Throughout my senior year, I started a task to educate our school’s students about the knowledge of CPR and performing it. My capstone main focus was making and putting up two posters around the school. One poster was aimed at clearing up popular misconceptions about CPR among students, while the other offered a clear instruction guide with illustrations for doing CPR with just your hands.

I knew very little about CPR before beginning this project, and I assumed it was mainly about mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. But I discovered through my research and building my capstone that CPR is not all that there is, especially when it comes to hands-only CPR, which is easier and sometimes just as successful.

After facing the difficulties of CPR techniques, I became capable in hands-only CPR and learned how versatile it is for a range of age groups. The journey also made it clear that I needed to give my capstone project the serious attention it required. By working with my mentor, teachers, staffs, and family members who are involved in the field, I was able to get important guidance and advice that improved the progress of my project.

Although there were challenges along the way, especially when it came to changing the project in response to feedback, everyone’s support eventually led to a positive outcome. My capstone is the good example of how important it is to raise awareness of basic CPR techniques so that people can be prepared to act correctly when presented with emergency situations.

Link to Annotated Bibliography: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1S7z38J3-3ruLcQiSS538J_2u9zmEKkfx-VW1wjEwrls/edit

The element we chose to explain further and analyze would be Memories. The closest thing to a clear explanation provided in this book is what we learn through flashbacks and dreams. Using our map for guiding this landscape, we chose six stops that each took a look into the aspect of memories, showing the author’s intention to observe how a human mind would work in a world like this.

“Early Memories of His Wife,” takes us back in time to introducing to a past character. A character who must have played an important role in the father’s life is introduced to us on page 18 “In his dreams, his pale bride came to him out of a green leafy canopy. Her nipples pipeclayed and her rib bones painted white.” This quote shows how memory is very limited. Through this dream, we can get a glimpse of the man’s brain as we see flashes of a world that was once vibrant with life but is now only a memory.

Stemming off from that is the “Introduction to Boy Dreams” we enter the boy’s dream world, which is primarily shaped by scary dreams. We believe that McCarthy purposely did not include details of these dreams to point out the Boy’s resistance to telling his father about them. The boy’s character is then deemed weaker but it also shows how truly alone these two characters are in the relationship that they have formed.

The boy’s dreams and the man’s memories clash at the third stop, “Intersection of Memories and Dreams,” which creates a connect between the past and present. This is an important spot that influences not only the characters bond but also the path of their difficult journey across The Road. The quote “The cold of it moved something in him long forgotten. Make a lot. Recite a litany. Remember.” (31), shows the connection to their emotions. The “cold” stands for the bad reality of their situation, something that has a constant sense of suffering. And the phrase “moved something in him long forgotten” refers to an awakening of his memories, a part of him that had been buried by survival and time.

“Flashbacks to the Past,” is where McCarthy uses flashbacks to piece together bits and pieces of the man’s past and then connect to the present. The character’s current state of emptiness is very different from these flashbacks. The way the author writes acts as a way of shifting readers from the depressing present to the happy past where everything is in good shape and not the constant battle of survival.

“Colors in Dreams vs. Reality,” shows the author’s difference between the colors in dreams and the dark and gloomy world. McCarthy does this by using expressive language and vivid imagery. We come across a quote in the book that says, “and the dreams so rich in color. How else would death call you?” (21) This quote mixes the deep meaning of reflecting on death with the life of dream colors.

Finally, and at “EndPoint”, dreams and memories both serve as a deeper look of human nature and story elements. After exploring the challenging roads of a world in collapse the characters find themselves standing at the endpoint, which is the point where the past and future meet. Here, the detail of dreams and the depth of memories combine to provide a window into the strong human spirit.

The scene that I really wanted to focus on was when the commander and Offred is playing scrabble together. But it’s just not any regular scene, it’s the one when Offred ask the commander to translate the latin phrase in her room. That’s why in the drawing the phrase to

My drawing really emphasizes an important scene from the book. I wanted to go into more depth about the scene where the commander and Offred were playing scrabble. In the background of my drawing there’s a bookshelf filled with books. Right on the table, you can see a locked Bible, which is symbolizing the religious control that is enforced by the government of Gilead. The presence of the locked bible suggest that knowledge is restricted and kept away from the handmaids.

The main focus of my artwork is on offred and the commander seated together playing an illegal game of Scrabble. Despite having no way to come up with anything, I wanted to include something in the board game. However, when I turned back to the book, I realized that they had said the lines that they had written. The Scrabble board, shows the words “Valance,” “larynx,” and “Quince”, just as they appear in the book. These words actually have deeper meaning than I thought of. Valance represents hidden meanings in Gilead, showing that things are not as they seem. Larynx refers to the silence of women voices and point out control over communication. Quince shows resilience and space for expansion, indicating a potential of transformation.

On the wall behind them, there’s a Latin phrase, “nolite te bastardes carborundorum.” The scene focuses around this phrase, which Offred asks the Commander to translate for her during their game. It basically gives advice on how to resist the system’s enslavement while also acting as a message of hope. This sentence sums up the main idea of the book, which is the value of resilience and overcoming a corrupt system without allowing one’s spirit to be crushed.

The interaction between Offred and the Commander during their game is important in the story. In this scene Offred takes a risk by asking the Commander to translate the latin phrase which allows them to connect on a deeper level and shows that they are both resistant to the limits enforced by the government. Also Offred learns the outcome of the previous handmaid that live in her room, which highlights what happens when you go against Gilead rules. She realizes that she can possibly manipulate the Commander´s guilt for her advantage, emphasizing the complicated connections of power in their society.

I chose to illustrate this scene because it marks an important point in the book when Offred starts to recognize her own power and her capacity to rebel against the cruel government. The Scrabble board, the locked Bible, the words on the board, and the Latin phrase all serve as symbols for the themes of resistance, information that is hidden, and deep connections between the characters in Gilead.

The feelings of resistance, secret, and an unsure bond between Offred and the Commander are all portrayed in my drawings. The scene’s items illustrate the book’s many themes by demonstrating the idea that resistance and hope can flourish even in the most dangerous situations.

The gloomy book ¨The Handmaid’s Tale¨ by Margaret Atwood´s explore themes of rule, control, and resistance in a society personal freedom are heavily restricted. Despite, it being a fiction, the story make important comparisons to the historical background of slavery in the United States. Both stories examine how people are degraded, how their power as individuals are undermined, and how resilience develops in the face of oppressive regimes. I will explore the comparison of a single passage from “The Handmaid’s Tale” with the background of slavery in historical times, showing how both versions reveal the relationships of power and resistance.

In “The Handmaid’s Tale,” Gilead’s society cruelly devalues its people, treating them as nothing more than objects for reproduction. Offred, the main character of the book, struggles with her identity after understanding that the government only sees her as a “I am a national resource” (Atwood, 65). This direct statement explains how the government views women as little more than machines for reproducing, a belief that oddly echoes a dark period in American history.

During the era of slavery in the United States, a similar dehumanization process took place. People who were in slavery were treated like property, had their identities eventually taken away from them, and were then made into products that could be purchased and sold. They were denied basic human rights and treated as mere “slaves,” much like the women of Gilead, who are only valued as reproductive organs.

The author also effectively examines how language and storytelling may be used as instruments of tyranny. The government effectively censors any challenge by limiting words and thoughts that throw doubt on its authority. The phrase “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum” (Atwood, 92), which can be translated as “Don’t let the bastards grind you down,” is used by Offred as a representation of resistance in language.

Similar to today, those who were oppressed throughout the time of slavery came up with creative strategies to fight back and claim their humanity. To speak secretly and away from the ears of their masters, they frequently invented their own languages, such as Gullah or Creole. In Frederick Douglass’s autobiographies, they used the power of storytelling to expose lies about slavery that were spread by those in power.

As Offred and other characters in “The Handmaid’s Tale” discovered means to resist, historical examples of enslaved people also displayed incredible strength and resistance. In order to express their humanity and autonomy, they staged revolts, studied reading and writing secretly, and passed down their culture and traditions. This resistance can be seen by the words of escaped slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who said the following: “I would unite with anybody to do right and with nobody to do wrong.”

In both cases, I see the idea of names and identity is a significant issue. In “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the Handmaids are given new names as a representation of their identity loss and submission to the state. Their lack of uniqueness is made much more clear by the removal of their real names. This idea is demonstrated by Offred’s quote: ¨My name isn’t Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden. I tell myself it doesn’t matter, your name is like your telephone number, useful only to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter. I keep the knowledge of this name like something hidden, some treasure I’ll come back to dig up, one day. I think of this name as buried.¨ Similar identity loss occurred in the context of historical slavery. Names and cultural identities were forcibly taken away from enslaved people. Their new names, given by their owners, served as a reminder of their objectification and transformation into property.

There are significant similarities between “The Handmaid’s Tale” and the history of slavery in how they portray oppression, resistance, and the tenacity of people. We have examined the dehumanization of people, the control of reproduction and familial separation, the theme of resistance, the manipulation of language, and the fight for autonomy through close reading and direct takes from the book. Both stories act as humbling examples of the dangers of unequal authority and the spirit of people who fight for freedom and choice against the most terrible of systems. By establishing these comparisons, we are better able to grasp the common experiences that persons who stood up to oppressive systems and sought to regain control of their lives have had.

Mi familia es muy divertida e inteligente. Yo tengo una hermana y dos hermanos. Yo tengo ocho tías y cinco tíos. La gente que vive conmigo son mis padres y todos hermanos(siblings).

Mi mamá. Mi mamà tiene el pelo negro. La textura de su pelo es abundante y rizada. Ella tiene los ojos marrònes/negros. Mi mamá es alta y gordita. Su personalidad es muy simpática.

Mi hermano. Mi hermano tiene el pelo negro. Tiene textura de pelo rizado. El tiene los ojos negros. Mi hermano es alto. Mi hermano es muy cómico e inteligente. Mi mamá y hermano son muy multitarea y trabajadores. Ellos no son descortés o antipáticos.

Mi color de pelo es negro. Yo tengo el pelo largo y rizado. Tengo los ojos marrones. Yo soy alta y delgada. Mi personalidad es muy cómica y simpàtica. Yo soy también tímida y vaga. Mi fuerte personalidad es que soy súper trabajadora. Yo soy quisquillosa en comer tambièn. No soy ni maleducada ni tacaña.

Yo estoy comparando yo mismo a mi hermano. Nosotros somos cómicos e inteligentes. Nosotros amamos la comida y somos vagos. A nosotros tambièn nos gustan las películas. Nosotros somos los únicos que mayormente nos llevamos bien con cada otra. A mí me gusta salir, pero a mi hermano le gusta leer.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/12lpg-Z8TMcFyNFumBd1TB-RaDKTNZAJ6PMhQpGmpL20/edit#slide=id.p

link to the slides