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The Handmaid's Tale - Coggle Diagram
The Handmaid's Tale
Setting
Harvard
Iconic and well known - represents education and freedom for young people which is now restricted
'The Wall' - Johnstone Gateway, main entrance to Harvard
Now used to hang criminals
"We're supposed to look: this is what they're there for, hanging on the Wall."
"There are three new bodies on the wall."
Now where The Eyes operate from, represents death, being watched by the state, opression
At a Salvaging Offred thinks: "I think of . . . the black gowns the students would put on, and the red ones."
Black is now the colour executioners wear, while red is for the Handmaid's
connects to Atwood's experience behind the iron curtain, with repurposed buildings: "This used to belong to... But then they disappeared."
Political turmoil
Patriarchal, totalitarian, theocracy, white supermacy
Connects to today where we have a lot of uncertainty and protest - BLM/All Lives Matter, anti and pro abortion
Climate crisis
"The air got too full, once, of chemicals, rays, radiation, the water swarmed with toxic molecules, all of that takes years to clean up, and meanwhile they creep into your body, camp out in your fatty cells."
Atwood lived in West Berlin in 1984, traveled to countries behind the Iron Curtain where she "experienced the wariness, the feeling of being spied on, [...] and these had an influence on what I was writing."
Future
Makes it into a warning
Forces a reader to confront it - if it were set twenty years ago, the reader could just say 'well that didn't happen.' When set in the future, readers will think 'could that happen?"
Much like the Professor in the Historical Notes section, we look back on the causes of historical events and discuss how and why, but not often that certain things should have never been allowed to happen.
"In my opinion, we must be cautious about passing moral judgement upon the Gileadeans."
The Commander's House
Eyes - Offred is always watched,
mirror on hall wall - "like the eye of a fish."
"blind plaster eye in the ceiling" where chandelier once was
Her room is sparse - prison-like
Difference between grandeur of the house and Offred's room highlight difference in status.
"A chair, a table a lamp ... A window, two white cushions."
watercolour of irises - symbolise hope, wisdom, trust
carpet down hallway - "Like a path through the forest, like a carpet for royalty."
house is: "built for a large rich family."
Theme - Power and Control
Costume
Religion
Gilead is a Theocracy, anyone not of the decided religion is killed, such as Catholics and Quakers
Handmaidery is based upon the story of Rachel and Leah
They use very carefully selected parts of the Bible, and it is kept locked away except for the night of The Ceremony.
"It is an incendiary device: who knows what we'd make of it, if we ever got our hands on it?" - Offred
The few phrases that are appropriate for the Handmaids to say to each other have very religious connotations, "Praise be" or "Blessed be the fruit."
Character/Relationships
Relationship
The Aunts and The Handmaids
The Aunts, being women are disadvantaged in this new society, but in their position as older women they find some power in exercising control over the other handmaids.
The Aunts, such as Aunt Lydia, work incredibly hard to indoctrinate the Handmaids into believing their new lives are good.
“There is more than one kind of freedom. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.”
Sees freedom as a danger, wants the Handmaids to value the protection they are given by Gilead.
"Aunt Lydia said she was lobbying for the front. Yours is a position of honor, she said."
Wants the Handmaids to believe that they are honoured, and maybe even respected
Offred and The Commander
Have a cheeky little relationship, which is entirely illegal
The Commander sees Offred as nothing but a marker of his power and status
"But also he is showing off to me. . . . He’s breaking the rules, under their noses, thumbing his nose at them, getting away with it."
The Commander likes to show Offred, and perhaps prove to himself that he has some power in this world, that he can still break the rules and not suffer the consequences, unlike someone like Offred
"The Commander likes it when I distinguish myself, show precocity, like an attentive pet, prick-eared and eager to perform."
Offred herself calls herself his pet. The Commander enjoys that she is intelligent as it gives him a sense of pride, like a dog owner who's puppy has mastered a new trick.
Offred and Moira
Moira represents hope and strength for Offred
"Have they really done it to her then, taken away something – what? – that used to be so central to her?"
Offred is horrified to hear the Moira is resigned to her life at Jezebel's, after fighting against Gilead's Regime for so long If Moira could not keep fighting, how can she?
"I want gallantry from her, swashbuckling, heroism, single-handed combat."
Moira is someone who Offred has looked up to and has relied on her being the one to stand up and do what is right.