"We"

A theme found in "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin is the struggle between two ideas. D-503 struggles between conforming into what his society tells him is right to what he feels. I-330 opens up his mind to an  ulterior mind- set where the world isn't all numbers, there is passion and love. D-503 spends much of the novel so hung up and confused as to what to believe is right he often leaves off his diary entries unsaid. I- 330 will like him to think for himself, but as soon as he starts to feel emotions different from what his society tells him is acceptable he shuts down. He even says how he hates I-303 for showing him these emotions. Ultimately, his society's grip over whelms him and he disappoints us all by allowing himself to be brain washed and watch I-330 be tortured.

"She has taken R from me
She has taken O from me
and yet.. and yet.." 
This is my favorite quote from the novel, "We" simply because just a few words holds such  emotion and opens a window into D-503's mind. I like how the quote ends abruptly because he cannot bare to finish what he is thinking. He is falling in love with I-303 although she is making his life so extremely difficult.  She is opening up his world and his mind and in some ways he hates her for it, or rather he feels he should hate her for it, but all he has is this weird feeling of love in which he has never experienced before. Going along with D-503 and I-303's effect on him is when I-3o3 seduces D-503. I found this scene almost comical because he has no clue what to do. He is feeling things he had never felt before, previously a pink slip was shallow, and un emotional yet here he is consumed in thought about this woman. "She had on a light dress of an old-fashioned cut, saffron-yellow. This was a thousand times more evil than wearing nothing at all." In this scene she has successfully done what she wanted. She wanted him to see a world outside of what he knows, and feel outside of what he knows. Mission accomplished.

I generally found this book difficult to understand and stick with at first. But, i enjoyed the story told and can appreciate the struggle the characters go through. I enjoyed how sometimes D-503 would leave simple...'s for when he could not finish his thoughts where us readers could use our imagination to fill in the blanks. The author did such a great job conveying the emotions and idea that the sentences were not needed to be finished in order to understand the scene as a whole. It was an interesting concept so different from the world in which we all live in that it provided an interesting view point.

Video

A scene from "The Handmaid's Tale" the movie

"The Handsmaid's Tale"

        The  re- occurring theme I found in "The Handsmaid’s Tale" by Margaret Atwood was the idea of loss. Everyone in the Gilead community is suffering from loss. The loss ranges from loss of hope, loss of freedom, loss of a loved one, or loss of self. No matter what range, they all have that in common. With every character we meet the loss varies. Offred's loss is not only her loss of self, but  her loss of her loved ones. As readers we literally feel her heart ripping apart. We feel every little sting she feels as she goes about her day. We feel her miss Luke, we feel her miss her mother, and we feel her miss the daughter she never got to raise.  "I wanted to feel Luke lying beside me. I have them, these attacks of the past, like faintness, a wave sweeping over my head. " We even find Serena Joy at loss. On top of loss of a loved one, it is very obvious that Serena is losing herself  " By that time she was worthy of a profile: Time or Newsweek it was, it must have been. She wasn't singing anymore by  then, she was making speeches. She was good at it. Her speeches were about the sanctity of the home, about how women should stay home. She doesn't make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in her home, but it doesn't seem to agree with her." It is truly ironic how Serena Joy used to be a high profile activist who was making a difference and now she is not even allowed to be anything more than the wife of a commander. Serena Joy has lost her words above all else.

            Thinking back onto the novel, no other line stuck with me further than the last line, “ Whether this is my end or a new beginning I have no way of knowing: I have given myself over into the hands of strangers, because it can't be helped. And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.” In this line I get this feeling of total freedom. Although this scene she might have the least amount of freedom within the whole book. I feel Offred letting herself go. I can feel her liberation and her easiness as she lets herself be taken. I would like to think in this last line she is being rescued by mayday, but even if she isn’t her last line “And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.” Has me believing she has made peace.  What leads me to this conclusion is how she says “darkness within; or else the light” Light usually being associated with good, pure, safe feelings. Dark usually being associated with negative evil, so in retrospect she is saying she is moving beyond the negative and moving unto the light.


            I happened to really enjoy "The Handmaid’s Tale". The journal like writing style really allowed me to connect with Offred. By the end of the novel I felt as though I really knew her, and understood her pain. I found myself rooting for her and wishing for the best outcome. The author really incorporated some deep emotions in this novel, I could feel Offred's longing for Luke; as well as her yearn for freedom and love. My heart would race as Offred snuck around the commander's house to have secret meetings with Nick, or to meet up with the Commander. Out of everything i enjoyed about this novel, the thing I enjoyed the most was being inside Offred's head. The author provided her readers with pure, uncensored thoughts. Such as how Offred feels suicide to be a happy, ideal escape. Or how she feels as she stares at the dead bodies on the wall. The author wasn't trying to be politically correct, or please anyone. She allowed Offred's mind to go off in any which direction someone’s thoughts might lead had they been in her predicament. This aspect is what really helped me forge a connection with Offred and her world.