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The Handmaid's Tale - Coggle Diagram
The Handmaid's Tale
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Imagery & Symbolism
Red 
Symbolizes war, danger, and seperation
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Red, usually a colour of strength and power is used for handmaids who don't have any strength or power...
Exploiting the handmaids, making them standout
Babies
Symbolizes new beginnings, health, wealth, and joy
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Commanders get promotions for successful births, handmaids don't even get to see their child
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Uniforms ("Wings")
Symbolizes hiding, restriction, and modesty
Sheilds the faces of the handmaids, they aren't important as people, just to have children
Hides who they are, adds to the illusion that the commander is having sex with his wife, not his maid
Uniforms connect to the hierarchy, if you wear your uniform, you keep your status
Mom/Moira
Symbolizes feminism, activism, and hope
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Thinking about both Offred's mom and bestfriend gives her power and helps her realize she doesn't always have to go by the rules
Scrabble/The Commander
Symbolizes freedom, knowledge, and rebellion
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Gives her a sense of power, uses him to ask for opportunites
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World Of Gilead
Male Powers
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The Commander
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Gives Offred a sense of what real life is like for others; teaches her to rebel against some of the societal norms
Sexism
Women are sorted into several categories-- many of them are at the bottom of the hierarchy and not well respected
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Women are forced into a disciplined and old-fashioned way of thinking, and punished if they don't follow the rules perfectly
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When the society found out that infertility was spreading among women that decided it was their fault; the government took their rights away and gave them to their husbands
Hierarchy
Unwomen
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No respected whatsoever, bottom of the socitial hierarchy
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Naming
Gilead took almost everything that belonged to them before it, how they thought, their personalities, and their names.
The handmaid's being adressed by Of-(the name of the commander) demonstrates that they belong to their commander
The handmaids can't even speak of their old names, they are not their own person anymore
Narrative Structure
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Dystopian?
Many would consider THT as a dystopian novel, the conditions are terrrible and seemingly unrealistic
Sends a message to our society; all these events have already happened, who's to say it can't again?
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Historical Notes
Relevancy
The historical notes added a lot of important information and context behind some themes in the novel
It wasn't an actual narration from Offred's point of view, it was her recording her story on a voice recorder
Gives reasoning behind why there wasn't a lot of context clues and why the society was confusing to nagivate at the beginninging of reading
Assumptions
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Offred was able to record the stories and people gained access to them, this gives us a clue that she might have succeeded in her escape
Modernistic
Added a modern feel, probably how many researchers would act today when a historical document is found
Smart and helpful addition to the novel from Atwood, made a convincing explanation in a creative format that made it feel like the story really happened
Atwoods Interview
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Current relevancy
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The graphic prescense of guns in the the TV series connects to american gun laws, Atwood isn't suprised about their presence
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