I’m really mad I didn't start writing this paper earlier. I’ve been working on this paper all day today, and I’m basically almost done. This was a lot easier to do once I focused and tried to get it done. I had a hard time with the abstracts, but after I was done summarizing, I had an interesting time annotating because I found some things I didn’t realize before and I actually creeped myself out. I’m so glad to almost be done, just need to write this general introduction! Yay!

My process of writing has been a struggle. I keep looking through my criticisms, but I’m having a hard time beginning to write. Once I start writing the abstracts I know I’ll do fine. I’m just thinking too much about the whole project in general and I should just focus on the process so that it doesn't seem like I have as much to do. I can't wait to be done writing because this project has been stressing me out on too many levels.

Before I read the book, I knew that all the girls would end up committing suicide, but I didn't think all of the girls would do it at the same time. The ending was pretty sudden to me, but I actually enjoyed how the boys ended it. No one seemed to care except for them, and although I didn't think I liked the boy narrators, I ended up really liking them in the end. They were the only ones who ever tried to understand.

Another event that Euginides covered was the graveyard workers strike. It was an awful time for the family, since a lot of deaths occurred yet no one could be buried until the workers ended the strike. As said in this article, the bodies were stored in a different area until the strike ended. I didn't realize how harsh it was that the workers were protesting in the graveyard until I watched the movie. The family had to bury their daughter, but they had to go through protesters first.

Picture @ the Oakland Library

This turning point for the book gave a better idea on what the girls were going through. Before this, I feel like the reader still didn't have a great idea on what the girls were going through, and why Cecelia made her decision.

The narrative voices bother me in this book. The narrative voices are 4 boys who are completely infatuated with the girls, and its pretty creepy. They memorize Cecelia’s diary,  follow the girls, watch them through their windows, subscribe to the same magazines as them to imagine traveling with them, and they know a lot about the girls family. The boys are the only people that “understand” or even take the time to try and understand them, rather than everyone else who just judges the family. I guess the relationship that the girls have with the boys are good, but I still feel like the boys were over infatuated. 

I find it pretty interesting that eugenidies starts off the book immediately with the suicide of the youngest girl, Cecilia, even though she wasn't successful the first time. I thought the most interesting quote of the first chapter was “What are you doing here, honey? You’re not even old enough to know how bad life gets.” “Obviously Doctor, you’ve never been a thirteen-year-old girl.” We never even figure out what the problem with the girls was, so why are their lives so bad?

When I looked at the cover, I saw many conflicting things. There are multiple girls on the cover, it looks like there are more girls than just the sisters. Also, the setting is meant to be set in Detroit, but the area that the girls are in doesn't look like it would be anywhere near Detroit. I was still interested to read, and I thought that the conflicts made the book more intriguing.  

The ending of the book really surprised everyone, since none of us were able to get closure with the book. There wasn't a “happy, everything is perfect” ending, because we will never know what actually happens. Honestly, I wish Offred wasn't the character we had to focus on. Why couldn't the story have had more focus on the rebellion? We had to read about women fighting each other than the real battle, and with the main character not standing up for anything, and trying not to cause commotion when she should have been. I just dont understand why we had to follow someone who wasn't going to stand up for anything. 

Throughout the book, we can tell that Atwood is trying to pull women apart. All of the women hate each other, and want more power over each other to prove that they are better, and cover up the jealousy they have for one another. Every women wants to be like a handmaid, to have the ability to have children, but they don’t necessarily want to be a handmaid. Why are all of the women fighting against each other when they should be working together to have power over the men? Atwood must want to show what is happening in our society today. Women are constantly degrading each other, to make themselves feel better. We are all working against each other, when we should be working together.