"It was after the catastrophe, when they shot the president and machine-gunned the Congress and the army declared a state of emergency. They blamed it on the Islamic fanatics, at the time" (174).
The whole idea of a religious group taking control of the government seems a bit preposterous, whether they are the Eyes of God, or an Islamic group. But when truly considering the alibi Atwood creates, it no longer seems quite as far fetched. The history of fighting in the Middle East stretches back as far as history itself goes; always there has been conflict over who deserves what piece of land. Eventually the United Nations stepped in to attempt to bring some sort of peace over the area, but none was achieved. In fact, the religious fanatics, or just the public in general, usually end up hating the United States, or whatever country is attempting to "help" them, more than they had before they arrived. So when the government blames Islamic fanatics for what was happening, Atwood is really drawing on an idea that many would find a viable place to lay the blame of such an event.
http://www.mideastweb.org/timeline.htm
most reliable source?
ReplyDeleteOriginal:
ReplyDelete"The whole idea of a religious group taking control of the government seems a bit preposterous, whether they are the Eyes of God, or an Islamic group. But when truly considering the alibi Atwood creates, it no longer seems quite as far fetched. The history of fighting in the Middle East stretches back as far as history itself goes; always there has been conflict over who deserves what piece of land. Eventually the United Nations stepped in to attempt to bring some sort of peace over the area, but none was achieved. In fact, the religious fanatics generally end up hating the United States, or whatever country is doing to "helping" more than they had before. So when Atwood uses Islamic fanatics as the blame for what happened in the government, she draws on an idea that many would find a viable place to lay the blame of such an event.
http://www.contenderministries.org/middleeast/metimeline.php"