techniques or points to know Flashcards
why is there irony in the fact that the handmaids aren’t allowed any possessions?
they are possession’s themselves
offred dosen’t describe her room as ‘hers’ for the first few chapters
‘i would like to steal something’
what is similar about the ending of both offreds narrative and the historical notes?
offred - ‘and so i step up into the darkness within or else the light’
historical notes - ‘we can not always decipher them [the voices of gilead] in the clearer light of our own day’
the unknown and the uncertain - how far have we really come? - evidenced by the plethora of sexism in the historical notes
HMT is all about words and the power associated with them - give examples
Gilead society is categorized by titles - Martha, commander, handmaid, ecowife
commander and offred play scrabble ‘its as if he has offered me drugs’ - its how their relationship develops
‘mayday’ resistance movement - words are currency
offreds story - rebellion through words - although even that is voiced not written as she’s become so indoctrinated
handmaids cant read or write - Nolite te bastardes carborundorum - don’t let the bastards get you down
‘pen is envy’ - freudian ‘penis envy’ - females desire males power
HMT is a novel with a large focus on the visual give examples
colour coding
birth seat - wives above handmaids
shop signs - pictures not words
tags on the dead bodies on the wall
‘under his eye’
white wings ‘they are to stop us from seeing but also from being seen’
gendered - men constantly watching women ‘looking in through the bars’ ‘watching is a curiously sexual act and i feel undressed while he does it’
jezebels - sexualised costumes
subversion of surveillance - talking at soul scrolls, killing of resistance fighter at salvaging
the novel is about the power of an all seeing theroacy (perhaps a warning about rising cctv), the importance of clear visual order by categorizing people but also about rebellion in plain sight
the epigraph and historical notes are all ____ narratives
male
what do the night chapters (which make up most of the narrative) symbolise?
the past, memories, freedom - 1st person narration makes it more intimate
why does Atwood use Offred a ‘normal’ person as the character who is oppressed?
its more applicable to the reader ‘we lived in the gaps between the stories’
despite her anonymity she wasn’t sage ‘we must retain memory and courage in the face of unspeakable suffering’ Atwood at an Amnesty international conference about the obligations of authors in times of oppression
the commander could be described as a
zealout
why can the aunts be likened to nazi camp guards?
ideological indoctrination - give them a little power and they won’t ask the bigger questions
the name is paradoxical and sadly ironic as its associated with family structures
the constant surveillance of the gilead society could have been inspired by the ideas of …
the panopticon prison
good behaviour becomes internalised- enough surveillance means you no longer need to police it
what are some of the indoctrination techniques and ideologies seen in HMT?
power is seductive
all genders are victims but not all are equal
failures of men used to justify the oppression of women
freuds idea of ‘anatomy is destiny’ - women’s whole purpose is to make babies
plays of female antagonism seen in everyday society
womens bodies as belonging to men is commonly associated with the new right however which current american laws show this idea is still prevalent today?
in april 2022 a bill was signed into law making abortion in Oklahoma illegal and allows private citizens to sue those who do
