The Handmaid's Tale

 

For our research, we used a lot of different sources. They help us understand more specifically some terms, ideas and themes of the book by learning more about Margaret’s background. So here they are :   https://lithub.com/margaret-atwood-on-how-she-came-to-write-the-handmaids-tale/ https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2019/sep/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-testaments-real-life-inspiration.html https://www.grin.com/document/460974#:~:text=Although%20the%20show%20certainly%20made,Aunts%2C%20Econowives%2C%20and%20Unwomen . https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-08-29/inspiration-behind-handmaid-s-tale#:~:text=When%20Margaret%20Atwood%20was%20writing,one%20of%20the%20people%20she https://www.insider.com/handmaids-tale-based-on-real-world-origins-history-events-2019-8#the-incarceration-of-promiscuous-women-can-be-drawn-back-to-a-20th-century-us-program-6 https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/margaret-atwood-handmaids-tale-author-feminism-women-not-always-right-a7847...

Since it is a dystopia, Margaret Atwood made up a lot of words that are important in her story. These words make sense in the Handmaid’s tale.  Handmaids ( Servantes ) are fertile women who bear children for Wives and their Commanders. They wear red. Wives ( Épouses ) are married to Commanders. It’s unclear whether they are fertile since they use handmaids to procreate. They were blue. Commanders ( Commandants ) are powerful men who use handmaids to procreate with their Wives. They conceived and devised Gilead. It is an entire class of men. The Aunts ( Tantes ) is a class of infertile women who are in positions of power. They teach handmaids. They are true believers who were involved with the cause way before the official Gilead transition. They wear brown. Jezebels ( Jezabels ) are illegal prostitutes who work in a secret club for Commanders. Marthas are another kind of servants. They are infertile women who work as caretakers and cook for the family. It is the same...

  In the third quarter, Offred is getting more and more stuck in her past, and she begins to do illegal acts, but she is still careful. We learn a lot about her background and the surrounding life including the revolution.  In fact, we learn that her walk partner, Ofglen, is part of the opposition: Mayday. Both of them were careful with each other until they found out they do not really believe in all the religion established.  Since that moment, Offred has started to see some hope for herself to get out of her status as Handmaid. In addition to having a secret relationship with the Commander, Offred learns more about the revolution while reliving moments of her past with her daughter, Hannah, her husband, Luke and her best friend who escaped, Moira. Offred has a lot of pressure from the Wife and Marthas since she is their only hope to have a baby. Even if women do not really agree with their new fates, children are so rare. They can not help but hope that the handmaid wi...

  What lessons did your draw from the novel? Freedom and life as we know it isn’t a garantee Offred lived in the world we know today, or something similar to it in the beginnings of the book, she lived like us until the problems started and then everything was different. It shows us how quickly life can change, how it can turn completely around very fast. If you stay quiet you lose your voice Many handmaids aren’t like Offred, they stay in line, they listen closely to the rules, these are the women who lose their ability to defy, they can’t fight anymore because they have given up on themselves. What element(s) was most significant for you personally?  In Gilead, everyone looses Offred is a victim, this much is clear, but the wives suffer too, they have to stand by and watch their husbands have intercourse with the handmaids, and they can’t say anything about it. The commanders are also victims of the system, moderately forced to rape women on a regular basis to insure procrea...

The last part is full of twists. Offred took more liberty and committed more and more sins and illegal actions by, for example, letting herself be led by the Commander to an illegal club where women could dress as they wanted in addition to drink and smoke.  Offred meets Moira there. The mystery is solved: she ran away for a long time, until she ended up there, at Jezebel’s, after being caught. Otherwise, it was in the colonies that she was going to be sent and nobody wants to end up there... Offred’s mother is there, but she’s probably dead by now...  The fact that she found Moira breaks Offred’s hope a little because she thought that her friend had escaped, and if she had been able, maybe Offred could too. But no, Moira didn’t, so how could she? She hasn’t seen her old friend since that day... but she’s good at inventing scenarios to live in denial. So much that she convinced herself that perhaps Moira had, once again, ran away and succeeded in doing so.  Now, precisely...

  As we read, we noticed clearly the role of women in the new society. They are no more viewed as humans but as tools. Women who can reproduce, the Handmaids, are tools while some infertile women, the Wives, are decorations.   Intimacy between two people is now a job. It is impersonal. It is required but Handmaids can not feel pleasure. It’s not their rights, they just need to reproduce while Wives need to look good. They need to be accessories to men. Indeed, men are in charge even if women are supposed to be superior. But it’s just an image because, in fact, women are inferiors. They need to be protected. They can not defend themselves. Any act of assault against them is their fault. “My red skirt is hitched up to my waist, though no higher. Below it the Commander is fuckin. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I do not say making love, because this is not what he’s doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate, because it would imply two people and only ...