Handmaid's tale 1

Question 1

Dedicated to

Answer 1

Mary Webster (witch and ancestor of MA) and Perry Miller (her former university professor specialist of Puritans’ history)

Question 2

Ancestors of MA

Answer 2

Puritans

Question 3

The epigraphs

Answer 3

shed light on the novel’s themes

Question 4

First epigraph

Answer 4

from the Old Testament, offers a biblical precedent for the sexual rules of Gilead

Question 5

Second epigraph

Answer 5

pamphlet calling for the improvement of conditions in Ireland in 1720s = satirical

Question 6

Last epigraph

Answer 6

proverb, criticism of state control over human activity

Question 7

Headings/contents/chapters

Answer 7

15 sections, 8 ‘Nights’ and 1 ‘Nap’ alternate with activities. Themes culturally related to women + spiritual dimension and Bibled evoked

Question 8

Back cover - setting

Answer 8

The republic of Gilead

Question 9

Back cover - characters

Answer 9

Offred = breed
Dissenters (people who don’t belong to Gilead or rejected)

Question 10

Back cover - type of novel

Answer 10

Science-fiction (in the future), dystopia, lot of suffering, unfair society, imaginary world, social/political issues and disastrous consequences

Question 11

Back cover - Tale

Answer 11

Traditional fairy tale with moral lessons and dystopian settings /personal account or testimony / oral tradition, consequences of totalitarian regime

Question 12

Front cover

Answer 12

figure of a deshumanised woman on a black background who is looking down in a meek position. Staring at a white spot (reduced point of view)

Question 13

Colour red on the front cover

Answer 13

feminity/fertility ‘cause of the menstrual blood

Question 14

About her outfit (front cover)

Answer 14

Wearing a bonnet which shields her from view, reminds of blinders (horse). body trapped.

Question 15

Overall impression (front cover)

Answer 15

sadness/gloom

Question 16

White colour (front cover)

Answer 16

purity

Question 17

Chapter 1

Answer 17

the incipit