I'm not scared of Lion, Tigers, and Bears

It’s interesting to be able to categorize people into 4 different categories given different backgrounds and makeups. But when you think about it, categorizing people’s attitudes and personalities is actually very simple because everyone is raised on the same standard for values.  The only thing that is different is the scale in which one upholds or believes those values to be true. Nevertheless, everything breaks down to the lions, lambs, serpents, and angles of the world.  Those who CAN lie and those who REFUSE. Those who CAN be violent and those who REFUSE.

Let’s evaluate yourself...

Now, I want you to get a piece of paper and something to write with…

Draw and label your paper as follows

1.       Draw a vertical line in the center of your page

2.       Put arrow heads on the ends of the line

3.       Draw a horizontal line in the center of your page

4.       Repeat step 2

5.       At the top of the vertical arrow (north) write the word lion

6.       At the bottom of the vertical arrow(south) write the word lamb

7.       To the left of your horizontal arrow (west) write the word serpent

8.       To the right of your horizontal arrow (east) write the word angel

 

First, let’s measure how violent you are

Under any circumstance could you see yourself killing someone? Don’t be too quick to decide; don’t be too quick to say no or to say yes. Could you see yourself killing another human to preserve life, maybe a stranger, maybe your own life, maybe even your child? Mark a point on the vertical line that best fits your area of violence.

When doing so remember the qualities associated with lions and lambs. If you are more violent, then your point should be closer to the lion. If you are less violent then your point should be closer to the lamb. Also, when doing this, never choose to plot your point right in the center of the lion and lamb. In this exercise, it’s important to look deep within you AND the reality is that no one is in the middle.  (Remember this when measuring how deceptive you are)

 

Now, Let’s measure how deceptive you are…

What would it take for you to lie to someone? Would it take something as mild as lying about your share of the candy so you could get more, or are you fairly honest? Are you a serpent or an angle? Plot your point.

 

Based upon you points you should be in a category

-Flying Lions (Angel-Lion)

-Lying Lambs (Serpent- Lambs)

- Violent Serpents (Lion-Serpent)

-  Kind Angels (Lamb- Angel)

 If doing this activity with a group, I’m sure you will be surprised.  The people who I thought were the least violent and deceptive were actually the violet serpents. This activity can open reveal your true identity while opening your eyes to others.

FYI: My category is the Flying Lions.

The Handmaids,Rebels,and Eyes

As a rebel, feelings of anxiety take over you. My main focus was preserving the revolution while still trying not to get caught so I could preserve my life.  In this activity, we learned the correlation between the roles in Gilead and fear. The rebels are always cautious and scared. The eyes are in fear of people discovering their true identity. And the handmaids themselves are scared of rebelling. In this dystopian society, fear drives everyone’s actions. It makes the difference between life and death.

In Gilead, the rebels have the hardest position to me, well aside from the fact that handmaids are dehumanized and have to have sex with people they barely know. But the rebels drive the revolution, there would be no hanging if rebels did not exist which means the precedent for what sets order would also not exist because there wouldn’t be anyone doing otherwise. Everyday is a day that a rebel can get caught. They have to consciously watch out for everyone and everything. People that may seem like their friends may actually be an eye because to the eyes, it’s a game…

In the activity the rebels really did have the hardest position. We had to convert a handmaid every night while actually figuring out who was a handmaid during the day all while still maintaining a handmaid’s position. In the book and in the game the odds were always in the favor of the eyes. In our activity the only way an eye could be caught was if someone nominated one, even then you could face being caught. And if you were a rebel, you basically had just told all of Gilead that you were a rebel but that is what a rebellion is for right. One recognizes that they must risk their own life for the rebellion but even with that recognition everyone does not uphold those standards.

During the game, sometimes handmaids who had been converted to a rebel didn’t even lift their head when we had out meetings. They keep their head down and concealed their identity because they were interested in saving themselves but you can’t have your cake and eat it to. But in the end everyone was caught because we were all too scared to nominate the eyes to get rid of them.  As the eyes got stronger and wiser, we kept losing rebels. After a handmaid had been converted, the very next day she would get caught. So I suspect the eyes were cheating but it’s okay because that is just the way Gilead works. No matter what you say, what you do, how sneaky or clever you are, you will get caught. As long as you never risk your life to get rid of the eyes, they will also be there, just ready to kill you.