Welcome to our site.
Define. Create. Enjoy.
La Bravoure
About the Author
Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa, and grew up in northern Ontario and Quebec, and in Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master’s degree from Radcliffe College.
She is to be one of the most important and influential writers alive today. The Canadian author has more than 40 books to her credit including poetry, short stories, children’s fiction and 14 novels she has earned worldwide accolades for her work which has been translated into more than 40 languages. The Hand Maid’s tale and the Blind Assassin, two of her best known works won the book prize. Atwood is also the inventor, and developer, of the Long Pen and associated technologies that facilitate the remote robotic writing of documents. She is the Co-Founder and a Director of Syngrafii Inc. (formerly Unotchit Inc.), a company that she started in 2004 to develop, produce and distribute the Long Pen technology.
Penelope starts off by saying that she is dead and that being dead was like so many of her wishes that had failed when it came true. She did not like every second of it because being dead made her know things she wished she didn’t know.
She goes on to say that everyone was carrying around a sack that contained of the words they’ve spoken, heard, and words people spoke about you. Her size was reasonable and most of the words inside her sack concerned her husband.
She thinks that her husband is always so plausible and people always believe his own version of the story even if
those were of falseness. Even she had believed him, even though she knew that he was tricky and a liar, this was only because she never thought that he would use his tricks on her. She had been faithful to him and she was disappointed that he couldn’t be as considerate, as trustworthy, and as all suffering as she had been.
However, she had an idea of the things that her husband were doing wrong but had turned a blind eye on the truth. She didn’t want to dig deep because she was afraid it would ruin their happy ending and thought that happy endings were best achieved by keeping the right doors locked.
At the end of it all though, she realized how many people were laughing behind her back and had turned her into several stories- stories that weren’t even true. And the sad fact was she couldn’t defend herself because it would make her look so guilty. However, now that she’s dead, telling her own story wouldn’t really matter anymore because the opinions of the people down there with her don’t matter anymore.
Sum It Up
Plausible - it means that you are telling the truth and being sincere
​
Ex. You could invent a plausible reason for leaving early.
Compulsion–is a strong desire to do something, which you find difficult to control
​
Ex. To prevent compulsion, Elena wore a pendant which contained vervain.
Edifying – enlightening or uplifting so as to encourage intellectual or moral improvement
​
Ex.Her comments were edifying for everyone.
Inklings – You have a vague idea or suggestion
​
Ex. How to give an inkling of the loss?
Wiliness - the inclination or practice of misleading others through lies or trickery
Ex. I will watch his wiliness which reminds me of a snake.
I
S
​
I
T
​
T
R
I
C
K
Y
?
Foxiness - The state or quality of being of a harsh, sour taste, as wine or beer.
​
Ex. I guess you should stop your foxiness.
Unscrupulousness – willing to lie or cheat to succeed
Ex. The naïve and innocent are lured away by unscrupulous agents.
Rampage – an outbreak of violent, raging behavior
Ex. The HIV virus is on a rampage in Philippines and is infecting people at an alarming rate
Jeering – showing your contempt by derision
Ex. A mockery at which angels blushed and wept, while friends rejoiced with jeering laughter.
Fumbling – Doing or handling something clumsy
​
Ex. Danielle bolted the with fumbling fingers
Guide Questions And Answers
#1 Why does Penelope consider storytelling “a low art”?
​
This is because she believed in the falseness of story-telling. She acknowledged that some of the truths in story-telling are cut out to make a good one, to turn people towards them, and to make someone look bad or look good through those tales they tell.
​
#2 How does Penelope’s portrayal differ from the traditional portrayal of Odysseus? What do you think of Odysseus?
​
Penelope’s portrayal was of the truth- raw, frank, and honest. She didn’t hold back, she told the truth of how she felt, how everything went wrong, and how those hurt-filled words made her ache and disappointed with the way people treated her- it was all felt in the story-telling she made. On the other hand, Odysseus made fun of the truth and twist everything he says out of pure dishonesty. We think that Odysseus represents majority of the people in society, they hide the truth to make things bad or good and everything is always in their favor.
​
#3 Based on Penelope’s perspective, how is she different from how the epic portrays her? What do you think of Penelope’s character in the preceding story?
​
Based on Penelope’s perspective, she wants to be portrayed as a woman, who had been faithful to the man she thought was doing the same towards her. She wanted to be respected and be seen as someone, a woman, who is worthy of respect. We think that the real Penelope was covered by the lies, deception, and the judgment that was made of her which is very unfair for her part.
​
#4 What does she have to say about the “official version” of what happened? Why does she point this out?
​
She was disappointed about how the person she has been faithful to, the person she made sacrifices for, the person that she thought she could trust was the one who was spreading false rumors about her. She pointed it out because she was sick and tired of being the person that people expects her to be, she was tired that everyone was having an opinion about her, and she wanted to do something about it for the first time because she owes it to herself.
​
#5 Why does she call herself “a stick used to beat other women with”? Do you agree with her? Why or why not?
​
She calls herself “a stick to beat other women with” because she had been a faithful wife to Odysseus in a way that people deems her as the perfect wife in a patriarchal society. However, due to acting blind towards the truth about her husband she has been used by him. She represents women who had been faithful to their lovers and that had amount to them taking advantage on the relationship. Yes, we do think that she was “a stick used to beat other women with” because we believe she could have been smarter than that, she was able to keep her ground when her husband Odysseus went missing for 20 years- she could really have done better.
​
#6 Why does Penelope say that she “sounded like an owl” when she tries to warn other people?
​
This is because people wouldn’t be able to understand her. Owls make this weird noise and that amounts to her telling the truth-people just wouldn’t think she was being honest.
​
#7 How much of ancient history do you think is fact and how much on gossip or exaggeration?
​
We think that almost all of the things that we know about ancient history had been tweaked and exaggerated. Even professionals wouldn’t be able to get the 100% reality of what really happened back in the day because let’s be honest, they can only guess how the person felt and the severity of what really happened then just go on from there. Yes, some of the events may have happened but the actuality of it all is questionable.
​
#8 Do you think a story is colored by the biases of the storyteller? Support you answer.
​
Yes, we do believe that, this is because when a person is making a story he or she makes it his or her own. That person may be getting facts and all but the opinions that he or she puts in is her own opinion- her beliefs, feelings and whatnot and that makes it base on her own idea about things.
#9 Do you think history is colored by the biases of the historian? Support your answer.
​
No, that couldn’t be possibly generally true. This is because a historian focuses on what’s laid out, yes they can guess and exaggerate but everything is base on the facts that they gathered. They could be sued or attacked if they place wrong information.
​
#10 Does this story change the way you look literature and history? Why or why not?
​
Not really, a woman being seen as someone who’s weak and is less than men is something that is not surprising. It has been going on for years and years but even until now some women are still seen that way. Judgment is always present and we don’t think it’s ever going to change because everyone has a mind of their own and everyone can do everything they please with it.
D a n e y
I realize how important self-worth is and how more important it is to know your own self-worth. It’s difficult to be in a relationship that’s unfair, wherein, you know that your partner doesn’t see you as his or her equal. That’s a toxic kind of relationship and people should stay clear from that type of a relationship because both of you are never going to make it out still feeling “alive”. Someone is bound to get hurt and feel suffocated because one of you is holding the upper-hand and that’s not healthy. I also realize how things never do change, and judgment for humans is like eating and drinking it’s in the system. Instead of helping each other we drag each other down and that’s toxic as well. So, it’s very important for us, as well, to pick our relationships may it be friends, lovers and whatnot, it should be a relationship that makes you feel good and happy.
F h a t i m a y
I realize that women are very lucky in this period of time because in the last century all women were treated like a useless person. It’s also very unfair because they see women as someone who’s weak and portray that all they can do is to take care of the kids, do the chores, and cook. Unlike now, women can work freely and they can do all the things that men can do. I also realize that you should be brave, stand up for your rights, and not let other people’s opinion affect you when it comes to your own decision because believing in yourself is the way to your goals or future. You should also not be too faithful and act blindly when it comes to your husband and consider all his wrong doings because being a martyr is not a good factor in a relationship.