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.

So this is it, our final “blog” posts. I have to admit, this book gets much better towards the end. The final chapter pretty much sums up my thinking throughout this reading; She’s crazy. In reading the official report of Consuelo Camacho Ramos, the proof is finally shown. She is schizophrenic. This document explains every one of her actions. Throughout the book, we’ve seen Connie portrayed as a woman being oppressed and the world seems to be against her. I think this can be interpreted in different ways. We can look at it as if no one understands her, and she really is a time traveler, or you can look at it how i see it. She is nuts. Everything that she has said and done has been to justify her actions. When she is “traveling” she falls into a catatonic state.

Maybe i’m just looking at this with an chauvinistic perspective, where i don’t believe she can be this weak, but everything that she has done can be explained by these simple signs of a schizophrenic:

• Hallucinations.
• Delusions.
• Disorganized speech.
• Disorganized or catatonic behavior.
• Negative symptoms (emotional flatness, apathy, lack of speech)

Chapter 17 deals with the war that has been hinted at throughout the book. In this war, Connie sees the weapons that are used by the enemy. When she sees the enemy, she hallucinates that it is Dr. Redding and the rest of the hospital staff. (Piercy 330) Upon waking from her hallucination, she is rushed to hospital to remove the electrodes, but she felt that “they were not done with her.” (Piercy 329)

At the end of chapter 17, Connie declares war on the doctors. (Piercy 332) The war she experienced in “the future” has inspired her to fight her war in the present. Is this future war just a metaphor for her internal struggle with her own sanity? Or is it just more justification as to why she is a victim?

A theme that I have noticed throughout the book was the number 3. Connie refers to herself as 3 women. She is the third patient to receive the surgery. The future has families with 3 parents. In Chapter 18, Connie is given furlough to visit her brother. While cleaning up after dinner, Molly, Luis’s new wife Adele, and Connie are all standing in the kitchen. Connie refers to them as “not three women.”  An interesting point is that they were all on some sort of drug. The sane and the insane all together in a place where they can be easily interchanged with each other. Even her description of them sounds as if they are all on something; “We are ups and downs and heavy tranks, meeting in the all-electric kitchen and bouncing off each other’s opaque sides like shiny pills colliding. ” (Piercy 353)

On another note, i noticed an interesting point. In the future people refer to learning as “redded” or redding, the same name as the Dr. who is conducting the experiment on Connie. (Piercy 328) This adds to my idea/theory that her mind is not normal as in some way it is telling her that what is going on in the real world is the norm.

Despite all of the problems and oppression that Connie is going through, the fact that she is willing to kill the doctors makes me completely lose any sympathy for her. I understand that what was happening was inhuman, and borderline torture, but the doctors were within their rights. Knowing now that Connie truly is crazy, i find myself questioning every interaction in which she was the victim. I guess it should be considered a twist, but it seemed pretty obvious from the start.