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The Handmaid's Tale Context - Coggle Diagram
The Handmaid's Tale Context
Atwood
spent much of her childhood in rural Canada with her entomologist father which informed the themes of environmentalism- 1960s and 70s saw an increase in awareness of environmental issues
In her degree at Harvard she studied Puritanism which influenced the political and religious overtones
Puritans
The Puritans aspired to create a Utopian society but did so through fear, intimidation, patriarchal rule and harsh living conditions. Women were classed as the inferior sex
In the late seventeenth century, many people were tortured and murdered after being publicly accused of being involved in witchcraft.
vocal advocate for women's rights, free speech, LGBT+ and climate change
her work is often dystopian and surreal but even the most unsettling parts of her novels are based on real events
THT written in 1984 while Atwood was living in West Berlin
She grew up in WW2 so knew established social and political orders could "vanish overnight"
described THT as "speculative fiction" showing "change could be as fast as lightening" and she doesn't "consider it Feminism; I just consider it social realism".
Atwood has always been interested in Canadian identity (born in ottowa, 1939). Critics have argued that The Handmaid’s Tale could be viewed as the relationship between Canada (the Handmaid) and America (Gilead).
Feminism
movements and ideologies advocating for sexual equality: 1st wave= suffragettes campaigned for voting rights, 2nd wave (mid 20th, Atwood's wave)= women's rights in workplace, marriage and society in general due to women frustrated at gender inequality
3rd wave= black feminists had an impact, intersectionality became accepted as although all women face oppression it affects them individually
Offred's mother was a feminist activist in second wave protests. Memory of burning porno magazines shows protesting against misogynistic nature of porn
Moira is a vocal feminist. Underwhore party reclaims the word whore using her humour to undermine sexism
Offred focuses on mental fortitude and survival so doesn't overtly rebel the regime or take the offer of being a sex worker which would give her more autonomy
rebel more subtly, becoming increasingly subversive in her behaviour
Cold war and politics
wrote it shortly after the elections of Ronald Reagan Margaret Thatcher, during a period of conservative revival in the West
movement of religious conservatives who criticised what they perceived as the excesses of the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s and 1970s
cold war: heightened political tension and psychological warfare between soviet union, USA and NATO (1947-1991)
two sides fa]ought for global political dominance through propaganda, nuclear standoffs (MAD) and technological supremacy
Atwood grew up with the ongoing threat of a nuclear war which influenced fiction and popular culture- THT: radioactive poisoning
Republican president increased defence spending and appealed to white working class who felt racist resentment against civil rights movement
first cases of HIV/AIDS came about in 1980s starting homosexual moral panic in mainstream media as it was the first pandemic since the spanish flu
historical notes say declining fertility was a result of stis linking to public fear of AIDS that fuelled christian and political propaganda
Berlin Wall a symbol of segregation and isolation inspired The Wall in THT which symbolises fear and ideological control
Iranian revolution (1978-79): "Iran and Gilead: two late 20th centruy montheocracies". New Islamic republic led to diminishing of women's rights such as forced wearing of Hijab in public
Religion
government increased pressure from christian right wing emphasising conservatism and family values
Moral Majority founded in 1979 who responded to decay of moral values, pushing back against civil rights movement, sexual and religious freedom and feminism
MM thought America is fundamentally religious so fought against secularisation- THT directly speculates what would happen if they got ultimate power
Reagan was quoted as saying: "within the covers of the Bible are all the answers for all the problems men face".
This is very like the rhetoric of characters like Aunt Lydia
Gilead comes from the book of Genesis as a hill country that Jacob flees to and is renowed for its fertility. "There is a balm in Gilead"
The RED centre in the novel stands for the Rachel and Leah centre, which references the story of both of the wives of Jacob having to use their handmaids, Bilhah and Zilpah, to bear children.
patriarchal language is used to strengthen the oppression of the Handmaids and status as "walking wombs": "Blessed be the Fruit", "May the Lord Open" and "Under his eye".
The idea of fertility in Exodus - when Moses promises to take the Israelites to a land that is brimming over with "milk and honey" - is cleverly juxtaposed with the actual grocery shop in Gilead, which has run out of much of its produce.