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1ST 3 SECTIONS CONTENTS, A feminist interprets this as repression of women…
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A feminist interprets this as repression of women through religion and Biblical precedents; a transgression into the traditional domesticated roles of women adopted throughout history
Link this to the Moral Majority, and the religious rule of Reagan of the 80s, 'renewal of traditional values which have been the bedrock of America's greatness'
WR: Conversely, religion is used as a means of empowerment of the female population in The Power, so despite there being a polarity between THT and The Power, it shows the influence that religion has in exerting power
Feminist theory emphasises the significance of a female network; it can be used as a source of comfort (i.e. Cora and Rita and Offred's desire to engage in trivial conversation), or as a source of matriarchal misogyny, pitting the Wives against the Handmaids
WISKER: There is no sisterhood, only division and disempowerment'
PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER: Provides a compelling lesson in power politics and in reasonable intentions gone hysteric
Link to the infertility hysteria in America in the 1980s: Doctors blamed the events on 'liberalised sexual attitudes, media presented careers as a cause for sterility, and it pressurised women back into domesticated roles
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'thinking can hurt your chances, and I intend to last'
'those other escapes, the ones you can open in on yourself'
'the circumstances have been reduced, for those of us who still have circumstances'
'where I am is not a prison but a privilege, as Aunt Lydia said'
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'as in a nunnery too, there are few mirrors'
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'there remains a mirror...I can see as I go downstairs, round, convex, like the eye of a fish'
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'it's the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for'
'they're doing it for us all, said Cora'
'Better her than me, Rita said'
'as if the voice itself were a traveller...How I used to despise such talk. Now I long for it...an exchange of some sorts'
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'willow, weeping catkins'
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'I am a reproach to her, and a necessity'
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'I wanted her to turn into an older sister, a motherly figure'
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'they can hit us, there's Scriptural precedent'
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'The car is a very expensive one, a Whirlwind; better than the Chariot, much better than the chunky, practical Behemoth'
'he's just taken a risk, but for what?...Perhaps he is an Eye'
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'they have no outlets now except themselves, and that's a sacrilege'
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'The Republic of Gilead, said Aunt Lydia, knows no bounds. Gilead is within you'
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'Freedom to and freedom from. in the days of anarchy, you were given freedom to. Now you are given freedom from'
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'Ever since Central America was lost to Libertheos, oranges have been hard to get'
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WOMEN, FERTILITY AND SEXUALITY
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'westernised, they used to call it'
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'no woman in her right mind, these days, would seek to prevent a birth, should she be so lucky as to conceive'
'these bodies on the Wall are Time Travellers, anachronisms. They're come from the past
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Reminiscent of Phyllis Schlafly, pro-family, contributed to the over-writing of ERA
Panopticon: internal surveillance, enhanced by the matriarchal conflict between the Wives and Handmaid's
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HOWELL:Individual freedom of choice has been outlawed, and everyone has been drafted into the service of the state'
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HUNTER: Atwood's focus is on the extent to which the individual can push the limits of social determinism
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GOTTLIEB: Since the regime denies free will, the central character cannot be made responsible for their own ultimate failure in a repressive system that overpowers individuals
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