Here we are at the end of this book; anyone want to have a book burning ceremony? I was glad to see that endless assault on men had finally died down in the last couple of chapters, well except for chapter 15, but we’ll get to that in due time. Although, of course, Piercy has to insult the reader in some way, so it seems that her efforts were completely redirected to explaining the symbolism rather than man-bashing, thus suggesting we are too stupid to analyze the book.

As we are all aware there is a war going on in the background of the book that reader never gets much information about. Well, the reader is finally dropped onto the front lines of the war that is being fought in Luciente’s time. I was actually enjoying this chapter a bit, as the reader is shown Connie being dropped into battle the moment she’s going into surgery in her time. When this happened I finally saw a clear connection and message: Connie’s mind is depicted as a utopia, because it is not only the sole thing that she still has control over, but it is the only place in which she can be herself, and the small conflicts introduced were leading up to her ultimate fight for her free will. This is good stuff, even though it makes no sense that the war had not escalated to the point it has on chapter 17 when she was first operated on. I guess the death of Jackrabbit is meant to show how the first operation made her lose only a part of herself, but was overall still intact. Just having the reader constantly jump back and forth through timelines when the surgery/operation was happening was a great way to provide the reader with great imagery and make the reason for it obvious. Piercy, however, assumes that the reader is not intelligent enough to realize it. “She caught a clear glimpse of the enemy through the bubble glass: the thick glasses, aquiline nose, he satisfied twinkly blue gaze of Dr.Redding as briskly, efficiently, he shot off the jizer” (330), really? REALLY!?!? Piercy, you had gotten something right, and you completely undermined it by underestimating your reader. At this point I personally felt like her anti-men mind predicted that we would read this in an all male sci-fi class, and this her way of insulting all of us. It’s even more insulting considering that this “professional” writer couldn’t even get the last sentence of her book right: ” I am not sorry, she thought, her HEARD pounding terribly, and she sat on her bed, waiting (371).” Guys, if that was intentional and just part of some future speak that I don’t remember, please tell me. Additionally, by the end of chapter 17 Connie directly says she is at war (332), and SHE NEVER STOPS REMINDING THE READER THROUGH OUT THE REST OF THE BOOK.

Lets get back to the crazy feminism guys. At least the guy with the porn magazine in the previous part of the reading had something to analyze, but everything in chapter 15 is just a endless barrage of hatred. Where to start off? Well apparently women are like phones: you can just take sign a contract and lock them into being with you for a fixed amount of time (284). Gildina’s husband/society dictate that women should be locked into theirs homes 24/7 and have absolutely no friends (285). “… a bunch of men dressed in roman tunics began chasing a lot of women around and pulling their clothes off (288).” Yes, Piercy, you believe, that women are solely sexual objects to men, I GET IT! I mean as a man I can officially confirm this is a typical night for any man. Everyday all over the world we men get together and chase women around and rip their dresses off. Gildina has to get all dolled up to get her husband to take her out: it takes about two hours for Gildina to be proper for “display” (291). As a man I can also confirm that this is true. We men will not take a women outside of a house unless she is properly set up for “display”, in fact, this a law in our society, if women are not properly dressed for display they are sentenced to be stoned. Finally, as if being confined to their homes 24/7 was not enough, women are always monitored, because that’s what we men do: we lock women in homes and set up cameras. In case you didn’t get it, that was all sarcasm. I shouldn’t have to say that, but I feel like some people will actually take it the wrong way. It seems that in this class everyone avoids this obvious male hatred and it has been implied that some might see my posts as misogynistic or negative. You do realize that pointing out Piercy’s sexism does not make you a misogynist right? In fact, you are lesser for it. If you truly want to live in an equal society you would point out blind hatred towards both males and females, a concept that seems to be lost on people. Reverse-sexism much? Oh well, I guess I’m misogynist, derpy derp.

Moving on, the use of this third future in which Gildina lives brings up a some good points. Gildina’s symbolizes Connie’s beliefs: this future is a representation of what she believes will happen if she loses her war. She would end up in complete isolation and subjugation. Although reading through all the male hatred was annoying I do believe the use of this other future was well done.

The book ends with some brutal stuff, DON’T DRINK THE PUNCH! Very cult like.It was, however, bland an pointless. Yes for the war, yes Connie felt she had no other choice, yes she though this was the solution, so? The clinical report, however, adds a deeper layer to the book.The information presented in the report is very definitive, and it make the reader believe the other side of the story is the true one; however throughout the book we see that Connie is ignored completely and her recollection of things are different. If a reader reads the clinical report, and agrees with it they would be falling into the role that Piercy wants them to: to see things with no real perspective just observations that might be lacking the complete story. This is how Connie ended up in the ward to begin with, didn’t she hurt Geraldo out of fear? Yet this is something the report omits, a report passed down by doctors, doctors who never listened to her, but rather blindly diagnosed her. Piercy’s use of the future in the book is intended to make us see Connie as purely crazy so we can fall into the stereotypical roles that government officials play. Who doesn’t find comfort in their own psyche when no else will listen to them, when you are just a name in a system, or just another face in a crowd? Is she truly crazy or were we played into not only believing, but being absolutely convinced that she is crazy?