Handmaids Tale

Question 1

What are you tested on A01?

Answer 1

• Arguments in relation to the question
• Well written and structured essay
• knowledge and understanding of the novel
• use of terminology

Question 2

What are you tested on A02?

Answer 2

• use of quotes/ references to support argument
• close analysis of language
• close analysis of form/ structure

Question 3

What are you tested on A03?

Answer 3

• context knowledge

- LINKING context clearly to your point

Question 4

What are you tested on A04?

Answer 4

• links to genre/ typicality/ other texts/ literary ideas
• tip- make sure you don’t just look at dystopia, but it as a ‘novel of anticipation’ (speculative fiction), satire, post-modern, romantic characteristics, slave narrative= are they typical in these ways?

Question 5

What are you tested on for A05?

Answer 5

-thorough engagement with the debate set up in the task

Question 6

What did Atwood say about the novel- use of past?

Answer 6

-“I made a rule for myself: I would not include anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time, or for which the technology did not already exist”

Question 7

Remember!

Answer 7

-have notes on trauma theory could look over!

Question 8

Notes about female experience in the novel (essay):

Answer 8

• if wasn’t about the lack of female power and experience why Atwood would create a female protagonist with so little power (or alternatively, does have power- rebelling just in this narrative)
• focusing on female experience or the dangers and extremes society will go to maintain humanity as a race and for survival
• Serena joy acts as a parody of a virtuous women
• Moira- focus of later feminist agendas (than eg: Offred’s mother) such as right for black women, gay rights…
• breaks narrative tradition of trauma theory eg: reconstructions and idea she is storytelling
• night sections receipt a private period of reflection in the novel
• slither of hope
• Freud- Offred multi-dimensional character, from a psychoanalytical perspective the oppression of society has let desires of the unconscious come through eg: her dreams and sudden “ambushes” of the past
• hidden agenda of obtaining power?

Question 9

Remember!

Answer 9

-Have additional notes from massolit, lectures, articles! - in folder!

Question 10

Name some other ideas and quotes from Margaret Atwood:

Answer 10

• “I do see the novel as a vehicle for looking at society- an interface between language and what we choose to call reality, although even that is a very malleable substance”
• “I don’t write pretty books- I know that”
• “the readers… really have to labour to produce your text for themselves”
• “people can be morally superior when they are in a position of relative powerlessness. For instance, if you’re a women being victimised then you can afford moral superiority. But once you have power, you have to take responsibility” - (perhaps not in view that Aunts are just facilitators, link to Janine- rape section)
• “There was a risk that (The Handmaids Tale) would be thought feminist propaganda of the most outrageous kind, which was not really what I intended. I was more interested in totalitarian systems… The character telling the story was brought up in our time, in our language” (not abnormal people eg: commander)
• “Offred was boxed in. How do you tell a narrative from the point of view that person? The more limited and boxed in you are, the more important details become… Details, episodes, separate themselves from the flow of time in which they’re embedded”
• “feminist activity is not casual, it’s symptomatic”
• “Anyone who wants power will try to manipulate you by appealing to your desires and fears, and sometimes your best instincts. Women have to be a little cautious about that kind of appeal to them. What are we being asked to give up?”

Question 11

Page numbers and chapters!

Answer 11

-START! :)

Question 12

-Chapter 1 key analysis ideas:

Answer 12

• emphasises confusion and fear of the new totalitarian state
• Atwood shows despite the strict and de-personalising living conditions they suffer. Women still have mental freedom to reminisce about the past and ‘yearn’ for the future
• Angels- Gileads (state) soldiers. May be linked to the New York “Guardian Angels”- a parliamentary force established in 1979 to curb social unrest
• narrators real name is mystery, end of chapter all names exchanged- all mentioned in novel except June- her name?
• “cattle prods”- explicit association between women and breeding animals, also used in civil rights and race riots in 1960s

Question 13

What’s in chapter 2?

Answer 13

• living arrangements
• costume
• Martha’s
• no flashbacks

Question 14

Key ideas in chapter two:

Answer 14

• “Martha” comes from biblical story of Martha and Mary. All designated by roles eg: commander, wife, Aunt, Handmaids…
• connection between Aunt Lydia’s rule for Handmaids- “Hair must be long but covered” and Saint Paul “either that or a close shave”- Corinthians 11:6 Bible
• Offred’s actions follow a prescribed pattern measured by bells
• her image of the eye that ‘has been taken out’ suggests blankness, blindness and tortue, high risk of self harm and suicide
• Atwood explicitly stating Offred’s role as surrogate mother shows how important she is to society due to her conceiving ability
• both Handmaid and wife trapped, wife reminds Offred constantly that her life is on the line and the dangers

Question 15

What’s in chapter three?

Answer 15

• Garden of commander’s wife
• has some flashbacks:
• her own garden
• when she first arrived at house and met Serena

Question 16

What are the key ideas in chapter three?

Answer 16

• realises who commander’s wife is- Serena Joy who used to be a gospel singer
• commanders wife very blunt, feel some sympathy- can’t do what handmaiden can, restricted as well and lacks a role
• uses religion as a justification of behaviour in society
• clear not going to share a close relationship

Question 17

What happens in chapter 4?

Answer 17

• present- goes to shop with Ofglen, go through barrier, small conversation about weather and war, Nick winks at her
• flashback to Aunt Lydia
• story- women got shot because guardians thought she had a bomb

Question 18

What are the key ideas in chapter 4?

Answer 18

• names symbolise status
• hiding the truth is a feature of totalitarian regime
• lots of biblical references
• built up repressive and sinister atmosphere, familiar and unfamiliar Gilead, domesticity and military, biblical car names- religious fundamentalism -duality in Gilead- Christianity and institutionalised oppression by visit to churchyard and wall- ‘Red Smile’
• no where is safe- paranoid- Nick winks
• no freedom of speech- small chat
• sexual desire
• religion at the heart of war?

Question 19

What happens in chapter 5?

Answer 19

-present: on walk with Ofglen, deserving town, going to shops- Milk and Honey, waiting in queue when a pregnant Handmaid walks in- Janine (was at Red center with her), then go to ‘All Flesh’, then on way back meet some Japanese tourists- what used to wear and having choice

• flashbacks:
• Luke and her dream house
• as free women- what wore, mundane jobs, having own money, women not being safe, movie theatres, festivals
• Aunt Lydia-what taught them
• Moira (briefly introduced)
• daughter and Luke- plastic bags

Question 20

What are the key ideas in chapter 5?

Answer 20

• Handmaids are a paradox of feminist acting out a masquerade which hides Gilead’s oppression of women
• classified as ‘sacred vessels’ or ‘sisters dipped in blood’- Gilead’s fascination and vilification of female sexuality. Hypocrisy and state sponsored exploitation of women’s sexuality- takes offred fo Jezebels- brothel
• women at Jezebels denied an official existence- ‘yet here they are’
• motif of doubled- all oppressed by same patriarchal regime- double of ofglen, her predecessor who hanged herself, commander’s wife, Janine (Ofwarren)…
• Gilead is very artificial and empty- no children, a signal of the crisis at the centre of Gilead’s social and political life. Illusion of peace eg: commander’s wife in garden, appearance is achieved only as a result of suspicion, fear and brutality. This is epitomised in the way language is officially used in Gilead. Euphemisms such as ‘ceremony’ and ‘salvaging’ which masks darker, more sinister truths
• ultimate goal in brainwashing programme, all doctrines of state are internalised by its citizens. Legitimised and made more horrifying by its blasphemous appropriation of the biblical promise- ‘The kingdom of God, is within you’- Luke 17:21
• false images of domestic security, difference between centres and borders- Gilead’s power is ill defined
• As offred walks needs survival strategies- uses memories and times before
• silent discourse of resistance to everything Gilead stands for just like exposure of the hypocrisy of the regime
• she escaped into her own private narrative of Sunday walks with Luke…
• it celebrates her ordinary humanity: reassures reader that she has a secret identity underneath Handmaids costume

Double vision:

• motif of ‘double’ introduced as offred and ofglen. Distinction between insignificance of the colour red when it is blood and when colour of flowers
• clarity of perspective, continues to believe in importance of individuals courageous efforts to avoid confusion, typical of her subservient attitude throughout novel. Awareness of incongruities- entertains herself throughout language
• silently and secretly challenges double vision of Gilead

Question 21

What happens in chapter 6?

Answer 21

• present:
• walking the church way and see bodies hanging from men salvaging
• describes tulips and then men that are hanged
• no flashcards- only references to Aunt Lydia

Question 22

What are the key ideas of chapter 6?

Answer 22

• it is clearly shown that there is a problem with fertility in this chapter
• Offred trying to stay sane under tyranny, won’t believe distorted version of reality which Gilead is trying to impose
• very repressive atmosphere with contrasts between childhood and the hanging on the wall

Question 23

What happens in chapter 7?

Answer 23

• only first paragraph has present action- lying in bed
• flashback:
• Moira and their time at college
• early childhood memory of going to the park with her mother (feminist activist) burning of pornographic magazines
• another memory of her lost child, taken by force under new regime, Offred was drugged and assigned to the Red centre to be trained as a Handmaid
• ends in present action commenting on the story she is telling and her uncertainty about who she is addressing or whether her story will ever be heard

Question 24

What are the key ideas in chapter 7?

Answer 24

• several ‘night’ sections throughout novel which signals ‘time out’ where she escapes from the public to private world of même leu and desire
• structural device:
• ‘date rape’ and ‘pretty woman… swinging, like Tarzan from a vine’- highlighting two key feminist issues in very different ways
• 3 most important women, 3 separate flashbacks- Moira, daughter and mum
• storytelling as survival tool, memories are a source of strength- maintain an alternative perspective on events
• outlet from system where behaviour is rigidly controlled
• self conscious narrator- reasons why storytelling
• trauma theory

Question 25

REMEMBER!

Answer 25

-creates a key quotes booklet!!

Question 26

What were some of the reactions to handmaids?

Answer 26

• band in some schools
• many thought predictive of future
• criticisms such as that of McCarthy

Question 27

-what went down when Atwood was writing book?

Answer 27

-1989- Berlin Wall

Question 28

What does Atwood disagree with calling her book?

Answer 28

-‘feminist dystopia’

Question 29

What does she suggest the handmaids are?

Answer 29

-‘functional than decorative’

Question 30

-what influences did Atwood get from George Orwell?

Answer 30

• his characters and “their eyes to what’s really going on”
• once in power “pretence is no longer necessary”
• realism- strict control and oppression in totalitarian regimes
• goes against narrative traditional of male protagonist

Question 31

Who are the promise keepers?

Answer 31

-movement in America that believe we should return to conventional roles and focus on men

Question 32

What is the loss of name similar to?

Answer 32

-similar to slaves who took on the surname of their owner

Question 33

What could be some of the warnings and messages of Handmaids?

Answer 33

• warning all people to avoid dangers of the political apathy in which totalitarian regimes flourish
• women forget rights they have gained, less interested in feminism could easily be lost again “History will absolve me”- deliberately chose the character of offred as an example of complacency but also as someone who is interested in social history, reading, intellectual…
• language is true power not political control
• each person must become a liar or hypocrite in order to survive and exist within the system
• message of responsibility- what we do and how we act
• presents a fictive future which bears an uncomfortable resemblance to our present society

Question 34

What could Offred’s frequent link to nature suggest?

Answer 34

-prize pig, flowers, chicken waiting to be tenderised… all reminders of way patriarchal society equated women with nature but many wished to connect with cuiterez and intellectual life eg: forbidden book, scrabble…

Question 35

Who could be argued to have more strength in the novel?

Answer 35

• love

- those who have female bonds

Question 36

How are the women’s actions typical to literature?

Answer 36

-tend not to be the killers, remain silent eg: passive sirens- mermaids or love for survival, sexual manipulation as power…

Question 37

What is the name ‘Offred’?

Answer 37

-a type of patronymic- belongs to Fred (commander- of Fred)

Question 38

Where did Atwood get her inspiration for the costumes?

Answer 38

-Afghanistan

Question 39

How does it fit with gothic romance?

Answer 39

• love triangle with Serena

- Offred is the helpless prisoner by male force until liberated by a romantic hero

Question 40

What does Offred’s own use of these romantic tropes suggest?

Answer 40

• knows nothing about Nick yet still describes him as a hero
• metaphor of a cave- link to classic tragedy eg: Isolde and Tristan or Dido and Aeneas

Question 41

Is Offred’s complacency surprising?

Answer 41

-using her position with the commander for her own gains eg: hand lotion- trivial

Question 42

What is there doubt over?

Answer 42

• her narrative point of view- speaks for a lot of the other characters eg: Luke and Moira
• despite education and former life did predominantly female task- transcriber of books to disks and suggestion Like may have chosen her based on her sexual attraction and fertility

Question 43

What is used by the Japanese tourists?

Answer 43

• perhaps mistakes their outward appearance as a symbol of freedom- western view
• true personal freedom doesn’t exist in either?

Question 44

How is this atypical as a dystopian novel?

Answer 44

-lack of futuristic technology- more step back in time than forward

Question 45

However is typical…

Answer 45

• spontaneous, orgiastic group of outlets for frustration but still carefully supervised
• discipline and lack of a face of regime- network for surveillance, counter surveillance from commanders, doctors to domestic servants

Question 46

What could the war also be a tool for?

Answer 46

-rationale for furthering internal repression

Question 47

Critical views- Rigny:

Answer 47

-“Offred values her own physical survival above sisterhood, and in so doing sacrifices her own integrity, that which is, for Atwood, more crucial even than life”

• Passive
• use of Nick- needs man for strength
• lack of use with position with commander

Question 48

Critical views- mob mentality- Rigney:

Answer 48

• “compensated for the loss of nature and of sex trough things like ‘prayvaganzas’ and ‘salvaging’”
• disagree- don’t think public executions and torturing is a substitute for the life they have lost. Yes, is a place for emotional outlet but does not compensate for things have lost- feel worse after- have to participate

Question 49

Critical views- Love and relationships- Ehrenreich:

Answer 49

-“only truly subversive force appears to be love”

Question 50

Critical views-bible and religion- Dominick Grace:

Answer 50

-“read selectively and even modified”

Question 51

Critical views- surveillance- Hammer:

Answer 51

-“social control which is no way medieval but which is rather radically modern”

Question 52

What happens in chapter 8?

Answer 52

• present:
• new bodies on wall
• have small conversation, first sign- “May Day”
• foetus funeral
• Nick makes small talk and winks
• Serena Joy before
• talks to Rita- oranges
• Commander outside room- first encounter- confused
• flashback:
• weather- ice cream
• Luke’s interpretation of “m’aidez’”, Serena joys career and on TV, Aunt Lydia- teachings

Question 53

What are the key ideas of chapter 8?

Answer 53

• daily life goes on as usual, only seasons change
• Alert of details no matter how normal and mundane eg: dish towels
• homosexuality- gender treachery
• whole walk is ritualised, rehearsed and repetitive- watch one another
• Handmaids-sinners eg: illegitimate children, affairs
• econowives- poor
• brainwashing- religion altered to suit agenda- “All flesh is grass, all flesh is weak”- all mortal and vulnerable
• Serena suppressed and irony that she is now “speechless”- victim to the very ideology she helped promote
• oppression and misery all around daily life- no escape (except in mind)

Question 54

What happens in chapter 9?

Answer 54

Present:

• inside her room she now reflects on herself, of the person before her
• explores her room dividing it into sections and finds Latin scratched into cupboard- “Don’t let the bastards grind you down”
• Asks Rita about women before her and vague

Flashback:

• relationship and affair with Luke, waiting at hotel, talks about the freedoms of a hotel
• wanting to be with Luke
• reminisces about Moira and college days

Question 55

CONTEXT:

-What was Roe V Wade 1973?

Answer 55

a landmark Supreme Court case
which established a woman’s legal right to an abortion.
This case is seen by U.S. feminists as something to
protect. Subsequent government administrations have
chipped away at the protection for women’s rights issues.
Gilead is a dystopian world which imagines a total
annihilation and reversal of Roe vs. Wade, where women
are reduced to ‘two-legged wombs’.

Question 56

What was the Equal Rights Amendment Act?

Answer 56

proposed amendment
to the U.S. constitution which would have guaranteed
equal legal rights for all American citizens regardless of
sex; it sought to end the legal distinctions between men
and women in terms of divorce, property, employment.
First introduced in 1921 but by 1982 it had failed to pass
due to strong opposition. Gilead acts as a nightmare
mirror which imagines the opposite: women cannot
divorce, hold property or money.

Question 57

What is Puritanism?

Answer 57

the beliefs or principles of a group of English
Protestants of the late 16th and 17th centuries who
wanted simplify and regulate forms of worship: a return
to fundamentalist and traditional interpretation of the
bible. It has become synonymous in today’s culture with
censure of self-expression and sexuality. The principles,
gender-imbalance and costume are all reminiscent of
Puritan America – Is Atwood commenting on any
country’s (including the so called progressive West) ability
to regress and experience extreme politics: China, Hitler’s
Germany etc?

Question 58

What is postmodernism?

Answer 58

genre which engages with
fragmentation, meta-narratives, unreliable narrators and
intertextuality. The ‘historical notes’ at the end of the text
reinforce the ‘fictional’ nature of fiction – Offred’s story
has been transcribed and is now existing as part of a
lecture series.

Question 59

What is the bible? How’s it used in Handmaids?

Answer 59

the bible’s fundamentalist passages (such as
patriarchal control of women) are used as a foundation
for the political system: ‘give me children or else I die’.
This Old Testament story is used as a pretext for mass
removal of women’s rights and reduction to their
generative function. Atwood is perhaps commenting on
the compulsion for humans to selectively use religious
texts for their own gain.

Question 60

What is Harvard University? How is this linked with handmaids?

Answer 60

establishment is synonymous with culture,
knowledge and progression: Atwood chooses its wall to
be ‘The Wall’ in Gilead where dissidents (political,
religious, sexual) are butchered and displayed as a
warning and enactment of power. Is Attwood using a
symbol of such power to emphasise the degradation of
Gileadan society?

Question 61

Who is Phyllis Schafly?

Answer 61

an American conservative who
campaigned against the ERA, believed that women
couldn’t be raped in marriage: “By getting married, the
woman has consented to sex, and I don’t think you can
call it rape”. Schlafly balanced strong family values with
politics: she unsuccessfully ran for Congress. Attwood is
perhaps parodying activists like Schlafly, publically
campaigning for conservative values who are then
punished by the system they help to create: Serena Joy is
arguably a parodied, satirical figure, desperately unhappy
in the life she has helped create for herself.

Question 62

What is the New Right? How could Handmaids link with Ronald Reagan’s presidency?

Answer 62

Ronald Reagan’s presidency
heralded a new era of politics: where massive amounts of
funding for the Republican party started to come directly
from Christian groups and lobbyists. This is seen as a
danger to Attwood, who uses Gilead as a warning for the
danger of failing to ‘separate church and state’. His return
to traditional ‘family values’ was seen as an attack
women’s rights by second-wave feminists.

Question 63

What is dystopian fiction?

Answer 63

futuristic, imagined universe in
which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a
perfect society are maintained through corporate,
bureaucratic, technological, moral, or totalitarian control.
Dystopias, through an exaggerated worst-case scenario,
make a criticism about a current trend, societal norm, or
political system.

-is Handmaids a failed society or more exposed?

Question 64

What is Second Wave Feminism?

Answer 64

the 60s and 70s saw major
breakthroughs for women’s rights in America: access to
contraception, increased voting rights and access to
abortion. Gilead reflects the societal fears of the
vulnerability of these rights.

Question 65

What are the Canterbury Tales?

Answer 65

written by Geoffrey Chaucer,
these tales were an example of masculine dominated
literary canon. Is Atwood challenging by giving voice to
oppressed women?

Question 66

Context overview- booklet:

Answer 66

x Reagan’s presidency and its links to the religious right
x Feminist backlash
x Puritanism
x Salem Witchcraft trials
x The Red Scare
x Cattle prods used by the Aunts – linked to the 1960s race riots

Question 67

Ronald Reagan: 👨‍🦳

Answer 67

In the 1970s, evangelical Christians were alarmed by rapid social changes, including legal abortion, homosexual rights, the legal availability of pornography, equal rights for women and a ban on public school prayer. To the New Christian Right, these changes constituted a crisis that threatened the American nation. Atwood wrote the novel shortly after the elections of Ronald Reagan in the United States (1981 – 1989) and Margaret Thatcher in Great Britain, during a period of conservative revival in the West partly fueled by a strong, well-organized movement of religious conservatives who criticized what they perceived as the excesses of the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s and 1970s. The growing power of this “religious right” heightened feminist fears that the gains women had made in previous decades would be reversed.

Reagan was unabashed in his expressions of support for causes of the New Christian Right, though some noted that Reagan himself was not a regular churchgoer. But he stated his belief that all of the answers to America’s problems could be found in the Bible. In his 1981 inaugural address he called for each inaugural day to be declared “a day of prayer.” He frequently stated his opposition to abortion. In 1983 in a speech to the National Association of Evangelicals he described the Soviet Union as an “evil empire,” casting the Cold War in starkly moral terms. He opposed the Equal Rights Amendment, which called for equal
protection under the laws for women. The ERA died in 1982, despite polls showing that U.S. public supported it by a 2-to-1 margin. As a result, Reagan won reelection in 1984

Question 68

The moral majority: 😇 😈

Answer 68

An organization founded in 1979 by Jerry Falwell, a popular television preacher from Lynchburg, Virginia, transformed the Christian Right into powerful political force. Called The Moral Majority, his group was said to bring in $500 million per year in contributions. The organization operated direct mail campaigns for conservative candidates and lobbied for legislation on its favored social issues.

Question 69

Feminist Backlash: 🗣

Answer 69

x subtly implying that women should hold more traditional roles in the home.

After the great successes of the women’s liberation movement, a backlash against the “second wave” of feminism began during the 1970s.

Susan Faludi’s Backlash:

In 1991, Susan Faludi published Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. This book examined the trend at that time, and similar backlashes in the past, to reverse women’s gains in moving towards equality. Faludi examined the inequalities that faced American women during the 1980s. Her inspiration was a Newsweek cover story in 1986 about a scholarly study, coming out of Harvard and Yale, supposedly showing that single, career women had little chance of marrying. She noticed that the statistics didn’t really demonstrate that conclusion, and she began noticing other media stories that seemed to show that feminist gains had actually hurt women. “The women’s movement, as we are told time and again, has proved women’s own worst enemy.” Faludi saw the backlash as a recurring trend. She showed how each time that women seemed to make progress towards equal rights, the media of the day highlighted supposed harm to women, and at least some of the gains were reversed.

Question 70

Puritanism: ✝️

Answer 70

In New England, in the Puritan “Holy Commonwealth,” some 35 churches had been formed by 1640. The Puritans in New England maintained the Calvinist distinction between the elect and the damned in their theory of the church, in which membership consisted only of the regenerate minority who publicly confessed their experience of conversion. Ministers had great political influence, and civil authorities exercised a large measure of control over church affairs. The Cambridge Platform (1648) expressed the Puritan position on matters of church government and discipline. To the Puritans, a person by nature was wholly sinful and could achieve good only by severe and unremitting discipline. Hard work was considered a religious duty and emphasis was laid on constant self-examination and self-discipline. Although profanation of the Sabbath day, blasphemy, fornication, drunkenness, playing games of chance, and participation in theatrical performances were penal offenses, the severity of the code of behavior of the early Puritans is often exaggerated.

Question 71

Salem Witch Trials: 🧙‍♀️

Answer 71

The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil’s magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with
paranoia and injustice.

Conditions that led to the hysteria:
- Due to war, many refugees moved to Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The displaced people created a strain on Salem’s resources.
- This aggravated the existing rivalry between families with ties to the wealth of the
port of Salem and those who still depended on agriculture.
- The Puritan villagers believed all the quarreling was the work of the Devil.
-In 1692, three girls started having ‘fits’ – screaming, throwing things, contorting themselves into strange positives. A local doctor blamed the supernatural, and, under pressure from a local magistrate, the girls blamed three women for afflicting them. One admitted to making a pact with the devil and all three were put in jail. With the seed of paranoia planted, a stream of accusations followed for the next few months. Later, a special court was established for the trials. Overall, 19 were hanged on
Gallows Hill, a 71-year-old man was pressed to death with heavy stones, several people died in jail and nearly 200 people, overall, had been accused of practicing “the Devil’s magic.”

Question 72

What were lynch mobs? 😵

Answer 72

Between 1880 and the 1930s in America, lynching of black people was common, particularly in the Southern states. Lynch mobs acted outside of the law and victims did not get a fair trial. The typical lynch mob would be made up of local citizens; a core group would actually carry out the crime, while many of the town’s residents would look on. The spectators often included “respectable” men and women, and children were often brought to lynchings. A lynching victim might be shot, stabbed, beaten, or hanged; if he was not hanged to death, his body would often be hung up for display.

Question 73

Red scare: 🔴

Answer 73

As the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United States intensified in the late 1940s and early 1950s, hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. became known as the Red Scare. (Communists were often referred to as “Reds” for their allegiance to the red Soviet flag.) The Red Scare led to a range of actions that had a profound and enduring effect on U.S. government and society. Federal employees were analyzed to determine whether they were sufficiently loyal to the government, and the House Un-American Activities Committee, as well as U.S. Senator Joseph R. McCarthy, investigated allegations of subversive elements in the government and the Hollywood film industry. The climate of fear and repression linked to the Red Scare finally began to ease by the late 1950s. The Red Scare caused many innocent people to be afraid to express their ideas. They feared they might be accused of being a communist.

Question 74

What was Romania? 🇷🇴

Answer 74

Before 1967, the Romanian abortion policy was one of the most liberal in Europe. Because the availability of contraceptive methods was poor, abortion was the most common means
of family planning. Through a combination of modernization of the Romanian community, the high participation of women in the labor market and a low standard of living, the number of births significantly decreased since the 1950s, reaching its lowest value in 1966.

To counter this sharp decline of the population, the Communist Party decided that the Romanian population should be increased and in October 1966, decree 770 was authorized by President Ceaușescu. Abortion and contraception were declared illegal,

except for:
x women over 45 (later lowered to 40)
x women who had already borne four children (later raised to five)
x women whose life would be threatened by carrying to term, due to medical
complications
x women who were pregnant through rape and/or incest

To enforce the decree, society was strictly controlled. Contraceptives disappeared from the shelves and all women were forced to be monitored monthly by a gynecologist. Sex education was refocused primarily on the benefits of motherhood, including the ostensible
satisfaction of being a heroic mother who gives her homeland many children. The direct consequence of the decree was a huge baby boom, but maternal mortality rates also became the highest in Europe as women sought unsafe and outlawed means to terminate their pregnancies.

Question 75

China: 🇨🇳

Answer 75

In China in the 1960s, the leader of the Communist state, Mao Zedong, felt that Communism was being diluted and that bourgeois elements were infiltrating the Party. He instigated a violent social and cultural upheaval which radically altered the way of life of millions of people.

x Mao launched an appeal to those who believed in his ideas, and China’s youth responded by forming the Red Guards. China’s citizens found that, just as in Gilead, ‘The young ones are often the most dangerous, the most fanatical’

x Intellectuals were particularly singled out for ill-treatment and University life came to an end, as it does in Gilead

x Books were, as Offred comments wryly about Gilead in chapter 15, seen as ‘an incendiary device’ and - except for ‘the Little Red Book’, the
Thoughts of Chairman Mao - were burned wholesale.

x As in Nazi Germany, people were encouraged to betray any perceived lapses in others, even close family members

x Similarly, like Offred’s lost daughter, children of the ‘bourgeoisie’ were forcibly removed from their parents to be adopted by Communists loyal to Chairman Mao.

x In the Hundred Flowers Campaign, restrictions on freedom of thought and speech were lifted, and criticism of the regime increased. The restrictions were then re-imposed, and those who had spoken out suffered retribution.

x In 1979, the Chinese government introduced the controversial ‘one son policy’, whereby parents were allowed to have children until a boy was born and then must stop having children, in an effort to control the exponentially increasing population size of china.

Question 76

Islamic regimes: ☪️

Answer 76

Some of Atwood’s ideas about repressive laws in Gilead may be influenced by her observation of some Islamic societies and fundamentalist groups. Such groups wish to see strict Islamic attitudes imposed universally, including segregation of the sexes, very modest
dress for women and a ban on dancing. Perhaps more notorious in the Western world is the Taliban, an extreme Islamic fundamentalist group which became particularly powerful in Afghanistan about ten years after the publication of The Handmaid’s Tale. Taliban views include:

x A refusal to allow girls to be educated

x Insistence on women being fully covered, including the face, by a head-to-toe veil or burqa

x The imposition of brutal sentences, such as amputation and public stoning to death, for what are perceived as breaches of Sharia Law.
Echoes of the attitudes and methods of such fundamentalist groups can be seen in the strict dress codes imposed in Gilead and the public punishments and executions which Offred witnesses. She notes in chapter 42 that reading would be punished by having ‘only a hand
cut off’.

X Punishments such as flogging and amputation are still inflicted under Sharia law in Sudan and in Saudi Arabia, where currently women are not supposed to drive cars or to travel without being escorted by a male relative. Atwood’s feminism makes her particularly hostile
to such attitudes, which she observed at first hand in Afghanistan during her world tour in 1978.

Question 77

Nazi Germany: 🇩🇪

Answer 77

Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in the 1930s is in several ways reflected in Gilead:

x Hitler promised his followers a new Germany with a stress on family values. However, this rapidly turned into oppression of any who did not share his vision and the slaughter of those who were not of the ‘pure’ Aryan race he demanded

x He encouraged the fanatical adulation of the young through the Hitler Youth movement - a situation echoed in Atwood’s Gilead when she writes in chapter 4 of the Guardians of the Faith that: ‘The young ones are often the most dangerous, the most fanatical’

x Books that were considered to have any seditious or undesirable content were burned by the Nazis. Gilead too has severe restrictions on literature and indeed on literacy

x In Hitler’s ‘Third Reich’ people were encouraged to betray any perceived lapses in others, even close family members, just as in chapter 41 of The Handmaid’s Tale Offred realises that Nick might betray her and it is therefore ‘foolhardy’ to trust him

x In order to brainwash his countrymen into accepting the genocide of Jews and gypsies, Hitler described these groups as ‘Untermenschen’ - less than human, linking to the ‘Unwomen’ in the novel. The phrase ‘The final solution to the Jewish question’ was the phrase used to describe the extermination of the Jews. These show how language has the power to legitimise actions.

x Even before Hitler set up the death-camps in which millions were slaughtered, Jews were required to wear the distinguishing badge of a yellow star. The same badge would be affixed to the body of a hanged Jew in Gilead, according to Offred in chapter 31

x Children of ‘undesirables’ in Hitler’s Germany were forcibly removed from their parents, to be adopted by loyal Nazis, reminding us of Offred’s lost daughter.

Question 78

Dehumanisation of the Jews: ✡️

Answer 78

x Initially the Nazis encouraged Germans to boycott Jewish businesses.

x The Nuremberg Laws in 1935 prevented Christians from marrying Jews and stripped . Jews of their civil rights, removed them from jobs, and restricted their daily lives, among other things. Jews were excluded from society.

x As a farmer marks his cattle with a brand to separate them from his neighbour’s cattle, the Nazis forced Jews to sew the Star of David on their clothing in order to mark and identify them in an attempt to both separate them from the rest of society and to shame them. This abuse of the Star of David also distorted a symbol of pride that was sacred to the Jews. The marking of Jews in this way was but a single step in the movement to dehumanize them.

Elie Wiesel: ‘after human beings have been depersonalized or dehumanized verbally, then it is only a matter of time before they are depersonalized in practice, treated as non-humans who can be expendable, killed for ideological or political purposes.’

Question 79

Trauma theory: 🤕

Answer 79

Studies have been completed which indicate that writing about a traumatic event can have some of the positive effects of therapy. By bearing witness, writers can attempt to come to terms with the past, as well as ensuring that it is not forgotten. Dori Laub, a psychologist and psychotherapist, writes about people bearing witness (telling others, often through writing) to their experiences in the Holocaust – his theory is that they were unable to describe what happened to them during the event but they felt a strong need to explain this afterwards.

The survivors did not only need to survive so that they could tell their stories; they also needed to tell their stories in order to survive. There is, in each survivor, an imperative need to tell and thus come to know one’s story. – Dori Laub

Question 80

Victor Frankl: 🕊

Answer 80

• Frankl is a psychotherapist who writes about his experiences in Auschwitz. The overall message of his book Man’s Search for Meaning is that to survive the oppression and suffering, you need to be sure your life has meaning.
• ‘A man who could not see the end of his ‘provisional existence’ was not able to aim at an ultimate goal in life. He ceased living for the future’. Page 79
• ‘A man who let himself decline because he could not see any future goal found himself occupied by retrospective thoughts.’ Page 80-Quotes Friedrich Nietzsche - famous philosopher (in footnote, write ‘cited in’ the above reference.) ‘He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.’

Question 81

Environment: 🌍

Answer 81

Atwood began writing The Handmaid’s Tale during the Cold War, and nuclear catastrophes such as Three Mile Island were fresh in everyone’s memory. There was a great fear widespread radiation sickness if such an incident occurred again. This coupled with new
chlorine containing pesticides being used, such as DDT, and the devastating results of Agent Orange lead to a worldwide increase in health problems related to harmful chemicals and radioactivity. Because of the nuclear activity and harmful toxins being introduced in the 20th century, there were many pressure groups lobbying against the government to stop activity harmful to the environment. Actions like these spawned organizations such as Greenpeace, who still today fight corporations and government alike in many actions damaging the environment. Atwood has, through The Handmaid’s Tale, offered a prediction for the environmental state of the near future. This is depicted through the colonies, places where ‘unwomen’ and other gender traitors are sent to work and eventually die from radiation sickness. It is one of the only references we get to the world outside a commanders house, and it doesn’t bode well, as Offred speaks of it as a wasteland deemed
uninhabitable by humans. There was a fear that something resembling a nuclear winter would blanket the earth if any country involved in the Cold War instigated a nuclear strike. Atwood is an environmental activist.

Question 82

Narrative form and structure used in Handmaids: 📝

-First person narrative- what is it’s effect?

Answer 82

-first person narration:

• Because of her position, the information Offred provides is
  limited. More focus on personal emotions than typical dystopias.

Question 83

Abrupt story shifts from scene to scene and from one time period to another allowing both the narrator’s past and present to be only gradually revealed:

Answer 83

Draws attention to contrasts between the time before Gilead

and the ‘present’.The reader has to reconstruct the narrative for themselves – itis more of an active process.

Question 84

Offred tells the stories, and therefore provides a voice for other women (denied a voice by the patriarchal structure of the Gilead Republic): her mother, Moira:

Answer 84

-The female perspective is counter to the accepted male
perspective in Gilead.

-As Karen F. Stein explains in her essay “Margaret Atwood’s
The Handmaid’s Tale: Scheherazade in Dystopia”: “Feminists
are particularly interested in stories, because as a marginal
group of society, women have often been the objects rather
than the creators of narrative: their stories have often been
untold. People on the margins of societies often find they are
denied access to the discourses that confer power and status”

Question 85

Second person narration / direct address. ‘Because I’m telling this
story, I will your existence’:

Answer 85

-Requires validation of her experience – that her story matters
and that someone else acknowledges the trauma she has been
through.

Question 86

Offred is a self conscious narrator who recognises that texts are created by their readers as well as the writers. Indeed, she often questions herself on the reality or the degree of truth in her story:

Answer 86

The writer does not have ultimate authority over the meaning
of their story. Atwood draws attention to this in the Historical
Notes as the Professor ascribes his own meaning to Offred’s
tale, but Atwood encourages us to question this. Language is empowering, but also constraining – it cannot fully reflect lived experience.

Question 87

The Historical Notes introduces another narrator, in another place, at another time, projecting another interpretation (of history, of women, of the authenticity and accuracy of Offred’s tale):

Answer 87

Shows the projection of male opinion on a female experience,

which is disregarded. Warns of a reductive reading of texts and of accepting the dominant discourse without question.

Question 88

Symbols:👗

-colour red 🔴

Answer 88

🔴 -passion-Nick

• Fertility and childbirth
• blood- violence and menstrual cycle
• devil-sin- to be handmaid had to have sinned eg: adultery

Question 89

Uniforms/ costumes: 👔👗

Answer 89

👔👗 status and authority in Gilead

• repression- wings stops visual field
• categorisation of society and roles
• source of surveillance’s know to is who and causes some distress eg: some dislike for handmaids and ability to conceive
• conformity
• segregate

Question 90

Eyes: 👀

Answer 90

👁 -always watching, surveillance 
-repression 
-symbol of guardians- on vans, buildings...
-invasive-compromisation of privacy 
-Religious extremism- God watching you
🧿

Question 91

Flowers and Serena’s garden: 🌼🌷

Answer 91

🌷🌹🥀🌺🌸🌼🌻🍁

• fertility
• hope
• child-bearing and something for Serena to maintain, her form of producing life- a way for Serena to fulfil her role as a women and wife- and use of time- less of a role than Offred.
• lack of purpose
• re-grow, constant resurgence of life where as Serena getting old and withers.

Question 92

Biblical Allusions: ✝️

Answer 92

📖 ✝️

• locked up-repression and propaganda
• used as a justification
• indoctrination- manipulation- censorship- lack of verification
• takes out of context not use one thing- irony- her narrative taken out of context
• use of satire eg: Jezebels and use of Lords Prayer

Question 93

Setting- Massachusetts’s, Harvard University… 🇺🇸

Answer 93

🇺🇸 🗺🛣

• use of satire- once place of education and intellectuals now used to manipulate knowledge and control people- not to think outside box
• identify- memories for Offred and places know as reader
• puritans

Question 94

Language- Latin and scrabble: ✍️

Answer 94

✍️📝 ♟ 🧩🎪
-use of tiles- eating them, devouring words- symbol of Offred’s thirst for knowledge and intellect
-humour- Offred doesn’t know what to expect and just wants to play a board game
-Latin- message of hope and strength for other handmaids - “Don’t let the bastards grind you down” also ironic as she committed suicide
-rebellion and temptation
£hypocrisy of commander- power, one who took it

Question 95

The wall: 🧱 🏗🏚🏫

Answer 95

🏫

• symbol of fear, power and control
• loss of identity- masked and only marked for reason of death, unknown

Question 96

Objects like the cigarette, match, Faith cushion, hand lotion: 🚬 🛏🚪🪑🛁🚽🖼💵💳⏳🧴

Answer 96

🚬🧴

• symbol of temptation and luxury
• reminds Offred of her past
• match- possibilities even in regime, could set house on fire, take suicide…= tiny bit of freedom, also a symbol of manipulation- given to Offred almost like a reward for co-operating with Serena, treated like a child
• Faith cushion- indoctrination

Question 97

Themes:

-how is oppression represented in handmaids? 🙅‍♀️

Answer 97

• It is clear from the very beginning of the novel that the narrator is severelyoppressed in this unfamiliar and unexplained society: as she thinks back to life at the ‘Red Centre’ in the first chapter, it is clear that the women in the Red Centre are under the constant surveillance of the Angels and the Aunts. Offred makes specific references to factors such as ‘guards’ and ‘barbed wire.’
• In the next chapter, the room that the narrator describes originally seems a somewhat pleasant change to the oppressive atmosphere of the gymnasium, ‘A window, two white curtains.’ However,the room that the narrator is in also demonstrates oppression, as she lists the means of escape that are absent. In the following chapters, Offred describes to the reader for the first time a typical shopping trip with Ofglen. The narrator describes war conditions, and the presence of threat demonstrates oppression. In reference to Ofglen, Offred comments that ‘she is a spy, as I am hers,’ asserting the irony that although they aresupposed to be for one another’s protection, they are actually a threat to one another. ​
• Offred comments that ‘no one dies from lack of sex… It’s lack of love we die from.’ Offred is now deprived of anyone to love in the new society; lack of love has repressed her spirit.

​-‘Janine was like a puppy that’s been kicked too often.’ Here, Atwood is
implying the degree of oppression Janine has faced in order to become the conformist that she is. We know at least that Janine was shouted at during the sessions of testimony, making the character give in to the oppression she was facing and conform to the person Gilead wishes a handmaid to be. Also, because Janine’s gang-rape was supposedly ‘her own fault,’ Atwood could be presenting arguments in the current rape debate.

-‘This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time, it will. It will become ordinary.’ This idea implies that the happiness of Gilead’s citizens relies ongetting used to the oppressive regime. The comment made by Aunt Lydia, ‘Your daughters will have greater freedom’ is not untrue, as the next generation will not remember anything other than oppression, and it may seem to them that they have
more freedom than they really have. Another interpretation of this quote, however, is that the handmaid’s daughters will be of higher status than their mothers, experiencing a higher level of freedom.

It appears that Gilead’s entire oppressive system is grounded upon a universal need for children. In one way or another, it actually motivates all of the characters.

​In one of Offred’s descriptions of the bodies hanging on ‘The Wall,’ she
describes the indication that tells one exactly what a person’s crime was. We have already seen that Gilead persecutes Catholics and homosexuals (or ‘gender traitors’) and practices racism. We now learn that Gilead is anti-Semitic as well, further creating an explicit parallel between Gilead and Nazi Germany. Offred’s thoughts about a programme she saw about the Holocaust as a child also link Gilead with modern history.
​
-‘The Wall’ in itself is highly significant in regards to oppression: the bodies hanging upon it are propaganda used to deter the people of Gilead from rebelling. It is a constant reminder for those who exercise freedom, and is described horrifically, ‘There are six more bodies hanging, by their necks.’ However, the narrator describes
this with little emotion, ‘There must have been a men’s salvaging.’
​The ‘Prayvaganza’ episode suggests that the next generation will haveno
memories of love, freedom and anything else that Gilead deprives of its citizens, ‘Are they old enough to remember anything of the time before…?’ Gilead will then, respectively, ‘become ordinary.’ Awood suggests that this is the dark power of a totalitarian society: once people cannot remember anything other than oppression, oppression will become ordinary.
​
-Gilead further demonstrates its oppressive power as the ‘Salvaging’
experience (which demonstrates the brutality and dehumanising effect of Gilead),paired with Ofglen’s disappearance and her replacement, shakes Offred and shatters her complacency and contentment with Nick. The climatic shopping trip reasserts the horrors of living in a totalitarian society, and the events begin to rush towards the novel’s conclusion. Offred’s comment that ‘I want to keep on living, in any form’ asserts that human instinct is placed above one’s principles: she wants to stay alive at any cost, even if it means being deprived of her freedom forever. The reader can now understand the psychology of Moira’s defeat: even the most rebellious character in the book places instinct above her principles.

-Offred’s story ends abruptly and uncertainly, illustrating the precarious nature of existence in a totalitarian society.

Question 98

How is the theme of identity and names shown? 🙋‍♀️

Answer 98

• The narrator comments that ‘your name is like a telephone number, usefulonly to others; but what I tell myself is wrong, it does matter.’ This comment emphasises further the importance of having a permanent identity, and that it is not in fact useful only to others.
• ‘I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely’ (Offred, unable to look at her own naked body). This idea also fits in with oppression as a theme in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale.’ Atwood at this point is presenting Gilead’s oppressive power in allowing any sort of identity to seem inferior to the people of the Gileadian society. The idea that her body determines Offred seems to be referring to the human desire for a sexual identity as well as a personal one.
• As the narrator recalls the way Moira escaped the Red Centre, Atwood asserts an important symbolic gesture: Gilead uses clothing to define one’s status, hence Moira’s swapping of clothing with Aunt Elizabeth strikes a blow against Gilead’s attempt to define her identity.
• The discovery that the supposed Latin phrase in the closet means ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down’ is not an entirely joyous moment, as it signals to Offred that the previous handmaid, too, frequently visited the Commander’s study. Perhaps this is because Offred felt as though she had an identity again as the Commander treats her with importance; yet she discovers that her presence was not especially important in comparison with his treatment of the previous handmaid.

-The ‘climatic shopping trip,’ in which Ofglen disappears and the new
handmaid responds to Offred’s enquiry about Ofglen with, ‘I am Ofglen,’ asserts for the last time how having a temporary identity can allow one to get lost in a sea of names, hence emphasising an identity’s importance.

Question 99

How is the theme of religion presented? ✝️

Answer 99

• Religion plays an immensely important part on the reasoning for Gilead’s existence. Whether or not the authorities mean what they say when they imply that Gilead is founded upon religious values, they constantly attempt to justify Gilead’s horror on Biblical terms, ‘It was from the Bible, or so they said.’ Another important element to this, as we can see from this comment, is that often their justification for Gilead does not in fact come from the Bible; they just imply that it does because it portrays the society in a slightly more positive light. What’s more, Biblical teachings are often changed slightly by the Gileadian authorities; for example, ‘All flesh is grass’ becomes ‘All flesh is weak.’ The Gileadian authorities, then, change Biblical teachings so that they may use them for their own ends. Essentially, Gilead also only uses Biblical language when convenient, even if it means taking phrases out of context and destroying their intended meaning. The ‘Jezebel’s’ episode shows theCommander using modern science to justify the existence of the place, which the OldTestament wholly rejects. He uses the rhetoric of late-twentieth century evolutionary
  psychologists, ‘Nature demands variety… It’s part of procreational strategy.’ The Old Testament, then, is useful in justifying the oppression of women, whereas socio- biology provides justification for the men’s own philandering.
• The society of Gilead, then, is theocratic – there is no separation between church and state. A single religion dominates all aspects of life. Upon observation, this religion seems Protestant; even though many of Gilead’s principles (the usage of handmaids being a prime example) come from the Old Testament. Biblical terms areused in all aspects of daily life; for example, ‘Angels,’ ‘Guardians of Faith,’ ‘Commanders of Faith,’ the ‘Eyes of God,’ ‘Milk and Honey,’ ‘All Flesh,’ and eventhe name ‘Gilead’ itself refers to a location in Ancient Israel. The Church-state relationship in Gilead is further reinforced (rather bluntly) on the sign displayed in the ‘Prayvaganza’ episode, ‘GOD IS A NATIONAL RESOURCE.’
• The hypocrisy of Gilead is presented at its maximum when the Commander comments rather flippantly, ‘… But everyone’s human, after all.’ When religion cannot justify Gilead’s existence, Gilead’s supporters turn to the until-now-dismissed scientific research to support their arguments.

Question 100

-how is the theme of women and their biological roles portrayed? 🚺🙎‍♀️

Answer 100

• Because Atwood has written ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ from the first person perspective of a woman living in the horrific and oppressive totalitarian society of Gilead, the theme of ‘women and their roles in society’ proves to be an exceedingly important one. Atwood takes the disadvantages of many debates at the time that the book was written. Many people were arguing that a woman’s place was in the home, that porn was degrading for women and that an unborn child had the same rights as any human being. It was also a time when right-wing politicians had their hands on America, and so the purpose of the novel could possibly be a warning of what may happen if right-wing politicians take hold of the west. The status of the women characters in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is not that different to how they were treated in the Victorian era, and the novel also points out similarities between Gileadian and Islamic treatment of women. Atwood’s novel, then, allows one to appreciate the value of freedom, and the rights women fought for in the early twentieth century. The book is an imagined account of what happens when not uncommon pronouncements are
  taken to their logical conclusions.

-In the early chapters of the novel, Atwood has already established that a
woman’s sexuality is dangerous under Gileadian principles. It is clear that women must cover themselves from head to toe, and not reveal their sexual attractions. Women are also denied any control over their bodies, and the bodies of the abortionists on ‘the Wall’ hammer down this point: feminists wanted abortion rights in order to have control over their bodies. Naturally, in Gilead, this is a horrific crime.

• Atwood implies a link between feminists and religious conservatives; both groups seek to restrict sexual expression. Atwood shows this similarity and extremism in Offred’s flashback in which her mother and feminists are burning pornography. It is clear at this point that the goal of feminists was to cut down certain types of sexual freedom – a goal shared with religious conservatives. Aunt Lydia is a character in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ that represents the link between the two groups: she insists that women are better off in a society without dangerous sexual freedom. Naturally, the Aunt also uses religious arguments to justify Gilead’s oppression of women. During the ‘Prayvaganza’ episode, Offred remembers how the tried to justify the marriage process in Gilead, during one of their conversations, using feminist rhetoric. ‘They’d have to pay for (daycare) themselves, out of their retched little paycheques,’ ‘they got no respect as mothers,’ ‘the husband might just get fed up and take off,’ ‘Or else he’d stay around and beat them up.’ In Gilead, none of these conditions officially exist, which is what the feminists fought for.
• ‘We are two-legged wombs, that’s all.’ Here, Atwood succeeds in implying that women (in particular, handmaids) are merely objects for the means of carrying and giving birth to children. Essentially, only their wombs are important, ‘Cloud, concealed around her central object.’ At this point, the narrator is appealing to emotions rather than reason. Their role in society is further demoralised when the narrator comments in reference to the previous handmaid, ‘If your dog dies, get another.’ This quote emphasises the sheer ruthless attitude to women that the society of Gilead possesses. Each of these ideas is based on Offred’s comment in the second chapter of the novel, ‘Waste not, want not. I am not being wasted…. Why do I want?’ which sets the context for the rest of the novel.
• The episode in the living room prior to the narrator’s first description of ‘the Ceremony’ shows Offred describing decorations in the living room, including paintings of women with pinched faces and restricted breasts. These decorations represent an attempt to restore a pre-feminist world. Atwood implies that nothing about Gilead is new; it merely takes threads from out world and weaves a new, oppressive tapestry out of them.
• When Offred remembers the exact way in which Gilead was enforced, it is clear that the ignorance of Offred and the other women was a fatal failure. Atwood is probably suggesting that women take for granted the gains of the feminist movement and the government’s protection of the rights of women, as it is Offred and the other women’s failure to do this that they lost them all.

-During the ‘Prayvaganza’ episode, Offred informs the reader that
‘Prayvaganzas’ can sometimes be for nuns who recant. From Offred’s descriptions of handmaids, it is clear that handmaids to some extent resemble nuns: both groups are cloistered, consecrated to religious duty, and required to wear long garments referred to as ‘habits.’ However, nuns vow to remain celibate and serve God by ignoring fertility and sexual urges, whereas a handmaid’s sole purpose is to reproduce. Nuns are a larger threat to the totalitarian order than divorced women, or those that have premarital sex. The women in the latter groups are simply behaving immorally, but nuns, by refusing to enter the sexual world at all, ultimately reject the totalitarian order in Gilead which is firmly built around sexual control.

-Offred comments during the ‘Jezebel’s’ episode in reference to the sound of flushing toilets that ‘Bodily functions at least remain democratic.’ Atwood is again asserting the oppressive power of Gilead: different groups of people are so unequal that the slightest indication of equality amongst human beings is somewhat comforting for the narrator. Atwood could be attacking the idea that Western societies do not appreciate equality.

Question 101

How is the theme of freedom and imprisonment presented? 🙅‍♀️

Answer 101

• In the second chapter of the novel, Atwood describes the sort of setting one would find in a prison: all means of suicide are taken away, and the narrator wonders if handmaids everywhere get the same sheets and curtains, implying that the room is a government-ordered prison.
• The reasoning behind the deprivation of freedom in Gilead is summed up only shortly after the beginning of the novel, as Offred remembers Aunt Lydia’s comment that ‘In the olden days it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from.’ Atwood herself admitted that this would be the good thing about living in Gilead: the protection, ‘Where I am is not a prison, but a privilege.’ However, in Gilead, protection becomes oppression, ‘I feel buried’ is a blunt and dramatic final sentence of one chapter that emphasises the horrors of imprisonment.
• ‘We were a society dying… Of too much choice.’ Aunt Lydia is an important representative of the theme of ‘freedom and imprisonment,’ and this quote is just a little of the large amount of propaganda she asserts, often echoing in Offred’s mind.

-Offred’s visit to the doctor asserts that Aunt Lydia’s comment that the
imprisonment one experiences as a citizen of Gilead will ‘become ordinary’ has a lot of truth to it. The doctor’s offer and Offred’s reaction demonstrates the prisoner mentality that sometimes overtakes the handmaid. Her captivity becomes familiar, and the prospect of a new, free life becomes frightening. When Offred begins to have frequent affairs with Nick, she becomes so content with this lifestyle that she dislikes any thought of change, embodied in the demands Ofglen makes of her. This echoes her mother’s comment that one can get used to anything, ‘… As long as there are a few compensations.’

• An illustration of oppression and censorship is presented when Offred thinks about how the word ‘free’ is now considered ‘too dangerous’ as she sings ‘Amazing Grace’ in her head. This aspect is reinforced in the same way when Offred thinks of how ‘Scrabble’ is now considered ‘dangerous’ and ‘indecent.’
• The episode prior to the Ceremony in which Offred is able to watch the news on the television contains a little hope for Offred and indeed the reader, who is suffering with the narrator as she lives in the tyrannical society of Gilead. The fact that the news talks of what is happening at war suggests that Gilead does not rule everywhere and the possibility of escape does exist.

-Overall, it seems that imprisonment appears in several forms; Offred is
imprisoned by her role, her room and house, censorship and lack of freedom of expression. She has also previously been imprisoned by the Aunts and the Guards, and the fact that she is a woman and the fact that she lacks power in a totalitarian society also imprisons her.

Question 102

How is the theme of words and language presented? ✍️📝

Answer 102

• Because language is so strictly deprived from most of the citizens of Gilead, Atwood has plenty of opportunity to present its importance throughout the novel. Atwood emphasises the importance of any communication between two people on many occasions; in reference to the Marthas, Offred comments, ‘Such bits of petty gossip give them an opportunity for pride or discontent.’ At the same time, Atwood is also asserting the importance of knowledge and awareness at this point. The importance of knowledge is further emphasised when Offred tells the Commander in one of her visits to his study that she doesn’t want hand lotion, she ‘wants to know… What’s going on.’ Knowledge, then, as well as language, is power.
• Gilead’s censorship of words such as ‘free’ and ‘dangerous’ demonstrate the political power of language. Offred, formerly being a librarian, we are aware is educated. Language, to Gilead, is dangerous as one can get ‘ideas;’ it is also a useful tool of oppression if communication is taken away.

-‘Give me children, or else I die,’ is a biblical epigraph on which Gilead’s
intervention of handmaids is based. It is also used ironically in several ways; one, it is harsh: quite bluntly, if Offred does not procreate, then she dies. Secondly, as the whole concept of Gilead is based on this phrase, it will quite simply ‘die’ out if there is no reproduction. Thirdly, Offred may be ironically killed at the end, despite the fact that she may be pregnant; and fourthly, Offred mentions that ‘it is lack of love we die
from’ and as the loss of her child seems to be the central emotional wound for Offred, she could ‘die’ without a child to love.

-The episode in which Ofwarren gives birth introduces the concept of
‘Unbabies;’ babies who are, in the eyes of the Gileadian regime, abnormal. At this point, Atwood successfully makes an association between the Gileadians and the likes of Adolf Hitler, who dehumanised Jews in order to justify killing them. In this totalitarian state, then, language is a powerful tool of oppression.

-Atwood draws a link between reading and sex in the episodes in which Offred
visits the Commander’s study. ‘Scrabble’ is now ‘dangerous… indecent’ (words
which could also describe the act of sex), and Offred talks of how the Scrabble
counters ‘taste of sex.’ The Commander watching her read is now also a ‘curiously sexual act,’ and the narrator talks of how a pen is ‘sensuous’ and powerful, and her words ‘Pen Is Envy’ proves to be a clever linguistic joke.

• When Offred and Ofglen finally communicate honestly, Atwood uses words such as ‘subversively,’ emphasising the power of words. Ofglen has dared to speak seriously, demonstrating the power of language. ‘Soul Scrolls,’ the place outside of which they converse, emphasises the power of language further as they can no longer pray to a personal God, and have to buy a ‘pre-made prayer.’
• Atwood demonstrates the importance of language as a form of expression when Offred thinks of how she longs to have an argument with Luke. This contrasts with the present, as people in today’s society tend to loathe an argument. However, arguments are an expression of true feelings, emphasising the importance of communication, even if trivial.

-The Commander gives Offred the opportunity to express her opinion on ‘what (they) have done’ in one of her visits to his study; however, Offred merely replies, ‘What I think doesn’t matter’ and does not express herself given the opportunity. This contrasts with her behaviour towards Nick, to which she comments that she talks ‘too much,’ and even tells him her real name, though he talks little. Atwood here seems to be suggesting that we cannot sufficiently express ourselves through language to any
person.

-The ‘parcicution’ episode supposedly takes place outside of Harvard
University, which in our society symbolises free pursuit of knowledge. As the location of the ‘parcicution’ it actually symbolises the denial of access to knowledge, as it is unclear as to the real reason why the men in question are being sentenced to death.

• There is very little dialogue in the book, and so we can safely assume that Offred and the other oppressed are not able to express themselves.
• Overall, Atwood seems to suggest that the exercising of language is taken away because by controlling women’s minds, Gilead can easily control women’s bodies. Language is a tool of repression, and a form of freedom, expression and rebellion.

Question 103

How is the themes of sex, love and feeling presented? ❤️

Answer 103

• In Gilead, sex is officially only associated with procreation. It is for this reason that women need to tone down their sexual identities, as they are for breeding purposes only. However, the episode at ‘Jezebel’s’ completely contradicts this.
• Gilead’s ultimate oppressive method is to deny its people lust and attraction. However, such powerful factors cannot be oppressed as they are grounded in human nature, something which even Gilead cannot deny, ‘He winks’ (in reference to Nick). Offred considers that Nick could be an ‘Eye,’ but it establishes the tension of relationships in Gilead. It also makes the reader hope for fulfilment, and we anticipate the ending.
• ‘I enjoy the power.’ Here, Atwood is presenting sexuality as power, as well as reasserting that it is a natural urge and Gilead cannot confine the feeling forever. The quote also contains traces of irony, as Offred actually no longer has power.
• The scene in which Offred remembers how her mother and herself attended a bonfire in which pornographic magazines were burnt symbolically makes us want to evaluate our own present. It is also a criticism of her past, or our present.
• The doctor’s offer is immoral and callous but tempting. This creates tension: should Offred sleep with the doctor in order to get pregnant and save her own life?
• Atwood’s description of ‘the Ceremony’ is ironic, horrifying and somewhat humorous at the same time. The narrator successfully implies that the act is so superficial and mechanical it is ridiculous, ‘The Commander fucks, with a regular two-four marching stroke.’ Because Atwood describes the act in such a disgusting way, it may also be reflecting on her own attitude towards sex. The sexual act in the Ceremony episode has no love involved, and this may mean that Atwood personally finds sex without love disgusting; hence two possible reasons for having sex (pleasure and procreation) are insufficient without love in place. Because there is no love or feeling involved in the sexual act, the Ceremony also proves to be ironic; Atwood could be suggesting that the Ceremony is just as bad as the promiscuous society of pre-Gilead that the authority of Gilead is so keen to attack.
• Nick and Offred’s kiss is described by Atwood effectively in a longing and forbidden way, ‘… Both of us shaking.’ Hence tension is created, and at the same time. Atwood is asserting its danger and the importance of feeling.

-During the episode in which Offred and the Commander play ‘Scrabble,’
Atwood compares reading with sex. The narrator describes them both as enjoyable, forbidden and part of the natural human function, ‘Crisp, slightly acid on the tongue, delicious.’

-In Atwood’s use of humour when describing certain details of the society in Offred’s past also denotes a lot of information for the theme of sex. The narrator uses words such as ‘Pornomarts’ and ‘Feels-on-Wheels,’ suggesting that the society Offred previously lived in is a more sexually liberated world than our own.

-The Commander’s attempt to justify the new regime seems extremely selfish; men could not ‘feel’ in the ‘pre-Gilead’ days because sex was too easily available, and the enforcement of Gilead has enabled men to ‘feel’ again. At this point, Atwood could also be attacking contemporary values: the large availability of sex made it loose its passion, ‘inability to feel.’ Ironically, in the present day, is seems that stereotypically, women feel this way more so than men. The irony is asserted again when the Commander assures Offred that they do ‘feel,’ now, which seems
impossible, as the sex they do get in the Ceremony is so mechanical and superficial. However, we find out further through the novel that the Commanders do in fact have sexual intercourse at ‘Jezebel’s,’ and this comment may be foreshadowing this episode.

-It is clear that this ‘feeling’ that men have gained in their lives comes at the price of human misery in the women of Gilead, ‘Better always means worse, for some.’ The ‘Jezebel’s’ episode exposes the hypocrisy of the powerful men who prate about sexual morality.

-During the ‘Prayvaganza’ episode, Offred remembers how the Commander tried to justify the marriage process in Gilead by using feminist rhetoric. However, Offred pointed out that these conditions, though they supposedly remove uncertainty and unhappiness, deny the importance of love. Offred discusses ‘love,’ with the Commander, exploring meaning usage of ‘love’ as a word. This makes us question how we use the word (loosely). Romance, though uncertain, is the ultimate expression of the soul’s liberty: the liberty to choose whom to love. Arranged marriages are, by definition, the opposite of free choice. The irony in this comes from the fact that the Commander praised the ability to feel earlier on in the novel: Gilead actually erases the ability to feel, because it deprives Offred and the other women the ability to love.
Assuming that Offred is representative of all women living in Gilead, they can only cling on to memories of a former lover and what it felt to be loved by him.

• Offred’s sexual encounters with Nick, taking place shortly after the ‘Jezebel’s’ episode in which Offred has sex with the Commander, present the difference between forced sex and sex by choice. The forced sex Offred experiences with the Commander entails no passion, ‘I lie there like a dead bird’, which disappoints the Commander, ‘… dismayed and no doubt disappointed,’ who seems to want this, despite his appraisal of arranged marriages. Atwood is suggesting, then, that romance requires the exercise of free will, further denoted through the fact that there is a strong sense of desire between Offred and Nick in the next episode, ‘… kisses behind my ear.’ Nick’s comment, ‘No romance… Okay?’ reminds them of what they cannot have.
• After Offred begins to repeatedly see Nick voluntarily, she comments that, ‘The fact is, I no longer want to leave.’ Atwood may be suggesting here that love brings freedom, or that freedom is not as important as love. Either way, she seems to put enough emphasis on the importance of love to suggest that it is the most important aspect of life. This idea is reasserted when Offred suspects that she is pregnant, which has happened through love and not ‘fertilisation.’

Question 104

How is the theme of memories presented? 🧠

Answer 104

• It appears that throughout the novel, generally Offred’s memories are provoked by her senses. It is through the narrator’s memories of her past (and, supposedly, our present) that a picture is gradually built of how society has become as Gilead is.
• In the first chapter of the novel, Atwood immediately references to the society of Gilead as a ‘palimpsest,’ which sets the context for the rest of the novel. The past and the present are constantly being contrasted.
• It is clear that Offred’s loss of her daughter is a powerful emotional wound from her words, ‘I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling’ following the narrator’s first mention of her daughter, which is a vague account. Atwood allows the reader to relate to Offred at this point: she has a strong maternal instinct possessed by most mothers.

-Another aspect to bear in mind about Offred’s memories is the people in them and what they represent. Luke represents the need for romantic love, Moira the need for friendship, Offred’s mother the need for family, and her daughter the need for children. Naturally, without these in place, Offred lacks what Atwood implies are the basic human needs, which explains Offred’s frequent and detailed flashbacks as none of her needs can be satisfied in the present. Offred’s affair with Nick, however, allows
her to regain the smallest fragment of her former existence.

Question 105

How is power and control presented? 👹

Answer 105

-Throughout the novel, Offred creates an imagined audience as though she is telling a story. If she thinks of her life as a story and herself as a writer, she can think of her life as controllable and fictional, ‘If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending.’

-The episode in which Offred visits the doctor is a clear demonstration of
different levels of power possessed by different groups of people. The doctor being a man, naturally, he has a lot more power in Gilead than Offred and the other women do, ‘He could fake the tests, report me for cancer.’ This concept also asserts that the power possessed by those of a higher status is stronger than justice in Gilead.

• Janine’s testifying and the reaction of the other handmaids is a particularly important episode, as it demonstrates Gilead’s ability to make women blame their fellow oppression for their horrific lifestyle, rather than their oppressors, ‘We meant it, which was the bad part.’
• The ‘Parcicution’ episode in the novel is a strong demonstration of power and control as themes. The Gileadian regime allows the handmaids to unleash their power and control at this point – effectively, to exercise the freedom that they are all so thirsty for, and at the same time, to do the state’s ‘dirty business’ for it.

-Through Offred’s flashbacks, Atwood demonstrates what could potentially happen as a result of inaction, ‘Don’t’ (Luke, in response to Offred’s wish to call the police about her mother’s disappearance). From what we can gather from Offred’s flashbacks about the enforcement of the Gileadian society, there is little resistance to the new regime, even after all of the women lose their jobs. Atwood could possibly be condemning the complacency of ordinary people in times of crisis, or the
complacency Atwood saw at the time she wrote the novel.

Question 106

How is the theme of rebellion presented? 🏹⚔️

Answer 106

-Naturally, with such strict rules in place throughout the novel, incidents of rebellion are very clear. In the first chapter of the novel, there is already a sense of an extremely strict, rule-laden environment, ‘… Cattle prods hung from their belts.’ This idea is a very violent and controlling image. However, at the beginning of the novel, Atwood also presents the theme of rebellion, ‘We whispered our names to each other.’ The sheer insignificance of this act emphasises its importance. Such incidents happen throughout the novel, a good example of which being ‘He winks’ (in reference to Nick). These small ideas in particular represent something taken for granted in our society, denoted through their sheer insignificance and the ‘taboo’ label that comes with them, ‘He’s just taken a risk, but for what? What if I were to report him?’ ​

-The supposed Latin phrase inscribed at the bottom of the closet symbolises Offred’s inner resistance towards Gilead’s tyranny (before she even knows what the phrase means) and makes her feel like she can communicate with other strong women, such as the handmaid that wrote the message. When the real meaning of the message comes to light, ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down,’ it proves to be an appropriate response to a totalitarian, patriarchal society, and signals a message of
hope.

-The character Moira becomes a symbol of resistance for the handmaids,
especially emphasised in the story of her escape. She is the only character that we are aware of that dares to resist Gilead directly and outwardly; Moira lacks the strength of her oppressors, but because she is so resourceful and canny, she makes up for it. For the majority of the novel, Moira shows that women cannot be completely repressed by men, even in Gilead. However, the episode in which Offred meets Moira again in ‘Jezebel’s’ shows that Moira, once a symbol of rebellion, is now a symbol of Gilead’s ability to crush even the strongest spirit. Moira has given up rebelling against Gilead’s oppression, and has settled for a more appealing prison. Her comment that there is no escape ‘except in a black van,’ emphasises further the hopelessness of Gilead. The reader’s hope is defeated, and we begin to anticipate the ending. However, Moira’s narrative gives hope, as it becomes clear that an ‘Underground Femaleroad’ is smuggling women out of Gilead. This is the most significant and powerful aspect of rebellion in Atwood’s novel: it is the very embodiment of human nature and it is widespread throughout the system. The most powerful and effective use of this device
is at the end of the novel in Nick’s words to Offred, ‘It’s alright. It’s Mayday.’ The ‘Underground Femaleroad’ references the ‘Underground Railroad,’ which transported slaves from one safe house to another before the civil war in the United States. Hence, the struggle against Gilead presses on.

-When Ofglen dares to speak truthfully to Offred, the narrator and indeed the reader are provided with hope in many ways. Firstly, it becomes clear that others besides Offred uphold a resistance to the Gileadian regime; secondly, Ofglen may satisfy Offred’s human need for friendship. However, Atwood juxtaposes this immediately, as after the two handmaids have conversed, a black van comes by and takes a man away. Against this idea of the state’s reach, the idea of resistance
becomes laughable.

-Atwood contributes for the final time towards the theme of rebellion with the note that Offred, contrary to what the reader has believed throughout the novel, is not a rebellious character. She possesses a strong inward struggle against the Gileadian regime that is probably possessed by all of the society’s citizens who are unhappy with the regime, and a very weak outward struggle. As the events move quickly at the end of the novel, (Offred learns of Ofglen’s death, finds that Serena knows of her visit
to ‘Jezebel’s,’ and is (possibly) rescued by Nick’s intervention, all in the same day), Offred herself does nothing. The narrator demonstrates her lack of agency as she sits in her room, listlessly contemplating murder, suicide and escape, ‘There are a number of things I could do. I could set fire to the house, for instance.’ Offred is, however, unable to act. Gilead has stripped Offred of her power, and so in a moment of crisis she can do nothing but think and worry, and wait for the black van to come. Atwood, then, is suggesting that the tiny rebellions and resistances of one person do not necessarily matter, also echoed in her words to the Commander, ‘What I think doesn’t matter.’ After all, if Offred is saved at the end of the book, it is because of luck and not her inner resistance.

-Overall, it appears that the purpose of including the theme of ‘rebellion’ in the novel is to emphasise the harsh nature of the society of Gilead, and to instil hope. No character in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ rebels in the same way. Human nature cannot live peacefully in future totalitarian regimes like Gilead.

Question 107

How is the theme of appearances and rule-breaking presented? ❌

Answer 107

-According to the Gileadian regime, officially men cannot be sterile; however, women can be barren. Offred’s encounter with the doctor suggests that everyone living in Gilead is aware that scientifically this is not true, ‘… Or they’re sterile.’
​
-Despite Gilead’s strict enforcement of rules and laws, outlawed activities still go on beneath Gilead’s surface; for example, men lust after women, ‘He winks,’ and the Commander’s wife has cigarettes from the black market.

Question 108

Structure:

-generally:

Answer 108

Offred’s story is told in a nonlinear fashion, with temporal leaps of her own mind. Atwood reveals information about the context slowly, which is intended, as the entire timeline of the novel is distorted. Clues as to what is happening are gradually revealed. Different perspectives on narration are presented through flashbacks, the unwomen documentary, the viewing of the news prior to the Ceremony, and Moira’s story of escape. Other characters besides Moira also occasionally reveal the context, such as Cora and Rita.

Question 109

How has Atwood used language to form her text?

Answer 109

• Atwood references to nature frequently throughout the novel, which symbolises growth and fecundity. ‘Nature’ could be referring to sexual desires, or human instinct in general, which cannot be suppressed, and will always ‘come back up again’ like, as Atwood mentions in the first chapter, a ‘palimpsest.’ ‘Nature’ emphasised particularly in reference to flowers and gardens. The tulips in Serena’s garden, for example, are red, symbolising fertility. Flowers are always linked with something sexual.
• Throughout the novel, Atwood wittingly conflates words to makes new ones the reader will understand appropriate to new events in Gilead, for example, ‘Salvaging,’ ‘Pravaganza,’ ‘Unwoman,’ ‘Pornomart,’ ‘Econowives,’ ‘Allflesh,’ ‘Allsouls,’ and ‘Particicution.’ Offred, or Atwood, also plays on words; for example, homophones like ‘habits’ and ‘chair.’ ‘Labour Day’ becomes humorous, as in the past, it was a holiday celebrating the fact that we are all workers. Now, Offred comments it is associated with women giving birth. Atwood also takes advantage of the familiarity of some of the words of our present, which are a mere memory for the narrator; for example, ‘humungous,’ ‘honey’ and ‘sheepish.’
• ‘The Historical Notes’ at the end of the novel have a distinguished style and language, which contrast with the rest of the novel. There are also different jokes and names, such as ‘Crescent Moon’ which distinguish a style different from that of the rest of the novel, and a society different from our own.
• The colours of the clothing of the different status’ of the people of Gilead entail a lot of symbolism. Offred comments as she walks along the landing that one of the umbrellas in the stand is ‘black, for the Commander.’ Hence from the beginning the Commander is portrayed as the ultimate source of power and oppression within the other characters’ lives, and it is also suggested that the Commander has a somewhat ‘sinister’ presence in the household.
• Atwood also uses language as a clever device in many of the characters’ dialogue. Moira’s language, for example, is rude and rebellious, ‘I left the old hag’, adding to the novel’s realism.
• In general, Atwood’s style (presented through Offred as a narrator), denotes attention to everything: the gymnasium, the Commander’s house, and even Serena Joy’s face, ‘A little of her hair was showing, under the veil. It was still blonde.’ Supposedly, Offred is not composing this story from a distanced vantage point reflecting on her past, which is the case with most first person narratives. All of the character’s thoughts have a sense of immediacy: Offred describes the present as it
  happens. Naturally, if it were like most first person narratives, there would be a sense throughout the novel that Offred escaped Gilead, and is safe
• Through Offred as a narrator, Atwood also narrates many of the episodes in distinguished tones, presenting an effective impression of the tone in the scene. Offred’s reconstruction of her first affair with Nick, for example, is narrated in an elegiac tone, depicting her sex with Nick as an act of mourning for the vanished world of romance and love.
• Atwood successfully uses particular words throughout the novel to deceive the reader into implying that something is the opposite of what it really is; for example, the teachers at the ‘Red Centre’ are called ‘Aunts,’ portraying the characters in a motherly and somewhat positive light. Invented words such as ‘Unbaby’ also give an immediate impression of what the word is referring to without having to explain it to the reader.
• Throughout the novel, Atwood also frequently uses humour, ‘I never looked good in red’ is a fine example. Atwood presents ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ in a playful and witty style: through wordplay, satire, teasing of the reader, disjointed narrative structure, and an ambiguous ending to the story.
• Offred frequently uses rhetorical questions throughout the narrative, ‘I am not being wasted. Why do I want?’ She is also speculative, ‘Perhaps he is an eye’; reflective, ‘Such freedom now seems almost weightless’, and occasionally speaks directly to the reader, ‘I’m sorry there is so much pain in this story.’ Offred also speaks directly to herself, ‘You stupid shit. Can’t you manage to remember…’

Question 110

Key features:

Answer 110

🚺The novel is a mosaic of narrative genres – fictive biography, science fiction, dystopian fiction and romance.

🚺Three stories are being told at once – the ‘time before’, the time at the Red Centre and the present.

🚺As we read through the novel, the setting becomes increasingly familiar, thereby shifting our perception of the time period the story is set in the present.

🚺The reason for the fragmented story is explained by Professor Pieixoto in the Historical Notes.

🚺In Chapter two, Offred spends an inordinate amount of time describing her room. Due to her lack of freedom, her life becomes monotonous, so her imagination which remains free runs wild.

🚺Offred’s narrative is actually well-balanced and Atwood is always hinting at what is to come (foreshadowing). Look at the following examples and say which details resurface later in the story. (Chapter three – the introduction of Serena Joy, Chapter four – the introductions of Nick and Ofglen)

🚺The narrative switches relentlessly between time zones. More often than not, the present narrative is informed by the past. In this sense, Offred is like a palimpsest – traces of the past transcend the present.

🚺Offred is a self-conscious narrator who is aware of the limitations of narrating a reality and the human need for telling stories.]

🚺Historical Notes are written in a completely different style – language of academia. Professor Pieixoto’s narrative is a reconstruction of Offred’s story from a male perspective.

🚺In her narrative, Offred gives a voice to the marginalised people in her society.

🚺Whose narrative though, is Professor Pieixoto concerned with??

Question 111

Imagery and motifs: 🌷

Answer 111

🦋The major motifs running through the text are flowers, doubles, eyes, missing persons. ghosts and food. You no doubt have many others you would add to this list.

🦋Flowers – The flowers in the story represent Offred. Offred has a painting of flowers in her room, the garden is important to Serena Joy and Offred, but they are a reproach to the Commander’s Wife as they are fruitful where she is barren. She tends them as thought they are the children she cannot have.

🦋Chapter three – Offred identifies herself with the tulips which are ‘red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they had been cut and are beginning to heal there.’

🦋Doubles – Offred leads two lives; interior and exterior; linear, physical, and sensory, memory, non-linear. She has two identities; Handmaid and mother, wife, lover. She has two names. She knows that she and Ofglen look like doubles as they shop. BUT remember, mirror images are often in reverse or opposites.

🦋Chapter 46 – ‘There were always two of us.’

🦋Many of the other characters have doubles – Nick and Luke, Moira and Ofglen, Moira and Janine.

🦋There are several references to eyes – she feels as though she is constantly being
watched. There are the Eyes of the Lord, the secret police which are a very real manifestation, but she also makes reference to other characters’ eyes. She also says that the hole in her ceiling where the chandelier used to be looks like an eye.

🦋The text is full of ghosts or missing persons. Moira and Offred’s daughter are found, but Offred’s mother and Moira remain lost. Offred’s predecessor haunts her thoughts, and Offred becomes a ghost to her daughter. Other characters such as the Commander, Nick and Ofglen also miss their lives before. Offred also becomes a missing person.

🦋There are many references to the moon. In Roman mythology, Diana was the goddess of chastity and the moon – why is this symbolism relevant to Offred? Look at chapters twelve and thirteen where much of this imagery is employed.

🦋Chapter thirty – this entire chapter contains imagery of falling – re-read the chapter and find as many examples as you can.

🦋Chapter twenty four – ‘All I can hear is my own heart opening and closing, opening and closing, opening.’ On surface level, Offred seems to be falling asleep, but on a symbolic level, she is being transformed emotionally – her heart is opening to the Commander and then closing itself off again. The closing word ‘opening’ also prepares us for a change in the narrative.

Question 112

What are the key points in chapter 9?

Answer 112

• suggests her relationship at beginning was insecure and they had trust issues
• regretful for being wasteful- didn’t know how good it was till it was taken
• humanity lost, knows she is going to be their long term- inescapable
• restless- worried about Luke, daughter, commander, needs something to fulfil the time- entertain mind (intellectual) bored
• angry with herself, sex is not natural anymore- now clinical where as before it was not purely functional- looking for love, confirms Aunt Lydia’s views but contradicts that choice was negative- led to her happiness with Luke
• Hotel room felt more like room then one now- could express herself, had possessions
• had suicidal thoughts herself, depressed, memories are too much
• Rita- sceptical, casual ‘which one’

Question 113

Meanings of ‘Nolite te bastardised carborun-dorum’:

Answer 113

• retain intellect
• fertility, children- illegitimate
• Offred doesn’t know what it means, secret message- rebellion
• motivation
• satire ‘fun of extremism’
• ironic if had baby with commander would be a bastard
• profanity, think they run regime but people actually rebelling, disagree
• connection to double
• religious insult
• message from person before
• “don’t let bastards grind you down”- translation
• sense of collectivism, unity and hope

Question 114

What happens in chapter 10?

Answer 114

Present:

• signing Amazing Grace
• thinking back to her mother and the songs/ music she hears now
• seasons changing to summer- hot, dresses
• links summer time westernised societies that we knew all the bad things happening around the world but became passive, detached, desensitised
• car coming up driveway
• notices cushion with word “faith” in her room
• expresses feelings towards commander- intrigued, sympathetic, lust/ companionship
• describes Nick briefly

Flashbacks:

• mum putting on cassette tapes
• Aunt lydia- women making spectacles of themselves in the sun, putting oil on
• ‘things’ not suppose to care about appearances-portrayed as whatever was bad in society
• starts to cry- not easy for her either
• flashback to Luke-men and women having relationships
• flashback to Moira- cigarettes, throwing underwhore party
• different flashback to Moira- filling up water bombs and dropping out of dorm window
• urinals and co-educational system

Question 115

What are the key points in chapter 10?

Answer 115

• her reaction to the commander isn’t what we expect
• amazing grace verse- motivate, promote American values- implies hope, ironic used in a satirical way, ‘sound’ represents society, ‘lost’ and now ‘found’- represents gap, ironic spiritually religion isn’t saving them-part of issue
• criticisms of previous society-women not protected, generation looks bad, caught Aunts views, embarrassing, matured
• lost empathy for other people- have privileged lives, lived in ‘gaps between stories’, not part of stories themselves- ignorant didn’t think it would happen, censorship, look the other way- subtle changes in Gilead, didn’t assume anything, Atwood telling us it could happen, happened before in history
• faith cushion- could be there for reason, keep faith in religion, regime, Gilead- reminder of control but could also link to rebellion and uncertainty

Question 116

What happens in chapter 11?

Answer 116

Present:

• going to the doctors (once a month) for an obligatory check up
• go to the waiting room, up an elevator undresses…
• doctor talks to her, says he can help her- offers to have sex with her and get her pregnant, suggests the commander is infertile
• declines softly, says how he has power- could get her sent to colonies for rejecting him
• no flashbacks

Question 117

What are the key points of chapter 11?

Answer 117

• waiting room- underline Gilead’s objectification of women as passive sexual commodities, ‘room’ hints at private feminine space which offered is begging but to claim as her own inside the regime
• offred feels like a dismembered body with only her torso on display, face hidden
• very uncomfortable- asks her when most vulnerable and exposed- naked
• no hope- even doctor who is suppose to represent- respect and confidentiality may have some secret sinister agenda
• punishment from God- eve was one who corrupted Adam, blamed, men always seen as fertile officially (not biologically)
• men don’t want to accept inferiority to women as child bearers, can’t control nature
• doctor wants sex- done it before, doesn’t have her best interests
• using power negatively- medical integrity, suggests it does happen- doctors sending women to colonies, threatening her, put in difficult position

Question 118

What happens in chapter 12?

Answer 118

present action:

• she has a bath, described room, her own nakedness… has dinner, thinks about the commander and serena joy having dinner down the stairs- silence
• takes the butter from her meal and hides it, composed herself

Flashbacks:

• back to aunts and her teachings
• flashback to daughter- bath, supermarket- lady stole her, remembers her daughters possessions

Question 119

What are the key points of chapter 12?

Answer 119

• nervous- first sexual encounter with commander
• treatment of Offred as a ‘national resource’
• ‘isolates incident’ is symptomatic of worrying changes in society
• motherhood, smell of soap triggers memories, lots of sadness
• threat that if she doesn’t produce children will be sent to colonies-unwomen
• defines by purpose, lost identity, dehumanising representation of the female body
• overwhelmed by strangeness of her naked body in bath
• Aunt Lydia puts things graphically, “why bash your head, said Aunt Lydia, against a wall?”

Question 120

What happens in chapter 13?

Answer 120

Present action:
-thinks about spare times and boredom, compares herself to a “prize pig”, talks about the female body and bodily sensations including menstrual cycle using powerful poetic imagery, dreaming- Cora wakes her up

Flashbacks:

• thinks back to art galleries, thinks back to college and reading about psychology and their investigations such as conditioning with pigeons, then thinks about Aunt Lydia and her breathing and meditation exercises- practicing to fill up time
• next she remembers Moira when she first arrived but avoided talking to for several days- dangerous, met at bathrooms irregularly and talked through a whole in wall
• then flashback to Janine telling them a time she got raped-“Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison”
• Dolores punished for peeing herself
• flashback to her and Luke’s first apartment- worried he’s dead
• another dream- flashback to when they tried to escape- sad as she gets separated from daughter

Question 121

What are the key points in chapter 13?

Answer 121

• very complex construction- time shifts between past and present, waking and dreaming
• escapes as just a passive breeding animal by thinking, imagining and remembering
• rebellion within herself as she refuses to be subjugated by the commander’s violation so becomes explorer of her own dark inner space. Psychologically and emotionally resists Gilead. Portrays herself as more, different from patriarchal prescriptions and explains how well she knows herself
• chronicling showing her life from within her own skin, personal history and physical sensations therefore transforming her body into a fantasy landscape
• knowledge and understanding of her own body despite being a ‘national resource’, ‘only I know the footing’
• used analogy of her menstrual cycle as the image of the night sky with stars and transverses by the moon waxing and waning. Transforming metaphor for her dark womb as it expands until it assumes cosmic proportions
• context:
• images of immense bodily territories and volcanic upheaval of silent laughter in cupboard has a lot in common with the écriture féminine of French feminist Hélène Cixous
• ‘ I tell time by the moon. Lunar, not solar’- this shows connections between cycle of the moon, menstrual cycle, and the ebb and flow of the tides. She is able to ‘read’ her body signs and when moon disappears shows Offred she has not conceived, shows Offred own dark female spears where time is kept by the body and feminine conceiving time
• fleeing as no longer thinks of body as a ‘solid’ object but a ‘cloud’ becoming most defining, important physical feature. Change in attitude, acceptance of change if she has awareness of herself under the influence of Gilead’s cultural doctrine. Thinks about her body (metaphor) as ‘a means of transportation’ using imaginative word associations and images evoking both a ‘fenland’ landscape and a galaxy of stars, continuing needs access to private inner word, both in a bodily and psychological sense
• compromised resistance as very much affected by Gilead, does not regret becoming pregnant like system requires of her. Challenges own captivity and inhuman treatment using all imaginative resources. Too aware and fearful if consequences if she does not successfully breed- colonies
• erasing previous lives and qualities into vulnerable, weak people
• string friendship- Only glimmer of hope
• hypocrisy of somewhere ‘safe’- Moira
• objectification of women, reverting to animals
• fragmented structure- true to life, don’t stick to one conscious thought
• leaves changing- autumn, delicate, photosynthesis- oxygenxuse, bring life to children, too early- need more time, panic and failure, links back to society ignoring changes and turning blind eye to changes occurring around us
• parallel- can’t protect families, can’t produce children
• cult- chanting
• higher then women- urinalysis still there
• no attachment to babies anymore-ironic taking away human nature qualities but doing it for religion
• sense of rebellion in offred has nor yet been diminished by Gilead
• implied separation between offred’s self who is experiencing training and the liberated offred of the mind shows types of survival tactics handmaids have recruited in order to keep a sense of hope alive, even acknowledging severity of the situation- trauma theory
• denial- theme, wants to believe they are just ‘stories’
• knowledge and intellectual power can’t be taken away despite Gilead trying
• handmaids turn backs on each other, all hoping for survival, ‘every man for himself’
• favour men, want to be seen as sinless society
• trying to distinguish her own thoughts from those of the aunts, emphasised by use of ‘my’- want ownership over herself and thoughts- ‘sink’- struggling, insecurity, insanity from totalitarian regime, immense oppression, ‘failed’ starting to believe it is her fault, being punished, hopeless attitude, is starting to affect her
• most vulnerable when alone reflective
• Gilead being inevitable, forced society
• red colour of lives could be omen to represent his life will be centred around Women’s menstruel cycle and fertility, blood, bloodshed of new regime- fear, nature turning against itself- warning, dangers eg: men salvaging
• fractured sentences of trying to escape- breathing, adrenaline, present tense- re live traumatic experiences, simple language- under pressure, cannot fully express feelings of panic

Question 122

NEW BOOKLET (Nap-Birthday)

-what happens in chapter 14?

Answer 122

Present action:

• walks downstairs for the ceremony, describes the room specifically a painting, describes smell, feels like stealing something, describes taste- goes through senses wishing for everyone to assemble- Cora, Rita, Nick
• Nick keeps touching her foot- unwelcome
• Serena comes, unspoken habit (commander always late) that can watch news, thinks its propaganda
• thinks about her real name
• news shows Quakers, war and prisoners

Flashbacks:
-Mother’s Day- when talking about smell, thinks back to her daughter on a Saturday morning- pretending to go on a picnic but really trying to escape, stops while they are still in the car

Question 123

What are the key points of chapter 14?

Answer 123

• room represents old- fashioned Puritan values
• capitalist underpinnings, critiques owner’s taste. It’s the embodiment of traditional family values but beneath this lies sexual coercion, enslavement and political expediency
• double inauthenticity of Gilead in representation of commander’s household and its television propaganda
• sexual attraction between offred and Nick- forbidden and dangerous- exciting
• private resistance and escapism- name
• ‘assembling’ heroic, army like
• a ‘hold of a ship’- slave ship, ironic, satire religious values
• juxtaposes encounters will commander and Nick
• regime already showing
• news is microcosm of Gilead, war zones, mass deportations, religious and political prisoners

Question 124

What happens in chapter 15?

Answer 124

Present action:
-the commander arrives for the ceremony, he sits and gets a bible, she imagines what it must be like to be a man in the regime, then he starts to read changed parts of the bible, then they have a silent prayer where serena starts to crumble then they leave

Flashback:

• aunt Lydia- cafeteria food and prayer, asks to leave and meets Moira in bathroom-Moira tells her plan to leave- get deficiency in vitamin C and leaves in ambulance
• flashback to her going out on stretcher to ambulance- then came back, dragged out and took to a science lab- couldn’t walk for weeks afterwards

Question 125

What are the key points of chapter 15?

Answer 125

• view or men shows Gileadean constructions of masculinity, relating to power and isolation. Doesn’t trust him but suggestions not easy for them either- pressure and expectations to produce a child, not all for the regime
• torn viewpoint of commander- keeps contradicting
• presented as powerful but also weak, innocent but also evil, ignorant but also a source…
• small human contact with him
• ‘It’s like a fart in church”-humour, disrespects church, doesn’t join in prayer
• some sympathy for Selena- marriage ruined and emotional tension
• the ceremony is parodic version of genesis- Rachael and Lean were sisters who became wives of Jacob. Both argue their handmaids to him, so that he had children by all of these women
• Moira for her represents her talisman of female resistance if Gilead’s sexual tyranny

Question 126

What happens in chapter 16?

Answer 126

-START!! :)

Question 127

KEY PAGES + CHAPTERS!!

-“Nolite te bastardised carborundum”

Answer 127

• chapter 9

- page 62

Question 128

Distress signal “May Day”

Answer 128

• Chapter 8

- page 53

Question 129

Dress code for handmaids and colour red

Answer 129

• Chapter 2

- page 18

Question 130

Storytelling

Answer 130

• chapter 7

- page 49

Question 131

Changing and gang rape of Janine

Answer 131

• chapter 13

- page 82

Question 132

Rebellion outside soul scrolls

Answer 132

• chapter 27

- page 177

Question 133

Jezebels

Answer 133

• Chapter 37

- pages 246-267

Question 134

Mum in colonies

Answer 134

• chapter 39

- page 264

Question 135

Salvaging

Answer 135

• chapter 42

- page 286

Question 136

Doctor

Answer 136

• chapter 11

- page 71

Question 137

Gileadean inception

Answer 137

• chapter 28

- page 183

Question 138

Luke’s reconstruction

Answer 138

• chapter 18

- page 114

Question 139

Playing scrabble

Answer 139

• chapter 23

- page 149

Question 140

Offred’s loss of rights compared to Luke

Answer 140

• chapter 28

- page 189

Question 141

Birth-Janine has her baby

Answer 141

• chapter 21

- page 135

Question 142

Ceremony

Answer 142

• chapter 16

- page 105

Question 143

Biblical scripture and indoctrination

Answer 143

• chapter 15

- page 99

Question 144

Bath and daughter

Answer 144

• chapter 12

- page 72

Question 145

Commander’s arrival

Answer 145

• chapter 15

- page 98

Question 146

Nick and intimacy

Answer 146

• chapter 40

- page 273

Question 147

Who is Ruth Kalder?

Answer 147

-Nazi mistress- interview

Question 148

Moira- fantasy chapter:

Answer 148

• chapter 22

- page 143

Question 149

What chapter does Offred want to find out information from the commander?

Answer 149

• chapter 29

- page 198

Question 150

What chapter does Offred feel “buried”?

Answer 150

-chapter 30

Question 151

Which chapter does Offred speak about the Nazi mistress?

Answer 151

-chapter 24

Question 152

What narrative is Handmaids? What is this?

Answer 152

• non-linear and analeptic
• form of anachrony by which some of the events of a story are related at a point in the narrative after later story‐events have already been recounted. Commonly referred to as retrospection or flashback, analepsis enables a storyteller to fill in background information about characters and events

Question 153

What chapter does it talk about the indoctrination of the next generation of handmaids?

Answer 153

• chapter 20

- pg: 127

Question 154

Kitchen part with Luke and the comment about making a women’s culture? Offred’s mother “You young people don’t appreciate things”

Answer 154

-chapter 20

Question 155

Which chapter does Dolores wet the floor?

Answer 155

• chapter 13

- page 82

Question 156

When do Janine and Aunt Lydia have their 1-1 conversation?

Answer 156

• chapter 22

- page 139

Question 157

What does Tara Johnson say about the Aunts?

Answer 157

-“The Aunts are not only training the handmaids, they are creating women who will not only submit to their commanders but also further the goals of the Gileadean theocracy”

• indoctrinate and teach handmaids at Red Center
• make Gilead’s values their own
• teach them to reduce themselves- ‘two legged wombs’, ‘chalices’…

Question 158

What chapter is the quote- “In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it”

Answer 158

-chapter 5

Question 159

Where is the environmental issues?

Answer 159

• chapter 19
• “The air got too full, once, of chemicals, rays, radiation, the water swarmed with toxic molecules, all of that takes years to clean up”

Question 160

Where does it talk about life for women pre-Gilead?

Answer 160

• chapter 34
• “Then is they did marry, they could be left with a kid, two kids, the husband might just get fed up and take off, disappear, they’d have to go on welfare”
• also 20- “You see what things used to be like? That was what they thought of women, then”

Question 161

Chapter offred’s daughter has been taken and wakes up:

Answer 161

• chapter 7

- pg: 49

Question 162

When does Aunt Lydia cry?

Answer 162

• chapter 10
• page 65

-“I’m doing my best, she said. I’m trying to give you the best chance you have”, “Don’t think it’s easy for me either, said Aunt Lydia”

Question 163

When does she go to supermarket with Luke?

Answer 163

• chapter 12
• page 73
• “I thought it was an isolated incident, at the time”
• “He liked to choose what kind of meat we were going to eat during the week. He said men needed more meat than women did”

Question 164

What chapter does offred talk about keeping plastic bags?

Answer 164

• chapter 5
• page 37

-“those endless white plastic shopping bags, from the supermarket; I hated to waste them and would stuff them in under the sink”

Question 165

What does Atwood point out?

Answer 165

-USA founded on religious fundamentalism/ extremism (Puritanism)

Question 166

When was it published?

Answer 166

-1985

Question 167

What is an important quote in chapter 24?

Answer 167

-“context is all”

Question 168

Why did Atwood delay writing the handmaids Tale 3 years after the initial idea?

Answer 168

• thought it would be “too crazy”

- was nervous

Question 169

When was Atwood born? Why’s this significant?

Answer 169

• 1939

- SWW and Nazi Germany- totalitarian regime (and wrote while in totalitarian regime- Cold War in Berlin)

Question 170

Other than Orwell, what other dystopian author did Atwood draw inspiration from?

Answer 170

• Aldous Huxley- A Brave New World

- spliced the 2 together

Question 171

What is the handmaids Tale names after? What is the significance of the male narratives at beginning, then end?

Answer 171

• need credentials- more reliable- returning to norm

- deliberate- no change

Question 172

What is Atwood’s beliefs on religion?

Answer 172

-she is a ‘hard core agnostic’- the belief that you shouldn’t proclaim something as knowledge that is actually faith

Question 173

What does Atwood think about the future?

Answer 173

• although warning us, not too late and is dynamic

- ‘future is multiple’

Question 174

-what do the colonies suggest?

Answer 174

-how far society will leave issues until they act

Question 175

What is ‘I tell, therefore you are’ a parody of?

Answer 175

• Rene Descartes

- “ I think therefore I am”

Question 176

How do they show their power?

Answer 176

1) public events- people go missing , public punishments and displays eg: the wall
2) Spies and informants-panic and paranoia- internalise

Question 177

What is the quote ‘fulfil biological destinies’ linked to?

Answer 177

• Freud

- ‘anatomy is destiny’

Question 178

Which chapter does offred talk about her body?

Answer 178

• chapter 13

- “I sink down into my body as into a swamp, fenland, where only I know the footing”

Question 179

What does women not being able to read and write also mean?

Answer 179

• perpetuates and secures their place in the future- always be at a disadvantage
• links to past and how traditionally only reserved for men, lack of female literature of the past

Question 180

What could be said about ending of novel?

Answer 180

-builds suspense throughout and disappointed- anti-climax as never know what happens

Question 181

What does the HN also remind the reader?

Answer 181

-not just about Offred, only one handmaid in whole of regime, part of AB Memoirs suggesting there is more

Question 182

What context could you link the guardians to?

Answer 182

-Gilead’s state soldiers- ‘Angels’ could be linked with New York’s paramilitary force established un 1979 to curb social unrest- named “Guardian Angels”