the uncontrollable violence that is going on, apparent on crimes, wars, racism, etc. Offred, the narrator, tells us about a society which came into existence in the early 80's as a direct consequence of overlooking the many problems in its previous society. Before the first steps were being taken to actually destroy the society that few knew was already on the edge of becoming anarchical, there was foreshadowing of what would happen right beneath the eyes of everyone. Riots were going on all the time, people were vanishing, and later women lost their jobs and their money. All these things happened without people's objections, because they were simply ignoring it, possibly hoping that it could not get worst. As Offred later describes how they faced up to those problems, "We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it" (74). This quote described what people did when they were fearsome of something, which they had already permitted to become the usual, bothered them. Ignoring what one fears makes that thing seem nor mal, and usually one becomes less afraid of things as they become normal. However, if things are ignored to an extreme and one does not care to draw the line, things can get out of hand when it is already too late. Offred regrets having been like the rest of the society that was banished, because looking back, what was happening then was in fact foreshadowing the future, Nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub you'd be boiled to death before you knew it. There were stories in the newspapers, of course, corpses in ditches or the woods, bludgeoned to death or mutilated, . . . The newspaper stories were like dreams to us, bad dreams dreamt by others . . . they were awful without being believable. . . . they had a dimension that was no... ...illions of Americans crying out. Nor would it be possible that someone kill the president by simply entering his house. The problem is that these differences mean little when there are also many similarities. The purpose Atwood saw in her book is to warn us of our own dangers, not to compare them to a fictitious story and keep ignoring things. As I said before, I do not think we will ever have such an awful transformation in our lives, but I do not think something similar is impossible to occur. Because we are all being blind, like the other society was blind, and we ignore things like violence, we are building ourselves a path with no solid foundations. If we continue doing so, the tendency is for this path to fall apart. Even if this actually happened, it does not necessarily mean that we would have to give in to losing what is ours by all rights. Nevertheless, if we fall in a trend where everything is so casual that we ignore what is going on, something else could hap pen where we could forget to draw the limit and make it stop, as the society preceding Gilead did. WORKS CITED Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. 28th ed. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991. Gilead: A Credible Society Essay -- Essays Papers Gilead: A Credible Society In Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale, a society whose purposes are functional and practical roles is depicted. In Atwood's eyes, a society like Gilead's was perfectly credible, and in many ways I agree with her. The purpose of writing about such a radical society is not for one to panic into thinking that this could happen any time, nor is it for one to completely discard the idea. Instead, it's purpose is solely to warn us of the dangers already present in our own society, such as the uncontrollable violence that is going on, apparent on crimes, wars, racism, etc. Offred, the narrator, tells us about a society which came into existence in the early 80's as a direct consequence of overlooking the many problems in its previous society. Before the first steps were being taken to actually destroy the society that few knew was already on the edge of becoming anarchical, there was foreshadowing of what would happen right beneath the eyes of everyone. Riots were going on all the time, people were vanishing, and later women lost their jobs and their money. All these things happened without people's objections, because they were simply ignoring it, possibly hoping that it could not get worst. As Offred later describes how they faced up to those problems, "We lived, as usual, by ignoring. Ignoring isn't the same as ignorance, you have to work at it" (74). This quote described what people did when they were fearsome of something, which they had already permitted to become the usual, bothered them. Ignoring what one fears makes that thing seem nor mal, and usually one becomes less afraid of things as they become normal. However, if things are ignored to an extreme and one does not care to draw the line, things can get out of hand when it is already too late. Offred regrets having been like the rest of the society that was banished, because looking back, what was happening then was in fact foreshadowing the future, Nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub you'd be boiled to death before you knew it. There were stories in the newspapers, of course, corpses in ditches or the woods, bludgeoned to death or mutilated, . . . The newspaper stories were like dreams to us, bad dreams dreamt by others . . . they were awful without being believable. . . . they had a dimension that was no... ...illions of Americans crying out. Nor would it be possible that someone kill the president by simply entering his house. The problem is that these differences mean little when there are also many similarities. The purpose Atwood saw in her book is to warn us of our own dangers, not to compare them to a fictitious story and keep ignoring things. As I said before, I do not think we will ever have such an awful transformation in our lives, but I do not think something similar is impossible to occur. Because we are all being blind, like the other society was blind, and we ignore things like violence, we are building ourselves a path with no solid foundations. If we continue doing so, the tendency is for this path to fall apart. Even if this actually happened, it does not necessarily mean that we would have to give in to losing what is ours by all rights. Nevertheless, if we fall in a trend where everything is so casual that we ignore what is going on, something else could hap pen where we could forget to draw the limit and make it stop, as the society preceding Gilead did. WORKS CITED Atwood, Margaret. The Handmaid's Tale. 28th ed. New York: Ballantine Books, 1991.

The Lady from Lucknow

Stereotypes and racism are all around us, many times affecting what we do and how we act. Quite often however, we do not realize the impact that they have on others and even ourselves. Bharati Mukherjee's short story, â€Å"The Lady From Lucknow† is about Nafeesa Hafeez, a young woman who moves from Lucknow, a city in India, to America with her husband and family. Although they are well off, Nafeesa struggles to enjoy her life and fit in with the world around her. Nafeesa then meets James Beamish, an older, married man, and the two have an affair.I will argue that Nafessa's suicide is caused by the varying degrees of racism that she experiences through her numerous attempts to assimilate in this new country and be recognized as an equal to others. Nafeesa first encountered James Beamish and his wife, Kate, at a reception for foreign students where both the Beamishs and the Hafeezs would play host to an international student. While the Beamishs were trying to find the student t o whom they would host, Nafeesa decided to strike up a conversation with them.Kate however mistakes Nafeesa as just another student and says to her, â€Å"I hope you'll be very happy here. Is this your first time abroad? † (Mukherjee 323). Each host wears a blue name tag to differentiate them from the students, and Kate could clearly see this, yet she still assumed that because Nafeesa was Indian that she was just a student. Kate continued to talk down to Nafeesa, and refused to accept her as an equal. After this initial meeting, Nafeesa and James continue to meet in secrecy, engaging in an affair.While at James' house one day, she was looking at pictures of his daughters and realized that she was more worried and afraid about what they would think about her than, â€Å"any violence in my [Nafeesa] husband's heart† (Mukherjee 326). The woman is so desperate to find belonging that she is more worried about what complete strangers will think of her, than how her husband will feel when he discovers what she is doing. One day while Nafeesa and James are together, Kate comes home unexpectedly and catches the two of them together.Instead of getting mad or yelling, Kate instead sits on the bed next to Nafessa. The look that Kate gives Nafeesa is what hurts her most, for it made her feel like she was, â€Å"a shadow without dept or colour, a shadow temptress who would float back to a city of teeming millions when the affair with James had ended† (Mukherjee 327). Nafeesa feels absolutely invisible to Kate. Despite having just caught the woman sleeping with her husband, Kate still looks down on Nafeesa as though she will never be her equal.Nafessa eventually is unable to deal with the pain she feels from living in this invisible state any longer and hangs herself. Her constant attempts to be viewed as equal, and the racism she battles in society while wanting nothing more than to fit in, push her over the limit and lead to her taking her own life. W orks Cited Mukherjee, Bharati. â€Å"The Lady from Lucknow. † 1985. Elements of Literature. Fourth Canadian Edition, Eds Robert Scholes et al. Don Mills: OU Press, 2010. 321- 327. Print.

What is Religion - 1045 Words

What is Religion? Religion has many meanings; a way of life, belief, and practices. In America people have different views on religion; it was indicated in the constitution. What is the constitution? The constitution is set of laws approved by the state. Religion and constitution are separate. As stated in the constitution of the United State of America, the first amendment, â€Å"congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.† In other words the constitution and religion are not connected. The founder fathers meant when talking about â€Å"freedom of Religion,† is that the state and church are separate; because people saw the church as mass control, people were also affected by the English’s monarchies and lastly the Americans†¦show more content†¦America existed on the basic idea of freedom; in the United States there are different types of religion; Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, and others. If religion and state is sepa rate that freedom that is aimed by every individual is reached. The first amendment does not necessarily state that the constitution and religion should be separate but it stated that congress have no right to judge or make any law that interfere with an individual religious rights. This makes sense because in America there are different religions and not all have the same view; it will not be easily to create the free country, America with these different views. The founder fathers themselves may have been from a slightly different background and made a constitution that knew no history of any individual but as a country that counts to hold everyone. The constitution and the amendments is what America follows and is considered a holy book itself. Stated in the constitution of Massachusetts 1780 â€Å"†¦in framing a constitution of government, to provide for an equitable mode of making laws, as well as for an impartial interpretation and a faithful execution of them; that ever y man may, at all times, find his security in them.† As mentioned before America is not just consisted of one religion but a collective of religion; it will not be fair or equal to have a single religion that represent all of America and to solve this problem the constitution was the key. The constitution representShow MoreRelatedReligion : What Is Religion?2567 Words   |  11 PagesWhat is religion? Remember to advance a claim, make an argument, and support that argument with evidence from our readings. 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