context Flashcards
what what the American new right movement (1980)?
a conservative movement that mixed neo-liberal economics with traditional/conservative views on social issues
there were concerns about the birth…..
birth dearth - falling rates of birth post WW2
what was the 1979 moral majority?
led by a televangelist it was a group that brought together christians and republicans
why was whitchcraft a topic close to home for Atwood?
one of her ancestors had been accused and hung (although she survived)
Atwoods professor at Harvard formed part of the inspiration for this book, what was he a scholar of?
the puritan mind
what sort of names were traditional puritan women given?
silence, fear, patience
offreds mother belonged to which real life movemnt?
1960s womens liberation movment
the equal rights movement was given congressional support in 1972 however the New rights protests meant it failed to be ratified in….
1982
Atwood refers to her novel as what type of fiction?
speculative fiction
How is the narration in HMT different to other dystopian novels of the time?
one of the first female narrations
the ‘electric cattle prods’ used by the aunts were also seen in what setting in real life?
by the US police in the late 1960s civil rights and race riots
The Gilead army ‘angels’ could have got their name from where?
the new york ‘‘Guardian Angles’ a paramilitary force established in 1979 to curb social unrest
What did Atwood say in her Amnesty International address about the writers moral responsibilities to ….
‘to retain memory and courage in the face of unspeakable suffering’ - she believed that oppression resulted from the other side failing to see the damage to others - writers must remain open to pain and suffering
the Red Center motto ‘Pen is Envy’ is a corruption of which Freudian psychoanalytic theory?
Penis envy (a stage of female psychosexual development)
Where does the negative connotations of the name Jezebel come from?
The Phoenician princess Jezebel who persuaded her husband the King of northern Israel to follow her gods rather than his and was severely punished. Jezebel = immoral and deceitful woman (atwood frequently supports women who are berated in the bible - highlights the hypocrisy and sexism of gilead)
