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Rape Fantasies by Margaret Atwood
"Rape Fantasies" is written by Margaret Atwood in 1977. Basically this short story is about the narrator, named Estelle, recalling a conversation of several women during their lunch hour. It starts with one of Estelle's co-workers, asking the question 'How about it, girls, do you have rape fantasies?'(pg 72) The story goes on with each woman telling their supposed 'rape fantasy' to one another. As each is telling their fantasy, Estelle is doing her best to try to deflect the situation by making jokes about their fantasies. After all the women have told their fantasies, Estelle says, 'those aren't rape fantasies. I mean, you aren't getting raped, it's just some guy you haven't met formally who happens to be more attractive than Derek Cummins . . . and you have a good time. Rape is when they've got a knife or something and you don't want to.'(pg 74) Estelle then goes on to talk about her 'rape fantasies' from about to be raped by a short, ugly guy dieing from leukemia to squirting lemon juice in another attacker's eye.
I believe that her use of characters in the story was good. This type of story telling would seem typical to me for girls in an office setting. I don?t think that they would really talk about the fantasy of being forcible raped by telling their sex with a stranger type story instead. I also think that the point of view is important. Estelle is retelling the story through her view to someone else. She is probly at a bar or something, telling her story to some random man she met. I believe that she is trying to control a possible bad situation, maybe avoiding a rape, because she says in the last page ?..how could a fellow do that to a person he?s just had a long conversation with, once you let them know you?re human, your have a life too, I don?t see how they could go ahead with it, rights??(pg 78)
I actually enjoyed this short story. I really like the way Margaret Atwood laces the humor into her stories, like making fun the blond receptionist and the other blond, and how they compete with one anther.
Women in America have been described as “domestic household slaves” referring to their status in society. Do the documents support this assertion? If so what is the evidence?
In Joan Chen’s movie “The Sent Down Girl”, there are two gifts, one is a kaleidoscope and the other is an apple, received by the central character: XiuXiu.
she will not put up with how she is treated. She has the courage to
In The Handmaid’s Tale, much use is made of imagery; to enable the reader to create a more detailed mental picture of the novel’s action and also to intensify the emotive language used. In particular, Atwood uses many images involving flowers and plants.
Edith Wharton was the author of The Age of Innocence, a novel published in 1920. In the book, many topics were considered, such as divorce, the empowerment of women, and the lifestyle of the wealthy. The inspiration for these motifs occurred throughout her life. Although Edith Wharton’s work was not well-received, the topics included in her writings held many truths about upper-class society in the late 1800s; therefore, Edith Wharton was influenced by her past and societal experiences.
A woman’s power and privileges depend on which societal class she is in. In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale each group of women are each represented in a different way. The three classes of women from the novel are the Handmaids, the Marthas and the Wives. The ways in which the women are portrayed reflect their societal power and their privileges that they bestow.
"A Woman’s Place", the name of the commencement speech given by Naomi Wolf at the Scripps College graduation in 1992; contrasts the independent and the dependent woman. In today’s society, there are two different types of women: the woman who has a good head on her shoulders and knows where she is going in the world, and the woman who seeks dependence within the masculine world. Just as they were thirty years ago, women are still not considered to be equal to men. They are more or less looked at as being second to men.
Margaret Atwood’s “Happy Endings” is an Author’s telling of societal beliefs that encompass the stereotypical gender roles and the pursuit of love in the middle class with dreams of romance and marriage. Atwood writes about the predictable ways in which many life stories are concluded for the middle class; talking about the typical everyday existence of the average, ordinary person and how they live their lives. Atwood provides the framework for several possibilities regarding her characters’ lives and how each character eventually completes their life with their respective “happy ending”.
Two men were working the front end, the cashier at register 3 was helping an older looking woman with a sun hat, Capri pants ,and far too much make up on, the other cashier was leaning on the bag rack behind him, enjoying a break in a slow day . Both of the clerks looked as if they were in their early twenties, definently townies, the townies hated summer vacationers. Townies never said a word to vacationers, and you could tell in their attitude; they all longed for Labor Day to roll around so everyone would go home, bringing peace to their little town again. My observations of the store and town politics were...
Ann Rinaldi has written many books for young teenagers, she is an Award winning author who writes stories of American history and makes them become real to the readers. She has written many other books such as A Break with Charity, A Ride into Morning, and Cast two Shadows, etc. She was born in New York City on August 27, 1934. In 1979, at the age of 45, she finished her first book.
In Margaret Atwood’s, The Handmaid’s Tale, women are subjected to unthinkable oppression. Practically every aspect of their life is controlled, and they are taught to believe that their only purpose is to bear children for their commander. These “handmaids” are not allowed to read, write or speak freely. Any type of expression would be dangerous to the order of the Gilead’s strict society. They are conditioned to believe that they are safer in this new society. Women are supposedly no longer exploited or disrespected (pornography, rape, etc.) as they once were. Romantic relationships are strongly prohibited because involving emotion would defeat the handmaid’s sole purpose of reproducing. Of course not all women who were taken into Gilead believed right what was happening to their way of life. Through the process of storytelling, remembering, and rebellion, Offred and other handmaids cease to completely submit to Gilead’s repressive culture.
Feminism is a word that is stock-full of implications, and has many misconceptions. Full Frontal Feminism by Jessica Valenti attempts to give a broad overview of what feminism is, and how you should feel about it (hint: it’s positively). The book is directed primarily towards the younger generation, and talks about a variety of issues relevant to the feminist movement today and in history. The weaknesses of the book include the casual writing, the assumptions Valenti makes, and the contradictory statements that are consistently made. The strengths include providing an entertaining, broad overview of feminism, and discussing ways to contribute to gender equality. Overall, the book is more likely to be a positive experience for high-schoolers that identify as women then college-aged individuals looking for a critical analysis of issues society faces in regards to gender inequality.
The plot of Rape Fantasies by Margaret Atwood is all within the mind of Estelle, who talks to the reader as she might to a new friend. Estelle's personality becomes exposed to us through the narration of her fantasies and lunchtime work experiences.
story, a story she could not have told if she was dead. It is also
Although Necrophilia is a widely controversial topic, it is also one that is very unheard of: or is it? According to Katherine Ramsland’s “Necrophiles”, it’s a more common crime than it seems. She tells the stories of a variety of necrophiliac serial killers. In “A True Necrophile” by Katherine Ramsland, she also tells the story of the most popular mad men of them all, Ed Gein. As Katherine describes, Ed “apparently just loved bodies”. He used body parts to make ordinary household items such as skin for lampshades and bowls made from human skulls. Eventually, he used his own dead mother’s skin to create a female body suit and mask, using it to cross-dress. Ed was a serial killer, a cannibal, and he got pleasure from