handmaids tale - critics

Question 1

onyett, 2016

Answer 1

on one level… moira’s fate seems horrific and tragic - but then she has chosen to work at jezebel’s rather than be labelled an ‘unwoman’ and exiled to the dreaded colonies to pick over nuclear waste

Question 2

page, 2018

Answer 2

importantly, she speaks her… suggesting that the voice can ultimately triumph over forced muteness

Question 3

webster, 2018

Answer 3

pieixoto, the ‘author’ of the reconstructed text of the handmaid’s tale teaches us how to read the text: to be sceptical, to regard it as partial, therefore emphasising the point offred has been making throughout her tale

Question 4

reynolds, 2004 (2)

Answer 4

as readers, we end knowing nothing (or very little) for certain, but we certainly do have a lot of questions

Question 5

reynolds, 2004 (2)

Answer 5

the handmaid’s tale is a novel about words, the manipulation of words, the construction of text

Question 6

clist, 2013 (1)

Answer 6

when simply speaking is dangerous, daring to play with language could be thrillingly taboo. offred is indeed intoxicated by the freedom

Question 7

clist, 2013 (2)

Answer 7

she can only truly escape when her narrative, the language generating both herself and her suffering, ends, and atwood lets her slip into silence, historical uncertainty and freedom

Question 8

simons, 2017

Answer 8

words, like idead, are a forbidden currency in a regime that tries to control minds, and those who use them imaginatively are guilty of subversion

Question 9

onyett, 2015

Answer 9

a liminal figure, offred hovers on the threshold of gileadean society, calling into question the criteria by which she is marginalised

Question 10

greenwood, 2009

Answer 10

the arguments of cultural feminism are seen through thmt to have been taken up by the regime, twisted and used against women