Extra Credit "The Handmaids Tale" movie

Frankie Pena Pena 1
Mrs. Cline
Eng 102,
12/06/10
Compare Movie to Book “The Handmaids Tale”
It was Tuesday afternoon when none other than I decided to watch “The Handmaids Tale”. It wasn’t long after that I started comparing the book to the movie. It was cool because the book and movie really did match up well except for a few parts.
The beginning of the movie was a bit different than the book it showed the wife, husband and the kid trying to cross the border. It was then that they had been spotted and not to long after did the husband try to cause a distraction so that his wife Kate and the daughter could escape. Then as the husband ran the guards shot and killed him. It was then that both Kate and the daughter’s life would be changed forever.
Kate was then captured and token to a camp area full of women that had been captured and tested to see if they could have babies. The women that could have babies would stay alive and be a handmaids and the other would be slaves or die. Kate has tested and her results showed that she could have a baby. Not too long after that did she start training alone with many other women to be a handmaid. They would meet in a room and talk about how those women who didn’t want kids were sluts and how they were the selected few that could only have kids now.
Later on down the road she had gone to Serena Joy the Commander’s wife house. They were interested in using Kate as their third handmaid seeing as the others failed at the job. After
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a quick set down with Serena it was then decided that she would work for them as a Handmaid. It was then that Kate’s name was changed to (Offred) that was her named because it referred to who she worked for such as slave of-Fred. It was very interesting how they chose their names for the Handmaids.
Further into the movie Offred learned that when the Commander wanted sex she would have to give it to him, and that was her job; to have a baby by him. She was a gift from god and her part was to supply babies. So when it came to the first time just like the book said she laid on the bed. As Serena held her hands and head between her laps well the Commander had sexual contact with her. Right after they were done Serena and Offred were upset. Serena was upset because she had to watch her husband have sex with another women and Offred was really upset because it was really uncomfortable and forced upon her.
After multiple times of meeting up and having sex with the commander she adapted to the life style more. Offred would not lay down for the Commander whenever he wanted. They would play chess together and she would fix him drinks. They looked as if they had a great time.
After the third visit to the hospital Serena decided that she wanted to stop waiting and that she wanted Offred to sleep with Nick. Serena was so excited she planned the date in nicks room. Serena told nick that she wanted him to sleep with Offred because she wanted a baby. That night, Offred went in and a few minutes of talking lead to sex. After that Offred had grown really fond of Nick and he felt the same way about her.
Then later on Offred realized that the Commander had lost interest in his wife and had grown feelings for Offred. It was to the point where he took her out to his secret spot. It was a
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hangout spot that would put them in the past. Where women partied and men enjoyed themselves too. It was becoming strange for Offred after that because she had deep feelings for Nick but yet she still had to sleep with the Commander until the test results came in.
It was later on the next day that Serena found her scarlet and dress in Offred’s room. Right then and there she knew that she had been seeing the Commander on the side. Offred was a bit frightened that Serena would turn her in. although later on in the night nick kidnapped her and she thought that Serena did. Little did she know that Nick was taking her to somewhere else, so that she could live a free life with their kid. It was then that her love for Nick could not be lost and she kept thinking about her daughter just like in the book. She now lived in the hills in a trailer well she receives food from the guards and a letter occasionally from Nick.

The Handmaids Tale topic proposal

Frankie Pena
Mrs. Cline
11/14/10
Eng 102
Topic Proposal
After reading a couple sections from “The Handmaids Tale”. I began to think what this book is about. It occurs to me that they are in a cult. One reason why I would say that is, because the women seem like they have no power in the book. It occurred to me that they just slaves to the men. If the man wants sex she will give it to him, but she will not be happy. The women just put up with all of this and in return they get to live in a house with no freedom. For essay #4 I plan to do my research on cults because in there are many types of cults for instance polygamy. In some cults women carry little, to no power. They are slaves to the male race. There are a few reasons why I have chose to do my research on this topic and the main one is that I find this would be a interesting topic to research. It would be full of facts and I really think people should crack down on these cults. This will also help me better understand why these girls are put through the things are put through. Such as the sex, she does not call it love because to make love consist of two people wanting to be involved, and she does not call it rape because she is not resisting, but she says he is fucking her. Because he is the only one enjoying it. So why is she putting up with this, is it against the cults rules to say no if she does not want to have sex? This is going to be a great research topic and the sooner I get started the faster I will better understand this book.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0099731/

Weak and Strong Thesis

Frankie Pena
Identify the weak thesis statement:

I’m going to write about Darwin’s concerns with evolution in The Origin of the Species.
• (A) is the weak thesis statement because it just says what the essay is going about and you are not post to describe the essay.

-Or-

Darwin’s concern with survival of the fittest in The Origin of the Species leads him to neglect a potentially conflicting aspect of his theory of evolution-survival as a matter of interdependence.

An important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view.

-Or-

Although an important part of one’s college education is learning to better understand others’ points of view a persistent danger is that the students will simply be required to substitute the teacher’s answers for the ones they grew up uncritically believing.
• (A) is weak because it shouldn’t be your personnel opinion in the thesis statement. Once you add your personnel opinion then it just becomes a argument.

By inventing terms, such as “loose fit” and “relaxed fit”, the jean industry has attempted to normalize, even glorify, its product for an older and fatter generation.

-or-

The jeans industry targets its advertisements to appeal to young adults.
• (B) This has no point of objective and how would they direct the advertisements to just the young adults. This is going to require a substantial amount of proof.

Othello is a play about love and jealousy.
• (A) is weak because is just has a opinion once again with just an opinion there is no thesis. This doesn’t have nothing we can branch off and make strong points with.
-or-

Although Othello appears to attack jealousy, it also supports the skepticism of the jealous characters over the naïvete of the lovers.

The songs of the punk rock group Minor Threat relate to the Feelings of individuals who dare to be different. Their songs are just composed of pure emotion. Pure emotion is very important in music, because it serves as a vehicle to convey the important message of individuality. Minor Threat’s songs are meaningful to me because I can identify with them.
• (A) is weak because the writer is just putting down his opinion and it is all over. Without a subject that we can find evidence for there is no thesis.
-or-
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.


Here is my thesis:
Tim O’Brien was born in Austin, Minnesota, October 1, 1946. Although as a child spent most of his time in Worthington, Minnesota a really small country town. Soon a graduate with a BA in political science at Macalester College. The same year he was drafted into the Vietnam War. After spending 1969-1970 in Vietnam, O’Brien returned and began a course at Harvard University. This course was specializing in government and politics. Although landed a internship in Washington post and later on became a full-time journalist. Well after writing many post O’Brien struck success in writing stories and that is when O’Brien showed just how impacting his stories could be on the world.

It occurs to be strong to me because it has a simple point and the evidence to proof is in his writings. That is why I wrote the thesis statement, it has a strong

Source evaluation

Frost, Adam. "Literature Online biography." O'Brien, Tim, 1946-. Chadwyck-Healey, 2002. Web. 24 Oct 2010.
The biography has a lot of information about Tim O’Brien’s life. O’Brien was born in Minnesota October first. The author earned a full ride to college and soon after he received a draft letter. This letter completely changed his plans. This was nowhere near what Tim O’Brien wanted he was a boy who disliked boy scouts and camping. After the war the put his life on hold the author went to school and became a journalist and soon a book writer. Tim O’Brien had a distinctive way of writing books. Majority of his books include the experiences he went through in the war. The biography will play a big part in my essay about the great Tim O’Brien.

Tim O'Brien. "Ambush. " Read 20 Jan. 2006: Children's Module, ProQuest. Web. 24 Oct. 2010
I think this source is of value to my essay because it has one of Tim O’Brien’s short stories in it. This will give me a source that I can take facts from and make a point. This will give my essay the extra credit so that it will be more than just talking about the books that he wrote. This short story will be a prime example of something Time O’Brien has published. This source will be of great use and that is why I chose it. Hopefully this will add a little excitement to the essay. If later on I see no use for it I can always search the great site of proquest.

http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.yc.edu/pqdweb?SQ=Tim+O%27Brien&DBId=G6&date=ALL&onDate=&beforeDate=&afterDate=&fromDate=&toDate=&pubtitle=&author=&FT=0&AT=any&revType=review&revPos=all&STYPE=all&sortby=REVERSE_CHRON&RQT=305&querySyntax=PQ&searchInterface=1&moreOptState=OPEN&TS=1287949714&h_pubtitle=&h_pmid=&clientId=1407&JSEnabled=1

Mid-Session Check In

Frankie Pena
English 102
Mrs. Cline
Mid-session check in blog
10/17/10
This semester has been interesting considering that this is my first time taking English online. It has been a little more challenging not being able to just ask the teacher what I am doing wrong and getting a response right away. My biggest improvement is turning in all my assignments on time.
The meetings have been slightly exciting to read. Although I have felt the same way as the author when he was saying that he didn’t want to go to war because he had better things to do than fight the wrong war. Then when it comes to writing literary analysis compared to the previous writings in 102; there have been some difficulties for me because it’s a new way of writing. In my personal opinion, I dislike literary analysis writing because I like descriptive writing. Descriptive writing allows me to paint my own canvas and not follow someone else’s work just to talk about it. Literary analysis writing has a bit more to it than I thought so it isn’t my favorite but I doubt it will be long before I fall in love with it. Every style of writing has its perks and, well, some have their not so great moments.
There are a few goals that I have set for the rest of the semester and they are first to raise my grade to an A-plus. Second, meet at least twice a month with the teacher to discuss what I can work on to better my writing not only as a student but as a writer. I hope to improve all of my writings from here on out.

Summary V. Analysis Blog Post

Frankie Pena

Eng 102

10/3/10

Summary V. Analysis Blog Post

“Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” the characters ‘Rat, kiley” “Mitchell, Sanders” “Eddie, Diamond” “Mark Fossie” “Marry, Anne, Bell”. These characters were caught up in a compound that was situated at the top of a flat hillside in the outskirts of Tra Bong. These soldiers are fighting a never ending war. But throughout this war they have time to sit around and reminisce about girls and good times. While sitting around “Eddie said, was pool some bucks and bring in a few mamma-sans from Saigon, spice things up, and after a moment one of the men laughed and said, “Our own little EM club,” and somebody else said “Hey yeah we pay are fuckin dues, don’t we?”(pg 93,O’Brien).

Now these guys where just messing around to kill time and well they were playing around “Mark Fossie” went off to write a letter and six weeks later his bubbly eyed girlfriend shows up in a helicopter. With eyes of surprise everyone stand around and out of nowhere someone says what everyone else was thinking “mother fucker”. After a few weeks in the compound this girl was helping in surgery and taking apart guns. Before Mark knew it she was going out with the greenies in the jungle doing searches at night. Well it wasn’t to much longer before she got to into it, mark could not see the old “Marry Anne Bell” that is her name. This girl was out of his hands and just before he had a chance to really talk to Mary, she went out one night and never came back. The gist of the story is she came in innocent but once she got a little dirty she was never the same.

When reading I didn’t understand why Mark would bring his loved one to such a dirty place. The compound is not really the place for a cute innocent loved one anyways. When he went to the compound he was a tall blond athlete and all that had changed he now carried anger and wasn’t so nice. Well once he brought this girl over and saw she was starting to change he should have sent her back home whether or not if she liked it. Because it wasn’t her place to be at unless assigned. Then once she started going out at night with the greenies he should have known it was only going to get worse. Once she disappeared I knew it was over and he lost his loved one. Sometimes people just cant handle what they see and they just lose it like Mary did. Lets this be an example to us all.
here is a link to some good stuff: http://www.illyria.com/tob/tobbio.html

Response to favorite short story