Post any thread of the homework assignment from May 7th that you found interesting or that you have questions about. Good luck! Help each other and be nice!
Who is Rachel? Who is Jacob? And what do you think about Rachel offering up Bilhah to Jacob? Why would Atwood, the author, preface her book with this!?
Rachel is the second wife of Jacob and one of the three Biblical Patriarchs.
Jacob is father of the twele partriarchs of Israel; Jacob fight with God and force God to bless him,so God gave Jacob the new name of Isreal(one who has bben strong against God)
Rachel wants to have children, but she can't. Bilhah is Rachel's maid and Rachel wants Bilhah to have children with Jacob for her.
In the book, the mian character Offred also is a maid, and her master can't have chlidren, which similar to Rachel. Offred is similar to Bilhah who be pregnant for her master. The author gives the major conflict to the reader.
When Jacob was wrestling with an angel, and the angel saw that he was not overpowering Jacob, the angel touched Jacob at the sinew of his thigh, leaving Jacob limp. Being limp, Jacob demanded that God bless him and from thereon, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, through many translations an involvement to 'God'.
To Wai Wing, I think that the author Margaret Atwood would include these bible verses in order to introduce the idea of using women for having children which is a significant concept throughout the novel. This concept of using women for their fertility is shown through the characters that are labeled as handmaids. In addition, this reference to the bible also would help promote the idea that using women in this way is possible within a dystopia ruled by Christianity. The author's purpose in including these bible verse is to help introduce certain ideas to the reader.
Rachel (which means "ewe" in Hebrew [one with purity]) was a prophet and was Jacob's wife and one of the three Biblical Patriarchs (Abraham;descendents to Abraham, the same Abraham who attempted to kill his son Issac out of his faith for God). Rachel was barren and could not bare Jacob any children so she ordered Jacob to sleep with her maid, Bilhah, to get the children she yearned for.
Jacob (later known as "Israel" for he is renamed by an angel) is one of the twelve patriarchs of Israel, a descendent to Abraham. Jacob was notable for his demands to God to bless himself and even wrestled an angel to do so.
Rachel is incredibly greedy for her own children that she makes Jacob sleep with her maid, Bilhah, so that Bilhah's children would be hers. This is an incredibly diabolical plot, for it makes women look like 'tools of sex' and only important for their uses to reproduce more human beings. Perhaps Atwood wishes to put this part of the Bible to illustrate that though such practices would not really occur, women with no rights are treated as so. There is a general disdain that is placed upon women and it is only lifted when they come to men's "uses" (i.e. sexual pleasure, reproducing more children,etc.).
Jacob is a Hebrew Patriarch (spiritual ancestor) Leah is the first wife of the Hebrew patriarch and mother of the six sons, later to be the twelve tribes of Israel. Rachel is Jacob's second wife and also his favorite.
The lines from the book that Atwood drew from is based on the love story of Rachel and Jacob. Jacob was running away from his brother, Esau when God tells him that he will bless Jacob. With God's blessing, Jacob decides to return to his mother's homeland, where he meets Rachel (his cousin), they believed it was love at first sigh, however in order to pay an engagement present, Jacob needs to work for Laban (Rachel's dad) for 7years. On Jacob's wedding night, Laban sends Leah (Rachel's older sister) and he gets her pregnant. Rachel is furious and insist that Jacob must give her a child too. ( This is where the lines referred in the book appear) Rachel tells Jacob to make Bilhah pregnant because under the law, what Rachel owns and what they receive is also part of her.
Was there an actual law? I thought it was just what people think in general with their property. For instance, let's say I (Rachel in this case) have a dog (Bilhah). If my dog has puppies, then those puppies belong to me. I think that's how Rachel saw it.
Being that the characters of this epigraph have already been thoroughly described, I guess there's no point in me making my own description of who they are. Instead I'd like to focus on the last question asked, which is "Why would Atwood, the author, preface her book with this!?".
I believe that there were two main reason for including that excerpt from the book of Genesis. One, on a more superficial level, was to make people begin to read with morals in mind. When someone is presented with a passage from the Bible, they begin to find the meaning behind it and reflect. What Atwood is doing here is preparing you to read the whole book with that same sort of intent, as a learning experience.
On a deeper level, Atwood may have included it to immediately present a big theme to the reader. The theme here is how power can influence people, especially those who accept that they are are on the low end of the power scale. For example, Rachel is lacking power. She sees that others believe, as Wai Wing mentioned, that her only role in life is to make babies. She is used to this idea, so much so that she believes it herself. She even says "Give me children or else I die." She knows that if she does not have children, she is basically worthless. It is because of the more powerful people who influence them that she, and presumably the characters in the book, recognize what their given role is in society, and they unfortunately accept it.
I agree with you on the reason why Atwood used this excerpt from the Genesis in the text. I also feel that Atwood is preparing the reader for the book. However, I don't think that the intent of the excerpt was the moral. I think that it was more about example from life, text, and just the world that the book can relate to. It's just used to show throughout history, handmaids were relevant but still inferior
Jacob and Rachel means love (Male) and (Woman) means love But then Bilhah (Woman) enters the love as a third party. This is connected to everyday love story.
But Rachel offers Bilhah in order to maintain her useful-ness to Jacob, since in theocracy woman are "birth/sex tools"
The author might use this to show the context, of using and savaging woman's identity and pure-ness, just like Reading Lolita in Tehran. (Today's aim, How is women idendity compromised in theocratic society "like Tehran")
Instead of all the information about Jacob and such, what about The Handmaid's Tale. ->Why are the Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth (4) called "Aunts"? Are they old? ->Who are really the angels (4)? the religious angels or commanders? "guards, specially picked from the Angels" (4) AND "The Angels stood outside it with their bacs to us" (4). -> I actually found it interesting because they are like Germans to Jews.
I think Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth are the patrol officers in the prison. "Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrolled; they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts"(4).
I also think the Aunts are called "Aunts" to show they have more power over the handmaidens. I mean, our aunts in general have more power than us but not by a lot. Atwood also wouldn't have said mothers, grandmothers, or any other because it wouldn't have been as effective. I don't know, that's the way I think about it. Hope that answered your question
Rachel was the favorite wife of Jacob. She was unable to conceive (become pregnant) with a child. In order have a child, Rachel allows Jacob to have a baby with her handmaid, Bilhah.
Jacob was the third patriarch (ancestor of Abraham), ancestor of the tribes of Israel and the husband of Rachel. Jacob was later known as Israel.
I think that Rachel offers her handmaid, Bilhah, to Jacob so she could please him and, in way, not feel ashamed. Rachel was a beautiful woman, however, she was not able to carry a child. Rachel had an older sister named Leah. Leah had given birth to four sons, while Rachel had not given birth to one. In order to not feel ashamed and please her husband because of her failures, she gives Jacob the servant, Bilhah. Bilhah is meant to be the surrogate mother for Rachel. It shows that Rachel has no self reliance, that she has to have children to please everyone, even herself.
The author, Atwood, prefaced her book with this because it’s a great transition into the book and connection to the title. Since this little anecdote involved a “handmaid”, it connects well with the title of the book and the story within the book. This text from the Genesis is like the icing on the cake, the cake being the story.
Period 4 Rachel was one of Jacob's two wives. The other was her sister Leah who gave birth to several children for Jacob. Despite being Jacob's favorite wife, Rachel was infertile and couldn't bear Jacob any children. She became jealous of Leah and decides to let her maid, Bilhah, to bear him children in her place. Then she can claim the children as her own.
Margaret Atwood may have prefaced her book with this excerpt of the Bible because it connects well with its content and how the people believed that fertility and bearing children was the main purpose for all women.
Rachel is one of Jacob’s wives. She is unable to get pregnant. This was tragic for Rachel who wanted to compete with her sister in who would have the most children. In order to bore a baby, she tells Jacob to have sex with Bilhah, her servant. Jacob is Rachel’s husband. He has sex with Rachel’s servant so Rachel can “bore” a baby. He, in total, has twelve sons and one daughter. In addition to this, he works for Laban. Jaymes, To add on to what you said, Rachel allows Jacob to be with her servant because she felt like she was in competition with her sister. She obviously wanted to win and couldn’t bear the thought that her sister who was uglier than her has more babies. I think that’s the main reason Rachel offered Bilhah so she wouldn’t seem like a failure. I also think that she offered Bilhah since Bilhah was her servant. This meant to Rachel that the children Bilhah had with her husband were her babies since Bilhah was her property. Atwood would preface this because Offred, the protagonist goes through a similar experience. Offred and any other handmaiden is only valued if they become pregnant especially when becoming pregnant. To be more specific, Offred has to get pregnant by the Commander. Atwood gives the readers more of an insight of what to expect.
Who is Rachel? Who is Jacob? And what do you think about Rachel offering up Bilhah to Jacob? Why would Atwood, the author, preface her book with this!?
ReplyDeleteMinyi Ruan
Deleteperiod 8
Rachel is the second wife of Jacob and one of the three Biblical Patriarchs.
Jacob is father of the twele partriarchs of Israel; Jacob fight with God and force God to bless him,so God gave Jacob the new name of Isreal(one who has bben strong against God)
Rachel wants to have children, but she can't. Bilhah is Rachel's maid and Rachel wants Bilhah to have children with Jacob for her.
In the book, the mian character Offred also is a maid, and her master can't have chlidren, which similar to Rachel. Offred is similar to Bilhah who be pregnant for her master. The author gives the major conflict to the reader.
But Minyi, I have a question to ask you:
DeleteWhy would Atwood wish to install in her literary piece that women are treated like 'tools?'
You said there are three Biblical Patriarchs, so how are there twelve patriarch of Israel?
How did Jacob force god to bless him?
DeleteResponding to Lok Ting's question:
DeleteWhen Jacob was wrestling with an angel, and the angel saw that he was not overpowering Jacob, the angel touched Jacob at the sinew of his thigh, leaving Jacob limp. Being limp, Jacob demanded that God bless him and from thereon, Jacob's name was changed to Israel, through many translations an involvement to 'God'.
Edson Acosta
DeletePeriod 4
To Wai Wing, I think that the author Margaret Atwood would include these bible verses in order to introduce the idea of using women for having children which is a significant concept throughout the novel. This concept of using women for their fertility is shown through the characters that are labeled as handmaids. In addition, this reference to the bible also would help promote the idea that using women in this way is possible within a dystopia ruled by Christianity. The author's purpose in including these bible verse is to help introduce certain ideas to the reader.
Wai Wing Lau
ReplyDeletePeriod 8: Honors Humanities
Rachel (which means "ewe" in Hebrew [one with purity]) was a prophet and was Jacob's wife and one of the three Biblical Patriarchs (Abraham;descendents to Abraham, the same Abraham who attempted to kill his son Issac out of his faith for God). Rachel was barren and could not bare Jacob any children so she ordered Jacob to sleep with her maid, Bilhah, to get the children she yearned for.
Jacob (later known as "Israel" for he is renamed by an angel) is one of the twelve patriarchs of Israel, a descendent to Abraham. Jacob was notable for his demands to God to bless himself and even wrestled an angel to do so.
Rachel is incredibly greedy for her own children that she makes Jacob sleep with her maid, Bilhah, so that Bilhah's children would be hers. This is an incredibly diabolical plot, for it makes women look like 'tools of sex' and only important for their uses to reproduce more human beings. Perhaps Atwood wishes to put this part of the Bible to illustrate that though such practices would not really occur, women with no rights are treated as so. There is a general disdain that is placed upon women and it is only lifted when they come to men's "uses" (i.e. sexual pleasure, reproducing more children,etc.).
What's diabolical?
DeleteLok Ting Hon
ReplyDeletePeriod 4
Jacob is a Hebrew Patriarch (spiritual ancestor)
Leah is the first wife of the Hebrew patriarch and mother of the six sons, later to be the twelve tribes of Israel.
Rachel is Jacob's second wife and also his favorite.
The lines from the book that Atwood drew from is based on the love story of Rachel and Jacob. Jacob was running away from his brother, Esau when God tells him that he will bless Jacob. With God's blessing, Jacob decides to return to his mother's homeland, where he meets Rachel (his cousin), they believed it was love at first sigh, however in order to pay an engagement present, Jacob needs to work for Laban (Rachel's dad) for 7years. On Jacob's wedding night, Laban sends Leah (Rachel's older sister) and he gets her pregnant. Rachel is furious and insist that Jacob must give her a child too. ( This is where the lines referred in the book appear) Rachel tells Jacob to make Bilhah pregnant because under the law, what Rachel owns and what they receive is also part of her.
Which book are you mentioning?
DeleteTo answer your question, Simon, she's referring to the novel The Handmaid's Tale.
DeleteLok Ting, what was the law that allowed Rachel to own the child after Bilhah gave birth?
Was there an actual law? I thought it was just what people think in general with their property. For instance, let's say I (Rachel in this case) have a dog (Bilhah). If my dog has puppies, then those puppies belong to me. I think that's how Rachel saw it.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBeing that the characters of this epigraph have already been thoroughly described, I guess there's no point in me making my own description of who they are. Instead I'd like to focus on the last question asked, which is "Why would Atwood, the author, preface her book with this!?".
ReplyDeleteI believe that there were two main reason for including that excerpt from the book of Genesis. One, on a more superficial level, was to make people begin to read with morals in mind. When someone is presented with a passage from the Bible, they begin to find the meaning behind it and reflect. What Atwood is doing here is preparing you to read the whole book with that same sort of intent, as a learning experience.
On a deeper level, Atwood may have included it to immediately present a big theme to the reader. The theme here is how power can influence people, especially those who accept that they are are on the low end of the power scale. For example, Rachel is lacking power. She sees that others believe, as Wai Wing mentioned, that her only role in life is to make babies. She is used to this idea, so much so that she believes it herself. She even says "Give me children or else I die." She knows that if she does not have children, she is basically worthless. It is because of the more powerful people who influence them that she, and presumably the characters in the book, recognize what their given role is in society, and they unfortunately accept it.
I agree with you on the reason why Atwood used this excerpt from the Genesis in the text. I also feel that Atwood is preparing the reader for the book. However, I don't think that the intent of the excerpt was the moral. I think that it was more about example from life, text, and just the world that the book can relate to. It's just used to show throughout history, handmaids were relevant but still inferior
DeleteSimon Cheng Period 8
ReplyDeleteJacob and Rachel means love
(Male) and (Woman) means love
But then Bilhah (Woman) enters the love as a third party.
This is connected to everyday love story.
But Rachel offers Bilhah in order to maintain her useful-ness to Jacob, since in theocracy woman are "birth/sex tools"
The author might use this to show the context, of using and savaging woman's identity and pure-ness, just like Reading Lolita in Tehran. (Today's aim, How is women idendity compromised in theocratic society "like Tehran")
Instead of all the information about Jacob and such,
ReplyDeletewhat about The Handmaid's Tale.
->Why are the Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth (4) called "Aunts"? Are they old?
->Who are really the angels (4)? the religious angels or commanders? "guards, specially picked from the Angels" (4)
AND "The Angels stood outside it with their bacs to us" (4).
-> I actually found it interesting because they are like Germans to Jews.
I think Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth are the patrol officers in the prison. "Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrolled; they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts"(4).
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI also think the Aunts are called "Aunts" to show they have more power over the handmaidens. I mean, our aunts in general have more power than us but not by a lot. Atwood also wouldn't have said mothers, grandmothers, or any other because it wouldn't have been as effective. I don't know, that's the way I think about it. Hope that answered your question
DeleteRachel was the favorite wife of Jacob. She was unable to conceive (become pregnant) with a child. In order have a child, Rachel allows Jacob to have a baby with her handmaid, Bilhah.
ReplyDeleteJacob was the third patriarch (ancestor of Abraham), ancestor of the tribes of Israel and the husband of Rachel. Jacob was later known as Israel.
I think that Rachel offers her handmaid, Bilhah, to Jacob so she could please him and, in way, not feel ashamed. Rachel was a beautiful woman, however, she was not able to carry a child. Rachel had an older sister named Leah. Leah had given birth to four sons, while Rachel had not given birth to one. In order to not feel ashamed and please her husband because of her failures, she gives Jacob the servant, Bilhah. Bilhah is meant to be the surrogate mother for Rachel. It shows that Rachel has no self reliance, that she has to have children to please everyone, even herself.
The author, Atwood, prefaced her book with this because it’s a great transition into the book and connection to the title. Since this little anecdote involved a “handmaid”, it connects well with the title of the book and the story within the book. This text from the Genesis is like the icing on the cake, the cake being the story.
Period 4
ReplyDeleteRachel was one of Jacob's two wives. The other was her sister Leah who gave birth to several children for Jacob. Despite being Jacob's favorite wife, Rachel was infertile and couldn't bear Jacob any children. She became jealous of Leah and decides to let her maid, Bilhah, to bear him children in her place. Then she can claim the children as her own.
Margaret Atwood may have prefaced her book with this excerpt of the Bible because it connects well with its content and how the people believed that fertility and bearing children was the main purpose for all women.
Rachel is one of Jacob’s wives. She is unable to get pregnant. This was tragic for Rachel who wanted to compete with her sister in who would have the most children. In order to bore a baby, she tells Jacob to have sex with Bilhah, her servant.
ReplyDeleteJacob is Rachel’s husband. He has sex with Rachel’s servant so Rachel can “bore” a baby. He, in total, has twelve sons and one daughter. In addition to this, he works for Laban.
Jaymes,
To add on to what you said, Rachel allows Jacob to be with her servant because she felt like she was in competition with her sister. She obviously wanted to win and couldn’t bear the thought that her sister who was uglier than her has more babies. I think that’s the main reason Rachel offered Bilhah so she wouldn’t seem like a failure. I also think that she offered Bilhah since Bilhah was her servant. This meant to Rachel that the children Bilhah had with her husband were her babies since Bilhah was her property.
Atwood would preface this because Offred, the protagonist goes through a similar experience. Offred and any other handmaiden is only valued if they become pregnant especially when becoming pregnant. To be more specific, Offred has to get pregnant by the Commander. Atwood gives the readers more of an insight of what to expect.
Oh I forgot to cite! My bad, I got the last part from the blurb.
Delete