How and to what effect has childhood been explored in at least two of the works you have studied?

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood presents childhood as a precious resource taken away from kids born in the dystopian Gilead society. To illustrate this, Atwood uses the cruel nature of birth and oppressive family structure in Gilead. From the beginning, the concepts of mother and kin are separated in Gilead; although Offred may give birth […]

Intersectionality in “The Handmaid’s Tale”

Intersectionality is the interconnected nature of social categories such as race, class, gender, and sexuality, regarded often as creating overlapping systems of discrimination and oppression. In The Handmaid’s Tale, intersectionality serves as an overlying idea of a possible root of the issues behind the oppressive nature of life in Gilead. Gilead is a society built […]

Is Atwood’s novel ultimately a feminist work of literature, or does it offer a critique of feminism?

I believe that Atwood’s novel is ultimately a feminist work of literature, as it focuses on the critique and negative portrayal of a dystopian future that while paints women such as handmaids as important to the community’s functioning, is nonetheless still misogynistic in their objectification of such women. There are, however, elements of the novel […]

What is the symbolic power of naming as described in The Handmaid’s Tale? Link to your wider reading about the politics of naming.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, names serve as a symbol for a person’s identity. With handmaids all having a name that starts with “Of” and ending with the commander’s name, Atwood uses this as a way of denoting the lack of freedom handmaids have in the book, wherein their entire identity is based upon the commander […]

What is the most effective way that Atwood creates a repressive atmosphere in chapters 1-6?

In chapters 1-6, Atwood most effectively creates a repressive atmosphere by consistently contrasting traditional connotations and symbols of freedom or comfort with what the handmaids and Offred encounter in the story. In chapter 1, Atwood focuses on the presentation of the handmaids as living in a prison-like atmosphere, where almost nothing is within their control. […]