Response to “The Handmaid's Tale” PART2

   The red appears frequently in the following part and I think the meaning of it must be important in the book. Red represents a special kind of women at that time. In other words, it is the symbol of those people who still have ability to pregnant. In the book, the narrator says they are not regarded as human, the role they have are only tools for men. 

   I notice that there is an activity, which is called Ceremony. From my point of view, this Ceremony is the reason why they have handmaids in Commander’s home. There is no love between people; only the responsibility of delivering babies ties them together. 

Response to “The Handmaid's Tale” PART1

   “The Handmaid’s Tale” is really a long story and is hard to read, because the words the author uses contain many adjectives and some of them is difficult for me. From my point of view, the first four parts of this book are a little bit depressing. The parts I read only introduce the handmaid’s life and the background. To be honest, I am not fully understood what’s the main point of those parts.

  

   The second part “shopping” impresses me most, because they are curious when they go outside. Maybe the reason why they have such reaction is because their status is low. The book describes a detail when they see the Japanese tourists, the narrator stares at them and feels that they enjoy a lot of freedom. She says that these people wear open-toed sandals and she remembers the smell of the nail polish. As we all know that it is hard to memorize the smell of a nail polish, thus I think the handmaid exaggerates her feeling in order to emphasize those Japanese impress her a lot. As for them, however, do not have much freedom. They say it is to late to turn their head back and their faces have been seen. 

   

   As far as I am concerned, guardian is a very important character in this book. This occupation is not limited to only one person but a large group of people. Maybe power is another name for guardian. Every time when those guys appear, some powerful people or serious moment will come to narrator’s mind. For instance, also in part II, it writes that a guardian is washing a car, which means the Commander must be in that house. The feeling of the handmaid will become depressive once the guardians appear. They are afraid of those people because guardians represent the rules the handmaids have to obey. If they betray them, their result may become the same as those hanged man.

  

Response to "Boy Marries Hill"

   When I first saw this title, I was confused because how could a boy marry a hill? After I finishing reading, I was also confused. But this time, the question became why did this boy fall in love with a hill. Generally speaking, this drama is simple and easy to understand. It contains only three characters and the major form is conversation.

   In the first half of the conversation, Darshini are desperate for Tapesh’s leaving. In order to stay with him, Darshini even chooses to create a lie. Because of this lie, Tapesh decideds to betray his mother and marry Darshni. This action shows that they all love each other. When we all looking forward to their marriage, the interesting thing happened. They do not like each other anymore. It is ridiculers because they make an important decision in merely ten minutes. That is extremely odd.

   As for pizza boy, personally speaking, the Darshini arranges him. Darshini knows that Tapesh comes back today, so she wants to give him a surprise. She orders pizza previously and when he comes back, they can have it together. For example, when pizza boy comes in, Tapesh feels surprised but Darshini doesn’t. The thing Darshini does not know is that the pizza boy has such a sad story. I think the function of this pizza boy is to move the plot along. Without this boy, the story will not have such a weird ending.      

   Besides, goddess’s hill is a symbol of evil inside people’s heart. When they did something wrong, the guilty will appear in mind, just like Tapesh’s mother. She killed her husband and now, she wants redemption. As a result, she comes up with a ridiculers idea that let her son marries a hill.

Analysis Paper -- STEP 1

Step1: Determine Text

Due Day: March 20

Title: the Elephant Vanished

Author: Murakami Haruki

Respond to The Bible, Book of Genesis, Chapters 1-9

   Comparing to “How To Tell A True War Story” and “1001 Arabian Night”, Genesis is much easier to understand. The reason may be that it is a religion book and needs to be read by people from all range of ages. Vocabularies appear in Genesis are not very different, thus I enjoy reading this book.

   

   Genesis is the first section of Bible; it describes how the earth and creatures came into being. The mean characters here are Lord, Adam and his descendants. Among those stories, the story between Cain and Abel and the flood impress me most.

   

   Cain and Abel were supposed to love each other because they were brothers. Unfortunately, Cain killed Abel only for Lord God refused to accept his offerings. That action suggests that the violence came into being, which was also mentioned in the following, stories that Lord felt angry about human and created the flood to destroy all the creatures. When Lord came and asked Cain where was his brother Abel, Cain lied to him and replied that he did not see Abel. He practiced deception to others and this may be the first time Lord realized the human were becoming evil. They followed a different trajectory from what Lord designed before.

   

   When Lord decided to blot out the earth, he chose Noah to be the one. This implied that Lord still hoped the human and other animals could live in this world, without violence. After the water abated, Noah sent a dove to find out whether they could open the ark and when dove took back a fresh olive leaf, he knew that the time was coming. Therefore, the fresh olive leaf became a symbol of peace and hope.

   Personally speaking, Bible is an outstanding religious book. Through my reading, I feel that life is precious and valuable. It is our responsibility to not only treasure our life, but also others because all the human beings are from the same family –Adam’s.

The Meaning Of Light

The meaning of Sunlight is relief. It appears frequently during Lemon’s death. At first, Lemon went into the shadow where was no sunlight. However, after the author heard the noise, he found that Lemon was stepping from shade into bright sunlight, which suggest that Lemon went to the Heaven. The shade here represents Vietnam where the war took place. Thus, his death was a kind of relief and he would no longer suffer the torment of the cruel war.

The sunlight also represents a new begin because Lemon might enter a new world after his death. He would live in a peaceful life in that place, and there was no need for him to take part in a war, therefore, he could chase his own dreams.

      

      Author also mentioned sunlight at the end of the article and said that Lemon “must’ve thought that it was the sunlight that was killing him”. Here, the sunlight means hope and peace because the article also mentioned that people were sober before their death. From the description, Lemon was only a child and every kid would miss his family when he was far away from their home. At the end of his life, he knew clearly what he really wanted.

   

     In author’s mind, the light means hope. The sunlight flashed for a very short time and he saw it on Lemon’s face. The hope is always be small and can be hardly seen during a war. When it appeared on Lemon’s face, they might think that they can be sent back home and get away form here because of his death.  

Analysis Paper Schedule

Step	Completion Date
1: Determine text	March 20
2: literary review	April 6
3: determine element	April 8
4: Meeting with Dr. Marquardt	April 10
4: determine sources	April 15
5: determine quotes from primary sources	April 19
6: determine quotes from secondary sources	April 19
7: Outline	April 24
8: Draft 1	April 29
9: Peer Review	April 30
10: Draft 2	May 8
11: Final Draft	June 5