THE HANDMAID’S TALE
- HANDMAIDS ARE ALL PICKED UP IN RED VANS
TO GO TO HE BIRTH OF THEIR FELLOW
HANDMAID’S BABIES.
- THE BIRTHDAY LASTS FOR A VERY LONG TIME.
HANDMAIDS STAY WITH THE HANDMAID IN
LABOUR FROM PRE-BIRTH RIGHT THROUGH THE
BIRTH AND FOR A WHILE AFTERWARDS.
- HOLDING HANDS WITH THE HANDMAIDS GIVING
BIRTH – IRONY OF HANDMAIDS GIVING SUPPORT
VERSUE HANDMAIDS JEALOUS OF ONE
HANDMAIDS SUCCESS
- BIRTHDAY CAN BE SEEN IN CULT LIKE FASHION,
AND IT POSSIBLY MAY HAVE A DIDACTIC
(TEACHING) PURPOSE AS IT SHOWS THE OTHER
HANDMAIDS WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE
DOING, SETTING AN EXAMPLE
- BIRTHDAY ASSOCIATED WITH STRONG
RELIGIOUS ISSUES – PRAYER WORSHIP
BIBLE STUDY
BAPTISM/CHRISTENING
REBIRTH
BABY JESUS/THE BIRTH OF
A SAVIOUR
-
BABY IS STILL BORN – DEATH DAY – FAILURE?
IRONIC OPPOSITES BIRTH VERSUS DEATH
A FINE LINE BETWEENT THE TWO
SO SIMPLE, QUICK AND EASY TO GO FROM BIRTH
STRAIGHT INTO DEATH, ULTIMATE BE ALL AND
END ALL – LIVE TO TO DIE?
MOIRA
- AN IMPORTANT ALTERNATIVE MODEL OF
WOMEN IN THE TIME BEFORE
- CONTRASTS TO OFFRED – SHE IS A BUTCH
LESBIAN
- MUCH MORE ASTUTE ABOUT SEXUAL POLITICS
THAN OFFRED, SHE IS AN ACTIVIST IN THE GAY
RIGHTS MOVEMENT, WORKING FOR A WOMEN’S
COLLECTIVE AT THE TIME OF GILEAD COUP
- BREAD
- TURNS INTO A PROSTITUTE
- A PROACTIVE HERO
- SURVIVOR OF THE AMERICAN PERMISSIVE
SOCIETY
- LIKES BEER
- NEVER BECAME A HANDMAID
- “I’D LIKE TO END WITH SOMETHING DARING
AND SPECTACULAR, SOME OUTRAGE THAT
WOULD BEFIT HER, BUT AS FAR AS I KNOW THAT
DIDN’T HAPPEN
FEMINISM
- THE FEMINIST PART OF THE HANDMAIDS TALE IS
PRIMARLIY AIMED AT THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT
DURING THE 1960’S. IN WHICH PEOPLE
PROTESTED FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS – ABILTIY TO
WORK AND BE TREATED EQUALLY AS MEN?
- AGAIN HARWOOD TRIES TO WARN AGAINST
EXTREMISM IN THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT, WHO
THINK ALL MEN SHOULD BE KILLED
- OFFREDS MUM OFGLEN AND MOIRA ARE ALL
REPRESENTITIVES OF THE CHARACTERISICS
THAT WERE SHOWN IN THE MOVEMENT SUCH AS
EMPOWERING REBELLION
- COMMANDERS WIVES AND AUNTS REPRESENT
THE OTHER MOVEMENT , BEING SUBMISSIVE
AND BRING WOMEN BACK TO TRADITIONAL
WAYS
- OFFRED IS THE RIGHT MIX, SHE ISN’T EXTREME
OR ACCEPTING SO SHE SURVIVES
- THE HANDMAIDS TALE IS AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF THE LIVES OF WOMAN, HOW THEY FACE
OPPRESSION, AUTHORITY AND JUST LIKE THEY
DO TODAY
- WOMAN HAVE NO POWER IN GILEAD, AND YET
THEY THE FOCUS
- A MISOGYNIST SOCIETY (WOMEN HATING)
- ROLE OF WOMEN IS TO SIMPLY BREED AND
CARRY ON THE MALES POWER
- WHEN THE BALANCE BETWEEN MASCULINITY
AND FEMMINITY, THE WORLD IS IN CHAOS
- INCIDENTS
- MORIA REBELS AND RUNS AWAY, SHOWS THE
SPIRIT OF THE PEOPLE IN THE FEMISIT
MOVEMENT
- FLASH BACKS OF OFFREDS MOTHER DURING
THE FEMINIST MOVEMENT
- BIRTHDAY IS THE CLIMAX, WHERE WOMEN
COME TOGETHER AS ONE BECAUSE IT IS A BIG
PART OF A WOMENS LIFE
POLTICS
- TOTALITARIAN GOVERNMENT THAT PERMITS
NO RIVALS, DEMOCRACY EXTREME
SUBSERVANCE
- GILEAD – TOTALITARIAN REGIME TAKEN TO ITS
EXTREME WHERE EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE IS
CONTROLLED AND SUSPECT TO RULES
- MIX OF FACISM AND RELIGIOUS
FUNDAMENTALISM BASED ON OLD TESTAMENT
- CONTROL MAINTAINED THROUGH SPYING (THE
EYES) ONE HANDMAID ENCOURAGED TO SPY ON
EACH OTHER, ALWAYS IN PAIRS
- RIGHTS OF THE MINORITY OR THOSE THE
REGIME IS AGAINST BE REMOVED. WOMEN,
BLACK PEOPLE, DOCTORS KNOWN TO HAVE
PERFORMED ABORTIONS, JEWS, QUAKERS,
BAPTISTS AND HOMOSEXUALS HAVE RIGHTS
REMOVED, SOME ARE KILLED
- CONTROL MAINTAINED THROUGHT MILITARY,
INTELLIGENCE NETWORK, TORTURE AND
EXECUTION OF TRAITORS.
- NOVEL EXPLORES TOTAL CONTROL AND A
SOICETIES RESPONSE TO THIS, HOW RESISTANCE
OCCURS
- LIFE WITHOUT FREEDOM IS NOT REALLY WORTH
LIVING
KEY INCIDENTS
CHAPTER 36
- Tells of how all adult stores were shut down and all such
items burned.
- Commander; ‘reeks of black market
- Freedom like everything is relative
CHAPTER 37
- “He is throwing one off”
- Perhaps he has reached the state of intoxication
- Power is said to inspire
- “Nature demands variety for men, part of the procreational
strategy.” Commander
- “It’s only for officers “corruption across the board
- Entertainment businesses, good for trade delegations
- Sees Moira dressed as a playboy bunny, but the dress is
not right. Also absurd because Moira is lesbian and
working as a prostitute for men.
- The costumes are ‘government issue’. Corruption is not
just what happens; it is actually instigated by the regime.
- Moira tells the story of her escape
- “People stopped asking questions”
- Moira seems to have accepted her fate
CHAPTER 39
- Commander and Offred go into room
-“He is not an unkind man” Stockholm syndrome
- As he is stroking her it means ownership
THEME – RELIGION
Links to Taliban – the religious army ordered bus drivers to hide
female passengers behind curtains. A curtain should also hide
the driver from the female passengers. Women are not allowed
to drive. Men and women must travel in separate buses.
Taliban now control 90% of Afghanistan and has been
especially restrictive of women – no jobs, no school and forcing
them to wear burqas from head to toe.
The handmaid’s tale is a warning about what might happen if
extreme religious ideology is followed as a solution to societal
problems. It suggests that allowing religious fundamentalists to
run a government is a recipe for injustice, cruelty and
oppression, The specific targets of the novel are fundamentalist
Protestants in America, sometimes known as the Christian right
because of their conservative views on social issues such as
abortion, women’s rights and gay rights. The handmaid’s tale
takes some of the positions advocated by religious conservative
and exaggerates them.
The uniforms of the handmaids which hide the body and most of
the face from view resemble forms of dress for women in the
theocratic Islamic societies where women have few rights. The
cruel punishments in Gilead, such as amputation, resemble the
practices of the more extreme Muslim states today.
In the Old Testament Moses took his people through the ‘land of
Milk and Honey. In order to set them free. As only important
members of the Government have access to the bible, important
meaning all male, they are able to put the Old Testament into
new contexts. “Blessed be the fruit”, “May the lord open”.
These greetings are reinforcing what the Handmaids are there
for, to reproduce. Atwood has used this as a place name in
order to give the reader and the Handmaids a sense of hope so
that they may one day be set free also.
Because the Old Testament states that women are solely child
bearers, they are used for sex in order for them to reproduce.
The fundamentalists Republic of Gilead is named after a place
in the Old Testament, a mountainous region east of Jordan.
“Gilead is a place of evildoers, tracked with blood”. The
communal ethics of Gilead are based on the Old Testament,
where patriarchal supremacy is justified as the commandment of
God.
Some of the underpinnings of the Republic of Gilead come
from the Bible, especially the book of Genesis, The primary
reference is to the story of Rachel and Leah (Genesis 29:31-35,
30:1-24). Leah, Rachel’s sister and the first wife of Jacob was
fertile and was blessed by God, but Rachel, Jacob’s second wife
was thought to be infertile until much later in her life. Rachel
and Leah compete in bearing sons for their husbands by using
their handmaids as proxies and taking immediate possession of
the children they produce. In the context of the handmaid’s tale
the story is one of competion, jealousy and reproductive cruelty.
SETTING – GEOGRAPHICAL,
POLITICAL, PHYSICAL
OFFRED”S ROOM
Physical: Blank, boring, sparse, dull
No objects for suicide – no chandeliers, mirrors, glass on
paintings,
No escape – through suicide
- small gap between window
Cupboard, bed, cushion “Faith” painting of iris - surveillance
eyes
“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum” – beacon of hope
Cora drops her plate because she thinks Offreds dead – previous
handmaid Rita says “what you don’t know won’t hurt you” –
ironic because it will.
Room acts as a metaphor for the women in our society who have
no escape from their lives as a result of domestic violence,
abuse, rape. Novel urges us to ensure that this never happens,
liberate women.
COMMANDER’S STUDY
Physical: Filled with books, magazines, games, fireplace, illicit
room.
Corruption and connection – Commander invites Offred into his
study she thinks it’s for ‘kinky’ sex rather he wants
companionship.
Play scrabble – he has power, she gains power (foreshadows
how regime won’t work)
Offred asks him for body lotion, he doesn’t understand why she
can’t keep it in her room – he’s aloof to the laws he created.
“if my life is bearable, then maybe what they’re doing isn’t so
bad after all”
Commander’s bored with the life he created, cliché of “my wife
doesn’t understand me” goes to Jezebels, discontent for his own
regime. Importance of human connection for both characters as
a means of surviving.
TOWN
Gilead is located in Boston, Massachusetts? Centre of the town
is Harvard Uni
On her walk with Ofglen they go past the wall – control through
fear.\
Location of salvagings and particicutition, shops such as ‘All
Flesh’
“Lillies of the field”, “Soul Scrolls”, “Milk and Honey”, –
biblical references, use of religious terminology replacing
modern English.
Ironic in “time before” Boston was a place of resistance and
independence.
Boston Tea Party, The war of Independence – regime crushed
this
Was a place of learning (Harvard) now book burnings,
persecution of educated people, limit on learning.
Gilead is walled in – representing total control and no escape,
loss of freedom.
Shows changes of mixing politics and religion by presenting a
dystopia of what could happen – downfall of humanity.
KEY EVENTS
SOUL SCROLLS CH 25-29, CH 27,
NIGHT CHAPTER 9 & 10
Occurs in chapter 27
“Ofglen and I are more comfortable with one another now”
“Siamese twins”
Come to soul scrolls as part of their daily walk
The story is actually print machines that print prayers on order,
and say them out loud when they are printing.
Ordering Prayers from soul scrolls is supposed to be a sign of
piety and faithfulness to the regime.
5 different prayers – health
- wealth
- death
- sin
- birth
“toneless metallic voices repeating the same thing over and
over, another way of showing the regime as being dull and like
any dictatorship repeating the same propaganda over and over.
“First time they ever look into each other’s eyes”
“Do you think God listens to these machines?”
“Right now it’s treason” Offred senses danger, still cautious
“No” long sigh of relief from Ofglen
“Offred becomes excited by this new knowledge of the
resistance movement
See van coming for another man. Now that Offred is somewhat
guilty of treason, she feels relief, “that it wasn’t her”
In the next chapter describes the coup
QUOTES AND INCIDENTS
Turning Point – Chapter 24 – Reflection of scrabble game
Offred’s interpretation of Aunt Lydia’s teachings about men.
Story of death camp commander’s mistress –‘hysteria’
Beating of Offred’s heart.
Realisation of life etc events that promote change from living to
existing
Personal – walking up stairs to room just after scrabble game
with commander – kiss – love?
Sits in chair – exhausted, reflects
Thinks things have changed – has power over commander
Talks about needing perspective – important
Reflection of self – age, hair colour, height
“Men are sex machines” said Aunt Lydia and” not much more”
– thinking about what Aunt Lydia said about men – ideals etc
“It could be a passport, it could be my downfall” – the
commanders lust desire for her – controlling men
Reflecting on scrabble – how bizarre etc “context is all”
Thinking about mistress of man who supervised Nazi Jew Camp
– denied knowing anything, appearance from beautiful to
haggard. Thinking of self as mistress?
How she killed herself later – “nobody asked her whether or not
she had loved him.”
Conclusion of thinking/reflection – unbuttons clothes inside self
broken – “I’ve broken, something has cracked, that must
be it” – CHANGE HAS OCCURRED
Realises power over commander. Laughter comes
Realises change existing “All I can hear now is the sound of my
own heart, opening and closing
JANINE
Extreme of servility
Victim – before regime started – raped, waitress
- during regime – red centre, Birth, Losing it
RED CENTRE
Women against her, “her fault, her fault, her fault” – victim of
gang rape(pg68)
“Whatever it was she knew she would not be blamed for it, she
was blameless” – implies she is constantly blamed in the past.
Always blamed is like a scapegoat/ example used by Aunts.
Shows ideal product of brainwashing.
“As the lord as my witness, said Janine, sucking up to aunts
shows ideal product of brainwashing.
“I want you to keep your ears open. Maybe one of the others
was involved….and come tell me about it, won’t you dear? If
you hear anything “. Spys for Aunt Lydia. Would do anything
for compensation.
“Listen to us shouting it was her fault,” victim accepts her
situation, used by regime as an example.
“Janine was like a puppy that’s been kicked to often…. She’d
roll over for anyone, she’d tell anything just for a moment of
approbation.
“She’s a flag on a hill top, showing us what still can be done”
“show off a voice hisses” The women are envious of her
pregnancy, she is gloating and basking in her triumph.
BIRTHDAY
Contrasting treatment towards her. They are on her side.
“breathe, breathe”… even though they despise Janine they are
united for one purpose
“It’s her second baby…. When she used to cry about it at night”,
“It’s a victory for all of us. We’ve done it” Women united
At birthday she is negelected while the baby is taken away, she
is just the womb
“She will be allowed to nurse it for a few weeks”… she has no
ownership of the baby
LOSING IT
women pity her, but not enough to do anything.
After salvaging – “But she’s let go, totally now she is in free
fall, she is in withdrawal”
“I don’t even feel sorry for her” Disconnection