The wall represents sadness and not only that, imprisonment. This really made me think about how lucky I am to be in America and be able to make decisions on my own without a fear of breaking the law, all within boundaries. I think boundaries are necessary, but a physical boundary is unfair.

When the men, women, and children painted the mural on the wall, it gave them hope. This is important, I have wrote before that as long as people have hope, then there is resistance and a change is possible. Although the government forced them to stop once, they finished. They were determined to finish and make the wall represent something beautiful….freedom.

I do not know how long it will take for these innocent people to gain freedom, but I believe deep down, justice will be served for them.

One theme does seem to stick out though, he focuses a lot on interactions between people. What kind of language do we use? How people act toward each other…and so on.

It is interesting to think about how we interact with each other. When you ask a waitress for a hamburger, that is what you expect to get, but at times, you might get chicken. Just depends. We all have off days.

I am not really sure how to read David Ives, I look forward to our discussion.

What is the main purpose of Ragtime? Well it is hard to pick. There is immigration, industrialization, and just the overall change of America. America was changing in many ways; there is a movement away from small community to larger cities. People were used to towns that they knew everyone in and everyone knew their business. Due to the availability of new technology people were able to move away from their homes and live in big cities where they knew no one. People of average salary were able to afford cars which were largely due to the Model T production.  Father’s business was booming, there was a larger demand for “American” symbols such as flags and fireworks for the Fourth of July celebrations.

What is Doctorow trying to prove to me though? I think he is trying to open my eyes to the changes that our society went through then. This was the time in our history that we became a country of industry and moved away from the homemade objects to the consumer world. We no longer made things for our purpose, we made them to sell and make a profit. I believe this is a huge part of why America became so stuck on money and becoming industrious. This is the purpose of this book.

Coalhouse Walker Jr. is a very sweet man, one who is very proper and a musician. When you cross Coalhouse Walker bad things happen though, he becomes murderous and quite dangerous.

“But the fact was that Coalhouse Walker had already taken several steps to identify himself with the crime. It turned out that within an hour of the explosion he, or some other black man, left identical letters at the two local newspapers…If these conditions are not met I will continue to kill fireman and burn firehouses until they are. I will destroy the entire city if need be” (211-212). This is not the Coalhouse Walker that we were initially acquainted with in the earlier part of the book, he was sweet and brought nice things to Sarah.

We thought that he was a nice man, but deep down he is capable of creating mass chaos. What is his reasoning for this destruction? A CAR! But now that Sarah is dead, is the car the only reason he is became murderous?  Could this happen to any man? In a time and setting like this, a black man wrecking havoc on a predominately white village is a big to do. Some may equate this to racism on the black man’s part, whereas we are used to seeing racism in the reverse manner. One big problem with this situation now is generalization, now everyone assume that black men are dangerous and innocent people are being hurt.  

“Thus began Evelyn Nesbit’s concern for the thirty-two-year-old geriatric artist and his daughter” (44).  Evelyn had compassion for the poor and wanted to help.  “Over a period of two weeks the old man executed a hundred and forty silhouette portraits of Evelyn. After each one she would hand him fifteen cents. Sometimes she demanded a portrait of the little girl” (44). This was Evelyn’s way of giving money to the poor man and child without it being charity. “She wore a shawl  over her head and a tattered black moth-eaten sweater over her shirtwaist” (45). Evelyn wore battered clothes to blend in with the crowd, even though she could afford to buy most of them new clothes.

“There sits among us this evening one of the most brilliant women in America, a woman forced by this capitalist society to find her genius in the exercise of her sexual attraction – and she has done that, comrades, to an extent that a Pierpont Morgan and a John D. Rockefeller could envy” (54). Evelyn has power…power that she can use for many reasons, yet she is tired of her power and only wishes to relieve herself from it.

Evelyn Nesbit is going to testify on the behalf of her husband, but yet wishes he would stay in prison. She goes from one extreme to the next, and this confuses most…but I think it makes this story worthwhile and interesting.

There are so many examples I could use, the Ceremony, Mayday, Birthing Stool, Jezebels…and so on and so forth. Each chapter has a new issue dealing with power and to talk about them all would be a book in itself.

If I didn’t focus on power, I think I would look at love or lack thereof. Or maybe I would look at systems of communications…there are so many topics in this book we could discuss and not one person would have the exact same idea as another.

When Ofglen shared with Offred this system, she was dumbfounded to realize that Ofglen wasn’t a true believer. But are any of the Handmaid’s “true believers” they all seem to dislike it. Or at least the ones we have come into contact with in the book. No matter how hard the Eyes try, they can never have complete control over everyone. There will always be one snake in the grass that lets loose dangerous information. It is almost impossible to keep people from talking, gossiping, and sharing ideas and information.

We found out what happened to the previous Handmaid that was there before Offred. Serena Joy found out about her seeing the Commander alone…and she killed herself. Does Serena Joy know that this Handmaid is as well seeing her “husband” alone? How could she not? The other Handmaids know this…but how do they know!? Who told who? This is all very confusing. Every single system that exist is flawed!

Another big question….Will Offred get pregnant by Nick, and why did Serena Joy pick Nick? Does she know that he is somewhat attracted to her?

When I think of the significance of this small amount of language, I think it is to prove a point. That women as lesser than men, and ignorant. They do not want the women to have the ability to have their own thoughts, without language, the sharing of ideas does not exist. The Handmaids used to hide in the bathrooms just to share any information they had. They are hungry for any kind of information, true or false. By taking away freedom of speech, freedom in itself is taken away. I talk constantly, whether verbal, or written down. I could not imagine if someone took away that privilege from me.

I found this passage very interesting. The wording in itself is interesting. I think that many people misuse the words lie and lay. I constantly say that I am going to “lay down” instead of “lie down.” But when we look in terms of “getting laid,” I find myself questioning where this phrase came from or what it really means. Why do guys use this term? It is rude, and thoughtless.

Another reason I picked this passage, is the lack of freedom that this woman feels. I would go crazy if I was stuck in a room where I could not do as a pleased. The seclusion itself is enough to drive someone mad. Time is evil when it is all you have. Time allows for time to think, contemplate, ploy and question everything. I think this is important because it gives us a look into her life….this might take place a night, but I am sure she finds herself in this position quite often.

I know that when I sit in my room alone, there is always an escape to take my mind off of whatever is stressing me out. I have a television, my radio, my phone, or my books. But this woman has a bed….and her thoughts. Nothing to distract her. There are times when I find it is comforting to lie in bed and allow my thoughts to run through my head so I can make some sense of them, most of the time I am able to make the most sense of what I’m dealing with and can let it rest.