Category: Aunt

The novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood uses the anti-feminist rhetoric of Phyllis Schlafly to create the dystopian society of Gilead, “the logical extension not only of Puritan government but also of the agenda articulated during the 1980s by America’s fundamentalist Christian Right” (Neuman 857). Atwood recognizes that the agreement on the oppressive nature of sex by the feminists and anti-feminists of the 1970s and 1980s was the crux of the feminist movement’s downfall. She uses female characters to analyze the end of second-wave feminism under the Reagan administration and the split in the feminist movement (Neuman 859-860). The only character who truly gains freedom is the one who gains it through sex and prostitution, Moira. Through Moira, Atwood argues that the success of the feminist movement is contingent on sex positivity and overall acceptance.

Second-wave feminism discussed the origin of female oppression and one of the common denominators was that men and intimacy were the destruction of female autonomy (Gordon). For some, like Offred’s mother, this meant that sex was oppression. This mentality led her to allow her daughter to participate in the feminist book burning of pornographic magazines. However, when Offred sees the women tied up, hanging from the ceiling, Offred “thought she was swinging, like Tarzan from a vine” (38 Atwood). By obsessing over the possible sexual objectification of women that can happen from exploitation in pornographic industry, Offred’s mother strips the women in the industry of their humanity. Offred’s mother rejects that sex can be empowering. However, despite her youth, Offred can tell that the situation on the magazine is not one of stripped autonomy or forced submissiveness, rather it is fun and consensual. It is reminiscent of the pure joy and spontaneity of a children’s story, Tarzan. By refusing to see this act as consensual and therefore valid, Offred’s mother fails to believe in a world without the subjugation of women. Feminism in its broadest definition did not call for an anti-man movement, rather a movement towards equality and the anti-man mentality took away support from the feminist movement itself (Neuman 858). By not allowing women their sexuality, but allowing men sexuality, Offred’s mother tears down equality and become the antithesis of a feminist.

The anti-feminist movement believed that sex could be used to strip women of their freedom. At the Red Center, Aunt Lydia preyed upon the fear that sex was the weakness of women, the thing that caused the inequality between men and women. Aunt Lydia showed the girls “old porno film, from the seventies or eighties…women tied up or chained with dog collars around their necks…women being raped, beaten up, killed” to highlight the fact that the women in the films could “have been doing something useful” (Atwood 118). By having both Aunt Lydia and Offred’s mother misinterpret and vilify the same type of porn, Atwood shows that despite wanting different things, the desire to eliminate and demonize sex is identical in both women and both ideologies. However, Aunt Lydia goes farther than Offred’s mother by creating fear through the misrepresentation of porn as sexual assault by combining and equating them in the videos. This weaponizes the idea that sex was only used in the pleasure of men and the soiling of women. By participating in sex, the women were stripped of their womanhood and any autonomy. This fear used to coerce the women into staying home. This fear is what sustains the entire system of Gilead. The generally accepted image of sex, a woman submitting to a man, to entice women was justification to “let their husbands provide, and to use their femininity and feminine wiles as the core of their success and fulfilment as women” (Neuman 860). Serena Joy does just this. She makes women captive to their own femininity and sensuality, “her speeches were about the sanctity of the home, about how women should stay home” (Atwood 45). Serena Joy strips herself of her words. Serena Joy’s words create a government that uses gender to discriminate and force women into a singular role, subservient to the man.

The mentality against sex creates a system that uses sex as an oppressive tool. The fear of sex advances and normalizes the enslavement of women. This system is Gilead and the route to escape it is known as “the Underground Femaleroad” (Atwood 246). In one of her attempts for freedom, Moira uses this route. Atwood alludes to the Underground Railroad through the route’s name and compares Gilead to the system of African American slavery in America. By utilizing something as natural and inseparable from women as sex to justify the usage of them as breeding stock is identical to the exploitation and enslavement of African Americans based on the color of their skin. Atwood shows that Offred’s mother, Aunt Lydia, and Serena Joy do not have a sustainable idea of freedom, because they decide who deserves freedom based on their prejudice against sexuality. To Atwood, the acceptance of all people and the fight for everyone’s freedom is necessary to create to equity and equality, to a achieve a world that truly aligns with the feminist vision of the world.

The only character who truly advocates for freedom and becomes free is Moira. As a sexually active and accepting lesbian, she would be ostracized in both the feminist and anti-feminist movements. Moira states that within lesbian sex “the balance of power was equal between women was an even-steven transaction” (Atwood 172). Moira understands that sex is a part of life. She does not try to cut it out because that denial has the potential to become female oppression. She accepts it as an aspect of life, as key to freedom and equality. Equality can only exist if both men and women can be empowered and freed by sex. Moira does not see equality as being able to work or being able to fulfill oneself off an arbitrary metric. She sees it in being free to make one’s own decision in love, sex, career, and any other facets of life. Moira’s openness and freedom from sex is shown in how casually and playfully she discusses it, “I’m giving an underwhore party. …You know, like Tupperware, only with underwear. Tarts stuff” (Atwood 56). Her openness and acceptance are a direct foil against all the other characters’ open rejection of sex. Moira appreciates it and liberates herself through it. Sexuality is her power and her escape from the world before Gilead and from Gilead.

Moira uses her body to gain freedom at Jezebel’s. She gives herself power from sex, stating blatantly about the Commander “I’ve had him, he’s the pits” (243 Atwood). Through sex, Moira has made herself equally powerful to the Commander. She can insult him without fear of repercussions because both are operating outside of the rules of Gilead. In fact, she can insult his prowess; she can break him down just as much his system has broken down women. Moira liberated herself with sex. She is free because “[the Aunts] have given up on us, so it doesn’t matter what sort of vice we get up to” (249 Atwood). By embracing sex as an essential aspect of humanity, she attains freedom and equality in the restrained society that she exists in. In fact, she is the only woman in the novel who truly gains freedom. Moira is the only woman in the novel who gains her freedom, who can give into her vices.

In her novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood creates a dystopia that oppresses women through the fear of sex and the idea that the oppression of sex is the only way to achieve a semblance of equality. However, Moira, the only woman for whom freedom exists, is the one who is unburdened by sex, who is accepting of it. By marking Moira as the only free woman, Atwood argues that sex and the acceptance of women, regardless of their sexual activity or profession, in the feminist movement is the only way for it to succeed and the ostracization of these women was the fall of second-wave feminism.

Faizullah’s choice of using the Ghazal form to write her poem was suitable and accurate. The Ghazal form is used for describing and talking about a beloved that could be a family member, later it was used to discuss the feelings of loss and longing. Faizullah is combining both subjects to write about her dear dead aunt. The word tree appears many times and occupies the role of the radif in this poem, moreover, it is a keyword that is used as a metaphor holding more than one meaning. In this paper, I’m going to discuss the relationship between trees and refugees and how they are related to Hasna Henna the writer’s aunt.

The word tree was used continually throughout the poem. Faizullah’s use and choice for this word was not a coincidence, seeing that it holds more than one metaphorical meaning in this poem; It could resemble family as in a family tree that suggests a chart which shows all the people in a family over many generations and their relationship to one another. Hasna Henna imbodies the rule of a connector between the tree and refugee. She is the speaker’s aunt, so she is considered to be a family and a crucial part of this tree. Moreover, the tree could be read as a refugee just as she mentions at the end of her poem. Faizullah considers all Rohingya’s refugees as her family since she was born to a Rohingyas parents that were suppressed by the Myanmar military.

Additionally, trees are a symbol of strength and stability; their roots enable them to stay still no matter how high they get. A tree starts as a sapling but then it grows so high and thick to become birds’ inhabitant, just like Rohingya refugees. They start a new whole life as saplings but then they flourish once again and get over their calamity to provide their families with safety. A new generation of Rohingyas will continue holding their ancestors’ values and pass it to the next generations to preserve their culture even after being suppressed. Just like trees their death will leave more seeds to breed and create a new generation of trees and never end the species.

At the beginning of the poem, the speaker shows unacceptance of her aunt’s death by asking many rhetorical questions, for example in the second sher she asks a rhetoric question about intimacy. As readers we could refer the word intimacy to several things, it could refer to the speaker’s aunt Hasna Henna since the whole poem was written about her. Another possibility is that it could be a reference to the intimate situation that was described in the first sher, brushing and touching one’s hair is an act of love and care that is usually done by a mother. The speaker might be missing the cosy moments between her and the aunt that was like a second mother to the speaker. Furthermore, the word intimacy could extend from the word lice in which they are intimate in the literal sense; they are sticky and hold on to your hair. The speaker’s first word in this poem was a rhetorical question, it feels as if she remembers her aunt whenever the word lice are mentioned.

Additionally, the speaker continues to ask so many rhetorical questions throughout this version of her poem but writes explicit sentences in her draft. For example: in this poem, she asks: “where now is the word for such intimacy?” but in the draft, she says: “I want back that intimacy”. In her final draft, she mentions her previous one that was written before her aunt died. The rhetorical questions are showing the denial the speaker is in, she cannot imagine what it would be like after her aunt has passed away, so she asks herself these different questions in order to figure it out.

The speaker is afraid she would forget her dead aunt, she asks: “will I forget her name”. This poem was written to preserve the memory of Hasna Henna, so she won’t be forgotten. Furthermore, the rhetorical questions could be directed to the readers to conceive them. Faizullah is trying to generalize her personal story and make it relatable to readers, this way she will get them to understand how hard it is to lose someone you love.

Moreover, the speaker’s continuous use of rhetorical questions shows how sceptical and unsure she is about her feelings. As if she does not believe she can get over her Aunt’s death, but then she starts to be firmer and steadier, she stops asking rhetorical questions and starts giving answers. For example, she answers the question “how else to perfume these needs we breathe?” and she gives the same answer written in three forms showing her confidence. Faizullah starts her poem with a depressing point of view thinking she is suffering alone in this world by describing some of her intimate moments with her aunt. Later she understands that her aunt’s memory will always live just like seeds breed which gives her some comfort.

The speaker realizes that her wide Rohingyas family will continue to grow and flourish slowly just like trees do. It might take a while she says but eventually, they will be there like a ‘fire hazard” or a “household of rare birds”. Faizullah uses juxtaposition in this sher to show how powerful their returning is going to be, they are going to be denigrators as flame to enemies, but warm and soft to their families to embrace them and make them feel safe. The rare birds could imply to the refugees as minorities after their decampment to other countries.

The speaker gives her aunt the nickname of a “night-blooming jasmine” to express he love for Henna since Jasmine is associated with love and symbolizes beauty. In her draft, she used the slash directly after her aunt’s name using metaphor indicating to her aunt as the “night-blooming jasmine”. The night in this term could imply to the dark time when Henna and the refugees had to get through their crisis yet, Henna succeeded and kept blooming even in her distress.

Faizullah continues with the description saying her aunt is a: “a sapling succeeds by flourishing from a tree seed”, meaning her aunt is a successful example of a seed that blossomed to become a great tree. Few lines later, Faizullah combines both metaphors that I have mentioned previously (night-blooming Jasmine and tree), and writes: “Night-blooming tree”, and then she equals it with “baby tree” and to “once and future tree”. In other words, the night-blooming Jasmine/tree that was once a sapling is now a tree that will continue to breed and create a future. The Night-blooming Jasmine could indicate to the first generation whereas the baby tree indicates to the second generation and the future tree to third and so on. After all, Faizullah is finally starting to accept her aunt’s death, she believes her aunt’s memory will always be remembered generations after generations which will be created by her aunt’s seeds (sons).

Faizullah makes her own unique changes on the known ghazal form and makes it unconventional by using different signs throughout her poem such as (=) and (+). These two signs catch the reader’s attention and make them read closely. The equal sign is used to enable the reader to connect between words and concepts, for example, the connection between night blooming tree, baby tree and a future tree that I have explained earlier makes him understand the relationship between trees and refugees. Other times she uses equal sings to give synonyms for the same word but in a different form, to emphasize the importance of this line and the meaning it holds. The plus signs in the line: “oceans+ oceans+ oceans” are used to show how far the distance between the speaker and her aunt is, to put it differently, the ocean is resembling the distance between the speaker and her aunt. In Faizullah’s previous draft she mentioned that her dying aunt is across to oceans, but here she writes three times ocean and not two because the third ocean shows the extra distance that was added by her aunt’s death, Henna is now farther than ever as a result of her demise.

At the end of the poem Faizullah connects the dots in the maqta by asking the readers to replace tree with a refugee, and then she concludes her poem by signing her name following the ghazal form’s rules, yet breaking some of them by using the plus signs. Tarfia’s “joy in the margins” was highlighting the forgotten case of Rohingyas’ people, whereas her lie is hiding the explicit meaning of the tree which meant refugee. Now that we reached the maqta we understand the connection between the title and the poem where Faizullah is literally starting with lice, ending with lies.

Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird was one heck of a novel. In the beginning I really didn’t like the book and with some parts I still don’t, but after all, this book was good. In this novel a lot of characters had an impact, some big and some small. The story really pertained the main characters of Scout, Jem, and Atticus. But, there were multiple people playing the background, and I would like to point out the character of Aunt Alexandra. Some might argue that Aunt Alexandra was one of the main characters since she was mentioned and talked about fairly enough. Although she was talked about, doesn’t mean that she was the main focus, so therefore relatively playing the background and being somewhat minor in this novel. Throughout this book, events in the Maycomb’s own community really changed her. I’ll show you just why.

Throughout the book, Aunt Alexandra was introduced as an uptight lady with high standards. Scout express this disgust when “Jem told me (Scout) about Atticus’s sister Aunt Alexandra…I (Scout) decided that she had been swapped at birth” (Lee 103). Scout was led to believe this because Atticus was a good man unlike Aunt Alexandra from what she thought. Scout wasn’t just disgusted with Aunt Alexandra though like I just proved, but she was mentally and emotionally hurt by her. In the finch family, Christmas was a fond tradition, but“ Aunty had continue to isolate” Scout (Lee 108). Aunt Alexandra was straight up cruel to her which no family adult figure should ever do.

Later in the book Scout, and Jem had the privilege of Aunt Alexandra living with them at their house. Atticus thought this was a good idea because he “felt that it was time you children needed your Aunt” (Lee 171). Atticus wants the very best, but Scout wasn’t really fond of the idea. But loving her dad Atticus she “Lied” and she said “I would like it very much” for Aunt Alexandra to stay (Lee 171). During her stay in Maycomb Aunt Alexandra believed “everybody in Maycomb had a streak” (Lee 172). So Aunt Alexandra wanted to make sure the finch family “streak” had a good one. So she made it her goal to change Scout from a tomboy to a young lady in her eyes.

In the last stretch of this book something happened unusual. After the Halloween play that Scout was in, they walked home in the dark. What was gonna happen? Maycomb was a safe, small community. But, someone had a grudge on Atticus, Mr.Ewell. He took that out his hate on Scout and Jem. As a result, Mr.Ewell died and jem was severely hurt. Scout was also injured. Aunt Alexandra’s soft side showed in spite in this. Even with helping Scout put on clothes after her old ones ripped she “brought me something to put on” Scout realized “Aunty brought me overalls and said put these on darling” (Lee 354). Mind you, Aunt Alexandra doesn’t approve of her dress because overalls wasn’t lady like in her opinion, but her love really showed. This made Scout feel secruce, a feeling she really didn’t feel with her Aunt.

So in the end, why does this reasoning and quotes matter? Aunt Alexanda was a strict lady like I said, but while Scout and Jem was hurt and in danger, her loved showed. Aunt Alexandra just didn’t displayed how events can change a person, but she affect everybody around her by her strictness and then her love. Anyone. Someone who was stoic and mean changed. Maycomb’s society wasn’t flawless like it seemed to be, but Maycomb overall made each other better. Aunt Alexandra was a perfect example of this success.