The Handmaid's Tale

Question 1

Dedications

Answer 1

• Mary Webster: ancestor, famous witch. Hung for 24 hours and was still alive. Frames the novel in regards to female persecution (for witchcraft) first thing you are meant to read in the novel.
  
  • Perry Miller: Dedicates novel to her puritan professor - novel is a reference to Puritan England.

Question 2

Epigraphs

Answer 2

• All 3 are about consumption - image of fertility, link between a woman’s womb and the natural world
  1. Genesis: “give me children or else I die’ ‘Behold my maid Bilhah’ - Bible condones handmaids.
  2. Jonathan Swift: A Modest Proposal. Poor families should sell their children to the rich to be eaten. Problem has gotten so severe that he is using extreme logic to solve the problem - this is Gilead. Read the novel as satire.
  ○ If we prioritise logic and rationality above other things, we can solve problems, but also create new ones.
  3. ‘In the desert there is no sign that says thou shalt not eat stones’. - there are things that you shouldn’t do that are self evident. But if something is not directly prohibited, does that mean we are still permitted to do it? E.g its self evident you shouldn’t touch a woman without her consent.

Question 3

Chapter 1

Answer 3

‘A palimpsest.’
- A piece of writing that has been erased, and something new has been put on top of it.
The regime has tried to strip/erase the identities of the handmaids, however they cannot completely erase the past and there are still memories and traces of it.

‘The lights were turned down but not out. Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrolled; they had electric cattle prods slung on thongs from their leather belts.’
- Handmaids are being infantilised
- Oppressive control, handmaids are watched even when they are sleeping.
- Dehumanisation of the handmaids - treated as animals, ‘cattle prods’
- Cattle and cows are exploited and used for their milk, much like the handmaids are exploited for their bodies and fertility.
- ‘Aunt’ - maternal image, yet this is contrasted with their patrolling. Aunt establishes a hierarchy and authority.

‘No guns though, even they could not be trusted with guns. Guns were for the guards, specially picked from the Angels.’
- Patriarchal society: despite the fact that aunts are in a superior position, the are still not trusted and looked down upon.
- ‘Angels’ - biblical allusion, establishing hierarchy, role of protectors and savers, connotations of purity and morality.
- Theocratic state (distorted version of Christianity).

‘touch each other’s hands across space.’
- Intimate image of touching hands - unity and compassion between the women, physical connection is not forced, its genuine.

‘Alma. Janine. Dolores. Moira. June.’
- In saying their names, they are retaining their identity and individuality. Full stops and punctuation gives importance to each individual name - they are individuals who deserve their own story and autonomy.
- Contrasts to how the handmaids are viewed as a collective throughout the novel.