element of hope? Flashcards
(10 cards)
how does Atwood give us a semblance of hope to balance the disaster
implementation of the historical notes
“it’s not our job to censure but to understand”
the notes suggest the falliability of Gilead
in the future there are lectures discussing Offred’s oppression, suggesting her tapes have been uncovered
what did the studies into gilead suggest
just like how we are educated on the horrors of nazi germany and stalinist russia, societies can learn from mistakes of the past to better inform evolution in the future
what does the construction of the narrative from offred’s perspective depict
how she lives in a “double conscience, constantly slipping into the past” [stevenson]
mirrors the construction of the past and its possible unreliability, like memoirs from holocaust survivors where experiences were distorted by trauma
“this is a reconstruction. everything is a reconstruction”
atwood criticises the collection and study of history as unreliable
what does the absence of hope in 1984 suggest
totalitarian regimes are unbreakable cycles
“the ending is contained in the beginning”
robert A lee’s dust theory
what does Robert A Lee explore
the dust threaded throughout the novel is a multifaceted symbol, representing “not only the bleakness of physical Oceania, but also the inevitability and totality of the state”
where does the dust locate the novel
written post world war 2, after the blitz and the debris it caused, locates the novel in a perpetually war stricken society, projecting fears onto the rise of the atomic age, post the nuclear bombing of hiroshima
how does Orwell leave very little room for optimism
the dust is inescapable “an identifiable grain of whitish dust” labels the diary as ultimately doomed
the future of the society is characterised by “a boot stamping on the face of man forever”
