Avoid the Stakes or Face the Stake?

My favorite game in the world is Mafia. It is even more fun to play when there are stakes - like project points. It is interesting to see who is willing to risk their points, and who is not. The goal for all Handmaids should seem to be to help the rebels win; however, many were more concerned with preserving their project points. The game was so infuriating because the Eyes were never wrong. They snuffed out every single Rebel, and were never wrong even once. The Handmaids and Rebels only had one chance to kill an Eye, but even if they did, there would still be three left. The only way for all Eyes to die is if they messed up, but that never happened.

I joined the Rebels when I had the chance. However, my only stakes were twenty project points, which I could make up if necessary. It is hard to say if I would join the Rebels if my life were at stake. This is the question that Handmaids must figure out an answer to in The Handmaid's Tale; in fact, they have a few options: risk the transit to Canada and live in peace, join the Rebels, or report the Rebels to the officials. On the other hand, the only gain to becoming a Rebel is the possibility for twenty extra project points. The Rebels in the book are attempting to save the Handmaids - which they possibly were once - from having to have sex without their consent as their only duty for their entire lives.

The transit of Handmaids out of Gilead parallels the Underground Railroad in many ways. First of all, the ones most involved in transporting people are Christians - especially Quakers.

Courtesy of discoversalem

Secondly, they are transporting to Canada people who have no choice in what they are doing and who are considered property of a rich man. Finally, the handmaids like slaves are not allowed to read, lest in their self-education, they discover a deep-seated wrong in the way things are.

The version of Mafia that we played in class revealed something that came as absolutely no surprise: the government in a very powerful entity. No matter what the time period, the government plays a part in every story. Sometimes, the government is too powerful; sometimes, the government is not powerful enough. There is rarely a story in which the government is perfect for everyone. Most dystopian societies are built upon an ideal that someone had - an idea for how to make a perfect government. There is always some entity in every dystopian society capable of catching someone who rebels against the norms implanted into the society. The fear that this entity will find out often keeps all but perhaps the most heroic in the story from rebelling and attempting to either change things or return them to normal - or perhaps just save themselves or others from being subjected to the ways of the society. In The Handmaid's Tale, the entity to fear is the Eye. The heroic ones are mostly the Quakers, who attempt to transport the Handmaids to Canada.

Courtesy of Kilgore-Gilmer

The question is: will Offred, our hero, join them? Will she get the chance to join them? Will she be a Rebel?

Clean Conscience, Dirty Looks

Looking around the room, I mostly agreed with what categories people ended up in. And there I stood amongst the meekest and quietest of the room, an Angelic Lamb. I had to ask what that said about me. Am I a pushover? Am I too quiet? Why am I a very truthful, nonaggressive person?

It can be hard to look at oneself and judged objectively truthfulness and aggressiveness. It was not surprising that there were few people with both bad qualities (Serpentine Lions - aggressive liars) or neither bad quality (Angelic Lambs like myself). Most people have some flaw to them - not to say that I am flawless or that I do not lie, but I am less inclined to violence or lying than most.

An analysis of characters with similar personalities brought up some interesting points:
Characters who might be classified as Serpentine Lions are usually villains, action heroes, or vigilantes (i.e., Drakken, Shego).
Serpentine Lambs are often tricksters - usually harmless, but they tend to get themselves or others into trouble (i.e., Rufus).
Angelic Lions are often heroes of the story - not bad people, but willing to fight for what they believe in (i.e., Kim Possible). It is a common pair of qualities for soldiers.
Angelic Lambs are simple, childlike, stupid, and/or were sheltered as children (i.e., Ron).

courtesy of disneychannel

As for me, I fall into the last category for Angelic Lambs. I was home-schooled until seventh grade by Conservative Christian parents on a Christian college campus. I knew nothing about what the world is really like save what I learned from TV (which gave me a skewed image of the world, especially considering that there were many things I was not allowed to watch). I have always been a very quiet person. Part of it is because I do not have much input into the conversation because people often discuss things I am not allowed to watch/read/listen to; however, a large part of it is that I have never had the aggression necessary to interject into the conversation. I am always afraid that there will be someone there who does not want me to be a part of the conversation. Growing up how I did also plays a part in my honesty. First of all, it's hard to lie to someone you see all the time. I also never really learned how to lie (so I'm really bad at it), and I never really get the chance to do much of anything worth lying about.

However, my meekness is not all a product of my parents. Unlike them, I am a vegetarian, do not support the death penalty, and do not want a gun in my house. I feel as though the qualities of Angelic Lambs can either make a person a complete pushover, or make them completely intolerant to discourtesy. I am the latter - if I am going to show someone common courtesies and be honest and nice to them, I would like the same respect back. I never release my aggression on the person who wronged me, however. I write metal songs, listen to metal music, join in mosh pits, and scream, and those are my methods of release. Perhaps being so non-aggressive is a fault of mine - it takes me longer to release my anger, and so I hold onto grudges for longer.

In any story, it seems that there is a perfect balance of all four types of characters (such as in Kim Possible). If one is missing, it is very blatant and to make a point. It is just another example of art imitating life.