Author: Nicolette Romley

Over Thanksgiving break I saw A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. It is based on a true story about a writer for Esquire who was assigned to do a piece on America’s hero, Mr. Rogers. The writer was cynical and disliked because of the negative way he wrote about people. He was assigned to write about Mr. Rogers because every other hero being featured in the magazine refused to be interviewed by him. Mr. Rogers ended up being the perfect subject for this writer because there was genuinely nothing bad to be said about him. He was overly kind and generous but his way of living still felt human and attainable. He recognized the bad qualities that he had but emphasized that he works on controlling those qualities and teaches that to kids and adults.

I wouldn’t say that there is a living hero in this county right now. Mr. Rogers was someone that anyone of any age, race, gender, etc. could connect with and look up to. He wanted to make a difference in the world not because of the ways it would benefit him but because he was just genuinely motivated to help make people better people. I think that our society is much more selfish now and people, especially celebrities, do things in order to gain more notoriety so their positive actions to do not always seem genuinely motivated. There seems to be such a competition to be the most popular and well-known, but the means to those ends do not necessarily matter.

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I went to a Disability Services Student Panel early last month. There were three students each with different disabilities on the panel that were there to discuss how their lives on campus are impacted by their disability and how the school helps lessen that impact. I had never considered many of the things that the students were talking about as something that could negatively impact someone’s life on campus. For example, a student with a physical disability talked about how just walking around on campus is hard for her because there are a lot of hills. Getting around buildings is also difficult because elevators are not noticeable in each building so they can be hard to find. This student has had to work with her professors so that they will allow her to be late to class when it is difficult to get around campus. It was interesting to hear how most professors are very accommodating to students with disabilities and specific needs. I’ve often heard around campus that Disability Services does not provide adequate support to students, especially for those with mental health problems, but it was nice to hear from a first-hand account that there is support on campus for a lot of students.

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Last month I went to an Ariana Grande concert in Charlottesville with three of my friends. The first thing that I noticed when entering the concert was that my group of friends was on the older side compared to the rest of the concert attendees. I kind of expected that before going to the concert but when I got there I was surprised by how many groups of young girls were there dressed like Ariana Grande, wearing oversized sweatshirts and long fake ponytails. I like Ariana Grande but had never considered the kind of influence she has on young, impressionable girls. With kids now having so much access to social media, they can look at pictures of Ariana Grande everyday and become very obsessed with her look and try to copy it. When I was younger, I was not as exposed to singers or actresses that I liked so I never really looked at them as people that I wanted to be. Now girls can see photos of their role models everyday and can become very influenced by how they look and want to copy their physical appearance in real life.

Another difference I noticed with the younger crowd was how many of them recorded practically the entire concert. My group of friends was flanked by two groups of early middle schooled-aged girls, all of whom had their phones in front of their faces for the whole concert and basically watched the concert through their camera. It was unfortunate watching these kids waste an experience because they were too busy focusing on recording it for whatever reason.

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In this section, we see a new phase of Offred and The Commander’s relationship. The Commander takes Offred to a secret club for upper-level generals. Offred has to wear a ridiculous, overtly sexual outfit and apply makeup in order to look the part of a woman that would be at the club. This scene feels as though The Commander is dressing up Offred as his toy and taking her out to show her off. Offred notes that she feels The Commander showing her off at the club and also sees him showing himself off in front of the other generals. He wants to look important for Offred, maybe he actually cares about her opinion of him. The Commander seems to regain the power by taking Offred out and displaying her in front of his colleagues. Offred is an object being used for The Commander’s pleasure, any benefit Offred is getting out of the situation seems minimal.

The only positive for Offred is that she is finally reunited with Moira. We get a retelling of Moira’s elaborate failed escape that she details to Offred. Moira, the former activist, is now content in her place as a Jezebel and Offred is rather disappointed to see her seemingly give up on her future. Moira sees how her place in society is better than that of many other women and is a bit out of touch with how the greater community of women are still being treated in Gilead. Moira gets to drink, do drugs, and have sex with whoever she wants, but any other woman in Gilead would be killed for committing those acts. The reunion of Moira and Offred seems hopeful, maybe they can work together and find a way out of Gilead, but we end the scene being told by Offred that she never saw Moira again.

Offred’s trip to Jezebel’s ends with her being in a situation that she knows all too well. She knows that she is supposed to have sex with The Commander, but she does not want to. Offred is constantly being put into situations by The Commander where she has no escape. She does what he asks because she has no power to say no, but he interprets it as her doing what he asks because she wants to. Offred seems practically numb to the idea of having sex with a man that she does not desire to be intimate with. She simply disconnects her mind from her body and does what she needs has to do. The arrangement between The Commander and Offred playing games and reading magazines seemed rather harmless and mutually beneficial until it is realized that all The Commander really did want was sex, and he was going to get it.

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The interaction between Offred and The Commander was, to me, the most important part of this section. The Commander most likely believes that he has the power in this situation. He can enforce negative consequences on Offred if she does not obey so she, theoretically, has to meet him in his office even though she is hesitant to. The meeting seems to be just for The Commander’s pleasure. He likes Offred’s company and gets much joy out of spending time with her, even if they are just playing a board game.

Offred, however, ends up seeing this meeting as a chance for her to get what she wants. She makes The Commander feel comfortable and as if she is going to his office because she wants to. When The Commander asks Offred for a kiss when she leaves, it seems that there is a switch in who holds the sexual power. During the ceremony, The Commander has the power, but during this kiss, Offred realizes that she has the power because she has something that The Commander wants. Offred reflects on how Moira escaped and wishes she could do the same. She realizes that she must give in a little to The Commander’s wants in order to get what she wants in return. She makes a conscious decision to leave her past self behind and live both mentally and physically in Gilead. Offred has to please those in her household in order to have the opportunity to escape and find her family. If Offred acts in the rebellious way that she probably wants to, she will never have the chance to leave.

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Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale takes us into a world quite unlike our own. The book starts in quite a confusing way. Offred is in a gymnasium with other women while they sleep in cots and are monitored by Aunts and Angels. They are constantly being watched and the Aunts and Angels are not afraid to take action against a rebellious woman. We then jump to the present, where Offred is stationed in her first home as a Handmaid.

The role of the Handmaid is to bear children, period. Women can also either be Marthas or Wives, each group with their own distinct role and color that they wear so they can be easily identified. The groups of women are not supposed to interact socially, but Offred wishes she could share in gossip with the Marthas. We hear quick stories about violence that give us another indication that something is not right in this society.

There are many rules in this society, especially for Handmaids who are the lowest on the totem pole. Offred notes that many items are restricted for Handmaids and that speaking out of turn is a huge offense for a Handmaid. Offred is slowly establishing the world of Gilead, leaving the reader very confused as to what kind of society this might be. It is clear that the society has not always been this way but it somehow came to be. It is interesting how members in the society are not only ranked, but women are ranked against each other. While women as a whole hold a lower place in society, there is an order amongst women from Wives to Aunts to Marthas to Handmaids. Because the story is narrated from Offred’s perspective, we see Gilead in a different light than we would if it was being told by a Wife. As Offred holds one of the lowest positions in society, she if often observing those above her, while someone in a higher position would most likely just ignore those below them. Offred has a different insight into this society and there is much to be discovered about Gilead and about life before Gilead.

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I had high hopes for Marji’s new life in Europe. It seemed as though, because of her rebellious nature, she would fit into European culture much better than she fit into Iranian culture. I think Marji felt as though she would have new found freedom in Austria. Freedom to dress how she wanted, freedom to think how she wanted, freedom to act how she wanted. But perhaps the freedom was too much and too drastic for Marji. She had no stability during her time in Austria, constantly moving from friend to friend and house to house. She never quite found her footing and she eventually hit rock bottom by living on the streets. I could never have imagined that Marji would end up in the circumstances that she did. We forget that she is still a young adult, practically a child, and here she is facing the world on her own.

While it is impossible to know what would have happened to her if she stayed in Iran and not gone to Austria, one could at least imagine that her experiences during her teenage years would have been drastically different. Although Marji faced many difficult experiences that overshadowed any joy she might have felt in Austria, she was able to learn more about herself through the hardship that she faced. Marji still does not have a strong sense of self, but she at least knows who she is not. We are left with a sense of hopefulness after Marji reconnects with an old friend. Upon seeing her friend who is now confined to a wheelchair, Marji realizes that her life could be much much worse and she has no reason to feel sorry for herself anymore.

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The changes that happened in Marjane’s life were quite drastic and sudden. One moment, the shah was exiled and things seemed to be getting better, and the next, Iran is at war with Iraq. Perhaps most surprising, is Marjane’s interest in the war. She is not afraid at first, she wants Iran to win and almost enjoys seeing the battle against Iraq. As a child, she is obviously not able to fully understand the war, but what she does understand is intriguing to her and promotes nationalistic views that she had. It is interesting to see how Marjane and her family try to cope with their circumstances. Her parents throw parties for their friends and family, something that is forbidden but they know that the people need some happiness in their lives. No one has been in a situation like this before, so they are all just trying to figure it out as they go along. Rather than be consumed by fear, the Satrapi’s are trying to look for the good still left in their lives and embrace it.

We are brought back to the reality of what life is like in a war-torn country when Uncle Taher is unable to get proper medical attention because the borders of Iran are closed. One does not usually have to think about how they will get medical attention that they need, and having such advanced hospitals in America and also the ability to travel abroad to receive medical attention is something that we take for granted. It seems as though proper medical care should be a reasonable excuse to leave the country, but, unfortunately for Uncle Taher, his life or death situation was not enough of a reason to leave the country. While we see Marjane’s juvenile reactions to the world around her, it is important when stories like Uncle Taher’s are shared in order to put the reader back into the reality of Iran at the time and how the war affected people in many different ways. Marjane wants to leave Iran in order to get contraband Western goods, but Uncle Taher needs to leave Iran in order to receive critical surgery.

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In this section, we hear a lot from Stamp Paid, who has seemingly replaced the only other male character, Paul D. Stamp Paid brings about this concept of “The Jungle.” Stamp Paid uses the metaphor of The Jungle to help understand how slavery is so terrible for everyone involved. Blacks are described as jungle-like, while the actions of whites help emphasize and promote the jungle-like behavior. The whites create jungle-like instincts within people and in turn, they behave like brutal animals in order to control those instincts. And yet, white people are never described as animals, only black people, even though the acts of white people are the most animalistic of them all. Stamp Paid highlights how slavery affects everyone, and while black people are obviously the ones who have horrible acts done against them, individual white people are reluctant participants and are often just doing what they think their role is in life.

“The Jungle” made me reflect on the discussion we had last class about black people often being described as “animalistic” when it is often the actions of others that bring them to that point. When discussing who should be blamed for Sethe’s horrible act against her children, it was hard to pinpoint a single person. One could blame the Schoolteacher and his nephews, but they are also a product of their environment. Sethe made the physical act, so blame can be placed there, but she would never have had to make that choice had the world been a different place. White people grew up believing that they had this power over those that were enslaved, and so the individuals cannot always be fully blamed for their actions. The Schoolteacher was, of course, unnecessarily cruel, but his actions were only permissible because the institution of slavery existed. Everyone is part of The Jungle and everyone suffers in some way because of slavery. No one of that time could be untouched by the effects of slavery. Yes, white people as a group are to blame for the institution of slavery in America, but blaming individuals is nearly impossible because who’s to say how those individuals would have acted had the circumstances of the country been different.

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Paul D’s ongoing struggle with the past comes to a head in this section. Paul D has locked his past in a tin box, refusing to recognize it or deal with any of it. He has learned how to guard himself so that the pains of his past cannot happen to him again. Paul D has such a tumultuous relationship with Beloved because she is the living embodiment of the past. He feels uncomfortable around Beloved and is not sure how to act around her, just like how he feels uncomfortable about his past and chooses to keep it locked up instead of confronting it. Paul D and Beloved’s sexual encounter is a message that it is impossible for Paul D to escape the past and that it is more powerful than he ever imagined. Beloved is able to control Paul D and make him do things that he normally would not do. The past is controlling the future and Beloved is beginning to have too much of an impact in the present.

Paul D and Beloved are at a constant battle over Sethe, deciding whether or not she should move into the next phase of her life or if she should settle in the past forever. It seems as though Paul D has won this battle and won the attention of Sethe. He sees a future with Sethe and won’t let Beloved get in the way. Sethe is still unsure of who Beloved is, however, and the discovery of her true identity might break Sethe and pull her right back into the past. The way that Beloved died is the one element of the past that Sethe has yet to confront and reflect on.

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