The Handmaid’s Tale Flashcards
Context: Dystopia
dystopia is an imagined state or society in which there is great suffering or injustice, typically one that is totalitarian or post-apocalyptic
normally feature:
invasive surveillance
event that changes society
a totalitarian regime/dictatorship/rebellion/protest
Atwood refers to THT as speculative fiction - the idea that it could happen
Context: Atwood
Canadian writer, born in 1939
Wrote THT living in West Berlin in 1984
visited countries in the Eastern Block such as Czechoslovakia, and East Germany.
Context: Origins of America
found in 1600s by the Puritans
went over on ‘The Mayflower’
central belief is ‘in God, we trust.’
Context: Surveillance
Nazi Germany: Gestapo encouraged them to monitor and report each other.
Soviet Union: KGB spies, spies in other countries, monitoring devices, sent to Gulag
Ceausesca’s Romania: banned abortion, controlling birth rate, 11,00 agents
Context: Attacks on abotion clinics
August ‘82: 3 men identified as ‘Army Of God’ kidnapped owner of abortion clinic and held him hostage for 8 days.
May ‘84: Alabama abortion clinic was smashed up by a priest
25th December ‘84: Florida abortion clinic was bombed. described as ‘a gift to Jesus on his birthday’.
Context: 1980’s America
Religious fundamentalists - scripture is word
late 70s: economic turmoil, serial killers e.g. Bundy, abortion laws (Roe vs Wade)
Context: Nazi Germany
Hitler valued women for both their activism in the Nazi movement and their biological power as ‘generators of the race’
the 3rd Reich’s aggressive population policy encouraged “racially pure” women to have as many children as possible
Girls were taught to embrace the role of mother and obedient wife in school and compulsory membership in the Nazi League.
Epigraph
Suggests many themes such as women, individuality etc
Rachel is barren, and instructs her husband to have sex with Bilhah, the handmaid.
Biblical reference: society uses religion for extremist views; this book is what happens when ideas are taken too far.
“For the games that were formerly played there, the hoops for the basketball nets were still in place, though the nets were gone.”
Chapter 1
References to games reflect the handmaids job is to have children for barren women. Children are associated with innocence, representing the Handmaids loss of innocence.
“Felt-skirted as I knew from pictures, later in mini-skirts, then pants, then in one earring, spiky green-streaked hair.”
Chapter 1
This represents the movement of fashion and feminist movement.
W”we weren’t allowed out, except for our walks, twice a day, two by two.”
Chapter 1
Biblical reference to Noah’s ark
“Alma, Janine, Dolores, Moira, June.”
Chapter 1
Act of rebellion and defiance by attempting to keep their names, despite names being changed to Of(male name).
“Water coloured picture of blue irises.”
Chapter 2
Irises are a symbol of hope, but these aren’t real flowers, therefore representing the false hope the Handmaids have in Gilead
“Fraternize means to behave like a brother.”
Chapter 2
Language enforcing patriarchal views of Gileadian society.
“I don’t like to come across the Commander’s wife unexpectedly.”
Chapter 3
The narrators perspective allows for intimate exploration of narrators thoughts.
The narrators apprehension about encountering the Commander’s wife suggests a sense of vulnerability which may stem from the subordinate position within the social hierarchy.
“The cigarettes must have come from the black market, I thought, and this gives me hope.”
Chapter 3
Theme of rebellion
“A motherly figure, someone who would understand and protect me.”
Chapter 3
Shows these Handmaids are in a society that pits women against eachother.
Offred’s inquisitive interior contrasts her passive and quiet exterior.
“Blessed be the fruit.”
Chapter 4
Biblical reference: “be fruitful and multiply.”
“His face is long and mournful, like a sheep’s.”
Chapter 4
This demonstrates human curiosity and shared struggle for desire and human connection
“There are no lawyers anymore.”
Chapter 5
Contextual link to Roe vs Wade: this law was used to grant freedom to women, and this is removed in Gileadean society.
“We were a society dying, said Aunt Lydia, off too much choice.”
Chapter 5
Celebrity females in 1980s films finally were presented as strong, powerful, and independent.
Represents New Right beliefs: we have too much choice.
“Headless sheep.”
Chapter 6
Sheep represent the Handmaids
Biblical image: lamb of God, however this has been distorted, showing theocracy is wrong.
“The woman handed me one of the magazines. It had a pretty woman on it, with no clothes on, hanging from the ceiling by a chain wound round her hands. I looked at it with interest. It didn’t frighten me. I thought she was swinging, like Tarzan from a vine, on the TV.”
Chapter 7
Burning women’s liberty and autonomy.
Group of feminists policy of illusion to Nazi’s - burning books.
Atwood is critiquing the feminist movement, alluding that they are Nazi’s.
Atwood is also protesting against the attitudes and actions of 2nd wave feminism.
Fire alludes to the witch trials - patriarchal attacks on women and ‘unexplained power’.
“She was wearing a dress I’d never seen, white and down to the ground.”
Chapter 7
Theme of purity, innocence and childhood.
The stage has complete control over daughter - stripping and removing her character. Shows how Gilead destroys the individual.
