Oppression

If you missed the discussion on the causes and effects of an oppressive government in the society in The Handmaid's Tale, feel free to comment on some of the questions below. You may also wish to support your ideas with quotations from the novel.

1. What kind of society did the fundamentalist leaders of Gilead, in The Handmaid's Tale, hope to produce through their revolution? What kind of society does it become?
2. Is this society stable or not?
3. What does the quote "You are now given freedom from. Don't underrate it" mean?
4. Will too much power destroy the U.S.?
5. Does fear control us?

Remember to capture your ideas on the multi-flow map on p. 13 in your notebook.

Sexism

If you missed the discussion on the causes and effects of sexism in the society in The Handmaid's Tale, feel free to comment on some of the questions below. You may also wish to support your ideas with quotations from the novel.

1. How do they control women? What techniques are used?
2. Is Serena Joy in power or out of power?
3. Does Offred fight or survive?
4. Why were some of the women content to live the life they were living?
5. Is government control of sexuality a successful control tool?

Remember to capture your ideas on the multi-flow map on p. 6 in your notebook.

Censorship

If you missed the discussion on the causes and effects of censorship in the society in The Handmaid's Tale, feel free to comment on some of the questions below. You may also wish to support your ideas with quotations from the novel.

1. Why is reading dangerous?
2. Why do the Aunts change all of the women's names?
3. Offred makes a point of saying that she is not writing this down. Why is that important?
4. What words have new meanings or what words were made up by this society? Why and to what effect?
5. Why is the Bible under lock and key in Gilead?

Remember to capture some of your ideas on censorship on the multi-flow map on p. 9 in your notebook.

Handmaid's Tale Exams

The blue book essay for The Handmaid's Tale will be Wednesday, February 27, and the multiple choice exam on plot, character, setting, and vocabulary is on Thursday, February 28.

Vocab page 188-311

The following nouns are the final words to learn for the multiple choice test on The Handmaid's Tale:

abasement, p. 194: a reduction in rank or reputation
perfidy, p. 201: treachery, betrayal
susurration, p. 215: a whisper, a murmur
prurience, p. 215: lust; longing
volition, p. 249: a willful choice or decision
bathos, p. 255: insincere pity or compassion
obverse, p. 259: counterpart

Vocabulary pages 107-188

pillage, p. 124: rob; steal; embezzle
collusion, p. 132: complicity; involvement; conspiracy
peccadillo, p. 155: sin; offense; indulgence
banal, p. 158: trite; commonplace; dull
ignominious, p. 163: embarrassing; disgraceful; humiliating
sedition, p.168: treason; subversion; troublemaking
approbation, p. 184: approval; praise; consent

Vocabulary, pages 67-106

For this section of vocabulary, each base group will compose a synonym triplet for the class for their assigned word. The synonym triplet should be presented with a beat. Adding a gesture or a body movement that fits the definition is check plus material.

Vocabulary pages 67-106

lithe, p. 73, limber, agile, bendable
bracken, p. 74, forest floor covered with ferns
waif, p. 79, orphan, found person
amulet, p. 84, necklace worn for protection
tableau, p. 87, frozen scene on stage
effigy, p. 95, crude representation of someone disliked
lithograph, p. 104, artistic print made by ink transfer

Handmaid Vocab, pages 34-66

lie vs. lay (p. 37): According to Diana Hacker's Writer's Reference, "lie is an intrasitive verb meaning to 'to recline or rest on a surface.' Lay is a transitive verb meaning 'to put or place.'" (Transitive verbs take direct objects. Intransitive verbs do not take direct objects.)

disconsolate (p. 38): unhappy; without solace

cassock (p. 43): a long garment worn by the clergy

foundered (p. 44): to sink; to fail

parley (p. 49): a meeting or conference between enemies

lugubrious (p. 54): mournful; gloomy; dismal

pantaloons (p. 62): loose-fitting underwear that goes all the way to the knee.

Margaret Atwood Background Information

Assignment: On page 4 of your notebook, "Margaret Atwood's Biography," jot down a few interesting facts about Margaret Atwood and respond to one of the quotations from the video clip of Bill Moyers PBS show Faith & Reason.

Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1939.

Atwood was raised a strict agnostic, and she believes atheism is a religion.

Her formal degrees are from the University of Toronto and Radcliffe College. She has also received 16 honorary degrees.

She is Canada's most eminent novelist and poet.

Her novels include strong women characters, and the books explore contemporary issues and sexual politics.

Her novels: The Edible Woman (1969); Surfacing (1973); Lady Oracle (1977); Life Before Man (1980); Bodily Harm (1982); The Handmaid's Tale (1986); Cat's Eye (1989); The Robber Bride (1993); Alias Grace (1996); The Blind Assassin (2000); and Oryx and Crake (2003),

The Handmaid's Tale film was released in 1990, and the book was recently staged as an opera.

For more information on Margaret Atwood, read her full biography at Contemporarywriters.com.

View this ten-minute clip of a Bill Moyers interview with Margaret Atwood to hear first-hand some of the political and religious beliefs that influenced The Handmaid's Tale.


After viewing the clip, respond in your journal to one of the following Atwood quotations from the video clip. Your personal response should be at least one full-paragraph. You may also wish to make connections between the quotation and films, books, and current events.

1. "When societies come under stress, these kinds of things happen. People start looking around for human sacrifices--for someone they can blame."


2. "In order to preserve our freedoms, we have to give them up for now."


3. "The theocracy that I put in The Handmaid's Tale never calls itself Christian. In fact, it never says anything about Christianity . . . . The slogans are all from the Old Testament."


4. "I believe in the America of Thoreau. Thoreau, the conscientious objector. Thoreau, the man who stood upon his principles."

Handmaid's Tale Vocabulary Words

The following vocabulary words appear in Parts I and II of The Handmaid's Tale. The words should be added to your notebook to study for the vocabulary section of the multiple choice final exam for the novel.

palimpsest: a parchment from which writing has been erased to make room for another text

pedantic: overly concerned with minute details

debase: to reduce in value or dignity
pungent: sharply affecting taste or smell
catkins: drooping cluster of cylindrical flowers

servile: submissive; fawning

surly: rude; unfriendly; bad-tempered

stipple: a painting made with dots or small spots

Swift's "A Modest Proposal"

If you would like to finish reading Jonathan Swift's satirical essay about solving the poverty and overpopulation problems of Ireland, click here to read "A Modest Proposal."

If you didn't get a chance to share your ideas about Swift's proposal in class today, click on the comments for this blog post. You may wish to comment about how Swift connects to the concepts that we are exploring as part of the Atwood and Austen unit. Those concepts are sexism, oppression, religious fanaticism, censorship, civil liberties, utopias and men & women in love.

One of three epigraphs to The Handmaid’s Tale:

But as to myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal . . .

--Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal