Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs

Imagined interview between a modern journalist and a suffragette exploring what they experienced and drawing on the two texts you have to read.

Modern journalist: What happened over 150 years ago in Britain, had a major impact on our lives today. Women such as Sylvia Pankhurst, whom is best known for her committed and successful struggle to win the vote for women. We will be interviewing a suffragette and what she experienced. What did you experience from this?
Suffragette: What I experienced from this suffragette was danger and suffering for months, that changed the world. Many people can remember and still remember today, that the biggest change that suffragette's did was changing women's lives. Women like me, brought change to the history of women. It made women have the right to vote.
Modern journalist: How did you decide to follow what Sylvia Pankurst did? What made you put your own life in danger?
Suffragette: Well, I was very upset by the lack of choice and freedom women had and the male dominance over women. Seeing Sylvia putting her own life in danger for us women, made me become a suffragette, and do the same thing as she did.
Modern journalist: Did you suffer from dangerous things during this time?
Suffragette: Many of the things I did to change women's role, was dangerous, one of which was not eating and drinking for 30 days. My weight was decreasing, but I did not stop, but continued.
Modern jounalist: Thank you for your co-operation.

Commentary:
The interview between the journalist and suffragette is set out in a script, this shows turn taking and adjacency pairs. The reason for this is to have the interviewer asking the suffragette about her experience in the time. The topic is about the suffragette's from 150 years and exploring her experience. The audience that it is applied to, are women today, to let them know about the lives of women , 150 years ago. I chose to give views about the reason for becoming a suffragette in such way, to link it back to the artical, which was written at the time of suffragette.

Cupcakes and Kalashnikovs- Should Married Women Work-

Write a magazine article for Good HouseKeeping (a magazine for women), in which you argue whether married women should work.

Yes. The traditional view of a married women's role is to stay in the home and look after the children and provide food for the husband. However, this view is outdated, as numerous changes in the society and law have moved on. Some of these changes include the changes in the position of women, as women are allowed to be educated and get a job.
Some married women probably have a degree, which took time to earn, but some still believe that once a women is married, her role is to stay in the house, look after the children and have no occupation. This is because they are seen as a housewife and those who do the housekeeping, whilst men are the breedwinners.
Some sociologists believe that a married women must stay and look after things within the house. On the other hand, married women should work, this is because it helps the husband financially, in other words, not having to lend them money. As the article "Women Talking to Men," by Mary Stott, indicates three scenarios. First scenario is "Husband A", some men may respond as this. However, some may say (Husband B), "I can't afford it". Whilst others may be in between, as husband C says, "How much do you think you will need?" The first scenario leads to 'no', whereas, the other two scenarios leads to 'yes', because they portray negative scenes, when a women does not work.
Some men believe that if a women earns money, they spend it on things that are unnecessary, which means the opposite to women. As Mary Stott questions her audience when saying, "How can a man endure... only of semi-adult status?"
Attitudes twoards marriage has changed, as women can get educated. Therefore, they put marriage to a side, never marry or work as well as marring. Equality between women and men are becoming more equal in areas such as, education, voting, domestic households and many more.

Commentary:

In the article above, I inculded the different views of women, from the traditional view of marrige and the mordern view. This was to help me answer the question, as the roles and attitudes about women have changed and to give both sides of the argument, whether married women should work or not. I linked the question back to the two articles, one of which was the article by Mary Stott, she used scenarios, to portray the different reason why a women should work when married. I did this to make my answer stronger, as I said yes for married women to work as well as attitudes towards marriage and equality between women and men.
The question asked by Mary Stott has the the adjective pre-modifier 'semi', which is used to describe women, which means a women is not fully grown up, therefore, illustrates patriarchy.

Survey

• Why did you choose English Language and Literature?

I chose English Language and Literature because I got a good result in my GCSE and I enjoyed it at GCSE.

• What do you like/dislike about the subject?

I like the subject because of the interesting theme in both texts.

• Which texts have you enjoyed studying most?

I enjoyed studying The Importance of Being Ernest and The Handmaid's Tale because the content was nice.

• What do you think of the mix of discussion and writing on the course?

I think the mix of discussion and writing on the course is good because it helps me.

• Are you using the blog to help you work outside the classroom?

Yes, I do.

• How do you use the blog to help you write?

When I get stuck on a task, I view other's work to help me get started.

• What is your approach to writing essays?

• Next term, I am going to use the blog and research on the internet to help me with the text more and to enrich my studies.

The Handmaid's Tale and The Wife of Bath

Essay question: Compare and contrst the ways Atwood in "The Handmaid's Tale" and Chaucer in "The Wife of Bath" explore status in society.

Staus in society is explored in the novel "The Handmaid's Tale" by Atwood and epic poem "The Wife of Bath" by Chaucer. In the Handmaid's Tale, Atwood explores staus in socety through language, colour coding (clothing), role, name of characters, the past life of Offred and subjugation of women in the socety of Gilead. In the Wife of Bath, Chaucer explores status in socety through the Wife's prologue which describes her role, clothing and mastery in the bedroom. In the Tale, the status in socety is explored through the Queen's position and power over men. I will be exploring the ways Atwood and Chaucer explore status in socety.

In the Handmaid's Tale, the status of women and men are explored through their roles in socety. Firstly, the character of Offred (a Handmaid), as Atwood describes her role in the society of Gilead as, "I am a walking womb". In the quotation, the use of short sentence has been used, the reason why Atwood used short sentence is to declare her role. A declarative sentence is a grammatical mood that expresses a statement, Atwood used this to show reader's the Handmaid's role. Personal deixis "I" identifies Offred's feelings from her point of view about her status in society, the reason Atwood used the pronoun "I" in the statement is to express the role of Handmaid's from a Handmaid themself. Secondly, the character of Serena Joy (Commander's Wife), as Atwood describes her role in the society of Gilead as, "The garden is the domain of the Commander's Wife". In the quotation, the noun "domain" has been used to show her control and power over the garden, but this is the opposite to the traditional role of women in the house because men are supposed to control the garden. Atwood uses Offred's dialogue to show the Commander's Wife role in the society of Gilead, as Offred describes her role, she uses her name and not a pronoun, this shows her respect for the Commander's Wife, as she has higher status to the Handmaid's. Although Atwood clearly describes the Wife's role, the role enforced is not kept as its supposed to be, as the Wife does more than her role. The Commander's Wife shows Offred a picture of her daughter, in the ceremony (that takes place once every month), again the Commander's Wife has some control over it as Offred illustrates the Wife's attitude when she says, "her rings of her left hand cut through me like a knife." Lastly, through the manipulation of Offred and Nick in order to get rid of Offred. Finally, the character of the Commander, as Atwood decribes his role in the society of Gilead as, "The Commander, too, is doing his duty." In the quotation, the use of the noun "Commander" used by Offred when describing his role is to show her respect for those abover her, this reveals the Commander has a high status from Offred who is a Handmaid in the society of Gilead. The noun "duty" connotes his role, a job in society. The reason Atwood used this word is to reveal the purpose of his high status in the society of Gilead.

The Handmaid

Religion in the Handmaid's Tale

In the Handmaid's Tale, the belief in God in Gilead in real presence when Offred says, "May the Lord open."

I think that Serena shows more respect for religion better than the Commander because as he begins to read the Bible, his action is decribed by Offred when she says, "... as if reluctantly, begins to read. He isn't very good at it. Maybe he's merely bored." This quotation reveals the lack of respect the Commander has for religion. The adverb "reluctantly" connotes unwilling and disinclined which again shows how much respect he has. The adverb merely is decribing the adjective "bored" to illustrate his reaction in depth.

Religion benefits the Commander in Gilead, this is because his status is at the top, he controls all women and get away when going to Jezebles. This is when he says to Offred, "The Commander does the talking for me." By using his name, shows she has repect for him, which leads to the benefit the Commander has in Gilead, in terms of status and gender.

The Handmaid's Tale

Essay question: Compare and contrast the ways Atwood in "The Handmaid's Tale" and Chaucer in "The Wife of Bath" explore status in society.

Introduction:
Status in society is explored in the books, The Handmaid's Tale and The Wife of Bath. In the Handmaid's Tale, Atwood explores status in society through language which shows subjugation of women, colour coding (clothing), role, name of characters, the past and present life of Offred. In the Wife of Bath, status is explored in the Prologue through the wife's control over marriage. The Tale which presents the status of women through the queen's orders and the Witches commands. I will be exploring the different ways Atwood and Chaucer explore status in society.

Main Body:

1. In the Handmaid's Tale, the status of women and men are explored through their roles in society. This can be seen in character of Offred (who is a Handmaid) used for the bearing of children when Offred says, "I am a walking womb." The use of women in society in the section about Salvaging when the Handmaid's are told to pull the rope to kill the Handmaid accused of "cheating". "I've leaned forward to touch the rope in front of me, in time with the others... placed my hand on my heart to show my unity with the salvagers and my consent..."
2. Although women such as the Handmaid's are used for the bearing of children, there are other women who have different roles and status in society. Women such as the Commander's Wife called Serena Joy has a higher status comapred to the Handmaid's. The different status between these two categories can be seen in the actions and attidues of the Wife to the Offred. When Offred first meets the Commander's wife and she describes her attitude, "She dosen't speak to me, unless she can't avoid it. I am a reproach to her; and a necessity."
3. Despite the status of the Wife in the Handmaid's Tale, the status of women in the fouteenth century and the views on women are shown by Chaucer through the Wife either contridictory or corresponding to the Wifes Prologue and Tale. A corresponding quote for the views on women in the fourteenth century about women being troublesome is when the Wife describes herself as, "Stiborn I was as is a leonasse."
4. Depending on the views on women in Chaucer's era, the wealth of the woman would be passed onto the man once they are married. A quotation from the Wife portrays that women's wealth is passed onto the husband, when the Wife says, "Hath wedded me with greet so lempritee, And to him yaf i al the lond and fee."
5. In the Handmaid's Tale society, women are dominated by men,the Commander is a man, who commands everyone below his status (the Handmaid's, the Aunts and their Wife). The society of the book is based on patriarchal society and this can be seen through the power men have as a Commander. This can be seen when Offred describes the Commander when she says, "The Commander has a room key. He shows it to me, slyly. I am to understand."
6. Whereas, in the Wife of Bath's Tale, women are shown to be in control of and have power over men. This can be seen in the Tale when the Wife says, "And yat him to the queene, al at hir wille, To chase wheither she wolde him save or spille." The queen's commandes to the Knight which shows her status when she says, " I grante thee lyf if thou thanst tellen me what thing is it that women most desiren."
7. In the Handmaid's Tale, the Handmaid's are used to ear children and are colour coded like the others, the colour they have to wear is red. Therefore Offred decribes herself as, "the colour of blood, which defines us."

Conclusion:

In conclusion, I believe that in both "The Handmaid's Tale" and "The Wife of Bath", the topic status has been explored in many ways. In the Handmaid's Tale through hierachy and colour coding. In the Wife of Bath, through Prologue and Tale describing the status of women through the queen status and the Wife's life.