Kindred by Octavia Butler

     Kindred was a very confusing book for me when i first started reading it, but 

as i continued to read the book i started to understand it better. I wondered at 

first why Dana kept going back to the year of 1815, but came to understand 

more as i kept reading and learned she was being sent back to an era with her 

ancestors. What i felt was kind of weird was the way they sent her back to her 

ancestors time. What Dana didn't realize about where she was sent was that 

they were her ancestors until the second time she was sent there. She was also 

always sent back when Rufus was getting into trouble.

     As I continued to read the book I did not like that closer to the end when 

Dana was sent back again she ended up being one of the slaves for Rufus and 

she was treated horribly even after everything she did every time she was sent 

back. One time she was sent back she had to nurse Alice back to health so 

Rufus could rape her repeatedly and keep her as his own while they sold her 

husband Isaac to someone in Mississippi. Another time she was sent back Dana 

was beaten so badly i didn't think she would survive. I got a bad feeling every 

time they sent Dana back to 1815 as to whether she would be killed or not and

if she would ever find her husband either. 

    While reading this book you get a very good idea on how the slaves were

treated and how much they were sexually assaulted by their masters. You also 

learn about how the slave owners treated their own families also. I personally 

would not have chose to read this book only because its not what i like to read. 

The Handmaids Tale

     The part of the book I was confused about the most was why the commander would  ask Offred to come to his office to play scrabble and then ask her to kiss him like she means it. At first I thought scrabble was just a word he was using for sex but then they were actually playing scrabble until he said to her kiss me and do it like you mean it. When she was told to come to the commander’s office she thought she was in trouble and felt like a kid in school being sent to the principal’s office. Once she was inside the office she was worried Serena Joy would find out because it is illegal for her to be there and if she was found there she would be classified as an unwoman and sent away. Once in the office she notices it is normal like every other office she has been in before she became a handmaid. 

     In this book I feel it is not right the way the women are treated and color coded. It is definitely not right how the commander has sex with the handmaid while the wife sits behind her and pretends like he is having sex with her and there’s no person between them.  Just like when the handmaid is having the baby they do almost the same thing and the jump into bed and get handed the baby like they just gave birth to the baby. That is not how it happens in the real world and this is probably not how it happened in the olden days either. The way they do things in this book is so confusing and not right. The handmaids should not have to be sent away after they are done breastfeeding they should be able to stay there and watch the child grow up but just not say that she is the child’s real mother because then she will be sent away if she does that.

     “I’d like you to play a game of scrabble with me, he says.”  She thinks to herself so that’s what happens in the forbidden room.  They play two games and then after they are done he reveals his true intent  and says that he wants her to kiss him which  confuses her and then she starts thinking how she could take the toilet apart on bath night and hides the lever thing in her sleeve to stab him when he makes that request again because there is not only just one request like that. She brings herself back to reality and says okay and kisses him. He then pulls away and says not like that kiss me like you mean it.  In the real world none of these things would really be happening. Girls nowadays would not be used as incubators for babies against their will, girls nowadays would not be sneaking around playing board games and make out sessions and girls nowadays would not be forced to have sex with married men to make babies for their wives to raise like their own. The world in this book is so unreal it’s very confusing.

            In the book the handmaidens could be killed or called unwoman if they are caught making out with the commanders in their study verses if women are caught making out with someone else’s man the other girl would just kick that girls butt. Also nowadays women are not forced to have someone else’s baby they are asked and paid some money to be a surrogate for them as to where in the book they are forced to have sex with the commander while his wife sits behind her and acts like she is doing the deed with her husband and then once she is given a baby they send the handmaiden away like she is trash and they no longer need her now that they have her baby. 

                                       The Hunger Games 




     While reading the book "The Hunger Games" I think the part of the book I 

liked best was in the beginning when Katniss took her sister Prim's place in the 

reaping because she did not want her sister to die. I feel her family ties are 

very strong because of the way she just jumps up and takes her sister's place 

knowing that she could die too, so either way her mother will lose a daughter.

     I myself am a mother and in June my pregnant daughter ended up having 

an emergency c-section. I immediately started crying and freaking out because  

all these bad thoughts were racing through my mind even though i knew she  

was in good hands with the doctors. I think the reason i freaked is because she 

is my only child and i didn't want to lose her or my grandson during the surgery.

     During the reaping after Prim's name is called and then Katniss volunteers i 

don't think their mom has any kind of reaction or at least it doesn't say 

anything about her. If i were in her shoes i would have started crying and 

freaking out if that were my child/children. I think part of the reason they don't 

say anything about their mother or she doesn't say anything when Prim's name 

is called is because she is in complete and utter shock that she doesn't know

what to do or say. I would probably go into shock too if it were my child that 

had to fight for their life in some arena against 22 other kids also fighting for 

their lives.

     Rather than have the children do the reaping i think the adults should be 

able to take the place of the child who's name is called and not just another 

child. I think it is unnecessary the way the capitol rules and has this reaping to 

remind everyone that they are totally at the mercy of the capitol and if they try 

and lift a finger they will destroy everyone in the district like they did to district 

13. What is really rude is how they make everyone treat the hunger games like 

its a festivity when all they are doing is lessening the population by killing off 2 

kids from each district which makes the living survivor kids not want kids 

because they don't want to bring them into this kind of life.