Source Evaluation

Alpers, Benjamin Leontief. Dictators, democracy, and American public culture [electronic resource] : envisioning the totalitarian enemy, 1920s-1950s. Retrieved from http://catalog.yln.info/uhtbin/cgisirsi/DSNBnL7GvK/YLN/123570010/123.

The author of this book, Benjamin Alpers, dicusses Americans' understanding of dictatorships from the 1920s throughout the Cold War. Particularly for my essay topic, he discusses totalitarianism and how it became an image against which a view of tolerance developed. He then goes on to talk about how totalitarianism became the foundation for the start of the Cold War and how many dictators throughout history used this form of government to lead their country. I am going to use this source in my paper to describe how totalitarianism has affected our country and how we may be headed for a totalitarian government in the future.

d'Entreves, Maurizio Passerin, "Hannah Arendt", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Fall 2008 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL = http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/fall2008/entries/arendt/.

This source would be useful in my paper because it is about Hannah Arendt, a well-known philosopher who lived during in Germany during Nazi Germany, and was forced to leave in 1933. In her book, Origins of Totalitarianism, she talks about her results of a major study of the Nazi and Stalinist regime, and how it affected the world thereafter, and even today. The website goes on to talk about her other famous work, and how her approach on totalitarianism changed the way that communities viewed this government. I think this is a credible source for my paper because this site makes sure that each entry is up to date and that it comes from a group of experts in a specific field.

Topic Proposal for Essay #3

I thouroughly enjoyed reading Margaret Atwood's novel, but one lingering thought or question I had was, "Why were only the women in Gilead oppressed by the Gilead government? Why were they singled out and the men had free reign?". When I asked myself this question, I thought of Nazi Germany in the 1930's and 40's and how they would single out certain groups of people as well, whether they were blacks, Jews, or homosexuals. But if someone was white, they didn't have to follow any strict rules and they had more freedom?

Therefore, the topic I am choosing for essay #3 is how closely the techniques used by the Nazi Germany government to control their people compare to the methods and techniques that were used by the Gilead government to control the women. I have always been intrigued by the history of Nazi Germany's totalitarian government and I think that the Gilead used alot of the same techniques for their government as well.

I chose researching the Nazi Germany because they ran a totalitarian government to control their people just like Gilead did and I am interested to see what methods are similar between the two that helped them to gain more control . I believe that this will definitely help me to better understand Atwood's novel because it will help to answer my question as to why the Gilead were so harsh on these women, what they thought they would gain from it, and why they oppressed these women the way they did.

Nazi-Germany 1939

Thesis Statements/Atwood Thesis

Identifying the Weak Thesis

1.) A)I'm going to write about Darwin's concerns with evolution in The Origin of the Species-This is the weak thesis because it doesn't give an argument, or doesn't choose a side about evolution. It also has no claim.

2.) A)An important part of one's college education is learning to better understand others' points of view-This is the weak thesis because it doesn't give any room for argument and it's not very complex, and very broad.

3.) B) The jeans industry targets its advertisements to appeal to young adults-This is the weak thesis because it doesn't make a true claim and doesn't have any evidence to support why the industry targets only young adults.

4.) A) Othello is a play about love and jealousy-This is the weak thesis because it just states a fact, and doesn't leave any room for argument.

5.) A) The songs of the punk rock group Minor Threat relate to the feelings of individuals who dare to be different. Their songs are just composed of pure emotion. Pure emotion is very important in music, because it serves as a vehicle to convey the important message of individuality. Minor Threat's songs are meaningful to me because I can identify with them-This is the weak thesis because it is hard to determine what the thesis statement really is and it begins to become too long. There are also too many opinions going on in this paragraph, and not an argumentable statement.

Question: Why do all the shops in Gilead have pictures instead of written signs?

Answer: All the shops in Gilead have pictures instead of written signs because the women are not allowed to read. By not allowing the women to read, the Gilead feel that they have more power over the womens' bodies and can better control them.

HANDMAID THESIS

The people of Gilead strips womens' individuality by treating them as nothing more than just women who are only there to reproduce for the Commanders.

I believe that my thesis is strong because it is arguable, and it can be backed up by evidence in the book as to why and how these womens' individual rights are taken away and for what reasons. It also states my point of view in a clear manner.