‘The Handmaid’s Tale’  

Margaret Atwood

Allusions

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is full of Allusions.  Research the categories below in order to gain further understanding of their significance.

• Biblical Allusions

A Biblical Allusion is an inderect or subtle reference to something from the biblical history to make hint towards what she is thinking without obviously pointing it out. The provide the writer with a way to underlay messages in the text that only some readers will pick up. Examples include adam and eve and david and goilith

• Jezebels

The name of the secret brothel/ sex club it is also a Biblical Allusion (reference) to Jezebel the queen of israel who would manipulate and encourage her husband to commit acts of evil. The reason for this allusion is obvious in the eyes of those who know about the club the women “Jezebel’s” are manipulating the men who go there just as they used to in the old days.

• Rachel and Jacob (Genesis)

haindmaids are called haindmaids because of the biblical story of Rachel and her haindmaid Bilhah. The story goes that Rachel could not produce children for her husband Jacob and so since she is jellious of her sister Leah who was also Jacobs wife and had produced children Rachel gave Jacob her maidservant to be a surrogate mother who produced two children that Rachel named and raised.

• Gilead

• Freud and his theories – ‘Penis Envy’
• Marxism
• George Orwell’s 1984

In the novel 1984 by George Orwell, the ruling political party Ingsoc has started to invent a spin-off of the English language called Newspeak. The idea behind Newspeak is to take out many words that are critical to expressing rebellious thoughts. Newspeak restricts the vocabulary people could use to speak out against the Party. The Party believes that since we think in language, if there are no words to express a rebellious thought, then you can’t even form a rebellious thought in the first place. 

Negative terms are part of critical thinking, so the Party has taken out all negative terms, for example instead of saying “bad” you would say “ungood”. Or if you wanted to say “very bad”, you would have to say “double-plus ungood”. By making it easier to say “yes” and “good”, it becomes your natural reaction to agree. 

Rebellious thoughts come from questioning and deep thinking, so to eradicate rebellious thoughts, the Party has eradicated words that allow people to think deeply and to question things. The Party is aiming to remove as much original thought as possible so that the lower class can only express what is necessary and no more. Once people stop speaking out against ideas, they stop questioning and eventually blindly accept the Party’s ideology.

One of the main aims of the Party is that all the Proles, the lower class manual workers, will speak only Newspeak by 2050. The more educated the Proles are the more dangerous they are to the party since they make up around 80% of the population. If the Party could pull it off, this would give them the power to control what the Proles say and think. 

Over time, languages progress. So what the Party may have not considered is that their positive words will simply become the new negative words. Right now, “ungood” might be seen as not a negative phrase, but once Newspeak is established, “ungood” will simply replace “bad” as a negative word. Humans have always adapted to the circumstances. If the Proles can form a thought that they don’t have words to express, they will most likely invent a word to express that thought.

The Party controls the middle class by using tele-screens, listening devices and constantly monitoring their movements and facial expressions. The middle class are more dangerous to the Party, because they are educated and see the inner workings of the Party. But the Proles are left more to their own devices. The adoption of Newspeak amongst the Proles is the start of the Party gaining full control over the population.  

If the Party has enough control over the Proles, they may stop the Proles developing new words. Therefore the Proles may never rebel against the Party.

• Descartes’ theory – “I think, therefore I am”
• Puritan New England

Why has Atwood included Allusions in the text?  What do they tell us about Offred and Gilead?

Setting

The setting in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is incredibly influential upon its characters.  It is suggested that the novel is set early in the 21^st Century.  The story spans the 3 – 4 months of summer and flashes back in time often.  The flashbacks indicate that Gilead seems to be around five years old.  Offred’s daughter was in day-care, “about three or four” when the revolution took place.  She is five when they try to escape, and “she must be eight’ when Offred sees her photo.  As readers we know that Gilead is relatively new, through information such as “blankets that still said the U.S” and through the fact that the Handmaids are told they are pioneers, front-runners of the new system: “You are a transitional generation.”

Work through the points below, giving as much detail as possible and using quotations.

• Where is the novel set?
• In which contemporary geographical place is Gilead located?  Cite evidence.
• What contemporary university is referred to?  Give information about this university. Why is its inclusion important?
• What are we told about the world outside of the house/Gilead?  What is the significance of that?
• Make notes on the following areas of the Commander’s house, using quotes to support your comments: Offred’s room (Chapters 2 and 9); The garden; The sitting room (Ch. 14); The Commander’s study (Ch. 23)
• Make notes on the town and specific settings within it
• Makes notes on Jezebel’s.  Focus upon the contrast with the rest of the Gilead settings (Ch. 37)
• Research a Totalitarian regime; either one that is contemporary or historical.  How does Gilead echo this setting?

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’  

Margaret Atwood

Themes

Control is the overriding theme presented within the novel, but there are subsets of this theme.  Using the subsets below, find three examples (use quotations and list the page reference) that highlights each idea.

• Control of thought

• Control of women

• Control of movement

• Control of sexuality

• Control through fear

Closely analyse one section of the text that shows ONE theme and discuss how it encapsulates the theme (photocopy this and annotate it)

Characters

1. Major Characters 

Offred

The Commander

Serena Joy

Moira

Nick

COVER THE POINTS BELOW:

• Facts, for example – Offred is 33 years old, has had a daughter….
• Actions, for example – Offred capitulates to the regime because she is too afraid for her daughter to protest
• Adjective/Phrases – Offred is educated (university graduate; good job in library)
• Conclusions/ overall description – For example; The whole story is told from Offred’s p.o.v…She is not a hero…She is passive…

1. Minor Characters

Janine/Ofwarren

Luke

Offred’s mother

Aunt Lydia

FOR THE MINOR CHARACTERS, COVER THE POINTS BELOW:

• overall description, as well as their discussing their significance.

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’  

Margaret Atwood

Narrative structure

The structure of this novel is discontinuous, fragmentary, revelatory, episodic.  There is considerable use of interior monologue.  Rather than following a straightforward chronological narrative, the story is gradually revealed to the reader through some narrative and dialogue combined with interior dialogue that includes a great deal of flashbacks, hint and allusion.  It gradually builds a cumulative picture of the setting, the characters, the themes and events of the story.  The story needs to be pieced together, like a jigsaw puzzle, with the final picture revealed only as the last pieces are put in.

• What do you notice about the use of present and past tense?  Of speech marks? Of capital letters?
• Very little actually happens in Offred’s story.  Why is this appropriate to the themes of the novel?
• What is the strength of this type of narrative structure?  Why is it appropriate and more effective than a straightforward narrative would be?
• What is the point of view of this novel?  What is the effect of this POV on this story?  How reliable is the narrator?
• What is the dominant overall tone of the writing?

Margaret Atwood and her writing techniques 

• Research Margaret Atwood (this background information is important for including in essay analysis) 
• ‘THT’ fits the genre types of; ‘Dystopian’ and ‘Speculative’ fiction. Discuss the importance of such literature and the effect they have for their readers.