We- Favorite Passage

"...So do this for me: Tell me the final number."

"The what? I . . . . don't understand. What final number?"

"You know-- the last one, the top, the absolute biggest."

"But I-330 that's stupid. Since the number of numbers is infinite, how can there be a final one?"

"And how can there be a final revolution? There is no final one. The number of revolutions is infinite" (Zamyatin 168).

My favorite part of this short discussion is the end. I-330 leads him up to this realization that OneState's perfect plan of a mathematical, equal society has several major faults. A society based on numbers looks okay on an equation on paper, but when put into real life, not everything adds up. The fact stated by I-330 that there will always be rebellions proves that from the beginning of time to the end of time, we will never make everyone happy. No society will get it exactly perfect and looking good on paper never reveals every available flaw and issue that could arise.

D-503 is a numbers person- not unlike most of OneState. The way I-330 was able to phrase this statement was perfect for him. She showed him through numbers that OneState, the place where all of his trust lies, was not the perfect place he imagined it to be. I think that this was the best way to get through to him. This conversation also shows D slowly becoming a doubter of his society. It shows that at first he is confused, but with that line about there being infinite revolutions, I think his mind was changing. The rebellions will be infinite just like numbers will be. This put it all in perspective for the way D-503 thinks and processes.

The Handmaid's Tale- Favorite Passage

"I wait. I compose myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech. What I must present is a made thing, not something born" (Atwood 66).

I chose this quote because it just puts the whole society and her role in perspective. The first sentence, "I wait.", isn't that what she is always doing? Offred is constantly in a state of waiting for instructions and on a constant time schedule. A lot of that schedule, however, is waiting. She must wait until dinner is finished before the Ceremony commences or she has to wait until she is served before having anything to eat; getting up and making lunch just isn't acceptable. I find this to be another fault in this seemingly perfect society. Given all this time to wait and sit until told to stop, only allows these women to think and question anything and everything that the society is. Although we as the reader are only seeing in the mind of Offred, it shows that anyone in her position has plenty of opportunities to come up with ways to revolt or rebel, the May Day code.

Continuing on, "I compose myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech." implies an analogy to how those in society function. No one in the whole novel appears to be thrilled with the role they have so when its necessary to carryout the actions of their roles they put on this facade. The use of a speech caught my eye. A speech, most likely a persuasive one, has part and pieces that all lead to proving this central idea. Offred's uniform, her fly-on-on-the-wall attitude, and her over conforming to the rules of Gilead are the supporting ideas to prove the central point that she is a bible-abiding citizen and handmaid. The person speaking while reciting the speech usually has to either truly believe in the message they are passing along, or be a great actor. In this case I think the whole society full of people are acting. No one truly feels that the choices made in this society are 100% right.

"What I present is a made thing, not something born." I liked the way Atwood ended this chapter/quote/passage with this line. If you are born into something, it is a natural thing; such as being a natural born citizen of the United States. She was not born into this and it was thrust upon her. Offred is putting on this act and in the end it is all made up, whether she is a follower of the bible or not, she doesn't quite agree with the laws here so it is therefore unnatural to her. In the whole of the novel, it goes back to the acting versus believing issue. I don't feel that anyone is satisfied with the way this society is, but they don't know how to change it so they fake it so they can make it to the next day without harm.

The Handmaid's Tale- Symbol

In Atwood's novel, the symbol of the egg is everywhere for some obvious and for some not so obvious reasons. It's mentioned in the scrabble game and its mentioned every morning when she has breakfast. The egg is the most desired thing in this society due to the lack of procreation and everyone does anything in their power to accomplish that.

Without describing each scene, I wanted to discuss the meaning of the egg. Fertility, rebirth, and procreation are all pretty easy to grasp when discussing the symbol of an egg. However, I feel that Offred herself is quite similar to the egg. She, herself isn't fragile like the shell of an egg, her situation and the things expected of her cause her to have fragile circumstances. If she fails to have a child, she, like an egg, has an expiration date and could be sent away to the scum of society, the Colonies. Offred is an unfertilized egg and therefore not usable, or helpful in Gilead. Inside of her, she carries the ability to be great, holding a possible life form; however, if she fails, she's just sent away.

Now several scenes involving the symbol of an egg are in the novel, but the scene when Offred spelled zygote in the scrabble game intrigues me. The scrabble scene gives Offred the ability to communicate to the commander without actually speaking to him. It shows this with beginning with larynx to show her lack of voice in any area of society. The words following are all things she would probably like to discuss with him. but cannot. Anyway, back to zygote and the egg. She is communicating different parts of her role in these words. Valence shows the uniform or the wings she must wear, zygote is the child that she must procreate, and larynx and limp are the restrictions she has. She is held back and handicapped as a handmaid and as a woman in general.

The Handmaid's Tale- Review

Hands down this was my favorite of the few dystopian works that we have read. I felt it stood apart from the others while still following that basic recipe for a perfect anti-utopia. Throw in a some harsh governing body- the bible, a dash of always being watched- the eyes, and for the "wow" ingredient, add one protagonist that has a desire to rebel against the rules, and you've baked up a beautiful, miserable society- Republic of Gilead.

I felt that reading this it was more of a challenge than We because it didn't come right out and say what was going on. We had to weave through the past and present and meet old husbands, nuns, mothers, children, commanders, and a few Martha's before we could really grasp what was going on. Any gaps, we fill in for ourselves which allows the reader freedom to imagine some horrors that weren't detailed to the tee. While on the other hand, We was straight-forward and described how things worked and why and who was in charge.

Something, however that stood out to me that I kept forgetting to mention in discussion was the uniforms the handmaids wore. We discussed a comparison to traditional Muslim dress, but the color intrigued me. Red in some cases goes along with birth and females, but I went back to The Scarlett Letter. The color red in Hester Prynne's situation was representing her sin of adultery. I thought this connection was interesting because by taking in a handmaid, the commander is committing adultery; sleeping with someone who is not his wife. The "A" was something that was to be sinful, but Hester made it beautiful with her embroidery. Adultery is sin in the bible, but by twisting the worlds, the society sees the handmaids as needed to procreate and therefore looked without disgust or disapproval.

The ending of the novel, does she make it or is she killed for her sins? That is how we are left, but I lean toward the more positive of the two in which she is taken in by more of the Mayday group. I feel that Offred has suffered enough and that this society is so hypocritical that it is slowly falling apart. The original believers, Serena Joy, the Aunts, are even doubting the teachings. The club, Jezebels, is proof that Gilead has failed and a new idea must be tried out. I believe that Offred, although a little new at this whole rebellion thing, she's perfect for it. Her mother was a radical feminist and she took a married man away from his wife, she's gone against the rules before. All in all, I liked the cliffhanger ending that was followed by the eerie historical notes. It was as though a new utopian society had formed. It, thankfully, seemed a little more successful.

We- Symbol

The use of the green wall in the novel, We, really stuck out to me. The entire society made of glass so that nothing can be done in secret and nothing can be hidden. These walls surround the city, towering high above so nothing can leave or enter. This concept of a wall to keep in or a wall to keep out was part of the symbol of the wall.


Inside OneState, everything is simple and gray and glass. Nothing really sticks out as different, because everything is equal. But outside, however, an unknown possibly dangerous environment is present. Towards the end of the novel, D-503 and I-330 go to the other side of the green wall and discover what is basically described to us as nature and forest. D is just completely shocked by this green and real outdoors, that he nearly fainted form dizziness. The people he sees remind him of creatures and not humans at all. He noted that they looked like his ancestors from many years back.



The Green Wall is the separation between the monotony and equality of OneState and the chaos and rebellion of the outside. The people on the inside are all the same; shaved heads and gray-blue uniforms. Those on the outside, however, are all different, skin colors, hair colors, no one is really too groomed, and they are all free to do as they please out here in this unknown forest-like area.


In general a wall indicates a separation from on side to another. In this novel it separates the society filled with people from the people who will take action and rebel. It separates the free thinkers and those who must have mathematical thought processes. It shows a past and present perspective; the way those on the outside are similar to his ancestors and how the inside is this futurized mathematical society. The way D-503 feels he is connected to this hairy hunched ancestor shows where he truly belongs, he just hasn't realized it until he ventures over there.

We- Review

This dystopian society novel was probably not my favorite of all that we've read, but I enjoyed it for the most part. The element that held my attention was most likely the use of the math and numbers in the society. I am not a numbers person, but I liked the reoccurring use of society simplified to arithmetic in OneState. Each person in this society wasn't a Mike or an Emily, a number was assigned as a name. Women had vowels and even numbers and men had consonant and an odd number. This signified the equality of each person to another. OneState is an equation that is never undefined.

This society is obviously a victim to too much equality in my opinion. No one can be discriminated against for anything they do, say, wear, or how they act in general. While in theory this seems great, similar to other dystopian societies, when it's put into action, the flaws become clear and people begin to rebel. OneState is a society built around math, but the irrational root is ever present.

This was another idea that I liked- the irrational root. For D-503, it was I-330 and for the society in general, it was the unforeseen flaws; the people who were unhappy with the mundane table of hours and the omnipotent benefactor. No matter how perfect a mathematical society is, the irrational numbers are always there hanging over it like a shadow.

In general OneState is a good, exaggerated example of what could happen if we lived in a society entirely controlled by this perfectly equal equation. I was happy with how it ended however. I felt it was necessary for him to receive the operation and become completly emotionless. Although unpleasant, D didn't have much where he was. He worried about al of these emotions and wasted emotions at that. I-330 was just using him for his position and all that confusion and feeings of being lost were wasted on her. He didn't have much to imagine at this point.

Anthem Review

As a whole I enjoyed the novel, Anthem. I generally find the dystopian books entertaining and this was no different. I especially like the use of "We" instead of I or me. It seemed to help set this anti-utopia apart from others. Also, it reminded me a lot of a book I read years ago, The City of Ember. Anthem was a simple novel, but it still got its point across of how this altered society can affect its inhabitants into revolting.

The use of "We" in this book, was interesting and a little tough to grasp at first. I had originally thought that it referred to a group of people as "we" does today. But upon learning that it meant just one person and this society had so far stripped each person of individual identity that they didn't even refer to themselves when speaking, but everyone as a whole; it was an odd but clever technique to show the loss of uniqueness and flood of equality and sameness.

All at the beginning I kept thinking of the City of Ember. In that book, the society is underground and slowly loosing its supplies to continue living there. Simply the fact that it was so primeval and happening so far in the future helped me draw comparisons between the two. The underground society takes place after we have run out of all resources and have created this place to live underground to avoid the conflicts of the surface. But the lack of knowledge of the surface and lack of supplies below brings the inhabitants to find a need for escape. In Anthem both Equality and the Golden One thirst for knowledge of a world without this sameness and therefore escape the restrictions.

The simplicity of Anthem was refreshing because even though it was short and sweet, the point was still made. In the mere 100 pages, characters and a setting were introduced, the plot to leave was in place, and the act of leaving the society was carried out. I liked that Rand was able to do this in such a short novel.

Anthem- Favorite Passage

Out of the entire novel of Anthem, my favorite line is "There is nothing that can take a man's freedom away from him, save other men. To be free a man must be free of his brothers" (Rand). In the society that both Equality and Liberty used to live in before their escape, the freedom was incredibly lacking. Those in charge of the society used their freedom to control all of the inhabitants and have zero tolerance for imagination or creativity. They abused their power and this was why Equality and "The Golden One" fled.

Prior to this quote, Equality has been reading a few of the books from the home he has discovered. He is learning about the use of "I" and a world from the past that had more freedom. The quote is describing how freedom is something that belongs to each individual. Only another individual is capable of taking that from them.

Before he went about his journey, this is exactly what had happened. Instead of allowing each person decide their paths and gain new knowledge, they stifle it greatly and inhibit it based on the rules of the authority. A person needs to do these things in their own way and not be controlled by what those in charge tell them to be.

Now, in the quote it has a statement about to have freedom, one must be without other people. This does not mean that they must live alone forever to be free. It means that one must find and use their own freedom. No one can give freedom; it would limit it. Also, no one can limit how to use their freedom; it would not be freedom this way. Simply, the quote explains how we always deserve to be free and no one besides other people can remove that right. So to remain free, one must have their own freedom and use it the way they desire to.

Anthem- Symbol

In the novel, Anthem, light is a symbol that can be found over and over again throughout the story. It represents a source of freedom and individuality from the harsh sameness of the society.

If starting from the beginning, light first appears once Equality 7-2521 is given the occupation of street sweeper. While on duty, he discovers a deep black hole that was covered in weeds. With some exploration he discovers things left from the past. Among these, he discovers the light bulb. Equality 7-2521 presents this to the House of Scholars and it brings great fear to them. The main reason for the fear of the light bulb, the one invention that could bring this society to a whole to modern level, is that they see what it can bring to light. The glow of the bulb shows the unique traits of everyone. It finally brings the truth of the differences between everyone to the surface and this horrifies those in the House of Scholars.

The sweet nickname that Equality 7-2521 gives the woman he meets while street sweeping also hints at the symbol of light; the Golden One. While light represents the freedom from this society, the Golden One represents Equality's escape from it. She symbolizes the hope for something different and not completely equal and same. The Golden One is a change from the norm that Equality is used to. And to the overall meaning of Anthem, the Golden One is his accomplice, his way out of this restrictive society. The use of this way out is demonstrated later in the novel.

Equality and the Golden One escape and the symbol of light prevails on their journey to find a new way of living. Equality renames himself Prometheus, Greek icon who gave the gift of fire, yet another source of light. In this house from the Unmentionable Times that they have stumbled upon on their journey, they find globes of glass everywhere. They later learn that these housed light bulbs in the past. They represent hope and encouragement for a new civilization filled with individuality and freedom of opinion.