context

Question 1

dystopian society

Answer 1

• novels in this genre present imagined worlds and societies that are not ideals, but instead are terrifying or restrictive.
• propaganda used to control the citizens of society.
• information, thought, and freedom restricted.
• a figurehead or concept is worshipped in society.
• citizens under constant surveillance.
• citizens live in a dehumanised state.
• the natural world is banished or untrusted.
• citizens conform to uniform expectations- individuality is bad.

Question 2

dystopian protagonist

Answer 2

• often feels trapped and is struggling to escape.
• questions the existing social and political systems.
• believes or feels something is off with the society in which they live.
• helps the audience recognise the negative aspects of the dystopian world through her perspective.

Question 3

Atwood

Answer 3

• only uses events in the novel that have actually happened in the real world.
• tries to warn the reader about things possibly regressing if we don’t try or fight for rights.

Question 4

feminism

Answer 4

• In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the feminist movement in the Western world was divided by debates over the future of sex and sexuality.
• feminists such as Ellen Willis and Gayle Rubin argued that the women’s movement should embrace sexuality and sexual desire as broadly as possible, in order to resist political efforts to control women’s sex lives.
• first wave of feminism-> mid 19th century-> suffragettes campaigning for the right to vote.
• second wave of feminism-> mid 20th century-> characterised by women’s advocacy for women’s right in the workplace, in marriage, and society.
• third wave of feminism-> intersectional feminism.
• forth wave of feminism-> 2012 onwards-> defined by social media.
• Atwood was mainly influenced by the second wave of feminism.
• hitler awarded women with benefits for having children.
• rape was still legalised until the 90’s.
• abortion laws -Roe V Wade.
• strict laws on women in islam-> Taliban (extreme islamic fundamentalist group)-> a refusal for women to be educated, insistence on women being fully covered.
• Romanian children- in 1966, under Ceausescu’s dictatorship, abortion and birth control were banned to increase population.

Question 5

Hitler and Nazi Germany

Question 6

slavery and racism

Answer 6

• the ‘children of ham’ in Gilead represent the black population and are displaced from society.
• the Underground Railroad had been used as an escape route in northern USA to Canada.
• like the slaves, handmaids are referred to by their patronymic, and should they escape, they should be punished.
• slavery abolished in the US by the 13th amendment to the constitution in 1865.

Question 7

the white rose group

Answer 7

• an underground resistance group formed against the nazi’s in ww2 made up of students from music university. ->links to the mayday and parade and Underground female road in Gilead.

Question 8

the Rachel and Leah story

Answer 8

• found in the epigraph and throughout the novel.
• it is a teaching from the book of Genesis that forms the basis of the relationship between the handmaids, commanders and wives.
• it sets up sanctioned adultery within marriage as long as the goal is to have children.

Question 9

biblical teachings

Question 10

China and the cultural revolution

Question 11

islamic groups and regimes

Answer 11

• broadcasted public executions
• public executions were known to be carried out in Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Somalia.