Player Piano

I THINK THE PICTURE SPEAKS FOR ITSELF ABOUT THE NOVEL

"Call yourself a doctor, too, do you? said Mr. Haycox.

"I think I can say without fear of contradiction that I earned that degree," said Doctor Pond cooly. "My thesis was the third longest in any field in the country that year--eight hundred and ninety-six pages, double-spaced, with narrow margins."

"Real-estate salesman," said Mr. Haycox. He looked back and forth between Paul and Doctor Pond, waiting for them to say something worth his attention. When they'd failed to rally after twenty seconds, he turned to go. "I'm doctor of cowshit, pigshit, and chickenshit," he said. "When you doctors figure out what you want, you'll find me out in the barn shoveling my thesis."

This is one of the most humorous passage in the novel. The straight-shooter, Mr. Haycox, boldly insults not only the two doctors, but their society itself. The average worker points out the ridiculousness of so many professions where the title of doctor is given to the people who work in that field. Mr. Haycox thinks the title is just a self esteem booster for the men because in his eyes only dentists, vets, and physicians are acutally doctors. But in this society, just because a man writes an 800-some page document, he gets to put DR. in front of his name. The humor of Mr. Haycox's thesis was just a slap in the face to the doctors. He jokes that if their professions can give them the title of doctor, then why not his. His thesis however, is real work, not just a fabricated sucking up in the form of words on a 896 page paper. I love how the person doing the ridiculing in this passage is the one that the doctors look down upon. Mr. Haycox may not be Dr. Haycox, but it is definitely apparent that he is the one with the intelligence to know how messed up their society is.

Betrayal is a central theme in the novel. One of the most prevalent examples of betrayal is soceity's betrayal of itself. The society in the novel continued to pursue technology to the extent that it eliminated much of the need for the talents and skills of real people. People began replacing themselves with machines, and for the most part just stood by and watched it happen. I find it completely ridiculous that even after they destroy Illium, there are people rummaging through the wreckage to see if there is anything they could use to build what else?--MORE MACHINES!!! How does that make any sense? With a mentality like this, there is no one to blame for the betrayal of society except for society itself. Bud Calhoun provides an example of the self-inflicted betrayal when he creates a machine that can do his own job. Is technology and the pursuit of expanding it that tempting that common sense to know when enough is enough is ignored? However ironic this may seem, it is very typical of human culture to shoot themselves in the foot and then complain about it. And once the complaints cause action, it only results in the same thing happening again. Look at war in our culture. When there is a war going on everyone complains about the death and destruction, but there is almost always a war going on somewhere in the world. Maybe human curiosity and interest just cannot be taught a lesson...


Player Piano had to be my favorite novel we have read thus far this year. It seemed to be quite unique from all the other mechanized society novels we read. I felt like Vonnegut created themes and symbols that were easier to understand and relate to. The society in the novel was perhaps one of the most believable of all the novels we have read. There is such a push for technology advancements and automated this, automated that in our society that even now, machines are doing the jobs humans once did. Most of them still need humans to operate them, but how long will it be before our society looks unnervingly similar to Illium? I also liked Player Piano because a large group revolted against the norm in chaos. In the other novels, it was really only one or two characters who tried to overthrow the powers in control. Even in We, when the one group tried to take over the INTEGRAL, there was not much action. The revolt in this novel, however, was full of destruction and showed the rebellious group coming so close to success. In the novel, I also found Paul's journey of understanding what is important to him and what he truly values, quite interesting to follow. Many people criticize Paul for not acting fast enough or for not really being that strong. I found that Paul was just in a difficult situation and it just took him some time to see the light. I don't believe he let Anita control him; he just was trying to grasp for any chance that they may have actually shared true love. Anita's selfishness and ignorance was so great that it was amusing to read. All she worried about was the fame that would come with being the wife of an important engineer. In my eyes, she was such a weak, distasteful character. The relationship between Paul and Anita was a direct shot by Vonnegut at marriages in our society. So many people get married for the wrong reason, and end up not really being in true love with their spouse. Vonnegut is trying to show how mechanical some marriages are even in real life. Whenever author's take shots at big issues in our society through their characters in their novels, I find it very entertaining. One last thing I enjoyed was Vonnegut's style. I loved the way he used satiric and ironic humor to prove his points. Overall, I really liked Player Paino.

We

I found the relationship between D-503 and I-330 to be one of the most interesting topics in the novel. In what I consider a tragedy, D-503 suffers greatly at the hands of I-330. She uses tactics such as lust, daring, and disattachment (yes I may have just made up that word) to keep pulling D-503 in closer, but to keep him far enough away to not interfere at the same time. It is clear that D-503 falls in some sort of one-sided loving relationship with I-330. He puts himself through much of the tortute he endures because he cannot get her out of his head. He appears to hate her, yet love her endlessly all at the same time. These mixed up feelings confuse D-503 so much that he nears the point of insanity. He goes against OneState and pushes O-90 away all because he is blind to anyone or anything, but I-330. The irony and tragic humor is that I-330 does not feel this way at all towards poor D-503. The only thing she is really putting into the relationship is the occasional pink ticket to satisfy D-503 just enough until the next time. I-330 leads D-503 on regarding many different issues from how she feels towards him to her interest in the Integral. The key is, though, that her interest in D-503 is the Integral. Without the ship, D-503 is worthless to her. When I-330's plans to capture the Integral are foiled, she turns on D-503 and brings his world crashing down around him. Everything comes full circle for him as he finally understands and believes the truth that I-330 was only using her sex appeal to make him a puppet of hers to use for her purpose. The shock and devastation numb D-503 out of existance basically. With how terrible D-503 felt on the inside, it was probably better for him to finally undergo the Benefactor's surgery.



"You didn't really go to the Bureau of Guardians, did you?'
'I was. . . I couldn't. I was sick.'
'Yes. Well, it's about what I expected--something was bound to stop you, no matter what [sharp teeth, smile]. But now you are. . . in my hands.'" (Zamyatin 53)


Talk about a weak-willed character. This scence occurred early on in the relationship between D-503 and I-330. They had not even spent much time together, let alone had he had time to figure out what his feelings were. At this point, it was pure seductiveness that prevented D-503 from reporting I-330's transgression. Zamyatin adds the descriptive brackets to prove the reason why D-503 did not report her. [Sharp teeth, smile] supports the idea that this early in the novel, D-503 was still purely entranced by the physical aspect of I-330. This scene foreshadowed numerous scences where D-503's weakness (or love for I-330; does not matter how you say it because in this case they are synonomous with each other) is exploited.


I thought Yevgeny Zamyatin did a phenomenal job at writing this novel. I was impressed with it from cover to cover. His character development was fantastic. The way he built up the tragic relationship between D-503 and I-330, only to bring it crashing down all at once at the end for both of them was a unique characteristic, which is absent from many novels. The use of syntax is extremely prevalent throughout the novel. D-503's confused, random thoughts, his unfocused thought processes, and incomplete ideas and thoughts contribute to the excellent overall portrayal of his character. The scheduling aspect of the lives of the characters in the novel was not a far-fetched idea. We are all on so many defined schedules already, that it is not difficult to imagine a society like OneState in terms of scheduling at all. Overall I enjoyed reading the work.

Anthem

One of the most prevalent themes/ideas in the novel was the value of the individual and their individuality. Equality rises against everything he is told by the people running the society. He is supposed to be doing his job and his job only. Equality is taught to not meddle in other areas of life because he has one purpose-to work for the good of the whole. It is not important for Equality to be individually satisfied as long as the whole society is functioning properly. Equality is such a likeable character because he rebels agaisnt this collectiveness. He is different though from the stereotypical, problematic rebellious character. He does not go about raising an army to overthrow the government or igniting the fire in other peoples' souls with invigorating speeches; he simply thinks for himself. He realizes that he can accomplish and ponder on his own, without the help of his brothers. He realizes that there is not so much we as there is I.

"The word 'We' is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages. What if my joy if all hand, even the unclean, can reach into it? What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and the impotent, are my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey? But I am done with this creed of corruption. I am dont with the monster of 'We', the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood, and shame. And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride. This god, this one word: 'I'" (Rand 97).

Wow, that was a long quote, but nonetheless quite a useful one. It is so important because it shows Equality coming to a realization of the power of I. He finds it so powerful that he compares the word I being a god. To place this individuality on such a high pedestal, proves just how much he was isolated from the idea of himself. He was taught to love We, but in this quote, Equality is cursing We. He sees the word with a negative attitude. Equality resents ever being associated with the dirty, foolish word. The light shed on his situation by his discovery of light sends a direct beam of bright, focused light right onto the letter I.

Out of the four books we have read, Anthem, was probably my least favorite. I never really got a chance to throw myself into it because it went so fast. It was like a two-night read. We did not have much discussion on it and I thought the plot was pretty simplistic. There was perfect order to the plot with each thing getting resolved before the next section began. Despite these critiques I did enjoy the themes Ayn Rand presented in the novel, especially individuality. I love everything about individuality. It was great to read how she created a society without, but also created a main character to retrieve what was lost and regain back his individuality.

Fahrenheit 451

One of the major themes in the novel is rebirth. At first glance when you are talking about a novel where the firemen burn books, it is difficult to first see how a key theme can be rebirth. However, out of the dust and ashes of the books arise new ideas. Montag begins to see the importance of books as the story goes on. After countless piles of the charred remains of old books, Montag finally gets the idea that something is wrong with how he is living. He concludes subconciously at first, but later most definitely conciously that he himself needs to be reborn. There is no love between him and Millie and the books he has gotten his hands on and read are far from evil. Montag finds his path to rebirth at the same time the city and the society find theirs. As Montag watches the city turn to dust just like the countless books he burned, he is surrounded by men who will help him be reborn. Montag must remember the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is almost as if Montag's rebirth will result from a sort of Penance he is being assigned. He was responsible for thousands of books being burned; thus to be forgiven he needs to remember one so in essence, the books will never be destoryed completely. The paper and binding may have burned in the fire, but the content will live on forever in the minds of the faithful.

This whole process reminds me of a phoenix. To be reborn, a phoenix must burn to dust so that from its ashes it can be reborn. The phoenix accepts that it must sacrifice everything because the future is bright if it is willing to do so. The same held true for Montag. He had to give up whatever he had with Millie, stand up to Beatty, and face the Hound before he could move on to the men by the river. Things had to get rough before they got better. The phoenix is also representative of the books themselves. The phoenix's body burns and settles to ash, but never does its spirit.

Fahrenheit 451 confused me at first. I had not read any books regarding such an oppressive society. I also had difficulty comprehending the irrationality of the rationale behind the burning of the books. Similar to The Handmaid's Tale, though, it was frightening to realize that a society like the one presented in the novel also is not that unrealistic. There is often censorship of photos, words, and news in our society today. It is not that difficult to fathom complete censorship like in the novel. I also thought it was interesting how the lack of books and reading effected the people. Without literature to challenge people to think, all there was to worry about were the censored and specified programs on the televison. It was simple, but I appreciated the emphasis put on the importance of books and other types of uncensored literature.

The Handmaid's Tale

The character Moira portrayed in the novel was certainly an interesting and thought-provoking one. She represents numerous things at different points throughout the novel. When the handmaids are first being integrated to Gilead at the Center, Moira is the one to not take the horrific treatment lying down. She does not just give in and comply to the demands of the new society being forced upon the women. She lashes out with minor disobediences, but strikes a courageous blow when she attempts to escape. Unfortunately, she does not escape; in the eyes of some she may actually end up in a worse off position-Jezebel's. Moira was successful, though, in challenging the system. She proved there were flaws, though minor, but nevertheless important because it gave hope to the others. In a society where there was nothing but emotions and thoughts to hold onto, hope was essential in keeping the handmaids' lives bearable. Most of the women are weak and give into the new structure of Gilead. They either forget their pasts or believe everyone from their past is gone so it is easier to just submit to the rule of Gilead. Moira is different. She holds tight to the past. She represents what was and what should be. Her strength is something that the other handmaids, especially Offred can draw on.
Sadly, Moira's strength and resistance eventually breaks. Margaret Atwood does not describe the scene, but makes it obvious by Moira's attitude when Offrend finds her at Jezebel's. Offred is overjoyed when she sights Moira, but her meeting with her in the bathroom ends in disappointment. Offred expects to hear Moira ranting about the absurdness and disgustingness of Jezebel's. She is expecting to hear how Moira is part of a revolution to overthrow the powers of Gilead; at the very least Offred thinks she will hear Moira describe her latest attempt to escape. Offred nevers hears any of these things in her conversation with Moira. Instead Offred is taken back by how much compliance Moira now has in her. Moira no longer has a fire burning inside her to fuel her passion for standing up for what is right. She has given in. She tells Offred Jezebel's is not that bad, "The food's not bad and there's drink and drugs, if you want it, and we only work nights" (249). All Offred can do is listen to her empty words in disbelief. Like the reader, Offred can only speculate what happened to Moira. What finally broke her? It would not have been physical pain, she had withstood that many times before. Whatever it was, it struck a deep blow to Moira's determination and turned her into just another of the submissive women. All of this really hits home hard with Offred because she relied on Moira's power to such a great extent. Offred sees the one person she thought would never give in, doing just that. If Moira did not have the strength to do it, how will Offred?


"Now, tell me. You're an intelligent person, I like to hear what you think. What did we overlook?"
"Love", I said.
"Love?" said the Commander. "What kind of love?"
"Falling in love," I said. The Commander looked at me with his candid boy's eyes.
"Oh yes," he said. "I've read the magazines, that's what they were pushing, wasn't it? But look at the stats, my dear. Was it really worth it, falling in love? Arranged marriages have always worked out just as well, if not better. Those years were just an anomaly, historically speaking. Just a fluke. All we've done is return things to Nature's norm." (220)

I think Margaret Atwood is taking a shot at today's society in terms of relationships and what is considered to be love. Everyone thinks you need to fall in love, and that it needs to happen sooner, rather than later. The Commander refers to magazines pushing love, which is so true today. There are little multiple choice quizzes to fill out, which are supposed to tell you everything about your true love other than their name and phone number. Not only magazines, but the internet, also. There are thousands of websites dedicated to finding you your true love. Love is not supposed to be determined by compatibility tests and number of hits to your homepage. It is supposed to be about chemistry, honesty, and genuine feelings of attraction and attachment. These were the aspects of love which Offred was talking about, but which were not able to be comprehended by the Commander. Atwood may also have been attacking the divorce rate in our country, which currently is about 50%. What message does our country send about true love when half of all marriages end in divorce? Stats like these give some credibility to the naive opinions of the Commander. I love passages that authors write that attack current issues or topic, but fit perfectly in the context of the story.


Overall, out of the four books we've read thus far, The Handmaid's Tale has been the most enjoyable. The struggles of the women in the novel are completely opposite from all the advances women have made in real life in the past 50 years. This makes the Gileadean practices hard to imagine. However, the scary thing is that it does not appear to be completely impossible. The take over of the government, the complete reform of society, and the use of religion to support the reasoning behind the society all can be seen in bits and pieces in different societies in our world today. How often is it that radical groups or foreign cultures carry out activities or practices that may repulse us, but we accept it because they claim it is part of their religion. Governments have been taken over since civilizations first populated the Earth. I liked how Atwood could take all these different aspects, put them together, and portray the maybe not so impossible threat of a society like Gilead.

Chiodos Lyrics related to The Handmaid's Tale

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu3N3HwrgH4

CHIODOS LYRICS

"The Undertaker's Thirst For Revenge Is Unquenchable (The Final Battle)"

My eyes are glistening with the ghosts of my past

The memories that we once had

Now that you've turned the world against me

I'm only trying to win them back

With my eyes sewn shut

To shut down and bathe in these words about me

And now you're standing alone with your eyes to the sun

Standing alone with your eyes to the sun

That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together

Worlds are ruined this way,

And we've all been there time and time again

Before the battle always seem so still

And I will see you someday again in the clouds

And I will see you someday again in the clouds

All the world's a stage!

And all the world's a stage!

With my eyes sewn shut

To shut down and bathe in these words about me

And now you're standing alone with your eyes to the sun

Standing alone with your eyes to the sun

That heaven and earth may strike their sounds together

Worlds are ruined this way,

And we've all been there time and time again

Time

My eyes are glistening with the ghosts of my past

And what we once had

All the world's a stage

I existed because I dreamed

And well, I dream no more

I've given up on the entire human race

[Spoken:] Empty is the sky before the sun wakes up

Empty is the eyes of animals in cages

Empty are the faces of women in mourning

When everything has been taken from them

Me? Don't ask me about empty

The link at the top of the post is just so you can listen to the song being sang (there's no actual video it's just their last album cover). This is one of the amazing bands I listen to if you happen to enjoy this song, you should check more of their stuff out. Ok but that's enough of me trying to sell some of their albums. This song can be related to The Handmaid's Tale in so many different ways. I was listening to it, and it was so perfect. I italicised what I thought were the exceptionally pertenent parts of the song. Some of the relations are extremely obvious. Offred's eyes glisten with the ghost of Luke. Luke, despite that Offred thinks he IS, WAS what Offred once had. Offred dreams of her escape from Illiad, but the dreams of her reunited with Luke, her daughter, and some semblance of a normal life become harder and harder for her to picture each passing day. Perhaps the most moving lyrics are the part that are actually spoken. Offred is empty. She is like an animal in a cage. When she sees the sun, it gives her joy, but on cloudy days or in the bleakness of winter she is left feeling emptier. The line "Empty are the faces of women in mourning when everything has been taken from them" could not be any more perfect in relation to the novel. The handmaid's have nothing left. They do not even have access to an escape, even one which may entail ending their life. Is there anything at all left for the women? The only thing they can hold onto is the hope (like the pillow) that the people from their former lives are ok. But as I mentioned earlier, that dream becomes increasinly difficult to picture.

U2 Song Response

Well, once I got past actually having to listen to U2 try to sing (Sorry to any U2 fans. I mean I give Bono props and everything, but yeah this wasn't one of his strongest vocal performances.) it became clear that the lyrics to Acrobat, through the use of diction, syntax, and detail, held great meaning. The meaning revolves around breaking away, most likely in this case referring to a girl breaking away from a life of opression. The diction of the lyrics portrays a vivid, harsh reality. U2 uses words like "spit", "throw up", and "choke" to prove just how oppressive of a life this girl is living in. These words do not present a very pretty picture of what this girl is going through. The repetition of the phrase "Don't let the bastards grind you down" at the end of each phrase keeps resounding the idea that no matter what, you should never give in. Syntax is also important in these lyrics. The short, straight-to-the-point style of many of the lines helps with the clearity of what is being said. There are no challenging words, or poorly worded phrases to confuse the listener. The lines are short and sweet as to make sure the audience sees the message crystal clear and without any difficulty. A third device present in the song is U2's use of detail. There are very descriptive words that U2 uses to intentionally create a vivid picture for the listener. The phrase "fire in your soul" gives me a clear perception of the personality and character of how the girl used to be. When I hear that phrase, I think of a passionate, energenic girl who would not back down from anything or anyone. However, the line "of melting in snow" sends the complete opposite idea. It shows that the girl lost her fire, and she had no strength left to keep on fighting. She just blending in and melted away with the snow.

If I could not see the numerous similarites and connections to The Handmaid's Tale, I might as well give up writing any more blogs and only study math for the rest of my life. There are so many connections that it could easily be hypothesized that the lyric writers were familiar with the content of the novel when they wrote the song. The first verse could easily have been something that Offred tells the reader about Moira. Before the days of the handmaids, Moira had "the fire in her soul". She was openly gay and a political activist. She was not going to let anyone walk over her or treat her unfairly. Even in the early days of the center, Moira was the one daring to escape. She had to have a large inferno burning inside her to capture one of the aunts, steal their clothing, and attempt to just walk out from right underneath the noses of her enemies. The fire slowly died in Moira, though, for some reason after she left the center. Offred finds her as a whore as Jezebel's. Offred knows things have changed because the Moira she knew would never allow herself to be lowered to such an awful position of fate. The old Moira would have died instead of being disrespected like she was. Seeing Moira like this is one of the hardest things for Offred because Moira was Offred's inspiration to "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum".

The second verse also connects the song to the novel. The words describe the feelings of all the handmaids. They are not being oppressed because they enjoy it; they allow their poor treatment to continue because they do not know how to make it stop. What would they do? Have all the handmaids in the city storm the headquarters of the Eyes and Guardians and take them by force? I don't think so. The handmaids knew everything was all wrong and that they should all be doing something, but they did not have the faintest idea of what to do. If they were presented with a planned, organized uprising, they would have been leading the charge; but there was no such reality. All the handmaids were like Moira in a sense, burnt out without the strength to be a catalyst for change.

noliste te bastardes carborundorum