Let me start by saying that these last four chapters really stood out to me, now that does not mean that I anatomically like the book, but that i just really enjoyed the story in these chapters. Maybe its because there was more talk about what is going on in the mental hospital and that it ma connect to the future with Luciente.

An overall theme i am seeing here is that there is a connection to science and the the doctors work at the hospital. In our last class Professor Belli asked us how do other people in the story look at Connie and i automatically thought of the doctors. I thought of how they look at Connie and the other patients as nothing more then a project or an experiment. ” We already have your brothers signature on the permission form.” Acker told her. “But we want your permission too. We want you to understand how we are going to help you.” (pg 209) This is where we first see the doctors are trying to get Connie to agree to the procedure that was done on Alice. I feel like this really shows how the doctors really feel that even if Connie said no they still had the OK to operate and that they were going to. “And a chance to get my brains scrambled like Alice”, ” In two months Alice will be home Connie, If you leave us you think you will be home in  two months?”(pg 209) This back and forth with Connie and Acker made me feel that the doctors may actually know what they are doing and that they might be able to help Connie, but i still have that feeling of an experiment because this surgery is brand new and it is still being tested. “Motherf***ker, you let me up! I ain’t no guinea pig!” (pg 195)This shows how wrong this is because they are treating these sick patients like nothing more then lab rats.

“lots of talent in your field are working to retrain sexual inversion with electroshock keyed to slides and films” Redding was saying to Acker.  ” but the recidivism rate isn’t promising. if we could cure inversion surgically, we’d open up a whole new area” (pg 258) While i was reading this i felt like this really showed the doctors true colors and that it really shows how they look at patients, they almost see them as a less then an a experiment but more like a disease or a sickness on our society and that they had to be cure in some way to be normal. It also felt like the doctors wanted to do this to be remembered as people who changed the world in some way or made it a better place for the future society’s. I feel like in some way they were playing god as they were taking what was wrong and redesigning it in a better image.  Later on in the story we see what is happening to Skip and Connie says ” He moved differently: Clumsily. It was as if he had finally agreed to imitate the doctor’s course, clumsy masculinity for a time, but it was mastery with them and humility with him. He moved like a robot not expertly welded.” This description of Skip is a perfect example of how they tested on a lab rat and they are getting the results they wanted, however it also reminded me of people in the future for some reason and how they are are so perfect and on task its almost like this experiment was eventually mastered to make society in there definition of better. It also in my mind somewhat explains why scientist are so important in the future society.

We learn that Skip had been doing so good that they let him go home to his parents for a weekend to see how he did in real society. “Sunday morning early, Skip had slit his throat with an electric knife in the kitchen of his parents home.” When i read this i thought immediately about the doctors reaction to the news and that they would not feel anything but disappointment that one of there experiments had failed. Instead of feeling responsible for the death of a patient they would feel anger for not finding the cure for the problems of the society in the patients. That Skip was nothing more to them now then just a failed experiment.

These four chapters made me realize that a lot of this book is based on science. I guess it was harder to realize since the previous chapters did not interest me that much, but science is a very important overall theme is this book and it all connects with the doctors trying fix people all the way to 2137 where people are all united as one and scientist play a big role in society. So maybe just maybe Connie isn’t crazy and the future she visits really exists.

chp 5- 9

These four chapter was like the the institution chapter where we learned that some sort of experiment was going on in this place and Connie was chosen over Sybil who’s a friend that she met before and now they re meet again, while Connie is on drugs Sybil is dealing with some sort of shock treatment. Connie seems to be afraid and reaches out to Luciente where later ends up in her time in the moment of a ritual. We met Bee who’s some sort of co-mother of Innocente (innocent in Spanish) when once again Piercy uses Spanish to make a pretty strange message by naming a character innocent in a time of a ritual where she sent to the wild to survive and received a new named? which at this point I was as confused as Connie was.

Then we return to the institution where Connie ends up in other test this time joined by Sybil and Skips. She then calls for Luciente again to take her, this time they go visit the “gov’t” and then to deathbed of Sappho who just asked to be taken to where she can hear the river. So at this point it seems like Connie just calls Luciente where every she feels down or just wants to escaped her current situation and normally Luciente bring her into a situation where perhaps there some sort of lesson to be learned like Innocente ritual of survival and Sappho deathbed? who know’s?

chp 10-14

in the beginning of these few chapters we learned that Connie, Skip, Sybil and the others are moved to their new ward where they learn about the electrical nodules, once again afraid and desperate Connie reaches out for Luciente where this time they have a conversation about coffee and how coffee plays a role in the present time which was kinda of odd who knew coffee would be consider a ritualized making it “a certain crux in history … forces are in conflict. Technology is imbalanced … alternate futures are equally or almost equally probable … and that affects … the shape of time.” then she is told to continue fighting for freedom and enlightenment this is starting to sound like a DC comic kind of situation where she (connie) can go to the future and change the past. interesting quest so far, we start with a ghetto situation then we go to a institution where some weird experiments are going on that involve Connie, Sybil and other like Skip etc. and in between we visit Luciente and learn some interesting stuff about the future and past and some back story on Connie huh seems to be getting better.

My previous posts have been focused on giving examples as to why this future world is a creation of Connie’s mind. I still feel that this is a possibility, but there are some circumstances that just seem too complicated to be created for her mind to make up. However, the first few chapters of this reading help to keep the reader believing that this is all made up.

As Connie dozes in bed, “Groggy on drugs,” (Piercy 186) she calls out to Luciente. We see that the more she goes to this world, the easier it becomes for her. Like anything, the more someone practices, the easier the job becomes, even if that job is escaping to a world of her own creation. In response to her telling the group that they exist (Piercy 189), Luciente tells her with a smile, and sad eyes, “Maybe, Maybe not.” and “It’s not clear. We’re still struggling to exist.” Could this be her mind telling her that they exist solely because of her? A few lines later, Bee tells her that “We must fight to come to exist, to remain in existence, to be the future that happens. That’s why we reached you.” (Piercy 190) Now i might be taking this out of context, but from what we’ve read so far, to me, this just adds to the evidence that this isn’t real!

At the meeting in the future we meet Parra, a female who is very similar to Connie… except she isn’t crazy! Like everyone else in this world, she bears a striking resemblance to someone. To me, she comes off as a version of Connie that might have been if she made better life choices. As they talk to each other, particularly about punishment for crimes, she tells Connie that it is up to the person who committed the the crime to choose their punishment. Is this Connie’s subconsciousness telling her that everything that she has done is okay.

In Chapter 12, something very interesting happens to Connie. (Piercy 245) She a dream where she become a mother, along with Sojourner, and Jackrabbit. She is woken by Luciente to find out that it was a dream. Even while on the run, her mind (dreams) somehow goes back to this future world. At this point, i start to question if maybe this future could be a real thing. I don’t see how Connie could come up with all of the survival skills that Luciente teaches her, having spent most of her life in cities.

Connie is told about “The Enemy.” In this section we see some things that we normally think of when we think about science fiction. The Enemy are the remaining rich people in this future, and they are made up of “androids, robots, cybernauts, partially automated humans.” (Piercy 261) The procedure that Connie is being subjected to would actually make her just like one of these creatures. I wonder if the doctors performing the surgery are the basis for the creation of the enemy in her mind? Its scary to think what can become of Connie after seeing that Skip cuts his own throat. (Piercy 280)