Summary Comprehensive study resource: 'The Handmaid's Tale'
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Course
7712B
Institution
AQA
A/A* resource providing an exceptional guide for understanding Atwood's novel, 'The Handmaid's Tale' - covering every assessment objective required for A Level English Literature!
It offers perceptive, assured, and sophisticated notes. The resource delves deeply into Atwood's authorial methods, ...
Paul Gray - ‘Handmaids are slaves to their own biological possibilities’; like a
‘parable’* (like F.G.) or ‘rallying cry’; disagree that ‘Atwood’s novel lacks the direct,
chilling plausibility of ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four**’’; Offred’s narrative = ‘record of an
observant soul struggling against a harsh, mysterious world’
*Parrinder refers to novel as ‘a Science Fiction Fable’
**Atwood - ‘Science fiction has monsters and spaceships; speculative fiction could
really happen’
Barbara Rigney - Nick is ‘a kind of Orpheus to her Eurydice’ - he saved Offred, which
may have cost him his life
Alanna Callaway - ‘women’s hated of women’
Irvine - Moira at Jezebel’s ‘stands for the irrepressible return of everything the
Republic has attempted to obliterate’
Psychoanalytical approach would consider: interplay between life-affirming aspect of
biological fertility, as handmaids’ ability to conceive crucial for survival of regime, and
destructive force of denying women autonomy over their bodies - phallic morality
Marxist approach would consider/scrutinise how role of ideology in maintaining
status quo: ruling class uses religious ideology to justify + perpetuate its power &
employed to manipulate the masses, diverting attention from economic inequalities
Feminist: Atwood’s gender likely informs her ability to articulate nuanced
experiences + challenges faced by women, contributing to authenticity of narrative;
Comprehensive feminist analysis would consider intersectionality, acknowledging
that oppression experienced by women in Gilead is not uniform: factors such as
race, class
, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ (1985) Revision by Jenny He
2
+ sexual orientation intersect with gender to shape characters’ experiences
differently;
Atwood wanted to create cautionary tale about consequences of extreme patriarchal
control + dangers of totalitarianism
Ecocriticism: careless treatment of environment can destroy future of human race;
although Gilead is draconian (excessively harsh+severe) + inhumane, it does
attempt to provide a solution to securing the future of humanity, albeit a
radical+desperate one; Historical notes inform reader that prior to Gilead, genetic
deformities + plummeted birth rates were due to ‘nuclear-plant accidents’,
‘toxic-waste disposal sites’ + ‘uncontrolled use of chemical insecticides, herbicides’
Today’s readers may utilise Queer Theory to examine: heteronormativity is enforced
through surveillance, punishment, and social ostracism, and how queer desires and
identities are suppressed and marginalised;
Moira embodies queer resistance against the rigid, prescribed gender roles;
Executions for ‘Gender Treachery’ show that Gilead forces men + women to conform
to traditional ideas of gender norms; rejection of heteronormativity
AO4
Ishiguro’s ‘Never Let Me Go’ (dystopian science fiction) - reproductive control +
manipulation of bodies - characters are clones whose organs are harvested for
transplantation + their entire existence revolves around serving as donors; loss of
agency; retrospective narration - inevitability of loss + attempt to make sense of her
memories; desire to maintain hope for future; Kathy acquires a cassette tape of the
Judy Bridgewater album - song symbolises fear of losing loved ones
McCarthy’s dystopian novel ‘The Road’ set in post-apocalyptic America caused by
environmental disaster - both use unorthodox punctuation, i.e. lack of speech marks
(vs some occasional quoted speech) create continuous flow of prose, blurring
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