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Human Acts Final Reflection

Here is a link for a brainstorm of my Final Reflection for Human Acts

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Philosophical Reflection

Philosophical Thinking – Human Acts

This novel, “Human Acts”, focuses on the dark past of the South Korean nation, with regards to the Gwangju uprising. In my opinion, I think that it would be very hard for a nation to fully recover from a dark past. A nation’s history will always remain, no matter how dark it is. One cannot erase the actions of a nation and choose to forget them simply because they are not commendable. Although a nation could try to move past their history and forge a new and better way ahead, what has occurred in the past tarnishes a nation’s reputation forever. 

How do we decide what is a good and bad past? How do we decide what is good and evil? I don’t think that there is such a thing as good and evil. I think that all humans do things that they believe are good and necessary, although these things may not be considered ‘good’ by the rest of society. It is hard to define exactly what good and evil is, as what is good for one person may be bad for another, and what is evil for one person may be right for another.

When speaking about a nation’s dark past, we often think about death. One of the most asked questions regarding death is: what happens after we die? Nobody has ever been able to answer that question as there have always been different answers based on religion, science and more. It is hard to say if our body is of any significance after we die, and it is also hard to say when we stop being us. I think that this depends on the individual and their beliefs regarding whether it is our soul or our bodies that make us, us. 

History is considered a very big part of a nation, demonstrating who the people are and what they have been through. It is often constrained due to involvement from the government as a lot of the times nations have a dark past that governments do not want citizens to know about. If government censorship makes us forget history it is important for us to make sure that we learn what has happened in the past in order for us to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself. This is because I believe that we do have a moral duty to remember both the good and the bad of what our countries have done. It is important for us to build on what has happened and learn from our past mistakes. 

The main reason why I believe that remembering is important is because of the numerous sacrifices that millions of humans have had to make in the past in order to make our nations what they are today. If these are forgotten, the sacrifices are almost rendered useless. If my government tried to erase my history I would feel very disappointed and quite sad. History is what defines a country – erasing it would be like erasing an extremely important part of someone’s identity. 

The Handmaid’s Tale – questions

Questions on The Handmaid’s Tale:

1. How is the novel relevant to you?

I think that it is quite hard to say that the novel is directly relevant to me as it is a dystopian novel, and we are presented with a society that would be quite hard to imagine and replicate in current times. However, there are certain aspects of the novel that are relevant to me, and that are also quite relatable. For example, one of the main concepts that can be seen within the novel is the idea of female repression – we can see that women are not given much choice in the novel, especially considering the fact that they are obligated to have children in order to remain Handmaids. We are also made aware of the fact that they are completely stripped of their identities, as we see that the Handmaids are named based on the men in charge. All of this points towards the large concept of hierarchy, and the power imbalance and thus dominance that men have in society as opposed to women. This large concept can very well relate to the society that we live in – although females are not as repressed nowadays, and there have been movements towards achieving equal rights for both men and women, this is still not completely the case, thus alluding to the fact that men still hold a slightly more dominant and superior position in society compared to women.

Another way in which the novel is relevant to me and the current times is through the ‘normality’ that is established within the novel – as the novel progresses, we understand more and more of Offred’s character, and we are thus able to see her slowly accept her fate and accept the fact that her situation will not change. She starts to listen to others around her who are saying that her situation is ordinary, and that she simply needs to get ‘used to it’. This idea of something becoming ordinary over time is quite relevant to the situation that we find ourselves in currently, with COVID-19. Over the past few months of living with the virus, we have become used to wearing masks, and social distancing – these are now things that are considered “ordinary” for us and that are a part of our daily lifestyle, but they are things that would definitely not be considered as ordinary or normal if we weren’t living under these conditions. We can therefore see a link with the novel with regards to accepting your fate and making something seem ordinary over time because there is simply no other choice.

2. What have you learnt/explored about ‘authorial craft’ that is important moving forward and that you can conceptually relate to other (non-literary) texts?

There are a lot of things that I have learnt about ‘authorial craft’ that are extremely important within the novel and that help Atwood create meaning. One of the most noticeable features of this novel is the use of the first-person narrative in order to recount the story. Although Atwood could have chosen to use second or third person narrative to tell the story, she decide to use first person narrative in order to make the novel more personal, and in order to give us deeper insight into Offred’s character, her mentality, her thoughts, emotions and views. This makes it seem as though Offred is directly speaking to the reader, and informing the reader of her thoughts. We can see the use of a similar technique within non-literary texts, and other texts, through the use of direct address and first person narrative – both of these writing techniques allow for a much more personal and relatable text. Learning how the author addresses the text with a specific purpose and audience in mind helped me understand the effectiveness of similar techniques used in non-literary texts.

Another key concept that was explored by Atwood in the novel was the idea of the historical notes, and what they contributed to the novel and to our understanding of the novel. We come to know that these messages from Offred were pieced together from tape recordings that were found. We also find out that these tape recordings had sections of music in between, and thus can conclude that it is almost as if Offred was attempting to ‘mask’ her voice behind the music, highlighting the recurring use of palimpsest. Atwood’s concept of different information needing to be pieced together from a tape almost alludes to Offred’s “broken” nature/spirit as she was forced to live in Gilead and comply to the society’s many rules and regulations. Atwood’s decision to place the historical notes at the end of the novel changed our overall interpretation of the text after having read it – this technique can also be common in non-literary texts as we can be influenced by the placement of certain images/text and the composition of the texts.

The Handmaid’s Tale – article

“Sexy” Handmaids – questions:

• Which ‘side’ of the debate do you agree with?

I do agree with the fact that this costume was slightly controversial as it defeated “the purpose of the show”. Whilst reading and watching The Handmaid’s Tale, we are exposed to themes of the oppression of women and sexual slavery. In this novel and show, women (especially the handmaids) are constantly undermined and are simply considered ‘objects’ whose only purpose is to give birth. Making a costume that represented the Handmaid’s in a more sexualised manner is definitely insensitive, and this is why the costume received a lot of backlash. Although to some it might have been considered as an “expression of women’s empowerment”, and a way to show that women are fighting back against this kind of oppression, to many others it was seen as “a symbol of women’s oppression”. Additionally, the fact that it was a “sexy” costume, with “a red cape, minidress and white bonnet”, implies the further objectification and sexualisation of women, which could be considered as extremely offensive, particularly in this scenario.

• Do you feel the reporter favours one side of the debate more than the other?

Although we are not able to see a lot of the reporter’s commentary on the debate since the article mainly consists of quotations from the online retailer Yandy and tweets about the issue at hand, the language used at the beginning of the article does make me feel as though the reporter slightly favours one side of the debate more than the other – he believes that the coming up with the design for this costume and selling it was a “step too far”. I therefore feel as though the reporter believes that it was not a good idea to sell this costume, and that the costume is more of a degrading symbol rather than an expression of women’s empowerment.

• • What clues have you identified that indicate bias, if any?

I think that one of the main clues that I have identified that indicates bias is in the first paragraph of the article, where we can detect a hint of sarcasm from the reporter as he says that the website took down the costume after realising that “people don’t find female oppression ‘cute’ or ‘sexy'”. The use of a sarcastic tone within this paragraph gives the idea that the reporter does not condone what has been done, and does not believe that selling the costume was a good idea. The second paragraph of the article also steers readers towards believing that there is some kind of bias within the writing in this article – the reporter says that the online retailer Yandy “took things a step too far” with the costume, and comically claims that the costume is “an ensemble that wouldn’t have looked out of place in a ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ porn parody” – this use of comical language, and making reference to a “porn parody” amplifies the reporter’s sense of distaste towards the costume.

• Are there any cultural assumptions being made in this article?

I guess that in a way, there are some cultural assumptions being made in this article, in the sense that general assumptions are being made regarding society and the way that people reacted to this costume. Someone tweeted “As my friend Joyce said, capitalism wraps it all up and sell it right back to you” – although this comment might be valid, it is making assumptions about the origins and reasoning behind selling this costume and about the context of this costume. Another person tweeted about how “our society doesn’t take the rape of real women seriously” – although definitely valid, this comment is generalising “our society” and therefore can be considered as making an assumption about the people in society and the general views that we might have on rape culture. Other than these two instances, I do not think that there are any cultural assumptions that are being made in this article.

• What do the selected tweets reveal about American culture?

I think that the selected tweets reveal a lot about American culture, as well as the American society and the way that they react to situations like this. Although some of the tweets defended the costume, and some people appeared unbothered by what was happening, most of the people in the comments section were completely against this costume and everything that it stood for. The tweets therefore reveal the fact that American society and culture make others aware of apparent injustice, and have no problems in denouncing those who might be acting in an insensitive manner. The tweets also reveal the fact that American culture in general feels strongly about women empowerment and female rights.