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Abortion and Fetal Right Debates

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During class we planned two debates, with one being about Abortion and the other being fetal rights. I was arguing for the proposition side believing fetuses should have rights.

During the first debate on abortion, the prompt was ‘Is abortion morally wrong?’ Many points were brought up to do with the rights of women and how they would be taken away with the lack of choice that would come with making abortions illegal globally, these were made by the opposition side. The proposition side, against abortions, were making points to do with religion and the child. Even though both sides argued well, the opposition side won. Most of our class are pro-choice so obviously, there might have been the pre-conceived opinions influencing our choice.

During the second debate on fetal rights, the prompt was ‘Do fetuses have rights?’ The opposition side was bringing up points to the fact that they believe the fetus should have some sort of rights but ultimately giving fetuses rights would affect the rights of the women negatively, they were arguing about the rights of women being more important. They brought up points about the stages of development in the fetus, one key point is that the fetus shared similarities to a chicken fetus so why should we consider it a developing human with rights. The proposition side, the side I was arguing for, brought up points to do with how the stages of development didn’t represent the value a human being should have and that the fetal rights will give fetuses equal rights like that of the women, also including protection against drug and alcohol abuse during pregnancy. At the end of the debate, the proposition side won. This was against the true opinion of the audience as the majority doesn’t believe in it. The reason we won was our arguing skills, specifically the reply speakers speech. It was hard to argue for something I don’t believe in but it was good to get a different perspective on these issues. I also learnt a lot more about the development of fetuses in the womb and the anatomy of the fetus.

Linking these debates to the Handmaid’s tale, there is a lot of connection to choice and freedom. Since the Gilead society is very restrictive it linked to the pro-life movement. In the Gilead society, they are focused on having children which I assume would cause stigma on abortions, they mIght even be illegalised but they are not fully mentioned in the book. The society also is religious, or at least portraying religion in a twisted and manipulated in order to fit with what the people in control want. So the arguments made on the anti-abortion side to do with religion would be somewhat applicable. The main purpose of the society is to have children so having abortions be legal would be counterproductive.

The quote “There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia, Freedom to and freedom from” (30) applies in some way. The entire debate about pro-choice or pro-life which would link to the fact that the women in this society are affected by the ‘type of freedom’ that they would have. When Aunt Lydia says ‘freedom to’ she is referencing to the ‘days of anarchy’ where women were independent and responsible for their money, jobs, sexual freedom. Though on a more negative side the abuse they got from men (catcalling, sexual assault, rape, inappropriate behaviour) which all of this they now have ‘freedom from’ but by completely isolating them and making them be in a lose-lose situation with men having the upper hand. This was like a brainwashing technique for them to accept this situation. Since the pro-choice argument links with rape victims and the children due to this situation it links with the ‘freedom to’ side, with it linking to the days before the societal shift. 

Also, Serena Joy before the societal change was advocating for women to work and not fall into the gender norms of being housewives and mothers but now she is trapped doing the very thing she was against. 

The real-life connection between the book and these issues that we are facing nowadays is interesting. This would be a good topic to discuss in the IO as there are many links with the book with gender equality and what women face.

Syllabus Main Concepts and Paper 2 Prompts

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We first looked at what each of the main concepts are for the syllabus: Identity, Culture, Creativity, Communication, Perspective, Transformation and Representation. We looked at what each of the concepts meant and made sure we understood them and how they applied to our course.

Categories of Prompts

After we were given paper 2 prompts from past papers. We read them all and picked out the main categories that the prompts might fit into. We then organised the prompts underneath the categories (Opposition/Protest, Writing and Narrative style, Context/Setting/Culture, Themes and Characterisation) we created as well as a category for prompts we wouldn’t do and then under the concepts that we learnt about at the beginning of the class.

Organisation of Paper 2 Prompts

I can see how this could apply as throughout the assessments we will do we’ll discuss some of the categories (eg. global issues, protest/opposition etc.) throughout more than just the Paper 2, specifically in our IO as these might be some of the topics we choose to discuss.

Connections to the DP Core

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The skills and content that we learn in English can be applied through some of the core aspects of the DP: CAS, TOK and EE. The ATL skills we learn are applicable to all subject areas and core areas. For example the communication skill can be applied to all three because we have to effectively say our ideas clearly and articulately. 

We can use English skills through our EE essay to communicate our ideas well, it could also be a topic we choose to research into. As well for TOK it could be a topic we choose to discuss through our presentations and our essay. The TOK and EE essay will link with the essay’s that we write in class and for our Paper 1 and 2 assessments. For CAS mainly the skills we learn can apply and link with communication, organisation and other ATLs. For CAS we also have to do more presentations style work, as well as in TOK we have presentations, these skills can be transferred with our IO.

These skills can be developed and learned through this course and through the entire 2 year journey. They can be transferred to other classes and also the DP core as well which would help us improve our work.

First Reading Reflection (THT)

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After reading The Handmaid’s Tale for the first time I really like the book. I think because it is set in a dystopian society and could be something that happens to us, it makes it more interesting to read and see how the author, Margaret Atwood, portrays the world. I also think that the fact that this was written in the ’80s and the problems Margaret Atwood researched and the issues that were present in this time period still apply. 

My favourite section of the book was from Jezebels’ to the end of the book (Page 205- 320). I liked it the most as a lot of things happened throughout this section. It involved the wife, Offred and Nick, Offred and the Commander, it showed the ways that Offred has changed with her views on Love and Luke as well. Then we find out about what happened with Offred at the end. At the end of the book, Serena Joy finds out about Offred and the commander, which she doesn’t take well. Offred knows that something might happen but she doesn’t do anything. She hears the black van and Nick is the one who opens the door which makes her accuse him of being an eye. Nick says that it’s ok and that she should go with them. He says it’s Mayday which links with the earlier quote about what Mayday means when Ofglen said it was a password. “‘There’s a password,’ she says… ‘Mayday,’ I repeat… M’aidez.” (Page 208). Offred ends up going with the van. 

The ending, usually something that answers questions, creates more. Is she took to the colonies, killed or saved? Who are the mayday people that took her? Was it really someone that was helpful? Is Nick helpful? Will she see Luke and her daughter again? What would happen with Luke/ Nick Triangle? Does Nick actually like Offred or is he just doing it to be paid? We can guess but never really fully know.

I think during my next reading I want to look more into the symbolism and look deeper into the book and analyse it more as this will be interesting in order to look at how it connects with women inequality, views of the future and other issues the book brings up.

Historical Notes

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After the book ends there is a section titled Historical Notes. It is written as if its a transcript of a conference about the Gileadean Society set in 2195. It’s talking about this as if it was in the past with someone specialised in 20th to 21st-century archives. This society has led to an association and people study and learn about this time period. People study this time period. The keynote briefly passes over one of the changes the Gileadean society caused. “What was once the city of Bangor, in what, at the time prior to the inception of the Gileadean regime, would have been the state of Maine.” (Page 309). References the historical information Margaret Atwood did for this book but in a way to say this is what caused the Gileadean Society. They propose various ideas that link to what we are doing in class by looking at different questions the book opens up. They propose that the names used in the book were pseudonyms and because of the name “Offred’ they can propose ideas as to who the commander was due to finding high-ranking Gileadean officials with the name or nickname as “Fred”. They propose that it was “Nick” who “by evidence of the very existence of the tapes” must have helped “Offred” to escape with the Mayday group who they said was a “shadowy… underground group” (Page 318). 

The person who is speaking as an “expert” at the keynote, a man named “Professor Pieixoto”. He seems like an arrogant speaker like he’s an expert in this field. When he asks at the end if there’s “any questions” (Page 320), he asks it kind of cockily like there’s no reason anyone shouldn’t know about this society after he has spoke. Also, it’s like him making himself the authority figure of this section of history. He is also kind of dismissing Offred’s story, yes he is being objective about history but he is almost saying that her account wasn’t as good, in terms of history. “She could have told us much about the workings of the Gileadean empire, had she had the instincts of a reporter or a spy.” (Page 318).

At the end of the book, by saying that someone must have escaped in order to have the tapes, it gives a prediction based off of ‘facts’ which can technically answer some of the questions proposed when we finished the book. Though it doesn’t answer all the questions and also creates more about who really was Offred, Nick, Moira and the people that made up the society. It answers some questions but still keeps the mystery that Margaret Atwood created through her ending.

The Prior Knowledge before reading THT

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During our first discussion about “The Handmaids Tale” (THT) by Margaret Atwood, we talked about the genre and what we should expect to see with this sort of book. The genre is dystopian speculative fiction. Speculative fiction is an umbrella genre that deals with elements that are not of real-life with more imaginative themes, this encompasses science fiction as well. Science fiction mainly deals with fiction content with a basis in science. The scientific theories, elements and facts are what distinguishes sci-fi from fantasy. This book is classified as a dystopian fiction which takes place in a dystopian setting. Dystopia, according to Dictionary.com, is “an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic.” When relating this to a dystopian fiction piece this would mean that this genre deals with social and political problems in an unideal world. This book can also be classed as a political fable meaning it is a story conveying a moral, in this case focusing on the political side. This means “The Handmaids Tale” will take place in a dystopian world, involving real-life elements while dealing with social and political issues that we could face in this situation.

Based off of a passage from Margaret Atwood’s Essay on her book, The Handmaids Tale, we can gain more information on the setting of the story and the issues that may be faced during the book. From this passage, we can glean that the elite people from the United States have used Bible-based religion in order to take control and oppression the majority of the population. We can see that the issues the book with deal with are oppression by the right-wing fundamentalists and infertility, maybe religion as well. Though this book was written in the 1980s and is a social critique during this time, these issues are not resolved and we still face these problems nowadays.


During Margaret Atwood’s research for this issue, she varied between historical and humanitarian concepts. With pamphlets from Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace, Amnesty International reports of atrocities in Latin America, Iran and Philippines; newspaper cuttings from surrogate mothers, institutional control of human reproduction from Nazi Germany to Ceausescu’s Romania, new reproductive technologies as threats to women. These topics from discussing AIDS and sexually transmitted to disease, human rights during detention, birth rates and control, fertility, new methods of fertilisation (IVF). Her research also deals with Nazi Germany and their view on Eugenics, basically meaning that they believed that the human species needed to be perfected. These topics deal with the issues the book is based around. These being, in a general sense, fertility and political issues.

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Intertextuality

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To me, intertextuality is the connection between texts and similar works. It’s like a comparison through different literary and non-literary works, maybe be shared topics and issues. A technique used that could show intertextuality is parody or illusions. It’s mainly about how texts influence each other rather than a basic connection between the texts. Other sites describe intertextuality as using another text to create meaning for another text. This is something that we would have to consider in paper 2 as its a comparative essay so this idea that is important to focus on, this idea of intertextuality could help make our paper 2 better when writing it. 

On a basic level, an example might be something simple like “He was lying so obviously, you could almost see his nose growing” but this is more allusion of intertextuality rather than a solid example. An example of intertextuality within media might be the Simpsons or Family guy where other famous films are reference like a “Star Wars” episode in Family guy or “Psycho” referenced in the Simpsons. This creates a greater meaning for those who understand both of the non-literary works. These are parodies through mixed media which is a technique of intertextuality.

Left Simpsons “Psycho” Episode, Right “Psycho” by Alfred Hitchcock

Reflection on Practice Essay

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For this practice essay it was on the political cartoon by Adam Zyglis, called “Rule of Law”. This referenced a 2005 video with lewd and inappropriate comments about touching women as they will let you do anything to them because they are ‘stars’. 

For my essay I analysed the text and the images used in the political cartoon. For the text I discussed the title of the political cartoon which is shown on the base of the statue. I also discussed the papers in the unbalanced scale and what Trump is saying in the speech bubble. For the images I talked about the elephant caricature, the statue itself and the #metoo movement poster.I got 9/10 points.

To improve I could make my analysis more detailed and give more examples of irony as well, while explicitly referencing juxtaposition. If I was considering the other criteria, for organising, to improve I could separate the juxtaposition from the two paragraphs rather than including it together like I did. There was a lot of Irony in this political cartoon so that would be a better option. In general I could vary my sentence structure and make sure my spelling and grammar is accurate. This was a good practice essay and next time I will make sure to be more detailed in my analysis to improve that strand.