I'm not a girl, not yet a woman

The article ‘Talking Back’ from Bell Hooks was very inspiring to read. It dealt with the freedom of speech of black women. The author talks about her own experiences as a suppressed girl that wasn’t allowed to talk back. Even in her young years she was fascinated by the vivid discussions the women around her used to have. She was never free to participate in these talks unless she wanted to be punished. The article deals with the struggle between being who you want to be and being who you are. Bell Hooks tells us about her path of becoming a writer. It wasn’t easy and some of experiences strongly relate to the ‘Handmaid’s tale’.

Having an opinion was forbidden in both stories, saying what you think was a crime. The black women have similar rights as the handmaids in Handmaid’s Tale. Bell Hook’s voice had been suppressed at a young age, and Offred in Handmaid’s tale can’t even speak to the people she’s living with, without fearing that she might be caught and punished. The article says: ‘safety and sanity were to be sacrificed if I was to experience defiant speech’, showing at what point people tried to shut her mouth. When Bell Hooks did talk, it was empowering to her just like Offred feels liberated when she talks to Olfgen for the first time on their shopping tours.

There are little details in the article that reminded me a lot of the Handmaid’s tale. In ‘Talking Back’ it says that talking means disagreeing even if you’re just expressing an opinion. It was impossible for Offred to ‘talk back’. It wasn’t her right to express her opinion and feelings. Every act of rebellion would end in a painful torture sessions. She also says that if she had been a boy, she might have been allowed to talk. Even in Handmaid’s tale it was preferable to be a boy because at least you wouldn’t get raped once a month. Bell Hooks also mentioned that she used to hide her writings under her bed, in pillow stuffings among faded underwear. This doesn’t exactly happen like this in the Handmaid’s tale but even Offred hid everything she wrote since it was forbidden to women to write.

The article Sins of Silence also reminds me of the Handmaid’s tale. Mai Kao Thao talks about her childhood and her relationship with her mother. Her mother told her to be a good, obedient woman, and smile silently as she swallows the bitterness that others give her. She told her that silence is power, that she had to be wordless, humble, obedient. A perfect Hmong woman. Just as Offred she got punished with harsh reprimands and scorching displeasure whenever she talked back of offered an opinion, and so she was silent. Emotionless. On the other side, just like Offred, she was filled with anger, dissatisfaction and anxiety, and above all emptiness. Her silence had killed her Self. She also suppressed her ideas of independence, as Offred doesn’t believe that there is a way out, that there is any way to escape. Hope for women in a regime like such, isn’t evident. I hope that things change for the better for the women that are still living this hell of a silent world.

My first Blogging Portfolio!

Welcome to my first Blogging Portfolio! The first couple months of IB HL English have been hard and challenging, but I am happy to present to you the best outcomes of these tough weeks. Long nights of reading, annotating and finally blogging, have proven themselves to be successful. Here by I'm showing you in 6 different categories my thoughts, ideas and reactions to different matters. Please take a few moments to read my introductions to my posts and comments on my peer’s blogs. I hope you enjoy reading through my posts, and you have some feedback to give me afterwards.

Coverage:
 - Nobody loves me, but my mother

This blog entry relates very well to the text on the North Korean concentration camp that I read about. I made good connections between the article, my own life and the life in 1984. I believe that I expressed my opinion on the subject fairly well, and the subject really interested me and I enjoyed talking about it. Saumya commented on my blog post, and I replied to her comment on her blog, where she discusses the same subject in one of her blog entries. More information on that discussion will be posted below.


Depth:
Do you believe in magic?

This entry of mine is the best one in my opinion since I state a lot of examples and I really go deep in terms of research and personal thoughts. I reference two different books (Harry Potter and Twilight) and I also make a connection to Brecht. I focused on why do we relate/read a certain novel? What makes us read a story and enjoy it?


Interaction:


Lack of Lightening

This post on Saumya’s blog shows well my ability to react to someone else’s ideas. Saumya and I had an interesting discussion on our thoughts about Shin’s life. Anuraag also participated, and we were able to agree with each other in the end. We were able to share our thoughts and some very interesting points came up, that I hadn’t thought of. I respectfully doubted and questioned some of Saumya’s points, so that she could clarify them, and we could discuss a better and more complete conclusion.

Discussion:

Do you believe in magic?

This blog entry of mine ended in a discussion between Monique and I, where we talk about the word choice in different novels etc. At the end we focused on Shakespeare, since he had a very exquisite writing style that not everyone appreciates. We discussed his use of language and also word choice in general. This little interaction really helped me form my ideas in a distinctive way.

Xenoblogging:

Keep it simple

I was the first to comment on her post ‘Simple vs. Complicated’ and my comment started a discussion between us. Her post was very interesting but I was able to point out some aspects that needed to be clarified. I think that we were able to run an intellectual discussion, and it also helped me expanding my own ideas.

Wildcard:

If I had to talk about my greatest passion (besides eating, sleeping and partying – these are things I wouldn’t give up for the world…), it would be travelling. Not to any random place, but to France or Germany. When I visit my friends and family in Germany and France, I feel at home and that is a feeling that is irreplaceable. In Germany, when I walk through the street that I used to live in for eleven years, when I cross the little mailbox that I used to put my letters for my mailing friend in, when I see the church that I used to sing in and celebrate Christmas in, I get an amazing feeling. It’s like getting butterflies in your stomach when you see the person you like – just different.  Memories are something no one can take from you, (here I could add a little reference to 1984 – memories are the only thing the thought police can’t erase) and they make you happy. Sometimes I wish that you could put memories in marmalade glasses, and that you could open them whenever you wanted to, to relive those memories, to go back in time for a while. Paris was probably the best period of my life so far. I spent my best moments there. I had a group of friends – the four blondes- and I loved them so much. We were very much alike and those four years shaped me like no other. (Another little reference to my blog entry about First the Forests Are we human, or are we dancers? where I said that our environments shape us). This might seem like a random ‘wildcard’ post, but if there’s anything I like to talk about, it’s these two places that I will remember forever.