Atwood AO3 Flashcards
Published
1985
Influences from West Berlin
Iron curtain, separating NATO and Stalin occupation, totaliaranism influences.
Fertility control China
1970s one child policy implemented by propaganda, reports of forced abortions, mass female babies abandoned and left to die.
Argentinian Dissapearences
1976 militart coup leading to right wing dictatorship. Academics hunted and killed, estimates 30000 people dissapeared(assumed tourtured or dead).
HIV and AIDS propaganda
1980s- At the time Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale, the prognosis for AIDS was death within a year of diagnosis
Public fears about AIDS fed into Christian right propaganda that opposed sex outside of marriage, and homosexuality
In the Historical Notes, reduced fertility rate in Gilead was as a result of a sexually transmitted disease
Which wave of feminism did atwood write in
Seccond wave- women embracing lives out of traditional dometicated ones.
Biblical influence of Gilead (Epigraph)
Genesis 30 “Give me children or else I die….. I may also have children by her
Epigraphy Sufi proverb
In the desert there is no sign that says Thou shalt not eat the stones.
