Ceremonial Sex or Not ?

Erin Meierbachtol

Essay # 3 (Researching topic)

I my essay I want to make clear that my over all topics is about the women in this book and how they have lost their self-worth to have any type of freedom at all.  This book has a strong portray on mid 20th Century Feminist. Women can get arrested for being married to a divorced man, and many other great things. This book is based on a Science Fiction novel that displays dystopian literature. I am not sure how much I want to learn from this it seems like an over sexed controlled society that needs help. I feel really strong about women rights and this book can go from one extreme to the next.

My biggest topic I will be discussing in this book is the lack of women right. Atwood accurately portrays these handmaids to be fundamentally modern day sex slaves. It also seem like everyone is trying to get pregnant or needs to be. This book talks about (Ceremonial Sex) acts between the commanders with the handmaids. I want to truly see what this is all about and to prove that these women had no control. For my research about my topic I will be looking into the history of sex slaves and how this book can compare.

I felt that this was a very strong and most discussed topic through the book. I want to understand more about Atwood and why she would choose such a graphic topic to write about. This is quite a different book and was hard to follow. However the theme played out strong and I want to deliver the same. So in choosing this I hope that it will bring me close to understanding Atwood work and why she decide to write a book about this futurist type of story. 

We should never be supporting this; www.EndHumanTrafficking.org

Thesis Statement Blog

Erin Meierbachtol

Thesis Statement

Identify the weak thesis statement:

A: I’m going to write about The jeans industry targets its advertisements to apple to young adults.

B: Othello is a play about love and jealousy.

In this statement (B) is the weaker of the two thesis, it leaves no open to were the story or point may be going. Othello could be jealousy over many things and what or who, is he in loved with.

1.       The jean industry may only have one leg to stand one, getting the attention of younger buyers to help their business.

2.       This statement is weak and un-supporting to accurately what the point is to make.

A: The punk rock group Minor Threat uses emotional lyrics to appeal to their target audience, which considers itself individualistic and therefore the lyrics must convey a message of individuality.

This is more of a personal point of view than an overall type of view, this is weak an inconsiderable.

My thesis statement:

In Atwood’s book was it possible that many of their items can from the black market ?

In Margret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the book makes a mention about buying products from the black market, such items like cigarettes. The hand maids are left to conjecture about this so called black market and maybe it offering freedom to them.  In Atwood’s book page (55) the girls are speaking about dresses “ the summer dresser are unpacked and hanging in the closet, two of them, pure cotton, which is better than synthetics like the cheaper ones, though even so, when it’s muggy, in July and August, you sweat inside them’’

I think this is a great stamen because it may be dresses that they purchased from the black market or forced to buy cheaper dresses because that’s all they can have. Either way I think it’s showing a point of how hot it can get in the summer months and like many people wearing cotton can be unbearable.

                                                                                                                                                     

Mid-Session Check In

Mid- Session Check In

Laura,


Here are my answers to the questions for the Midsession Check-in Blog.

1.       What has been your biggest challenge in this class so far? What has been your biggest success?

My biggest challenge so far has been anything to do with the video posting or Skype, for much reason. The first is one I could not get anything to work on my computer it was so frustrating the other is I like online classes so I can be incognito “laugh out loud”. I just found the assignment to be a little off kilter for an English class. My biggest success has been able to branch out, I never really wanted to read or study so much about Military before. So far I have been amazed at how well Tim O’Brien and Sean Huze work has been and I am glad I got the chance to learn their work. It’s nice that are instructor took such an approach to think outside the box, so many teacher just want you to learn the basic and not much more.

2.       How have the readings in the class affected you?

Well in accordance to my last answer I have enjoyed reading about Tim O’Brien and his amazing life. I would have never bought his book and having to read it for class has been wonderful. I m not one to branch away from the type of stories I like so given this chance I think I will keep up on it, overall I have enjoyed the readings in this class so far.

3.       How is literary analysis different from other types of writing you have done in college?

The literature in this class has been up to par for what the college standards should be. The work seems to be set at a speed that most students should be able to follow and keep up on. Is the work different from other English classes? Yes; this class wants many different assignment like creating a blog or making a video, this can either be a good thing or can become distracting to some. Again, I think the fact that or instructor asked us to go beyond just the normal routine of standard literary. So we can look at the video assignments and blog post as a way to be more creative in our literature world.

4.       What are your goals for the half of the second half of the session? What do you hope to improve or accomplish.

My goals for the second half is to get more aggressive with my work, I will be pulling out all the punches no holds bar. I want my work to be able to show how well I can focus and be more attentive. I sometimes stray off the beaten path and choose to do work a little different. However this time I will be staying focus and working hard.  My upcoming accomplish will be to pass this class, I want to pass just like everyone else and I believe that’s a great goal to set.  

Tim O'Brien Post # 2

Tim O'Brien

Erin Meierbachtol

For my assignment I have chosen to write about Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried; his book is a collection of many shot stories about his time serving in the war. For my discussion I have picked the story On The Rainy River, this happens to be my first reading of Tim O’ Brien. His work seems to be structured around the Vietnam War; this for any writer has to be a very strong achievement because there are so many stories out there on this War. His work is open and raw never leaving you to question his mortality. For example in the beginning of the story he tells you about living in Minnesota and the great details of his life taking place in 1968. He has just graduated, from college and working at a plant that sell pork products Tim works on the assembling or what he likes to call the dissembling. His life so far seem content peaceful and quite wholesome. While living in Minnesota one day after playing a game of golf he gets a letter that he has been drafted into the WAR on June 17, 1968 mid afternoon.  On page 39 of his book he quotes after opening up the letter “feeling the blood go thick behind my eyes”, I can’t imagine getting a letter that basically could be your death scent. At that point in time he knew exactly what he was how he felt, like being too smart and to good for this war. Wanting to run take off to Canada I feel sorry for him feeling so scared of not knowing what next.

In his short story he takes you thru the trials of a twenty-one year old trying to figure out how to except this new quest. I think it was wrong back them to have drafted so many young men not even knowing what they were getting into. Like Tim had said in his book he didn’t even know how to use a rifle. This is wonderful short stories that show how hard it was for a young man to have been drafted.  At first he runs and that exactly what I would have done, I can’t image being told to do something and not having any control. I believe that he is making a great statement on how hard it is for a person to have gone thru this time. He does run; he makes an escape to some small cabin in Canada were maybe he got some kind of phenomenon that might have come for an older gentlemen that gave him the courage to believe in himself. You can say that his time spent with Elroy Berdahl an eighty-one year old man at the Tip Top Lodge may have just been the answer that made him who he is today. I like this story and for many reason one of which is how open and real Tim O’Brien can be as a writer. He explains how him and the man or fishing down a river and he states “ I remember starting at the old man, then at my hands, then at Canada” how amazing knowing what you have ahead and what that man must have lived thru. I think this was the point that made him understand that he needed to go to WAR.

Responding to A Poem

The woman hanging from the 13th floor window,

Well this was the first poem that I read in all of the choices and it really moved me. I get this lady, maybe because she could be a patient that I have seen or cared for; a stressed out mother like I can become. It’s a deep poem in the meaning that life is hard and can get you down, this women was obviously trying to hurt herself but she stop. She began to think about her family and her parents making her believe in a better life.
In the poem I love this one verse (When she was young she ate wild rice on scraped down plates in warm wood rooms. It was in the farther north and she was the baby then.)
How amazing to have such an incredible memory of your childhood. I really liked this poem it was well written with great thought and meaning towards life.

Compendium of Lost Objects

For me this poem was kind of a scatter poem, all over the place. I like poems that are more of a story. This would not be a top pick for me. However the writer did make a statement, I am still not, clear if this was some type of wreck in her life? A lost childhood or a damage memory just trying to forget? Well, the beauty of poetry is it can be what ever I want it to be. I will believe for now it has to do with some type of fire or painful memory in her childhood that she desperately is trying to escape from. One of my favorite verse is ( but the battered, the rope swing, the rusted barge sunk at the water’s edge) you can almost close your eyes and see the rope swing. I love it.. I may not give this one such a high rating however I did like her spunk, this prompted me to look up more and anyone interested in her should look at a book called (The Afflicted Girls Poems) it’s filled of wild and different crazy off beat poems. Nicole Cooley is from Louisiana and much of her work reflects it.

Good Readers and Good Writers

Good Readers and Good Writers


Vladimir Nabokov, had many great ideas on what made a good reader. His thoughts may have been different, give the time period he is right on target. One of his strongest points that he makes is ( one begins at the wrong end and travels away from the book before one has started to understand it) I find this to be so true. I don’t know how many times I have to read a book or a part over and over before I truly understand the significance. Another saying he has is (when this new world has been closely studied, then and only then let us examine its links with other worlds) in other wise, make sure you know your facts before you go stating them. I truly believe he took great passion in his work and it shows.

What makes a good reader? For me it’s someone who can read a book and completely lose themselves in the artist. This is when you can get, so involved in your reading that its breathtaking. Reading is an art not everyone can read a book and transform themselves into a different person. What makes a good reader is just letting go of yourself.