Reflections on "Night" by Elie Wiesel

When I was going into my freshman year, one of my summer projects for English was to read the novel, Night, by Elie Wiesel.  The novel is basically the author recounting his life in concentration camps during World War II.  I thought it was a great book at the time, but I didn't really appreciate his story fully until I had the opportunity to visit a concentration in Germany this past summer.  I was on a two-week tour with the Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra in Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic.  During our trip, we performed, toured, and visited many cities.  One of the places we visited was Dachau, the very first concentration camp.  Being in the midst of where stories like Wiesel's actually took place was completely life changing.  When I got back from the tour, I wanted to go back and reread the book again with a different outlook.  Since the story is still some-what fresh in my head, I decided to talk about some of the major themes that I discovered from Wiesel's recount.

Having and Losing Faith in God

One of the main themes of Night is Eliezer's loss of religious faith. Throughout the book, Eliezer witnesses and experiences things that he cannot reconcile with the idea of a just and all-knowing God.

At the beginning of the narrative, Eliezer declares, "I believed profoundly." He is twelve years old and his life is centered around Judaism—studying the Talmud during the day, praying at the synagogue at night until he weeps with religious feeling. He wants to study the cabbala (Jewish mysticism), but his father says he's too young. Despite this, Eliezer finds a teacher in town, a poor man named Moché the Beadle, and the two of them pore over cabbalistic questions. Eliezer's faith in God is shared by many of his fellow Jews in the town of Sighet. On the trains to the concentration camps, people discuss the banishment from their homes as trial sent from God to be endured—a test of faith.

But Eliezer's belief in God begins to falter at the concentration camps of Birkenau-Aushwitz. Here the furnaces are busy night and day burning people. Here he watches German soldiers throw truckloads of babies and small children into the flames. The longer he stays in the concentration camps, the more he sees and experiences cruelty and suffering. People treat others worse than they would livestock. He can no longer believe that a God who would permit such nightmare places to exist could be just. The fact that many Jews do continue to pray, to recite the Talmud, and to look for comfort in their faith while in the concentration camp amazes and confounds Eliezer. That people would still pray to a God who allows their families to be gassed and incinerated suggests to Eliezer that people are stronger and more forgiving than the God they pray to. Later, as more people die, and others around him lose hope, starve, and succumb, Eliezer ceases to believe that God could exist at all. He is not alone in his disillusionment. Akiba Drumer (whose faith helps Eliezer endure for a while) as well as a rabbi whom Eliezer talks to, also eventually come to believe that God's existence is impossible in a world that contains such a large-scale, willful horror as the Holocaust. The final nail in the coffin, for Eliezer's faith, comes at Buna, where the prisoners are gathered to watch the hanging of a young boy. A man in the crowd asks, "Where is God now?" Eliezer's internal response is that God is that boy on the gallows. The boy dies slowly as the prisoners are forced to watch.

Inhumanity

One of the legacies of the Holocaust is the sheer scale of one group of people's inhumanity towards other groups of people. In the case of the Jews, the German government and German society attempted to redefine them as sub-human, and then as creatures who deserved to die.

But Night doesn't just focus on the Nazis and their seemingly endless diabolical behavior (concentration camp doctors—those who swear an oath to do no harm—are some of the worst offenders imaginable). The book also looks at what it is like for an adolescent to live in a situation where he and those around him are no longer treated as humans. The loss of humanity among the victims leads to all kinds of cruelty and callousness among the prisoners as they struggle to survive—prisoners are vicious towards each other, those with small powers abuse them, children abandon parents, starving people kill each other for scraps of food. In the cattle car on the way to Auschwitz, people strike a woman to keep her quiet, something they never would have done in the village. As Eliezer's father lies in his sickbed, near death, other invalids beat him up because he smells bad. Through Night, Elie Wiesel makes the point that when people are treated as subhuman and are subjected to the constant threat of death, they may lose the ability to act like a decent person—even towards others in the same situation. Empathy is one of the finest human qualities, but it can be crushed.

 

Fathers and Sons

As his family is being marched from its home, Eliezer sees his father weep for the first time. By the end of the book, his father is dead, another victim of the Nazi death camps. In between, Night explores the ways traditional father-son relationships break down under impossibly difficult conditions. At the heart of this theme is Eliezer's relationship with his own father. Yet the narrator also pays attention to other father-son relationships among the prisoners in the camps; his observations of other fathers and sons make him think about his duties to his own father.

In normal life, before the Holocaust began, Eliezer's father has great respect in the community and within Eliezer's house. The relationship of father to son is traditional—the biblical commandment to honor one's parents is paramount in Jewish families like Eliezer's. After the family is split up at Birkenau, Eliezer and his father have only each other to live for. As his father weakens, the traditional roles of protector and protected are reversed. It is Eliezer who must protect his father.

During their time in the camps, Eliezer time and again feels shame when he is angry at his father for not being able to avoid beatings or for not being able to march correctly. His father continues to look out for him—he gives Eliezer a few tools to keep when it looks like he will be taken away, and he rouses a neighbor to save his son when someone on the train begins to strangle Eliezer. But there's a limit to how much either can shield the other from hardship. And as conditions become more and more impossible, and the physically weaker and older begin to die, fathers become burdens—first to the consciences of sons, who feel guilty about their own survival instincts and their inability to protect their fathers, and then physical burdens, too. Eliezer sees an illustration of this in the death march to Gleiwitz when a young man leaves behind his tired father, a rabbi; and again on the train to Buchenwald, when a son kills his father while fighting for a morsel of bread. These instances of the disintegration of basic familial bonds help remind Eliezer of his love and duty to his own father. By the end of the book, though, his feelings hardly matter. Eliezer's father grows sick, doctors won't help, and Eliezer is simply unable to take care of or prevent others from harming his father.

 

Guilt and Inaction

On several occasions in Night, Eliezer watches as his father is beaten and can do nothing about it. Or, rather, he could perhaps help his father in the very short term, but he would quickly pay for it with his life. (Eliezer's father, too, must watch powerlessly as Eliezer is whipped by a kapo.) Even though a small act of resistance is the equivalent of suicide, Eliezer cannot help feeling guilt about his fear and his inaction. The whole of the imprisoned community must feel this same impotent rage. Weak and undernourished, surrounded by soldiers with machine guns, in a place where they are utterly expendable, the prisoners' options are limited in what they can do to defend themselves, without inviting torture and slaughter. But that doesn't make Eliezer feel any better about himself when an SS officer beats his dying father in the head with a truncheon, and Eliezer does nothing to prevent the act or to retaliate for it. By writing the book, however, he is taking action and preventing these and many other acts of brutality from going unrecorded.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

One of my favorite books to read over the course of high school was To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.  Though it was the summer before freshman year that I read this book, it has managed to stick with me the past four years.   I have also enjoyed watching the movie multiple times as well.  I'm not quite sure what it is that causes me to like it so much, but I can definitely say that something about this book has really stood out from other novels that I've read.  That being said, I thought I could go through some of the key concepts and themes brought up through the course of the novel.

Good, Evil, and Human Dignity

To Kill a Mockingbird is largely remembered of in terms of the trial of Tom Robinson and its racist outcome.  For this reason, people often think that the book's theme is simple, a straightforward criticism of racism and evil.  But To Kill a Mockingbird is actually more complicated (and interesting).  Except in the case of Bob Ewell, the novel avoids simple portrayals and criticisms of "evil."  Instead, it shows through Scout and Jem's experiences that Maycomb and its citizens are a complicated mixture of good and bad, full of people with strengths and weaknesses.

There are two characters of almost complete good in To Kill a Mockingbird: Atticus and Boo Radley.  But they are good in different ways.  Boo maintains his goodness by hiding from the world, while Atticus engages with it.  Atticus acknowledges the evil in people and the world and fights against that evil, but he also appreciates what is good in the very same people who through fault or weakness might be supporting an evil cause.  Atticus believes that everyone has a basic human dignity, and that he therefore owes each person not only respect, but the effort to try to understand their point of view.  Atticus tries to instill this worldview in Scout when he tells her that instead of condemning people for doing things that she thinks are cruel, or unfair, or just plain weird, she should first try "standing in their skin."

 

Prejudice

Atticus's belief in treating and respecting everyone as an individual is contrasted in To Kill a Mockingbird with a number of other worldviews.  These other visions are all quite different from each other—they are religious, racist, classist—but they all share one thing in common: they treat people as groups, demand conformity, and give no respect or credit to individuals.  In other words, they are all forms of prejudice, which is a preconceived notion about a person based on the groups to which that person belongs.  Over and over again, To Kill a Mockingbird reveals prejudice not just as closed-minded and dangerous, but also as ridiculous.

The most obvious form of prejudice in the novel is racism, which causes otherwise upstanding white citizens of Maycomb to accept the testimony of an obviously corrupt white man over the evidence supporting the testimony from a black man. Yet prejudice is also visible in the racially condescending Mrs. Grace Merriweather; in Aunt Alexandra's and many other character's belief in the importance of social class; in the gender stereotypes that people try to force on Scout; and even in the way the town views Boo Radley as a monster because he acts differently from everyone else.

 

Growing Up

In the three years covered by To Kill a Mockingbird, Scout and Jem grow up. At the start of the book they are innocents, with an uncomplicated sense of what's good (Atticus, the people of Maycomb) and what's evil (Boo Radley).  By the end of the book, the children have lost their innocence and gained a more complex understanding of the world, in which bad and good are present and visible in almost everyone. As the children grow into the adult world, though, they don't just accept what they see.  They question what doesn't make sense to them—prejudice, hatred, and violence.  So while To Kill a Mockingbird shows three children as they lose their innocence, it also uses their innocence to look freshly at the world of Maycomb and criticize its flaws.

Like every kid growing up, Scout attends school for the first time.  But rather than contribute to her education, Scout's school is depicted as rigid to the point of idiocy, with teachers who criticize students who got on early start on reading and hate the Nazis but can't see the racism present in their own town.  To Kill a Mockingbird does not so much explore standardized school education as condemn it, showing how it emphasizes rote facts and policies designed to create conformist children rather than promote creative critical thinking, sympathy, and mutual understanding across racial and socioeconomic boundaries.

Courage
Many people, including Jem and Scout when they're young, mix up courage with strength. They think that courage is the ability and willingness to use strength to get your way. But Atticus defines courage as "when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what."  Courage, in To Kill a Mockingbird, is not about winning or losing.  It's about thinking long and hard about what's right instead of relying on personal prejudice or gut reaction, and then doing what's right whether you win or lose.  To Kill a Mockingbird is filled with examples of courage, from Mrs. Dubose's fight against her morphine addiction, to Atticus's determination to face down the racism of the town, to Mr. Underwood's willingness to face down his own racist feelings and support what he knows, in the end, is right.

Small Town Southern Life

Maycomb is a small town, with all of the characteristics implicit in small town life: everyone knows everyone else's business, which can lead to endless and mostly harmless gossip, but more importantly makes the community extremely intimate and close-knit.  The first part of To Kill a Mockingbird focuses on this close-knit community, because when they're young Scout and Jem believe that's what Maycomb is.

To an extent, the young Scout and Jem are right: Maycomb is a small, safe, peaceful, intimate community.  Yet as Scout and Jem grow up, they come to see another side to their small town.  They discover that the town has a fiercely maintained and largely illogical social hierarchy based on wealth, history, and race; ensures its safety through a communal insistence on conformity that subjects anyone who does not conform to dislike and mistrust; and gains its peace by resisting change and ignoring injustice.  This is not to say that To Kill a Mockingbird is a condemnation of small town life in the South.  Rather, the novel sees the town in much the same terms it sees individuals: as containing wisdom and blindness, good and evil, and for all of that possessing its own special dignity.

 

     

 

 

The Themes in "Pride and Predjudice" by Jane Austen

Since I picked Pride and Prejudice as one of my potential novels to use for the third essay on the AP exam, I decided it would be good for me to review/re-enforce some of the major themes in the book to help me study for Thursday.

Pride

Pride is a constant presence in the characters' attitudes and treatment of each other, coloring their judgments and leading them to make rash mistakes. Pride blinds Elizabeth and Darcy to their true feelings about each other. Darcy's pride about his social rank makes him look down on anyone not in his immediate circle. Elizabeth, on the other hand, takes so much pride in her ability to judge others that she refuses to revise her opinion even in the face of clearly contradictory evidence. This is why she despises the good-hearted Darcy for so long, but initially admires the lying Wickham. Yet while Pride and Prejudice implies that no one is ever completely free of pride, it makes it clear that with the proper moral upbringing one may overcome it to lead a life of decency and kindness. In the end, the two lovers are able to overcome their pride by helping each other see their respective blind spots. Darcy sheds his snobbery, while Elizabeth learns not to place too much weight on her own judgments.

 

Prejudice

Prejudice in Pride and Prejudice refers to the tendency of the characters to judge one another based on preconceptions, rather than on who they really are and what they actually do. As the book's title implies, prejudice goes hand in hand with pride, often leading its heroine and hero into making wrong assumptions about motives and behavior. Austen's gentle way of mocking Elizabeth's and Darcy's biases gives the impression that such mistakes could, and indeed do, happen to anyone; that faulting someone else for prejudice is easy while recognizing it in yourself is hard. Prejudice in the novel is presented as a stage in a person's moral development, something that can be overcome through reason and compassion. Austen only condemns those people who refuse to set aside their prejudices, like the class-obsessed Lady Catherine and the scheming social climber Caroline. Though Pride and Prejudice is a social comedy, it offers a powerful illustration of the damaging effects to people and to society that prejudice can inflict.

 

Family

The family is the predominant unit of social life in Pride and Prejudice and forms the emotional center of the novel. Not only does it provide (or fail to provide, as in the case of Lydia) the Bennet daughters with their education and manners, but the social ranking of the family determines how successful they may reasonably expect to be in later life. Austen skillfully reveals how individual character is molded within the family by presenting Jane and Elizabeth as mature, intelligent adults, and Lydia as a hapless fool. The friction between Elizabeth and her mother on the one hand and the sympathy she shares with Mr. Bennet on the other illustrate the emotional spectrum that colors the family's overall character. The influence of Elizabeth's aunt and uncle shows how the family works in an extended sense, with the Gardiners acting as substitute parents, providing much needed emotional support at key moments of stress.

 

Marriage

Pride and Prejudice is a love story, but its author is also concerned with pointing out the inequality that governs the relationships between men and women and how it affects women's choices and options regarding marriage. Austen portrays a world in which choices for individuals are very limited, based almost exclusively on a family's social rank and connections. To be born a woman into such a world means having even less choice about whom to marry or how to determine the shape of one's life. The way that society controls and weakens women helps to explain in part Mrs. Bennet's hysteria about marrying off her daughters, and why such marriages must always involve practical, financial considerations. As members of the upper class, the Bennet sisters are not expected to work or make a career for themselves. Yet as women they are not allowed to inherit anything. As a result, marriage is basically their only option for attaining wealth and social standing. Yet Austen is also critical of women who marry solely for security, like Charlotte. The ideal for her is represented by Elizabeth, who refuses to trade her independence for financial comfort and in the end marries for love.

 

Class

Class is the target of much of the novel's criticism of society in general. Austen makes it clear that people like Lady Catherine, who are overly invested in their social position, are guilty of mistreating other people. Other characters, like the suck-up Mr. Collins and the scheming Caroline, are depicted as thoroughly empty, their opinions and motivations completely defined by the dictates of the class system. To contrast them, Austen offers more positive examples in Bingley and the Gardiners. Bingley is someone from the upper class who wears his position lightly and gallantly. The Gardiners represent the honest, generous, and industrious middle class and are examples of how to be wealthy without being pretentious.

Austen does seem to respect the class system in a few ways, especially when it operates not as a dividing power in society, but as a force for virtue and decency. Darcy is the primary example of Austen's ideal high-class gentleman. Though originally he seems to be an arrogant and selfish snob, as the novel progresses it becomes clear that he is capable of change. Eventually, thanks to Elizabeth's influence and criticism, he combines his natural generosity with the integrity that he considers a crucial attribute of all upper-class people. He befriends the Gardiners and plays a key role in helping the ungrateful Lydia out of her crisis. The marriage of Darcy and Elizabeth shows that class restrictions, while rigid, do not determine one's character, and that love can overcome all obstacles, including class.

 

 

 

This is not only one of my favorite books but also one of my favorite movies of all time.

 

"The Great Gatsby" Theme Analysis

        With all of the excitement of the new Gatsby movie, I thought it would be appropriate for me to do my first blog post this six weeks to be an anlysis of some of the key themes in the novel.  I read The Great Gatsby when I was in 10th grade and I absolutely loved it!  It is one of my favorite books to have read in high school.


The Roaring Twenties

F. Scott Fitzgerald coined the term “Jazz Age” to describe the decade of decadence and prosperity that America enjoyed in the 1920s, which was also known as the Roaring Twenties. After World War I ended in 1918, the United States and much of the rest of the world experienced an enormous economic expansion. The surging economy turned the 1920s into a time of easy money, hard drinking (despite the Prohibition amendment to the Constitution), and lavish parties. Though the 1920s were a time of great optimism, Fitzgerald portrays the much bleaker side of the revelry by focusing on its indulgence, hypocrisy, shallow recklessness, and its perilous—even fatal—consequences

The American Dream

The American Dream—that hard work can lead one from rags to riches—has been a core facet of American identity since its inception. Settlers came west to America from Europe seeking wealth and freedom. The pioneers headed west for the same reason. The Great Gatsby shows the tide turning east, as hordes flock to New York City seeking stock market fortunes. The Great Gatsby portrays this shift as a symbol of the American Dream’s corruption. It’s no longer a vision of building a life; it’s just about getting rich.

Gatsby symbolizes both the corrupted Dream and the original uncorrupted Dream. He sees wealth as the solution to his problems, pursues money via shady schemes, and reinvents himself so much that he becomes hollow, disconnected from his past. Yet Gatsby’s corrupt dream of wealth is motivated by an incorruptible love for Daisy. Gatsby’s failure does not prove the folly of the American Dream—rather it proves the folly of short-cutting that dream by allowing corruption and materialism to prevail over hard work, integrity, and real love. And the dream of love that remains at Gatsby’s core condemns nearly every other character in the novel, all of whom are empty beyond just their lust for money.

Class (Old Money, New Money, No Money)

The Great Gatsby portrays three different social classes: “old money” (Tom and Daisy Buchanan); “new money” (Gatsby); and a class that might be called “no money” (George and Myrtle Wilson). “Old money” families have fortunes dating from the 19th century or before, have built up powerful and influential social connections, and tend to hide their wealth and superiority behind a veneer of civility. The “new money” class made their fortunes in the 1920s boom and therefore have no social connections and tend to overcompensate for this lack with lavish displays of wealth.

The Great Gatsby shows the newly developing class rivalry between “old” and “new” money in the struggle between Gatsby and Tom over Daisy. As usual, the “no money” class gets overlooked by the struggle at the top, leaving middle and lower class people like George Wilson forgotten or ignored.

Past and Future

Nick and Gatsby are continually troubled by time—the past haunts Gatsby and the future weighs down on Nick. When Nick tells Gatsby that you can’t repeat the past, Gatsby says “Why of course you can!” Gatsby has dedicated his entire life to recapturing a golden, perfect past with Daisy. Gatsby believes that money can recreate the past. Fitzgerald describes Gatsby as “overwhelmingly aware of the youth and mystery that wealth imprisons and preserves.” But Gatsby mixes up “youth and mystery” with history; he thinks a single glorious month of love with Daisy can compete with the years and experiences she has shared with Tom. Just as “new money” is money without social connection, Gatsby’s connection to Daisy exists outside of history.

Nick’s fear of the future foreshadows the economic bust that plunged the country into depression and ended the Roaring Twenties in 1929. The day Gatsby and Tom argue at the Plaza Hotel, Nick suddenly realizes that it’s his thirtieth birthday. He thinks of the new decade before him as a “portentous menacing road,” and clearly sees in the struggle between old and new money the end of an era and the destruction of both types of wealth.

Journal Revisions for Chapters 1-20 - The Handmaids Tale

I just wanted to do some revisions on a few of the highlights and key points about the quotes I have written about in my journals.

Chapters 1-4:
"I enjoy the power; power of a dog bone, passive, but there."
The handmaid says this after she walks past the "angels" and teases them when she describes how the guardians must long for them (women/the handmaids) since they don't have the power of being promoted yet.  This line, as well as the action in which she was teasing them shows that she is aware of her lack of power in important things of the real world.  In her situation, she is only serving one purpose in the world; to bare children.  She has no choice in what she has to to do since she is one of the only fertile women left.  She feels basically powerless, so she takes pride in the samll things she feels like she can have power over, or as so in this case. 

Chapters 5-8: 
"Ofglen says nothing.  There is a silence.  But sometimes it's a dangerous not to speak."  "Yes, we are very happy," I murmur.  I have to say, something.  What else can I say?"
This is from the scene where the Japenese tourists are being escorted by an eye.  Thinking that the handmaids must not be happy, they ask.  Since the handmaids knew that the tourists were being escorted by an eye, they didn't want to say the truth by answering the tourists that they were miserable, or else they would get into serious trouble.  They realized also, though, that keeping silent might also lead to them getting into trouble.  So, the handmaids decide to lie to them and tell them that they are very happy.
This is extremely sad because the handmaids basically have no choice in what they do/say in order to stay safe; it's as if words are put in their mouths for them.  the handmaids have no power.  Rebellion is practically not an option.   

Chapters 9-12:
"We thought we had such problems.  How were we to know we were happy?"
This quote is in the midst of Offred explaining how, in her past life with her husband, the things that they thought were bad at the time, really couldn't even be considered "bad" considering the life and situation they are currently in.  They couldn't really really realize how happy they actually were back then until being put in a miserable life style like they are now, well at least Offred, anyway, since we don't actually know her husbands life situation at the moment.  I'm just assuming that they are both very unhappy and miserable since they are having to live without each other basically for the rest of their lives (as far as I can assume). 
This is one of the main places in the novel so far that I really feel like Offred is explaining her egret for not living her past life to the fullest and not being more appreciative of how happy she was and what a good life she had. 

Chapters 13-16:
"Which of us is it worse for, her or me?"
Though this quote may seem unsignificant or just an after thought, I find it essential.  Obviously, the quote is suggesting that "the ceremony" is not pleasurable for neither Serena nor Joy.
Offred refers to his actions as "fucking" instead of "making love" or "having sex".  This makes it clear that she is miserable.  She goes on to say things like, "I wish he would hurry up," and "What's going on in this room, under Serena Joy's silvery canopy, is not exciting," to emphasixe how much she hates it (especially by repeating the word "fuck" and "fucking".
However, this is also seen as uncomfortable for Serena Joy as well.  "Serena Joy grips my hands as if it is she, not I, who's being fucked, as if she finds it either pleasurable or painful."  Imagine having to be there during the whole process!  It's like having to sit and watch your husband or wife have sex with someone else, even if it's not from romantic desires.  I couldn't imagine. 

Chapters 17-20:
"I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable."
In this quote, Offred is specifically wanting to define/emphasize the difference between the words "valued" and "valuable".  Valuable is used in a way that is extrinsic; it represents the value that something has for someone else or to accomplish a task, which in this case, is Offred's ability to give birth.  Value, on the other hand, has a more intrensic meaning, representing the value of something for merely just being what it is. 
Offred is saying that she wants to be valued, not be valuable.  The word valuable, in Offred's case, basically means being a human resource.  This comparison demonstrates how Offred is longing for someone to value/ love her as a person and for who she is.  "I repeat my former name, remind myself of what I could do, how others saw me."  Even as Offred has said before, she is really only valued for "what is inside of her."  Not her as an actual being. 

Thneedville (from "The Lorax" 2012 movie): A Dystopia

                                                                                                                                      
 Thneedville is a walled city that, aside from the citizens, is completely artificial, where everything is made of plastic, metal, or synthetics.  This city is completely closed off to the rest of the world; citizens aren't allowed to leave.  Why?  Because the land around is a complete wasteland due to the complete deforestation and devouring of the land in order to create Thneedville.  If people left the city, they would realize the corruptness of the town's leaders (specifically the mayor).  This is an example of a dystopia. The people have been completely brainwashed into believing that they live in a healthy environment; they have no idea about the concept of nature, natural resources, or how bad their artificial environment and lifestyle is.  Of course, the plot changes as the story ends and Thneedville breaks free of it's plastic lifestyle, but as for the majority of the movie, Thneedville is the perfect example of a dystopia; the plot of the story depends on it.
This song represents how oblivious the people are to their world, as well as introducing the plot/beginning of the story.
This could possibly be a good clip to play for the class.

The Handmaids, the Eyes, and the Rebels

     I definitely have to say that the game that we played on Monday was a good eye opener (no pun intended) relating to The Handmaid's Tale.  While playing the game, the feelings and emotions that went through my head allowed me to directly connect to the story.  
     In the game, you can't really trust anyone since everybody is trying to hide their identity and/or convince everyone else that they are a handmaid.  Same is true in the story; handmaids don't really know who to trust.  Even Offred can't talk to Ofglen in a normal manner, all they really talk about is "how nice the weather" as if that is a real conversation.  One would think that these handmaids would console each other more about their harsh, cruel treatment - or at least talk about it.  But I guess in the long run, they don't know who is an "eye", and if they end up expressing their discontent to an "eye", extremely harsh consequences could follow.  
     I also found it difficult to figure out who really was a handmaid, rebel, or eye.  I feel like the "daytime" stage where we all conversed to try to figure out people's roles almost seemed like it did no help except to persecute every two to three days.  After being killed, though, I really enjoyed looking in on the game and seeing who were eyes and rebels and watching how the game unfolded.
     I was also able to relate to the confusion that was constantly going on, especially at the beginning of the game when none of us really knew what was going on at all.  It seems like we didn't really know what to do during the "daytime".  Questions like,

• "Do we make alliances?"

• "How do we convince other people that I am a handmaid?"

• "How do we figure out who's an eye or a rebel?"

and

• "How do I convince them not to persecute me?"

went through all of our heads.  This relates to the story because the handmaids are basically living in solid confusion.  many of them really don't know what is going on 'inside' and 'outside' the real world.

• "Why are we being treated like this?"

• "How is the war going?"

• "How much longer will we be living like this?"

• "Is there still hope for life after this?"

These are all questions going through each of these woman's minds every single day, as for us as well. 
     Finally, I was also able to connect to an anxious yet somewhat disturbing feeling throughout the game.  All of us were anxious to find out some kind of news such as who is an eye, rebel, or someone about to be persecuted.  We all felt uneasy as if we would be one of the ones killed, or hopefully one of the ones rescued.  Likewise, in the story, the handmaids are always feeling this same anxious/uneasy/disturbed feeling of the unknown.  The wonder whether or not they will become pregnant, who else is pregnant, what is going on in the outside world, etc.
     I thought this game was really helpful because it allowed us to relate to the handmaids on a whole new level.
 
 

The Handmaid's Tweet