#aplit16aunts

The Aunts sparked a heated coversation yesterday because many people thought the Aunts were oppressive towards other females. It didn't make sense but we also made a note of Atwood's purpose to create tension among the women. Many women say it would be very easy to rebel but when your being monitored and your life is on the line, it is different when you are actually in the situation

Ever thought about why they’re called aunts? It seems to me like they’re trying to provide an illusion of motherliness and authority while staying distanced from the handmaids, hence use of the word aunt. The thing I find crazy about the aunts is that they have no idea of inherent morality. It’s pretty obvious that you’re oppressing someone when you’re using a cattle prod on them, beating them nearly to death. The aunts are always in denial, accepting their actions as righteous. In class when the aunts were put on the hot seat, we even found them writing off their actions as following orders. Stop. This was something that we never noticed or thought of until we added the element of human personality, until we let someone act as an aunt under criticism. If the aunts ever lost power and were held accountable for their actions, they would say they were just following orders. Many Nazis did the same thing once the reich fell and the Nuremberg trials started. To connect to another text, Dussander had a moment in Apt Pupil where he wrote off his actions as following orders, before he fully embraced them once again. It’s a common occurrence recognized throughout history. When people lost power, they can no longer subjugate others, and will deny ever doing so in order to save their asses. Otherwise, they will continue and accept their actions as genuine, so long as they are safe in power. 

I was not present for the conversation of the aunts but what i got from the book is that the aunts are there to “help” the handmaids. Although the ways they used weren’t the most ethical way. They used guilt tripping and cattle prods. I can connect these teachings with how nuns use to teach their students. My mother use to tell me how they would slap your knuckles until they bled when you weren’t behaving. The way we see the aunts is evil, having women turn on each other for “the good of society”

Yeeeeshh!!! The discussion with the Aunts was really interesting, but kind of brutal at the same time. What I got from the discussion was that the Aunts do what they do for themselves and for the sake of the system. This came off as selfish to me because the were oppressing the Handmaids just so they can get rewarded and not get punished. Also the techniques they used to oppress the Handmaids were brutal. Like not allowing them to read and hitting them. It is extremely sad because the women are oppressing each other.

The aunts... ouch. The discussion in class today consisted of a pretty brutal back and forth that was mostly due to the fact that Olivia, Harshita, and Kris needed to stay in character and defend their positions without letting their morals or ethics slip through. And they did a good job! Except it left some matters unsettled. Aunts are really just brainwashed beings. They defend/excuse their actions by having been brainwashed by the system. These aunts believe they are an important role in maintaining order but really, I believe that their purpose is to be disciplinarians or teachers that have gone rogue from ethics. What’s interesting is that their original mentality shows a conflict with their new mentality because these Aunts work to “protect” women from men yet they are shipping men off and preparing them to be raped. Just because you add religious symbolism behind it doesn’t justify this, yet the Aunts have been brainwashed to believe this.