Context Flashcards
Concentration camps in ww2
During World War II, the Nazis sent Jews and any other people who they deemed to be incompatible with their vision of an ideal society (eg. homosexuals) to concentration camps. People were separated from their families and deprived of their freedom
links to the colonies
links to red centre because all areas of life was controlled
and nazis presented themselves as being saviours of germany and race - salvaging - getting rid of impurities -
The Amish community
The Amish believe that it’s essential to keep themselves separate from the ‘world’, so they live in their own small communities and differ from other Americans in their dress, language, work, travel and education.
links to life in gilead because they also cut themselves off - restriction like no tv and no reading the news
also don’t use modern things - wives make blankets by hand and no divorce
not educated after 14
Islamic revolution and public execution
-After the Islamic Revolution, public executions became common in Iran, but they were banned in 2008.
links to the wall,salvaging and particution because all spreading fear and trying to maintain control
Magdalen in Ireland
Unmarried mothers had their children taken away from them in Ireland in the 1950s by nuns in the name of religion to abolish sin
links to the handmaids having their babies taken from them after their births handmaids also being separated from previous children for the cause
both gilead and Ireland were theocratic
propaganda use
Hitler making out he’s purifying germany by eradicating jews - better the country but really he’s carrying out genocide
Ww2 - to convince people to enlist - glorifying war - good honorable job role - however it results in death
The objectification of women in modern society
To some extent, although presenting Aunt Lydia as a repugnant character, Atwood uses her to highlight the fact that in modern Western societies women are often sexualised and objectified. The religious extremism of Gilead partly rose out of this feeling that women were being degraded and sought to restore their purity and self-respect
Porn
Magazines for boys circulate around women
Seualisation of children - halloween costumes school girl
links to when aunt lydia shows the videos of violent porn
The French Resistance and the Gestapo
The French Resistance was the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during the Second World War. Résistance cells were small groups of armed men and women (called the Maquis in rural areas),who, in addition to their guerrilla warfare activities, were also publishers of underground newspapers, providers of first-hand intelligence information, and maintainers of escape networks that helped Allied soldiers and airmen trapped behind enemy lines.
links to ofglens mayday
gestapo links to the eyes or the handmaids themselves
The dangers of modern technology
Atwood’s dystopian invention of the ‘Compubank’ could be seen as similar to the online banking systems and the credit cards which we now all take for granted. Atwood seems to be warning us of the possible dangers of allowing governments and corporations to have control over our finances.
Tracing apps
Cookies
romania in the 1980s
Romania was a dictatorship in the 1980s, when the novel was written. It is mentioned in the ‘Historical Notes’ as a country which, like Gilead, also restricts the freedom of its citizens. Watch the documentary about Nicolae Ceausescu, Romania’s dictator, and explain how it fits with the conventions of dystopia and how it bears similarities to Gilead.
Over a quarter of Romania’s population lives on less than US$5.50 a day,
Secret police -
The securitat - motioned in historical notes
Propaganda was used to make people believe it was utopia
Poetry about both of the wife and husband about when they were the opposite
