The+Handmaid's+Tale

The Handmaid's Tale


- Handmaids are all picked up in red vans to go to the birth of the fellow handmaids' 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 versus handmaids jealous of one handmaid's 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 reigious issues - prayer worshp (bible study, baptism/christening, rebirth, baby Jesus/the birth of a saviour) - Baby is stillborn - death day - failure? - Ironic opposites birth versus death - A fine line between the two - So simple, quick and easy to go from birth straight into death, ultimate be all and end all - live 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

POLITICS
- 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 particicution, shops such as ‘All Flesh’ (particicution = participation + execution) “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