Wilson Vuong Ms. Reinheimer IB English Language A for Juniors, Period 6 25 October 2012 Word Count: 900 Props!-Aganda An Analysis of Biblical Distortion in Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale Imagine a world where freedom only exists as the freedom from, a choice for no choice, a place where one is labeled simply by their gender and reproductive organs, nothing more. This is the world of Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, embodied by the country of Gilead, a theocratic-conservative totalitarian government who controls their citizens through propaganda and threats. In order to amplify the intent of her novel, Margaret Atwood uses biblical allusions to authenticate Gilead’s heavily conservative society. She imposes the story of human rights into the novel to show a contrast between our current secular society and a Moral Majority-approved Judeo-Christian society to bring a negative light to conservative ideals of her time. Throughout the novel, biblical allusions can be seen in the name of the stores and in the “Ceremony” and are utilized as both subliminal propaganda and justification for the infringement of human rights.
“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely,” said by John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton describes exactly what happened in George Orwell's world of Nineteen Eighty-Four. In today's modern society one can see some of the characteristics of Orwell's dystopia. These characteristics suggest that while many saw novels like Nineteen Eighty-Four as, "attractive to the primarily fringe thinkers" (Science) they are still relative to this day. In essence Orwell gave signs through his novel so that people of the world can avoid destruction brought on by their own government like that of Hitler and Stalin. Gwyneth Roberts says in her article about Nineteen Eighty-Four that, “Some of Orwell’s Newspeak vocabulary (Newspeak itself, Big Brother, doublethink) has entered the English language; certainly his vision of a drab totalitarian future has entered the general consciousness, although it is difficult to know whether his warning [have] been fully understood” (Roberts).
“This book was highly critical of the Evangelical church in America for abandoning its historical and theological roots, and instead embracing the philosophies and pragmatism of the world.” In his 1994 book, God in the Wasteland: The Reality of Truth in a World of Fading Dreams, Dr. David Falconer Wells presents suggestions to remedy the present problem of modernism in our churches by calling for reform in the evangelical churches. He is the author of several books in which his evangelical theology engages with the modern church and world, and presents the present failings of pastors and churches that pursue a modernistic approach to theology. This is the second of a four-series book. BRIEF SUMMARY In God in the Waste, Dr. Wells presents solutions, or suggestions to resolve the issues described in his book, No Place for Truth, Or, Whatever Happened to Evangelical Theology (Eerdmans, 1993). Wells states; “This book [No Place for Truth] produced only half the picture I wanted to present, however.
Loss of freedom in Nineteen Eighty-Four The literary piece Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell is truly a complex and intricate story about the pursuit and deprivation of freedom. The novel is not a reflection of the author’s lifestyle, but of a potential society overcome with corruption. Orwell predicts that the futuristic society would spread hate and terror amongst its people and freedom would no longer be existent. He conveys these thoughts by revealing the implications of several strategic and efficiently crafted scenarios that leave the citizens of Oceania with no liberty of their own. Orwell warns the modern era of an impending government control that will suffocate society’s freedom through a defined class system, perpetual warfare and a society with suppressed thoughts and emotions.
Hawthorne wrote The Scarlet Letter to send a message about the hypocrisy of the church to the people of his time. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne portrays the Puritans as prude and hypocritical. Because this writing is an allegory, the characters tell us universal truths about mankind through what happens in the story. Therefore, when the reader is shown the different effects of exposed sin(Hester Prynne), partially exposed sin(Reverend Dimmesdale), and completely hidden sin(Roger Chillingworth), he/she can draw conclusions about how different types of sin affect mankind in general. In The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne demonstrates through Reverend Dimmesdale how not repenting for sin can affect a man's soul, which changes the ways that he relates to himself, to others, and to God.
The War of Things That Make Worlds Fall Apart In H.G. Wells’ novel “War of the Worlds” and Chinua Achebe’s novel “Things Fall Apart”, the stories each have comparable and contrastable themes that although occur in different settings all relate back to the major theme of religion. Some multiple themes that are seen in both novels are the themes of human ignorance and how it relates to religion, power through religion, racism caused by religion, and death from religion. In “War of the Worlds” it is suggested religion will fail us and in “Things Fall Apart” the theme of religion is a positive one at first but turns into one of religion yet again failing us. In “War of the Worlds” the theme of religion can be viewed of one where religion fails or it can be viewed as one where religion redeems itself because of the way the narrator falls back to his religion.
In the novel, Hawthorne reveals the true actions of society, which became to be an everlasting theme of the world. Ever since Hawthorne wrote his novel, hypocrisy continues to be present in today’s society. The Puritan society was thought of to be based on religious aspects from the bible, which advocates forgiveness. Yet, the Puritans force Hester Prynne to wear a Scarlet Letter “A” for her committed sin. Nathaniel Hawthorne makes his view on hypocrisy clear when he states: “No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true.” Hawthorne makes it clear that man have two views: one that he truly believes, and one that he shows to the rest of the world.
Throughout The Second Coming Yeats refers to the myth of the reappearance of Christ as prophesised in the Book of Revelation. Desperation and fear can be seen from the line, “Surely the Second Coming is at hand” as the poet suggests that only the return of Christ can save the world from self-destruction. However, whilst the word “surely” can be seen as a positive sign of reassurance, one could also suggest that it is used to mock religion. The word “surely” can be seen as a form of sarcasm, inferring that that there must be no God if he allowed innocent people to die as a result of World War One. Therefore, this suggests society has lost confidence and belief in religion.
One would tell you that religion provides the foundation of morality. However, political decisions void of moral and ethical beliefs (provided by religion) can be dangerous. On the flip side, political judgment entirely based on religious practices can be just as dangerous, if not more. Based on a true story, the French-Iranian journalist, Freidoune Sahebjam, illustrates the negative impact religion can have over politics through the film, The Stoning of Soraya M. The story of Soraya takes place in the year of 1986 in Iran where Soraya is stoned to death upon the accusation of adultery. As a journalist drives through Soraya’s primitive Iranian village, he is approached by Soraya’s aunt.
Although they have unlike methods, both Hedges and Dawkins aim to scoff at advocates of religion by focusing on what their beliefs entail and then attempt to discredit them with their own beliefs. American Fascists and The God Delusion both discredit religion and believers but in their own ways. American Fascist primarily focuses on the modern movement used by Christians known as pseudoscience. Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but lacks supporting evidence and does not stand by a legitimate scientific method. “The movement’s leaders dress up this ideology as scientific to discredit real science.”(Hedges 5) Hedges argument against pseudoscience is that it was only created to reassure believers that evolution is not only a myth but also there is a one-hundred percent probability that it never happened backed by what they consider scientific fact.