The Handmaid's Tale Flashcards
Who tried to justify the atrocities of Stalinism with the omelette proverb?
Walter Duranty
Liberation Theology
An influential movement within the Roman Catholic Church in 1980s- criticised by conservatives for essentially ‘baptising’ Marxist ideology
Who states that Offred is Gilead’s sacrificial lamb?
Maria Christou
Who discusses that parallels between Gilead and Nazi Germany?
Maria Christou
Who discusses the ominous nature of trying to have the last word?
Arnold E. Davidson
Who argues that the biblical fundamentalism of Gilead poses crucial questions about the interpretative use of literary texts?
Arnold E. Davidson
Who compares the hierarchy in Gilead to the British empire?
Danita J. Dodson
Who believes that the eaten is also the eater?
Maria Christou
Who discusses the preliminary matter that establishes a frame through which we read the novel?
Karen F. Stein
Who discusses Canadian national identity?
Alanna A. Callaway
Who states that some of the earliest Canadian literature was by women?
Danita J. Dodson
Who discusses the way in which the Protestant Reformation removed the feminine elements of Roman Catholicism?
Danita J. Dodson
Who argues that the issue of language and power has always been crucial in the construction of dystopias?
Coral Ann Howells
What does Stein suggest the focus on the consumption of the flesh-like bread calls for an association with?
The Handmaids with the Agnus Dei of the New Testament, the Lamb of God that is (cannibalistically) consumed at the Eucharist
Who compares Offred’s reconstructed narrative to the sexual dualities of Gilead?
Arnold E. Davidson
Who argues that dystopias and utopias have a lot in common?
Danita J. Dodson
Who says that the allegedly Christian society turns everyone into a sinner?
Barbe Hammer
Who believes that the Bible functions as both a tool of oppression and a tool of subversion in the novel?
Maria Christou
Who states that irony is a chief feature of the novel?
Karen F. Stein
What does the King James Bible describe biblical holocausts as being?
‘Sweet savour’ unto the Lord
Which critic questions the way in which scholars contribute to the dehumanisation of society?
Arnold E. Davidson
Which book can be seen as a sequel to THMT?
Oryx and Crake; 2003
Who also associates eating with politics, suggesting they both allow violence which is non-punishable?
Jacques Derrida
Who believes that it is the women in positions of power in Gilead who make the system unpleasant for other women?
Alanna A. Callaway
When did the Three Mile Island incident happen?
March 28, 1979
when was Thatcher in power?
1979-90
Who believes that there a three language systems present in the novel?
Debrah Raske
Who argues that the insatiable consumerist society is gulping humans metaphorically?
Aneesa Mushtaq
What are the features of postmodernism?
Questioning definitions; questioning truths; self-consciousness; fractured narrative; end of originality; ‘subjective’ narrative style
In the Bible, when are animals sacrificed in the place of humans?
Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22:13)
Who believes that the juxtaposed dedications show the ironic relations between history and historians?
Sandra Tomc
Who discusses ‘Oryx and Crake’ and genetic engineering as a form of cannibalism?
Aneesa Mushtaq
Who discusses the way in which man has to metaphorically cannibalise the whole system in order to create new things?
Aneesa Mushtaq
Who talks about the dedications and Atwood’s obsession with cannibalism?
Karen F. Stein
Which critic says that dystopia represents choice for the reader, and therefore hope?
Coral Ann Howells
When did Atwood publish ‘Edible Woman’?
1969
Who argues that Atwood borrows the standard form of the dystopia?
Arnold E. Davidson
Who argues that women use rhetoric to enforce oppression of other people?
Alanna A. Callaway
Who discusses the way in which there is a rich portrait of the African American female slave in the novel?
Danita J. Dodson
Where did the Three Mile Island incident occur?
Dauphin County, Pennsylvania
When was the Equal Pay Act in the UK?
1970
When was the Pregnancy Discrimination Act?
1978
Who argues that Canada is too diverse to become Gilead?
Danita J. Dodson
Who argues that the distinction between animals and humans has been marred?
Aneesa Mushtaq
When did Atwood make her comment about politics and eating?
In her address on Amnesty International, published in a 1982 collection of essays
Which critic discusses speculative fiction?
Arnold E. Davidson
Which critic discusses the religious hypocrisy of Gilead?
Lucy M. Freibert
Who discusses the way in which Atwood’s choice of a female narrator turns the traditionally masculine dystopian genre upside down?
Coral Ann Howells
Who believes that Atwood’s storytelling has a double purpose?
Coral Ann Howells
What was surprising about President Ford’s First Lady?
Betty Ford was pro-choice, dubbed ‘No Lady’ by conservatives, a moderate Republican herself
When was the Pregnancy Discrimination Act?
1978
Which other biblical sacrificial lamb is associated with THMT?
Passover
Who argues that women are not homogenuous?
Danita J. Dodson
Who comments on the seating arrangement at the birth?
Glenn Deer
Who discusses Auto-Cannibalism?
Maria Christou
What film inspired Atwood’s reference to the red?
The Red Shoes; 1948
Who believes that politics is presented as a metonymy of eating?
Maria Christou
Who believes that Offred and Mary Webster escape from the traditional plots scripted for women because they do not fit these “patterns of inquiry”?
Karen F. Stein
Who states that Offred’s account dispels any singular definition of ‘woman’?
Coral Ann Howells
When did second-wave feminism first begin?
Early 1960s
Who argues that Atwood powerfully critiques the rhetoric of sacrifice within politics?
Maria Christou
Who believes that Offred’s gendered body has been written into the body of the text?
Coral Ann Howells
Who does Atwood dedicate the novel to?
Mary Webster; Perry Miller
Who describes that pre-Gilead was not an ‘ideal freedom state’?
Fredrik Pettersson
Who discusses ‘The Edible Woman’ and ‘Surfacing’?
Alanna A. Callaway
Who compares Gileadean roles to a caste system?
Alanna A. Callaway
Who believes that the States are more extreme in everything?
Margaret Atwood
Who believes that the academic discourse satirises economic pretension?
Karen F. Stein
Who discusses apartheid in THMT?
Danita J. Dodson
Who discusses the diet of the Handmaids?
Maria Christou
When did Atwood say THMT was “a tale that warns of the possible rise of totalitarianism in the US through right-wing Christian fundamentalism”?
1986
Who argues that Atwood even manages to twist the masculine genre of dystopia into a feminine romance plot?
Coral Ann Howells
Who discusses the way in which eating is metaphorically related to power?
Aneesa Mushtaq
when was Thatcher in power?
1979-90
Who believes that Atwood chose satire to critique second-wave feminism as effectively as possible?
Alanna A. Callaway
