Outside Project

Outside project 2

Source Evaluation

Arat, Zehra F. Kabasakal. "Women's Rights As Human Rights." UN Chronicle (U.N. Dept. of Public Information) Vol. 45, No. 2/3. 2008: 9-13. SIRS Researcher. Web. 21 Jul 2010.
This article is about human rights, but more importantly, it focuses on woman’s rights. The article talks about how woman have been subjected to more human rights violations than men, not just in the U.S., but throughout the world. The author also goes into detail about what it would take to change this way of thinking culturally and socially.
This article would be good to use for my paper because I am trying to research why the woman of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”, are so repressed, and link it to societies views on woman’s rights around the world. This article will definitely provide me with good information regarding this subject. I will also be able to get very credible information to back up my thesis.

Johnson, Karen.“The Day the Music Died:Woman and Girls of Afghanistan”. Search results for , Sear. Print.
This article is about the Taliban rule of Afghanistan and its impact on the woman of that society. Johnson talks about how repressed the woman have been since the Taliban militia took control of Kabul in Afghanistan. I believe what happened in Afghanistan is much like Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale”, an ultraconservative religious militia took control of a part of the country. This article enables me to make correlations between real life happenings around the world and “The Handmaid’s Tale”. This article also provides me with more information regarding the repression of woman in today’s societies.
Karen Johnson is the Executive Vice President of the National Organization for Woman. She is very well respect in the woman’s rights movement as well as a published author. This article was linked to website as a reliable source for this particular information. The information is dated, which is what I was looking for. The article is sponsored by a particular organization with an agenda. It does not make me suspicious because I was looking for a woman’s point of view about repressed woman in today’s society that may help me understand Margaret Atwood’s point of view. All in all I believe this to be a very reliable web resource.

Topic Proposal

For my topic on essay three, I would like to look into why these women of Gilead are so repressed. I feel like the real victims, in this fictional society, are the women. Although there are many things wrong with Gilead, I find this the most perplexing. Why would the men of this land want to repress their women so much? It seems to me that some of the best parts of life are creating relationships, and getting to know someone whom you might want to spend the rest of your life with as equals. Their religious beliefs seem to be the motive for this, but I think it is really the leaders of this new world trying to bring back a male dominated society. I believe Margaret Atwood was trying to remind us of the repressed women of our societies past, and some that still exists in the present.
I would like to learn more about why women have long been thought of as the lesser gender. It hasn’t been till the last century that society has accepted both genders as equals, and in some areas in the world women are as repressed as ever. For this essay I would like to research the history of women and their roles in societies of the past, and societies of the present. Maybe this research will give me some insight into why the men of Gilead feel the need to repress their women, and why women have been repressed in the past and present of our own societies. I also feel this will give me some insight to Margaret Atwood’s own beliefs and thoughts on this subject as well.
http://www2.hawaii.edu/~davink/topicproposals.html

Thesis Blog

1. “A” is the weakest thesis statement because it is very general and doesn’t meet any criteria for a good thesis statement.
2. “A” is the weak thesis statement because unlike the thesis statement “B” it doesn’t have the complexity. B creates more than one point of view and is subject to a good argument.
3. “B” is the weak thesis statement because it basically just tells you what they think of the jean industry and creates no real claim.
4. “A” is the weak thesis statement because it is just a statement telling you what the play is about.
5. “A” is the weak thesis statement because it is to long and it is hard understand the meaning of their thesis statement.




My Thesis Statement
I believe that Margaret Atwood’s, “The Handmaids Tale”, is a depiction of how bad a society can become when it is based on religious government and not democracy, as well as an insight to how the bible can be manipulated to serve a governments will.

This is a good thesis statement because it can be backed up by some of the religious references in the book. It is assertive and clearly states my point of view. It is definitely arguable, I’m sure not everyone would agree with this thesis statement but because it can be backed up by references in the book, it should make for a good argument. This thesis statement also raises many questions and isn’t to vast of a statement or generalized.
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/thesis_statement.shtml

Mid-Session Check In

My English experience in college has been an enjoyable one so far. I never thought that I liked English this much, but after getting through English 100 and English 101 I am finding that I am enjoying it more and more. I wasn’t sure I wanted to take English 102 during the summer because I thought I wouldn’t learn as much due to the fast pace of summer courses. That has not been the case. I have been very surprised at how much I am learning in such a short amount of time. The biggest challenge I have had during this class has been the reading. I am not the best reader. If I am reading just for myself I can get through a book pretty quick, and grasp the story pretty well. When I am reading something for a paper I have to read it over and over, which can get pretty time consuming. The summary and analysis has been tough for me also. I have never written summary and analysis papers’ before, so it was hard to get the correct format. I’m still not sure if I do or not Ha Ha. Although I am not the best reader I have enjoyed the reading assignments for this class very much. It makes it easier to read and write about something when you enjoy the material. The reading thus far has had a positive affect on me. As I have mention before, I am in the National Guard and have been to Iraq. I have been able to relate to “ The Things They Carried ” and “ The Sand Storm”. I have also thought of writing about some of my own experiences, and they have inspired me to do so. I just need to become a better writer and maybe I could get something published. Earlier I wrote how the summary and analysis was hard for me. The only thing that I have done in English that was similar was summary and reviews in English 101. I find the summary part very easy and so was the review. The hard part is the analysis. I find you really have to look at each word very carefully to construct a good analysis of a paper. I feel my work early in the semester was not as good as it could be. I had to play catch up during the first few weeks due to my National Guard training and had to rush through some assignments. I am hoping to be able to take more time with my writing in the second half of the semester. So far I have received an “A” in all my English classes. I hope to continue that during the second half of this class. This class is much harder than the other two, but I think if I apply myself I could make it happen. I am also looking forward to reading “ The Handmaids Tail ”. At first I didn’t think I would enjoy it, but so far I like it a lot. All in all I am very pleased with the quality of this class and what I have learned. I looked forward to the challenges ahead the lessons I will learn.





Sincerely, Chris Mattson