Context Flashcards
(7 cards)
1
Q
Dystopian fiction
A
- Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels (1726): Satirical take on society and power.
- Zamyatin’s We (1920-21): Citizens in glass buildings are surveilled; identities replaced with numbers (e.g. D-503).
- Huxley’s Brave New World (1932): Loss of individuality; human reproduction happens in artificial hatcheries.
- Orwell’s 1984 (1949): Total surveillance by ‘Big Brother’; Winston Smith resists state control in ‘Airstrip One’.
- Wyndham’s The Chrysalids (1955): Puritan society kills ‘impure’ babies to maintain genetic ‘perfection’.
- Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 (1953): Books are banned; knowledge is suppressed; visual media dominates.
- Lessing’s Memoirs of a Survivor (1974): Female narrator reflects on societal collapse and personal survival.
- James’s The Children of Men (1992): Global infertility crisis leads to authoritarian rule and societal despair.
2
Q
Parallels with American Slavery
A
- Illiteracy: Slaves couldn’t read/write — relied on oral storytelling → Handmaids like Offred also forbidden from reading, so she tells her story orally.
- Underground Femaleroad = Underground Railroad: A direct reference to the slave escape route to freedom in the North.
- Naming: Slaves were given “slave names” by owners → Handmaids are renamed after their Commanders (e.g. “Of-Fred”) to show ownership.
3
Q
Political and social protest writing
A
- Subtle protest: Offred resists through inner thoughts, humour, and memories — not open rebellion.
- ‘Double vision’: Her shifting between past and present mirrors Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, which contrasts purity and corruption to critique institutions.
- First-person narration: Highlights the link between personal trauma and political oppression.
- Literary parallel: Like Offred, Amir in Hosseini’s The Kite Runner is shaped by personal and political forces (Bildungsroman structure).
4
Q
Puritan New England
A
- Personal link: Atwood is descended from Mary Webster, accused of witchcraft and hanged (1683) — she survived.
- Academic background: Studied Puritanism at Harvard under Professor Perry Miller.
- Gilead = modern Puritanism: Atwood says Gilead’s mindset closely mirrors 17th-century Puritan values.
- Women’s control: Like Gilead, Puritans viewed women as inferior:
Given names like Silence, Patience, Hopestill to reinforce submission.
Denied mirrors, combs, or decorative clothing — expected to dress plainly.
5
Q
Reagan-Era Conservativism in the United States
A
- Published in 1985 during a rise in U.S. religious conservatism (e.g. Moral Majority, Focus on the Family, Reagan administration).
- These groups promoted female subservience and traditional gender roles.
- Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale as a warning against this extremism.
- Handmaids = embodiment of twisted Christian ideals.
- Key aim: To show how an oppressive, patriarchal dystopia could realistically emerge — a cautionary tale.
6
Q
The American New Right
A
- Atwood researched the rise of the New Right — a powerful religious, right-wing movement in the U.S. during the Reagan era.
- The movement opposed abortion, divorce, and gay rights, promoting traditional, Puritan-style values.
- Politically influential under Reagan and George H. W. Bush.
- Strongest in the ‘Bible Belt’ (South/Southeast USA) — high church attendance, especially evangelical.
- Phyllis Schlafly, a key female figure, campaigned for conservative gender roles — possibly inspired Serena Joy.
7
Q
Utopian Ideals
A
- Puritans aimed for utopia but built an oppressive, patriarchal theocracy.
- Atwood cites Nathaniel Hawthorne: early Puritans built a prison and a gallows — symbols of control and punishment.
- Atwood views America as haunted by its failed utopian ideals.
- While she critiques American society, Atwood also draws on global sources:
Tyranny in Latin America, Iran, the Philippines, etc. - Gilead reflects a universal warning, not just American.
- Atwood’s message: “Deny none of it” — confront injustice and take shared moral responsibility.
