The conclusion of the book is a little anti-climactic in my perspective. The lack of definitive resolution to Connie’s situation, and her uncertain effect on shaping the present and future is both frustrating and intriguing at the same time. Frustrating in that there isn’t concrete evidence to support that Connie’s actions had any bearing on the future. Intriguing in that the ambiguity allows the reader to image many different possible scenarios. I am aware that the end of chapter (Piercy, 376), Connie ends up back in Rockover. However that isn’t all there is to say on the subject.

That chapter 20 gives the perspective of various specialists, does not denote it as the ultimate truth. Rather, simply gives the reader the opposing viewpoint of this novel; how the doctors and specialists view Connie. When she is diagnosed as schizophrenic (374), that might just be the label they give Connie’s ability to time travel. It is my belief that this novel presents both Connie’s perspective and the perspective of the ‘specialist’ or the ‘status-quo’ to allow the reader to decide for themselves which to subscribe.

Thinking on perspective, I’m reminded of a famous story by the ancient Taoist Zhuangzi.

“Once upon a time, Zhuang Zhou dreamed he was a butterfly, a butterfly flitting about happily enjoying himself. He did not know that he was Zhou. Suddenly he awoke, and was palpably Zhou. He did not know whether he was Zhou, who had dreamed of being a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming that he was Zhou. Now, there must be a difference between Zhou and the butterfly. This is called the transformation of things.”

Disregarding the ideas of transformation (a lot to say on that by itself), the idea that reality is in one’s perception is key here. In regards to Connie, she was not insane, but a psychic time traveler. Which is proven somewhat in that Connie is able to learn skills she had no prior knowledge of, such as breath control(221) and foraging for food in the forest(235). To the doctors, Connie was a schizophrenic with a history of drug abuse and violence. I enjoyed how it isn’t really possible to say which is truth.

In regards to whether or not Mattapoisett actually exists, I believe it is important, depending on what aspect of the narrative you are focusing on. If you are a reader who focuses on Connie’s journey through her ordeal, then “Mattapoisett” could have taken the form of anything really. From aliens civilizations to robotic enclaves, Connie could have some how been involved with any kind of plot device so long as it fulfilled the role of “Mattapoisett”. However for me I enjoyed most when Connie was in Mattapoisett 2137, since I am fascinated with the society and way of life of that future. So for me it was very important that Mattapoisett exist, which is why I’ve tried to find empirical evidence that it does in the text. This is also the reason why the author’s presentation of the future was not boring for me, as it was for many others in the class. I actually wanted to know more details.

My main gripe of the narrative is that it is not explained why Connie lost her “ability” to travel into the future. The narrative only hints that it may be due to the implant in her brain (320). If we consider her “ability” as actually being a sickness, then her loss of that “ability” would be considered a good thing. It can’t be known however, who considers such a loss a “good thing”. More food for thought.

I have to say I enjoyed the book. The ride was enjoyable but the destination was akin to ‘that feeling you get when someone gives you a gift you really don’t want’. I was secretly hoping Connie might stay in the future, but knew that since this was a book with a “message” or “agenda”, so to speak, that such an outcome was pretty much non-existent.

Zhuang, Zhou, and Burton Watson. Chuang-tzu: Basic Writings. New York: Columbia university press, 1964. Print.

“Chuang-tzu“. In Nienhauser, William, ed. The Indiana Companion to Traditional Chinese Literature, Volume 2. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. pp. 20–26.

So I began the story feeling sorry for Connie as her life was picked away by everyone around her including the doctors, her brother, and ward but now I think she really does need help. The scene where she pours the poison into the coffee in chapter nineteen pretty much  turned her into a villain in my eyes cause now she has the lives of 4 doctors on her hand. To begin with she started all of this by laying her hands on her daughter due to alcohol and anger and then even though justified attacked her nieces pimp. The doctors (although soulless and not very reassuring) were trying to do an operation that was meant to get her out of the mental institute within a month. Something about the way that the doctors talked to Connie pissed me off its as if they were disregarding what she said and rebutting “first we do what we want to you, then you can do what you want to do.” Although the act  of poisoning them was very out of order cause now there dead and someone is a witness to you touching the coffee machine.

Her final vision with Luciente i felt had almost to meaning to the ending beside them saying “Hey its something like Christmas time and our lives are going just swimmingly”. So somewhere along the line the message that she got by the end was that her daughter Angelina is fine and in a better place. I did enjoy how Connie’s hardening into a more unreceptive woman. “She had annealed her mind and she was not a receptive woman. She had hardened.” Although claiming the the poisoning of the doctors was an act of war for the (possibly imaginary) people of Mattapoisett does demonstrate insanity and violent tensions on her behalf.

I feel that this whole ending was on the fault of both parties. In a place where her voices had no meaning and the doctors treated her like a claptrap of course it could drive a person to doing things that that they shouldn’t. On Connie’s part although the people around her were inhuman with their approach to help her she too some degree should have realized that to some degree she brought this all on herself and her decisions all have a consequence. If one can not deal with the consequence the they should not commit the crime and especially if they are hearing voices in there head… a very “fictional’ aspect for this book.

And so it ends, with Connie returning to Rockover State Psychiatric Hospital, probably for life. It’s not clear whether she managed to poison the doctors after all, although her report states that she did not have the final operation, the amygdalotomy, because of “the incident”…

At the end of the story it is never made clear whether Luciente and the future society was real or all just in her head, and I’m glad of that because to me the story makes a lot more sense if it was real. The characters in the future that remind her of her loved ones are just a coincidence, after all, when a person really misses someone it is not difficult to find objects, situations or people that remind you of those you miss.

Picking up from where we left off in the story, Connie manages to end up “in enemy camp”. We get a glimpse of what life is like in the parts of the world where instead of becoming one with nature, people continued to depend on technology more and more, where women such as Gilinda are heavily operated, always on drugs, and are basically just kept alive for pleasure. There is a sort of caste-system in place, where only “richies” live past 40’s (284), have access to medical care, and live above the level of the polluted atmosphere. We also learn that some individuals here, such as the security corps, have mind control implants that allow them to manipulate their mental states (292). The security officer is unable to sense fear in Connie, sensing instead that there is something blocking it, which could be the implant doctors had put inside of her at the time. We’ll come back to this in a second.

Back in her own time, at the hospital, we get a whole bunch of pointless gossip about the doctors’ lives and right after we get a whole chapter dedicated to Jackrabbit’s funeral. After all the time she spent on the “other side”, being unconscious in the present, the doctors think it’s best to remove the implant from her. Shortly after she goes back to the future, where she finds herself in the middle of battle with Luciente, Bee and Hawk. She seems to be going back and froth between future and present; she is literally on the edge of time (!). In the climax of battle she sees the doctors’ faces in the enemy ships, and it is then that she realizes that she is also fighting her own war in her time. This is a turning point for her, as her resolution to not be used becomes strengthened. She manages to get hold of a powerful toxic insecticide while staying with her brother “Lewis” and his family over Thanksgiving, and eventually slips it into the doctors’ coffee, presumably killing them and freeing herself as a guinea pig.

It is worth mentioning the connection between Connie’s implant and the implant the guard in the enemy territory claims to possess. From the way I understand the story, this is the future that would take place if the doctors’ experiment had been successful. People would start getting implants in order to be controlled as time went on. At first it would be mental patients, then prisoners, them maybe workers, employees, and at last the population in general. Connie, through her actions, manages to stop the progress of the mind controlling implants in its initial stages, therefore altering the future and presumably avoiding the technological civilization from developing, leaving only Luciente’s society as inheritors of the Earth.

One last point worth mentioning is how Luciente claims that she feels naked without her kenner while on the battlefield. According to her, “For some it’s only a convenience. For others part of their psyche” (321). Even in Luciente’s society there are individuals who feel so attached to their technology, their kenner, that losing it is equivalent to losing part of their memories, to the point that some individuals commit suicide from the loss.

Although a tedious read at many points due to the excessive amount of back-story and unnecessary detail, towards the end I was somewhat drawn in to the novel, I actually wanted to know what Connie’s fate would be. This happened mainly during her escape sequence, and during her plotting for her “war” on the doctors at the hospital and at her brother’s house. It certainly isn’t the kind of book I would read on my own volition, but I can’t say it wasn’t somewhat interesting.

Final blog post, what what. and the conclusion to this little mind bender of a novel. It ended the way i didnt want it to. Sooooo all the talk about her being a hero of the future kinda fell apart when it was clear that everything that was happening in the future was based on things that happened to connie in her present, The Doctor and the future “redding” (328) and then she declares war on the docotors (p330), she seems to be out of it while she sees the future, so that right there supports the “theres no real future” theory. another thing that i thought was weird (well not really just because it contradicts with what i want to happen, and what is really happening) is that she declared war on the doctors (p 330) (there was alot that happened in chapter 17), now thats all fine and dandy, i mean i would to if i was being subject to horrifying experiments and my friends that were subjected to the same experiments were dying as a result, thats cool, what isnt cool is that as a result of these experiments Connie is now officially labeled (by the book) as a crazy person (sigh) and more importantly a murderer cause she did poison a dude, and waited for the law to come find her, thats something the joker would do, she just didnt care at that point. the reason i dont like this is that now shes never gonna get out, her life will stay what it is, and shell probably die in the system, which is bullshit. she started off as a beacon of hope during a time that was covered in darkness (and the the firenation attacked) she made it seem that she was the hero that the future needed, and she would defy all the obstacles in her path (being in asylum)and get on top and rise up. but nope, she kind rolled over and said meh. so im kinda pissed/disappointed/taken back. maybe im just still reading into the whole future deal too hard, but i really wanted her to connect with Luciente and go back with him and have a life in the future, but no, she stays in the 70s. i dont know, i would have done it differently i guess. dont get me wrong it was a great read though, with a strong female lead, it was an interesting ride, just ended wrong for me, maybe i should reread this badboy and see if i missed anything. i just hope everyone else took it for what its worth, a good read, and didnt hold onto the fact that its a feminist take on the world,cause thats what i feel gives it weight. the struggle of a woman both ohysically and internally make for a good story, but throw time travel, schizophrenia and some messed up doctors and you got yourself a pretty badass book with a crazy heroine.

Well to start off this book has taken me a long time to get into and i fell behind a couple post because this book does take a chunk out my schedule filled with other classes. First semester trying a writing intensive course and i suck at it. I feel that if this was the only class i was taking this semester maybe i would be more alive.  I chose science fiction to wake up a younger side of me that was interested in it guess i should’ve left that side alone. Well before i slam this book 100 times against my head lets get into some things that sort of grabbed me along the way.

pg 238 (piercy) ” I was born in 1938. You want to see my welfare ID?” Actually, of course, she didnt have it; it was back at the hospital What eye-dee? What you show-a card so they know who you are but eveybodys’s implanted” Reading that made me feel like that as of now we are not far from that happening where there’s a new source of control happening from the government.  On the same page until the next page theres  a sex contract mentioned which made me think about how marriage now will soon loose its affect on society today. To go on symbolism of class is brought up when discussing the “Richies” who live longer. On page 290 it makes me reflect on the prices that inflate on goods in the market. Soon all the fruits and vegatables that we were so easy to purchase will be come a myth.. Like whole foods the market on steroids.

Looking further  into the chapters you start to see the future illustrated with a touch of the past. There are a couple of Points that make you think about the power of control. I looked at chapter 20 which was basically the whole story line aka the background info on a connie and to realize like it was predicted that it was all in her head. Overall i am confused about this book in many ways but get certain points/ symbols that were made.

rate it 3.2/5  At one point i was into the book then i just wanted to throw the book some where. Hearing that this is the “last post” of the semester. Well I have mixed emotions about this book.

Thought of this song reading this book

Yes, yes. What a way to end a book with the most overused cliché of our time; that it was all a delusion set in the main character’s mind. Since the beginning I kind of sort of had an inkling that the main character, Connie, had schizophrenia. And in order to escape what she had done to herself in her past life, in order to make it seem (in herself) that she was right and everyone else was wrong, she created this illusion of Luciente and this entire future (without herself truly knowing this) in the confines of her mind in order to make herself to move on with her life. If that makes any sense at all. Well, it makes sense in my head.

But moving back to these last six chapters, we first enter into a world that is the opposite of Luciente’s future, which can be found mainly on page 284 or so. This is what terrifies Connie; the very thought of not staying the course, which will render Luciente and everyone that she has come to know and love in Matt… Mitt… Massapot… oh god damn it, future-Massachusetts, inexistent. Since she doesn’t know what she is seeing is real or not real (which is the very definition of schizophrenia), she stays on her course of action, which is doing whatever possible to achieving Luciente’s future. Because apparently, it’s all “war” to Connie.

Oh, and how about those characters? These are the chapters in where we finally get to see Connie’s present family and to finally conclude something that we have probably all known since the beginning of the book: they’re a bunch of assholes. We meet Luis, Lewis, damn what is his real name? I have never met a brother that is such a total douchebag to his sister, and not have the ability to sign off and let Connie out of a mental institution, which is practically jail, and take care of her himself. Seriously what kind of a world is this place, this is the same Earth we live in today? Eh, probably true. Then we have Dolly, who is still a jerk and a doped up prostitute, who still can’t seem to remember anything she says five seconds ago. Oh, and then there is Adele, Luis-Lewis’ wife, which in no way is related to the singer, because she is also a jerk. Doesn’t she know that Connie has been in a mental institution for quite a while? And she really cares more about a couple of plates? And how fast Connie can clean up? Wow, what kind of family is this?

Alright, hey, hey, going a little off topic there, but overall, the ending was alright. Schizophrenia or not, she was a brave woman, and she fought for what she thought (or didn’t think?) what was right, and for anyone, that takes some serious cojones.

So as for a final rating of the novel, I’d give it a 7/10. I think that’s fair. Some parts were great, some parts were “eh”, and some parts were downright “wtf”. 7/10 then.

Ahhh, it’s finally over. Connie Connie Connie, what can I say? When we first meet Connie, she is a very nice, clean and “normal” girl out of NYC. She had plans of going to college, and she’s just trying to live while dealing with some problems. She was on welfare, a kid who was taken from her and no job. Well, she ended up in a mental institution. YIPEE, how exciting and better that was for her. In all honesty, this book was a bit gloomy to read just learning more and more about Connie and her issues. Although, throughout the book she did became stronger which made the book more interesting. (Again, for me the pages are a bit different.)

“You’re doing much better, Now you want to get better.” (Piercy 338) Then the famous quote by Connie , “Im at war. No more fantasies, no more hopes, War.” (Piercy 338) That quote was made me super happy because It’s not in a movie where the underdog just never gives up and they say that one thing that just makes you go YEAH! You just feel great for them and you want everything to end up into a happy ending. She even ends up going up against the people who may have changed her, for the good or better, the doctors. I guess it was her enemies because she put poison in there coffee which was interesting. She really doesn’t want to obtain the fact that she in the position she’s in.

I nice to see the main character who at first was nothing but some one who’s dirty, uncaring for them self, nasty and a disgrace to someone who is brave, smarter and strong! Towards the ending chapters, we see that Connie and Sybil are planning to escape. Sybil then starts to see something in her eyes. A bit a anger but Connie doesn’t want to tell Sybil what she has planned other then she’s fighting a war. She then calls up Luciente for the last time, and Luciente ends up telling her that the war that had happened could’ve just happened in her brain.

Also, I mean in a way I kind of didn’t get too happy that she wanted to kill the doctors because in a way that was they’re job’s you know? They even told her that they’re only trying to help her and get her to become “normal” again. Who know’s how she would’ve ended up if she never would’ve got the operation in the first place. Maybe it helped her maybe it didn’t. I think it helped her to be honest.

“I am not sorry, she though, her heart pounding terribly, and she sat on her bed, waiting.” The last quote I read (Piercy 376). I still felt a bit confused after reading this book as in I don’t really know how I feel about it. I have mixed reviews about it. It’ s weird book, boring for the most part but very interesting. Great “science fiction” book ! 🙂

As I sat down to write this post  I was trying to figure out what topic to write about as a lot happened in this section. The alternate future she connected to, the death of jackrabbit, the war she imagined she was a part of in the future, her change in behavior once they removed the device from her head, or the brother who fills me with anger. All of these could bring solid discussion, but I have to go with the moment that has stuck with me since i read it, the ending.

When we first met Connie she was a very simple woman, trying to survive every day and carrying all the pain and suffering she was dealt with. She was jobless, living on welfare, a person with no reason to exist. When she was put into the mental institution, she became another reject of society. She was a person I did not want to see a book written about. That changed as i began reading this last section.

Connie became a strong character the moment they removed the device from her head. She was filled with the burning desire to fight against those who were oppressing her.

“War, she thought, I’m at war. No more fantasies, no more hopes. War.” (Piercy, 332)

This change in her was surprising and pleasant. Finally Connie know what she wants to do, what she has to do. She will no longer accept the situation she has been given and will do what she can to get out of it. Her attempts failed and she is left with no choice, but to fight the establishment directly. When Connie had taken the poison from her brothers workplace I was unsure what her motivations were. As she poured the poison into the coffee, it became clear that she was literally at war and was killing her enemy, the doctors.

As Connie sat down on her bed to await the consequences of her actions, Connie’s story ends with no explanation as to what will become of her. The next  chapter opens up with the text from the doctors notes detailing from their view what we have been told over the course of the book. Its not until the last line that we learn what happened to her.

“There were one hundred thirteen more pages. They all followed Connie back to Rockover.” (Piercy, 376)

It is after this line that I Realized that Connie is one of the bravest characters I have ever read about. Connie knew what would happen and she accepted it. She knew that she would be unable to connect with Luciente, yet she accepted what she had to do. Connie was prepared to spend the rest of her life with no freedom in order to protect those she loved. She selflessly sacrificed herself for the good of everyone else. It takes an incredible amount of strength in order to commit oneself to a lifetime of imprisonment. I respect Connie for her courage, for doing what was right. Everyone will see her as that crazy woman who murdered the doctors that were trying to help her. They will probably mistreat her and give no thoughts to a  psychopath. Connie accepted this and became the hero of her time.

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?

Wow so this is it our last blog, I can’t believe how quick this semester has moved, i remember like it was yesterday doing our very first blog. Now to the book, I can honestly say that the second half of the book was defiantly more enjoyable then the first half. I also enjoyed the ending because it just brought everything together and her report gave me some clarity with it.

When Connie first went to the Future New York i was a little lost, but when she started talking to Glidina I realized what was going on. “Time Traveling, Connie Smiled with Sophistication. it was almost fun. She imagined Luciente must have felt laying down the unbelievable truth to naive ears. Now she was the visitor from elsewhere.”(pg 283) This was an interesting to me because first of all she is comparing herself to Luciente and after reading the book i can look back and say that Luciente honestly could have been the futuristic version of Connie or just another personality she created that she wanted to strive to be. The other thing is how she has accepted time traveling as something she found to be fun compared to something she felt she had to do. After Connie decided to leave this version of a futuristic New York she says ” So that was the other world that might come to be. That was Luciente’s war and she was enlisted in it.”(pg 295) This just added to my belief that this world was in her head because she didn’t have a problem visiting Luciente until that thing was put in her head. I also found it interesting that we finally found out this war that people had been fighting was actually a war against time and its possible outcomes.

Now that Connie believed she was at war she did everything in her power to win and help Luciente’s time line. “It’s war Sybil … if i could get out and furlough, I know i could run for it. The city’s so close here. Once off this ward, we’d have it made! People come in and out of this building all day, outpatients, volunteers, if only i could make it to the elevators.” (pg 336) Since i Believe this whole future and time traveling was in her head this is where i would say Connie finally cracked. She has not only brought this in to the real world, but she honestly thinks she is at war and she is incorporating the help of other people who are not part of this, just because she thinks she can help Luciente from her time line. However i feel like since Luciente is just another personality of Connie she was strongly on trying to help herself. In the last chapter of the novel we see People leaving the Hospital, Connie and Sybil still try to plan there escape. ” I’m ready to try Consuelo. I cannot permit them to operate on me if i have anyway to stop them. it’s kind of death.” ( pg 360) The first thing i found really interesting about this was the name was chosen to use for Connie, they used Consuelo instead of Connie. I feel like this was used because Consuelo was the personality that went through so much and still some how fought through it, in other words Consuelo was a survivor or maybe even a fighter. The other thing that got me was how she talked about death and it being the same thing or even better in her mind then getting another surgery, i guess losing who you really are is like dying because you are being forced to be something you are not. The book ends on a hectic note, with everything happening with Connie and her helping Sybil and she still felt like this was a win for her and she got a victory in this war she had been fighting for a long time. However it was not really a war of time, but more of a war in Connie between her different personality’s and who she strived to be. It was a war of the mind of a woman who was a survivor and doing whatever she had to do to succeed was what she did.

This novel overall was literally split down the middle with me, but it defiantly brought science fiction and reality together in the struggle of a woman who was struggling to be the best she can be. This is why my title is the mind is a powerful tool because is can create stories, other people and worlds and we are the ones who are in control of them and its our job to draw the line between reality and whats our imagination.