Context

Question 1

When and where was Atwood born?

Answer 1

1939 - Ottawa Canada

Question 2

what was life like for Atwood growing up?

Answer 2

her father was an entomologist and she spent her childhood in rural canada
got a masters degree from harvard university

Question 3

Where did Atwood start to write the Handmaids Tale

Answer 3

West berlin in 1984 during the cold war - a period of heightened political tension between the Soviet Union and USA

Question 4

Environmentalism context

Answer 4

1962 - Rachel Carson published a book on adverse effects of pesticides and chemicals on the environment
1972 - greenpeace founded

Question 5

Feminism context

Answer 5

1960s - introduction of the pull, divorce becoming more common and equal pay demands
Simone de Beauvoir and the Second sex 1949
Betty Friedan and Feminine Mystique
Second wave was more political for rights to work

Question 6

Who was president while Atwood was writing?

Answer 6

Reagan - empathised conservatism and family values of the traditional heterosexual nuclear family
appealed to white working class

Question 7

What was the Moral Majority?

Answer 7

founded in 1979 by members of the Christian right and the republican party
believed America to be a fundamentally religious nation
fought against abortion, gay rights and pornography

Question 8

AIDs context

Answer 8

first case in US reported in 1970
by 1984 nearly 4000 people died and a homophobic manic grew
public fears about the epidemic fed into christian right propaganda

Question 9

WW2 context

Answer 9

Atwood lived through WW2
concentration camp systems and violence against jewish people

Question 10

Puritanism context

Answer 10

accusation of witchcraft spread in America in 17th century
Massachusetts was were the pilgrim fathers landed and where puritansim held sway
puritans had strict dress codes and rules on behaviour

Question 11

What was the Iranian revolution?

Answer 11

Ayatollahs came into power in late 1970: and made Iran a theocracy
strict rules on behaviour and treated women differently
stinging opposed Western culture

Question 12

What was the problems with sexualisation?

Answer 12

massage parlours being deregulated alllowing many to become brotherly in 1969:
marches against pornogroahy become more lrevang with porn coming widely accessible