The Lottery - Crux
My
first thought upon beginning to read “The Lottery”, a short story by
Shirley Jackson, was that my prior reading of it made this one
fundamentally different. It has a very different impact - since you know
that the lottery is a terrible thing beforehand, you begin to notice
all of the hints very early on that suggest that the something is very,
very off.
Because
of my earlier read, I found much of the beginning - where the nature of
the lottery has not been revealed yet - the most disturbing part of the
story. The entire population treats it so casually that it appears that
they have no stress about being chosen to die. For example, take Mrs.
Hutchinson completely forgetting what day it was - “Clean forgot what
day it was.” Or Summers with “Well, now. Guess we better get started,
get this over with, so's we can go back to
work. Anybody ain't here?” And onwards, the people of the village don’t
seem as though they talk with any worry or nervous on their mind. This
is all despite the fact that they could, if they tried, end it - the
implication in the story being that the ordeal isn’t mandated by some overarching dystopian government, since other places have abolished the practice.
In
my eyes, this story tells us so many different things. But in my case, I
felt like the most important takeaway is that human cultures don’t
necessarily all share the same basic morals and values. Most of the
time, people understand, but don’t comprehend this entirely. For the
most part, the immediate and drastic differences we see are the ends of
the political spectrum, but it can go far beyond that. When it comes to
the people of this town, their set of morals is fundamentally different
from all of ours, which makes this story so horrifying.
Week 2
Bloodchild - Crux
I found the relationship between the
Terrans (humanity) and the Tlic (aliens) in "Bloodchild" fascinating.
When I first began reading it, I thought it was some sort of harmony,
perhaps symbiotic. Why else would the humans live alongside the Tlic?
The further I read, however, the more I felt as though it was leaning
towards parasitic; beneficial in only one direction towards the Tlic.
There are several quotes from "Bloodchild" that suggest that the Tlic
don't really care about the humans for any reason other than to host
their children. It's not that difficult to discover only put on a facade
for their sentient incubation tool.
"They do sometimes. Actually, they prefer women. You should be around them when they talk among themselves. They say women have more body fat to protect the grubs. But they usually take men to leave the women free to bear their own young.” “To provide the next generation of host animals.” (13) This harsh realization is the blatant truth, as I see it, and there is no hidden meaning behind it. This is the crux. The humans in this story are in fact being used as hosts, and the aliens don't try to soften this fact when speaking with each other.
Gan reveals to the audience that "She knew how to manipulate people", when referring to Gatoi. How or why would she know a skill like that? The most likely reason is that the Tlic have to understand how to do this to survive as a species. They have to understand how humans work to push all of the right buttons. In fact, in the conversation that follows, Gatoi says “We wait long years for you and teach you and join our families to yours. You know you aren’t animals to us.” (16) She was saying only what Gan wanted to hear, exactly as she did every other time she tried to console Gan about his situation as a host for Tlic.
On top of that, it is implied that humans on this world are treated, in some manner, as second-class citizens. "Since Terrans were forbidden motorized vehicles except for certain farm equipment..." (10) suggests that they have less rights than a Tlic, because they are sub-Tlic.
So, the humans are used as hosts by the parasitic Tlic. What is the point of this story, though? The situation seems far too alien to be applicable to our lives. If we think about it, though, the core resonates with the one in "The Lottery" - there is a common practice that appears horrible to the audience, but seems relatively normal to these people. No one really speaks out against it since it's simply what the society as whole accepts and endorses, even though there is little logical reason for them (the Terrans in "Bloodchild" or the villagers in "The Lottery") to. The younger people who might turn against it are made used to it from their childhood. It's not nearly as blatant, but the takeaways are similar - question moral and standards that may seem commonplace, and act upon what you think and believe.
Week 3
Week 6
The Handmaid’s Tale - Crux
“We had flannelette sheets, like children's, and army-issue blankets, old ones that still said U.S.” (Ch. 1)
The moment I read this line, my perspective on the story was set. While it is written at the beginning of the story, it sets the rest of it up – the quote implies that the United States is somehow a thing of the past. This story wasn’t just set in a random place and time; it was our place and time. Perhaps it took place in the future or during and alternative timeline, but that matters little. It became more relatable and I began drawing parallels to the real world.
However, it was the Japanese tourists that really changed my perspective on the story. Up to that point, I saw the story as something akin to 1984, in which the entire world is dystopian and everyone has to deal with the issues we see through the eyes of Offred. Upon reading about the tourists, I began to see the world as something entirely different, in which a single nation is horrifying among many that are not.
“They're diminutive and neatly turned out; each has his or her camera, his or her smile. They look around, bright-eyed, cocking their heads to one side like robins, their very cheerfulness aggressive, and I can't help staring. It's been a long time since I've seen skirts that short on women.”
By Chapter 5, Offred notices the Japanese tourists. To her, their behaviors are somewhat alien due to how she lives says – but to us, they’re very reminiscent of ourselves. In fact, the mannerisms Offred describes makes it appear that Gilead’s dystopian society is strange to them, and they hail from a society much like our own.
At this point, the story began to feel a lot more like an analogue to the real world as I began to recognize how similar the Republic of Gilead was to a few aspects of nations that exist, and have existed. We might not actively think about it, but we live in the same world that North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) exists in - a nation that has often been described as a nation-sized concentration camp for good reason – the way they treat their citizens is horrific.
The Japanese tourist group instantly made me think of reports from the few that have been allowed to tour North Korea. I’ve watched documentaries and videos in which reporters described their experiences there, about what they saw and heard, even what locals answered to interview questions. The Handmaid’s Tale literally describes the perspective of a person on the other side of the camera.
While it may seem ridiculous that the “outside world” in The Handmaid’s Tale doesn’t do anything to help the people in the Republic of Gilead despite full knowledge of their situation, we should recognize that people in our world have done the same. We don’t try to do anything about the situation of the North Koreans and many other nations that have suffered terrible regimes. Perhaps that’s the author’s purpose for writing – we should recognize that it’s something that’s going on, and not something that only exists in fiction.
Week 8
The Handmaid’s Tale - Crux
"They do sometimes. Actually, they prefer women. You should be around them when they talk among themselves. They say women have more body fat to protect the grubs. But they usually take men to leave the women free to bear their own young.” “To provide the next generation of host animals.” (13) This harsh realization is the blatant truth, as I see it, and there is no hidden meaning behind it. This is the crux. The humans in this story are in fact being used as hosts, and the aliens don't try to soften this fact when speaking with each other.
Gan reveals to the audience that "She knew how to manipulate people", when referring to Gatoi. How or why would she know a skill like that? The most likely reason is that the Tlic have to understand how to do this to survive as a species. They have to understand how humans work to push all of the right buttons. In fact, in the conversation that follows, Gatoi says “We wait long years for you and teach you and join our families to yours. You know you aren’t animals to us.” (16) She was saying only what Gan wanted to hear, exactly as she did every other time she tried to console Gan about his situation as a host for Tlic.
On top of that, it is implied that humans on this world are treated, in some manner, as second-class citizens. "Since Terrans were forbidden motorized vehicles except for certain farm equipment..." (10) suggests that they have less rights than a Tlic, because they are sub-Tlic.
So, the humans are used as hosts by the parasitic Tlic. What is the point of this story, though? The situation seems far too alien to be applicable to our lives. If we think about it, though, the core resonates with the one in "The Lottery" - there is a common practice that appears horrible to the audience, but seems relatively normal to these people. No one really speaks out against it since it's simply what the society as whole accepts and endorses, even though there is little logical reason for them (the Terrans in "Bloodchild" or the villagers in "The Lottery") to. The younger people who might turn against it are made used to it from their childhood. It's not nearly as blatant, but the takeaways are similar - question moral and standards that may seem commonplace, and act upon what you think and believe.
Week 3
"You will reflect on the fact that these “instructions” are becoming less and less instructive.
Your Field Instructions, stored in a chip beneath your hairline, will serve as both a mission log and a guide for others undertaking this work." (15)
The moment I read these lines - without exaggeration, the very moment - the story clicked.
The agent from whose perspective we read from is dead.
The style of the story is so strange because it's clearly meant to simulate a transcript from a step-by-step recording device - a "black box" - which recorded the actions and thoughts of an agent up until their death.
"Remember that, should you die, your body will yield a crucial trove of information.
Remember that, should you die, your Field Instructions will provide a record of your mission and lessons for those who follow." (43)
The term "black box" comes directly from airplane terminology to describe a flight recorder. It's a piece of equipment that logs general avionics data, along with the communications made by the crew. Does this sound familiar? It should, because it's one in one with how the story is formatted - the voice of the agent along with the actions made by the individual are recorded directly onto this chip. Coincidentally, the sole use for an airplane black box is to assist in the investigation of a crash - understanding what caused the flight to go catastrophic. It's not used for anything else. The author's title for the story is deliberate, as shown by this quote. It's given quite late in the story, so it only solidifed my knowledge of her death, along with the fact that she just got shot.
(I'm going to ignore the engineering use of the term "black box" since it's far less relevant in my opinion - although it can be vaguely applied. It's defined as a "thing" which accepts an input, does something to it, and generate an output - in which the inner workings of the "thing" are irrelevant.)
Furthermore, the agent never expected to be compensated for her actions. She even refers to her actions as a form of sacrifice.
"Remind yourself that you are receiving no payment, in currency or kind, for this or any act you have engaged in.
These acts are forms of sacrifice." (32)
There are many moments of foreshadowing in this story. I don't think it gets any clearer than this, however. Sacrifice can be attributed to many things, but it's most often associated with death for a greater good, which the agent also mentions.
Finally, why did the story end where it did? Well, where do "black box" transcripts end? At the moment that the device no longer recieves avionics or communication data. In this case, this is caused by death. There is no other logical reason for the story to be presented from the point of view of a black box, since the agent would be telling it herself. The fact that the black box was recovered in the first place - which isn't done with aircraft unless an accident occurs - implies that she died.
Week 4
The Semplica-Girl Diaries - Crux
Your Field Instructions, stored in a chip beneath your hairline, will serve as both a mission log and a guide for others undertaking this work." (15)
The moment I read these lines - without exaggeration, the very moment - the story clicked.
The agent from whose perspective we read from is dead.
The style of the story is so strange because it's clearly meant to simulate a transcript from a step-by-step recording device - a "black box" - which recorded the actions and thoughts of an agent up until their death.
"Remember that, should you die, your body will yield a crucial trove of information.
Remember that, should you die, your Field Instructions will provide a record of your mission and lessons for those who follow." (43)
The term "black box" comes directly from airplane terminology to describe a flight recorder. It's a piece of equipment that logs general avionics data, along with the communications made by the crew. Does this sound familiar? It should, because it's one in one with how the story is formatted - the voice of the agent along with the actions made by the individual are recorded directly onto this chip. Coincidentally, the sole use for an airplane black box is to assist in the investigation of a crash - understanding what caused the flight to go catastrophic. It's not used for anything else. The author's title for the story is deliberate, as shown by this quote. It's given quite late in the story, so it only solidifed my knowledge of her death, along with the fact that she just got shot.
(I'm going to ignore the engineering use of the term "black box" since it's far less relevant in my opinion - although it can be vaguely applied. It's defined as a "thing" which accepts an input, does something to it, and generate an output - in which the inner workings of the "thing" are irrelevant.)
Furthermore, the agent never expected to be compensated for her actions. She even refers to her actions as a form of sacrifice.
"Remind yourself that you are receiving no payment, in currency or kind, for this or any act you have engaged in.
These acts are forms of sacrifice." (32)
There are many moments of foreshadowing in this story. I don't think it gets any clearer than this, however. Sacrifice can be attributed to many things, but it's most often associated with death for a greater good, which the agent also mentions.
Finally, why did the story end where it did? Well, where do "black box" transcripts end? At the moment that the device no longer recieves avionics or communication data. In this case, this is caused by death. There is no other logical reason for the story to be presented from the point of view of a black box, since the agent would be telling it herself. The fact that the black box was recovered in the first place - which isn't done with aircraft unless an accident occurs - implies that she died.
Week 4
The Semplica-Girl Diaries - Crux
"Has, in past, refused to eat meat, sit on leather seats, use plastic forks made in China." -- September 23rd
This line is what changed my perception of the story. It might be a strange choice as it doesn't involve the SGs in any way, but it caused me to make a connection that I hadn't seen prior. This quote that the author used is an allusion to our own world. I'm sure everyone who read the line understood this - the "made in China" phenomenon is a large part of our society.
However, this connection made me realize that the story is a political commentary. The SGs, like the forks made in China, are also an allusion to our world. It's just exaggerated. Quite simply, they represent the people who we rarely if ever see, those who work in absolutely sub-par conditions improving our lives, the people whose existence we try not to dwell on. The SGs are the factory workers in 3rd world countries who produce things we use every moment of every day. They represent the illegal immigrants who allow us to enjoy purchasing food at relatively cheap prices at the cost of their own condition. When we do consider their existence, we try to justify the fact that we aren't working to mitigate the discrepancy in the standards of life with various reasons.
Kind of like how dad does when he tried to justify this absolutely abhorrent practice. "Point is, I said, everything relative. SGs have lived very different lives from us. Their lives brutal, harsh, unpromising. What looks scary/unpleasant to us may not be so scary/unpleasant to them, i.e., they have seen worse." -- September 23rd
As he does on several other occasions too.
When I began reading the short story, I fully expected it to be another The Lottery-styled piece, with the immoral element being embedded in daily life. I wanted to write about how similar the story is to The Lottery. While that is the case, I believe this story is actually quite different in purpose from the other stories we read with that element.
In The Lottery and even Bloodchild, the immoral element isn't designed to point at anything in particular. In both, it's a singular, tremendous event that happens rarely that everyone expects and prepares for (mentally or otherwise). It's extremely blatant, but it doesn't really point out anything in our culture that we should look at. It's a general warning of sorts, as I see it.
The Semplica-Girl Diaries portrays the immoral elements in a completely different light. Here, the dad is never really emotionally involved with the SGs plight directly. In fact, he's completely desensitized and accustomed to it, and makes references to the SGs only when focused on something that isn't their condition (buying a garden, the fact that they have gone, etc). While this is presented in a very obvious manner, it's not as obvious that it's a direct, albeit blown up reference to the way we think about the people I referred to - illegal immigrant workers, 3rd world factory workers, and many others that I haven't mentioned directly.
This line is what changed my perception of the story. It might be a strange choice as it doesn't involve the SGs in any way, but it caused me to make a connection that I hadn't seen prior. This quote that the author used is an allusion to our own world. I'm sure everyone who read the line understood this - the "made in China" phenomenon is a large part of our society.
However, this connection made me realize that the story is a political commentary. The SGs, like the forks made in China, are also an allusion to our world. It's just exaggerated. Quite simply, they represent the people who we rarely if ever see, those who work in absolutely sub-par conditions improving our lives, the people whose existence we try not to dwell on. The SGs are the factory workers in 3rd world countries who produce things we use every moment of every day. They represent the illegal immigrants who allow us to enjoy purchasing food at relatively cheap prices at the cost of their own condition. When we do consider their existence, we try to justify the fact that we aren't working to mitigate the discrepancy in the standards of life with various reasons.
Kind of like how dad does when he tried to justify this absolutely abhorrent practice. "Point is, I said, everything relative. SGs have lived very different lives from us. Their lives brutal, harsh, unpromising. What looks scary/unpleasant to us may not be so scary/unpleasant to them, i.e., they have seen worse." -- September 23rd
As he does on several other occasions too.
When I began reading the short story, I fully expected it to be another The Lottery-styled piece, with the immoral element being embedded in daily life. I wanted to write about how similar the story is to The Lottery. While that is the case, I believe this story is actually quite different in purpose from the other stories we read with that element.
In The Lottery and even Bloodchild, the immoral element isn't designed to point at anything in particular. In both, it's a singular, tremendous event that happens rarely that everyone expects and prepares for (mentally or otherwise). It's extremely blatant, but it doesn't really point out anything in our culture that we should look at. It's a general warning of sorts, as I see it.
The Semplica-Girl Diaries portrays the immoral elements in a completely different light. Here, the dad is never really emotionally involved with the SGs plight directly. In fact, he's completely desensitized and accustomed to it, and makes references to the SGs only when focused on something that isn't their condition (buying a garden, the fact that they have gone, etc). While this is presented in a very obvious manner, it's not as obvious that it's a direct, albeit blown up reference to the way we think about the people I referred to - illegal immigrant workers, 3rd world factory workers, and many others that I haven't mentioned directly.
The Handmaid’s Tale - Crux
“We had flannelette sheets, like children's, and army-issue blankets, old ones that still said U.S.” (Ch. 1)
The moment I read this line, my perspective on the story was set. While it is written at the beginning of the story, it sets the rest of it up – the quote implies that the United States is somehow a thing of the past. This story wasn’t just set in a random place and time; it was our place and time. Perhaps it took place in the future or during and alternative timeline, but that matters little. It became more relatable and I began drawing parallels to the real world.
However, it was the Japanese tourists that really changed my perspective on the story. Up to that point, I saw the story as something akin to 1984, in which the entire world is dystopian and everyone has to deal with the issues we see through the eyes of Offred. Upon reading about the tourists, I began to see the world as something entirely different, in which a single nation is horrifying among many that are not.
“They're diminutive and neatly turned out; each has his or her camera, his or her smile. They look around, bright-eyed, cocking their heads to one side like robins, their very cheerfulness aggressive, and I can't help staring. It's been a long time since I've seen skirts that short on women.”
By Chapter 5, Offred notices the Japanese tourists. To her, their behaviors are somewhat alien due to how she lives says – but to us, they’re very reminiscent of ourselves. In fact, the mannerisms Offred describes makes it appear that Gilead’s dystopian society is strange to them, and they hail from a society much like our own.
At this point, the story began to feel a lot more like an analogue to the real world as I began to recognize how similar the Republic of Gilead was to a few aspects of nations that exist, and have existed. We might not actively think about it, but we live in the same world that North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) exists in - a nation that has often been described as a nation-sized concentration camp for good reason – the way they treat their citizens is horrific.
The Japanese tourist group instantly made me think of reports from the few that have been allowed to tour North Korea. I’ve watched documentaries and videos in which reporters described their experiences there, about what they saw and heard, even what locals answered to interview questions. The Handmaid’s Tale literally describes the perspective of a person on the other side of the camera.
While it may seem ridiculous that the “outside world” in The Handmaid’s Tale doesn’t do anything to help the people in the Republic of Gilead despite full knowledge of their situation, we should recognize that people in our world have done the same. We don’t try to do anything about the situation of the North Koreans and many other nations that have suffered terrible regimes. Perhaps that’s the author’s purpose for writing – we should recognize that it’s something that’s going on, and not something that only exists in fiction.
Week 8
The Handmaid’s Tale - Crux
In many books, the ending is placed
at a point in time in the story where readers get so involved that they
don't want it to end, even if sufficient closure is given. Thankfully, The Handmaid's Tale
includes an epilogue that not only wraps the story up nicely (let's
face it - we all wanted to see Gilead fall by the end), it also acts as a
channel for the author to meta talk about their own story while keeping
us immersed from the perspective of a person in the world.
The last thing that we read in a book is often the thing that we most readily remember. The epilogue is designed to leave us thinking about specific themes that the author brings up here, even if they don't do so directly. One of the primary themes, and therefore takeaways, that the author provides here is how a group of people can change completely - turning on their ideals due to a disastrous change. We see this a lot in media - apocalypses turning people into monsters and murderers, for example. In this book, however, the change was the massively declining birth rate. The author shows that this is the focus by outlining exactly what happened to cause these issues, and how it affected society in a way that caused Gilead to form (with all of it's interesting ideals).
By keeping the reader immersed in the story, the reader can come to the conclusion - that this could happen to anyone - on their own rather than having it blatantly given to them, making it more memorable in the long run. The "professor" even tells us to be careful about judging the Gileadeans, which implies that we might be capable of doing exactly the same thing were we in the predicament they were faced with, without the perfect hindsight with us.
The lecture that the professor gives seems, throughout, quite impersonal, distanced, and analytical. After reading the book, we feel connected to the character and her struggles, and the professor refers to the documents and the author of them as mere sources of information. Personally, this put the story into perspective, for the lack of a better term - this is exactly how we approach history ourselves, analyzing first and second hand accounts with impunity without really connecting them to ourselves directly. We can see this when we look back at, for example, the German people between the World Wars. In this manner, the author might also be attempting to show us this and remind us to at least soften our impeccable judgement standard of the people in the past.
The last thing that we read in a book is often the thing that we most readily remember. The epilogue is designed to leave us thinking about specific themes that the author brings up here, even if they don't do so directly. One of the primary themes, and therefore takeaways, that the author provides here is how a group of people can change completely - turning on their ideals due to a disastrous change. We see this a lot in media - apocalypses turning people into monsters and murderers, for example. In this book, however, the change was the massively declining birth rate. The author shows that this is the focus by outlining exactly what happened to cause these issues, and how it affected society in a way that caused Gilead to form (with all of it's interesting ideals).
By keeping the reader immersed in the story, the reader can come to the conclusion - that this could happen to anyone - on their own rather than having it blatantly given to them, making it more memorable in the long run. The "professor" even tells us to be careful about judging the Gileadeans, which implies that we might be capable of doing exactly the same thing were we in the predicament they were faced with, without the perfect hindsight with us.
The lecture that the professor gives seems, throughout, quite impersonal, distanced, and analytical. After reading the book, we feel connected to the character and her struggles, and the professor refers to the documents and the author of them as mere sources of information. Personally, this put the story into perspective, for the lack of a better term - this is exactly how we approach history ourselves, analyzing first and second hand accounts with impunity without really connecting them to ourselves directly. We can see this when we look back at, for example, the German people between the World Wars. In this manner, the author might also be attempting to show us this and remind us to at least soften our impeccable judgement standard of the people in the past.
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