The Handmaids Tale Essay Example for Free

The Handmaids Tale Essay This book is a depiction of an anti-utopian future society, along with others like 1984 and Brave New World. It combines a futuristic reality, feminism and politics to create a very detailed novel considering many different aspects of Gilead. Offred is the complex lead character who draws us into the seemingly perfect but corrupt world of Gilead. Her pain is experienced by the readers who long to remember exactly what she has forgotten, and what she wants to find out. The experiences she goes through are strange, sometimes outright bizarre, and her world comes crashing down on us. The Handmaids Tale is very thought-provoking, the future of women and indeed the world lies in the actions of todays society, and Atwood uses her perceptions of the present world to support the background of her novel. Altogether The Handmaids Tale offers what all novels should: love, loss, action, comedy (ironic, but appropriate) vision, and plot. It plays with all emotions. Time In The handmaids tale (THT) the use of time is a key feature. Frequently throughout the book we experience time changes, from the present oppressive situation, and to the past of the handmaids, a happier time. In the gymnasium, time is used in reference. The narrator refers to a time gone, where the gymnasium was used for things other than sleeping. Dances would have been held there there was old sex in the room. There is reminiscence of the narrator; they call upon personal observations and experiences from the time gone by I remember that yearning. Later in the first chapter it becomes clear that the narrator, experienced the handmaids experience when she remembers how things were for her, when she slept in the army cots in the gymnasium as we tried to sleep in the army cots she uses words such as we had, then, were which all indicate its past tense. This usage of time goes on in the novel and is a way in which the writer can convey the feeling that the current situation has not always been that way, and that once this oppression didnt exist. As you read the opening chapter, the tone of the text comes across as sad, as reminiscent, as a longing for the times gone by, and a desire to return there. From reading the text, it becomes clear to me that this phantom narrator learned from her experience that she presumably had in Gilead, she learned the talent to be insatiable; she obviously didnt have it when she arrived how did we learn it, that talent for insatiability? The narrator of the text is left as something of a mystery to the reader. A name is never mentioned, but the text reads as if its somebody who is thinking back on their personal experience. This is somebody who has been there, experienced the oppression, had a yearning, this tells me that its being told by somebody who once was a Handmaid, I am sure they were a handmaid as they were being watched by Aunts and sleeping en mass in Gilead. If this person was a handmaid then surely they were a woman, I also think this because the language is quite emotional and emotive we yearned for the future.

Progressive Historians :: American America History

Progressive Historians One must decide the meaning of "progressive historiography." It can mean either the history written by "progressive historians," or it can mean history written by historians of the Progressive era of American history and shortly after. The focus that was chosen for this paper is more in keeping with the latter interpretation, if for no other reason than it provides a useful compare-and-contrast "control" literature. The caveat is this: the focus of this report is on the predominant question of the historiographical period: was the war a revolution or a war for independence? One could choose many other questions to argue, questions that historians have for years disputed about the revolution, but there are a number of reasons why this report was chosen for this particular assignment; the two best follow. First, it is an old and time-honored question that professors and instructors have posed to their students for years; of pre-Civil War historiographical questions, it is perhaps second only in fashion during the last twenty to twenty-five years to the Jefferson-Hemmings paternity controversy. Second, the revolution-or-independence question is one of those which must be answered through interpretation. A case cannot be made that is so utterly conclusive as to exclude all others; it is that very fact that makes history at once so frustrating and so fascinating. What better way could there be to loo k at the writings of a specific school of historians? Therefore, in the pursuit of "personal truth," we must proceed... Perhaps the most famous of all progressive historians is Frederick Jackson Turner. His most famous argument is not devoted strictly to the American Revolution, but instead to the effects of the American frontier. In a sentence, his argument is that the frontier was the chief determinant in American history. This is not to say that Turner did not write about the war; he did, in his seminal work, "The Frontier in American History," there are discussions of the frontier's effect on the coming of the revolution. It is worth noting, before exploring Turner's arguments, that the frontier in this period was only about one hundred miles from the Atlantic coast. Of course, as the period under scrutiny approaches the war chronologically, the frontier moves away from the ocean. But it is important to remember that Turner defines the Jamestown of Captain John Smith in 1607 as the frontier in its initial stage.

Branches of Psychology Essay

Abnormal psychology is the area that looks at psychopathology and abnormal behavior. 2. Behavioral Psychology (Behaviorism) )Is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviors are acquired through conditioning. 3. Biopsychology It is focused on the study of how the brain influences behavior is often known as biopsychology. 4. Cognitive Psychology Focuses on internal states, such as motivation, problem solving, decision-making, thinking and attention. 5. Comparative Psychology Comparative psychology is the branch of psychology concerned with the study of animal behavior. 6. Cross-Cultural Psychology Branch of psychology that looks at how cultural factors influence human behavior. 7. Developmental PsychologyThis branch of psychology looks at development throughout the lifespan, from childhood to adulthood. 8. Educational PsychologyBranch of psychology concerned with schools, teaching psychology, educational issues and student concerns. 9. Experimental PsychologyBranch of psychology that utilizes scientific methods to research the brain and behavior. 10. Forensic PsychologyForensic psychology is a specialty area that deals with issues related to psychology and the law 11. Health PsychologyIt is focused on how biology, psychology, behavior and social factors influence health and illness. 12. Personality PsychologyIt is focused on the patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behavior that make a person unique. 13. Social PsychologySocial psychology seeks to explain and understand social behavior and looks at diverse topics. 4. Sports psychology Is a interdisciplinary science that draws on knowledge from the fields of Kinesiology (human kinetic) and Psychology. Mathematical psychology   Is an approach to  psychological  research that is based on mathematical modeling(mathematical concept and language) 16. Clinical psychology Clinical psychology also promotes adoption, adjustment and personal development. 17. Evolutionary psychology This looks at how human behavior has been affected by psychological adjustments during evolution. 8. NeuropsychologyStudy the structure and function of the brain in relation to clear behaviors and psychological processes. 19. Occupational psychology Study the performance of people at work. 20. Integral psychology  Branch of psychology that presents an all-encompassing holistic rather than an exclusivist or reductive approach 21. International  or  global psychology Is an emerging branch of  psychology  that focuses on the worldwide enterprise of psychology in terms of communication and networking. 22. Legal psychologyBranch of psychology  involves  empirical,  psychological  research of the law, legal institutions, and people who come into contact with the law. 23. Media psychology Seeks an understanding of how people perceive, interpret, use, and respond to a media-rich world. 24. Systems psychology Branch of both  theoretical psychology  and  applied psychology  that studies  human behaviour  and  experiencein  complex systems. 25. Theoretical psychology  It is concerned with theoretical and philosophical aspects of the discipline of  psychology.

Perennial Philosophy And Science Of The Soul - 1230 Words

Introduction To comprehend the contours of perennial philosophy and to better understand how to interpret reality properly, it would be necessary to look into what Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger would suggest in order to establish a proper hermeneutics of interpreting the Scriptures. This paper will briefly discuss the areas of natural epistemology followed by analogy and participation and finally, Divine and human agency and the life of virtue. It will conclude by incorporating a summarization of the three areas into what Cardinal Ratzinger’s â€Å"Erasmus Lecture† hoped in hearing reality in light of modern views. The challenge for Ratzinger in understanding the proper interpretation of the Bible would derive from a â€Å"new freedom of thought which the Enlightenment had advanced† being encountered in today’s modern era. Natural Epistemology Etymologically speaking, psychology is the science of the soul. Following Aristotle’s view of what would belong to the science of the soul, a proper definition for psychology would be â€Å"the living being in so far as it is the principle of vital activities, in particular regarding those beings endowed with immanent activity or the power to move themselves, considered as such.† St. Thomas believed that psychology should be defined with respect to vital activity as a whole, understanding the distinction of living and nonliving is more basic than that of conscious and non-conscious. Aristotle develops his ideas using reason as a purelyShow MoreRelated The Rise Of Christianity Essay1320 Words   |  6 PagesThe rise of Christianity in philosophy One influential cult was based upon a mystical interpretation of Plato. Neo-Platonism was like a rational science that attempted to break down and describe every aspect of the divine essence and its relationship with the human soul. 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