The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaids Tale was written by Margaret Atwood in 1985. Margaret Atwood was born in Canada on November 18th 1939 and is best known for her work as a novelist, however she has published fifteen books of poetry and several shorts stories. 

Atwood began writing plays and poems at the age of six. When she was just 18 she began studying at Victoria College in the University of Toronto, where she published poems and articles and graduated in 1961 with a BA in English.

Atwood, who was surrounded by a number of female faculty members at Victoria College, often portrays female characters dominated by patriarchy in her novels. She also sheds light on women's social oppression.

In 1984, when Atwood began writing The Handmaid’s Tale, women in the USA were experiencing a reduction in many of the social, political, and economic gains that they had made during the 60s and 70s. Atwood claims that "The Handmaid’s Tale" is a work of speculative fiction, not science fiction. Atwood argues that all of the scenarios offered in The Handmaid’s Tale have actually occurred in real life—in an interview she gave she stated that “I didn't put in anything that we haven't already done, we're not already doing, we're seriously trying to do” Atwood was also known to carry around newspaper clippings to her various interviews to support her fiction's basis in reality. Atwood has explained that The Handmaid's Tale is a response to those who claim the oppressive, totalitarian, and religious governments that have taken hold in other countries throughout the years. 

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Dave always seems to be defending himself and Toph. "We are not spoiled and lazy." The collective pronoun 'we' suggests that Dave feels he has to speak for Toph. Also the fact  that he uses the word and instead of or implies that people have preconceived ideas about the two of them.
Then again things could change quickly." The tone is very chatty, it seems like Dave is just talking about life in general, since his parents died all he has known is change.
"I cannot in my wildest fantasies see myself making it past fifty or fifty five." Dave isn't very optimistic since his parents died, he always thinks he is going to follow after them. Also the fact that the tone is so casual suggests that he has been through so much that the idea of death no longer worries him.

How women are presented in AHWOSG

How women are presented in AHWOSG
Women are frequently presented as weak. "She can't hold it tight enough". Dave uses the pronoun 'she' instead of naming his mother, this suggests that in this moment his mother is irrelevant and Dave's sole focus is on the nosebleed. The contraction 'can't' is quite dysphemistic, Dave feels the need to point out her physical inabilities, not only is she ill but she can't even hold her nose properly. "So now I relieve her", the conjunction 'now' draws attention to the statement and put seven more emphasis on the pronoun 'I'. This quote could be foreshadowing, right now Dave is relieving her of holding her nose but soon he will relieve her of her duties as a parent and take over by looking after Toph.
Dave shows he has quite a dated, sexist view of women. "I want Toph to be her friend and make her happy" There is emphasis on 'I' which suggests that Dave sees this as a selfless, kind gesture. It also shows he is egocentric. "I want" demonstrates Dave's need to feel in control as he hasn’t had any control over the rest of his life. Dave wants Toph to feel secure, superior even by making this girl happy. Dave is extremely judgmental of women throughout the book. "Like a horse's tail", "sad dark eyes". Dave dehumanizes these women and is very shallow towards them. He judges others to deflect others judging him "people know, they look".
Dave sees women as objects. Throughout the book he gives positive and negative changes 'women are either ugly or attractive', Dave doesn’t seek personality and often categorizes women under typical stereotypes. "I expected flirting" The declarative 'I expected' suggests that Dave is always expecting this of other people like he feels he is owed after what happened to his parents. The use of short sentence suggests that his expectations were short lived. Dave's grammar also displays his immaturity towards the subject of women, "I'm gonna ask her out", Dave doesn't use proper grammar instead he uses an abbreviation almost as if he can't be bothered to say the sentence properly, which shows just how much he feels for this woman. "I was looking to score", this is in the lexical field of sex which links to the earlier quote of Dave being "virile". "I honestly thought", the adverb 'honestly' shows Eggers is looking back and judging himself for being so naïve. "But by and large they're ugly", use of adjective 'ugly' suggests he is being defensive, making himself superior by setting himself apart from the other.
Dave's view on women has changed slightly since his parents' death. "We didn’t really want to sleep there anyway, the way it smelled, like my father". Dave, ambiguously, implies that him and Kirsten used to have sex on his parents bed, now however they choose to go to the bathroom. "No, this is good I said, undressing her", although Dave wanting to have sex with Kirsten in his parents' bathroom straight after his father's death is slightly odd, it seems that now it is more of a comfort, a way for Dave to turn his emotions towards something else. At the open house, although Dave still has some shallow views of women, he seems to look for mother qualities in the women, which indicates that he is looking for someone to fill the whole that his mother left when she died. The fact that Dave doesn't find anyone "I am disheartened by the lack of possibility" suggests that subconsciously he knows nobody could ever replace his mother.

presentation of the theme of home in AHWOSG

Presentation of the theme of home
Dave uses pathetic fallacy, "the house is a factory", to show the negativity surrounding his house. 'Factory' creates an image of pollution and monotony. It is the complete opposite of homely. 'The house' gives a sense of detachment.

Dave's idea of 'home' has changed since his parents' death. The use of the diagram "fig. 1" suggests that Dave thinks home is just a schema, it has no deeper meaning to him anymore. Before his parents died, Dave used to describe memories he shared in the 'family room', now however in his diagram it is just labelled 'living room'. Also Dave used the hate the idea of people looking into his home, "People know", "I have plans for them", but now chooses to show us the layout of his new house and what goes on inside.

Since the death of his parents, Dave has constantly moved from place to place, home is not a consistent thing in Dave's life. Home, for Dave, is not a safe haven at all. "He will try bad things on Toph". The pronoun 'he' is very ambiguous, Dave could subconsciously be talking about anyone. The adjective 'bad' is a very dysphemistic term which could be Dave's way of making himself feel better by using a less unpleasant word, or it could have just been used by Eggers to show how naïve and innocent Dave really is. 'Things' is also very ambiguous which again shows how young and naïve Dave is.

Even after Dave's mother dies, she still has an effect on his home environment. When Dave's mother was ill she couldn’t get up to check if he had cleaned up, "I had not cleaned up" and now in Dave and Toph's new home, Dave does not worry about his house being messy because his mother is not there to pull him up about it. This could have been foreshadowing, the 'twisted brown doodles' being the first sign of the mess Dave's life was about to become.

Drummer Hodge Transcript

The teacher is the dominant participant. “What is the main point of the poem?”. The teacher is demonstrating his authority by choosing the topic. The teacher uses the interrogative “Is it literally about a man ‘playing with the snow’?”, this encourages the pupils to really think about the meaning of the play. The teacher again shows his authority by choosing who speaks in the classroom, “I haven't asked you Alex”. The teacher uses latched talk, “His desires. Right.” to point the students in the right direction. The fact that the teacher interrupts the student could be seen as an abuse of his power, however in opposition to this it could be viewed as a good thing, as the teacher is guiding the student to the right answer. “[er, [great” the teacher uses this co operative overlap to almost stop the student from doubting herself.

1)We can tell that Hector is the dominant participant because he initially sets the agenda, “what have we learned this week?”. Also Posner uses the vocative ‘sir’ which suggests that Hector is of high authority to Posner.

2)Posner responds by again using the vocative ‘sir’. Posner also uses interrogatives, “I wondered, sir”, to widen his knowledge on the poem.

3)One key quote is "The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo. You that way, we this way.” This quotation demonstrates the idea of sexual desire and swearing off of something that once gave him pleasure.

Discuss how Irwin and Posner’s relationship is presented in this exchange

Discuss how Irwin and Posner’s relationship is presented in this exchange

Irwin begins with an interrogative, almost as if he is the teacher and Posner is still his student. “familiar?” refers to the past which suggests Irwin is still hung up on the past. However in opposition to this, the fact that Irwin didn’t know which university Posner went to, even after how hard he worked the boys, shows how detached Irwin is from his past with the boys. “What happened at oxford?” “Cambridge”.  It is significant that Posner got into his chosen university by dismally following Irwin’s system of thinking outside the box when it comes to examinations. Posner ends up writing about the holocaust, as a Jew, with a sense of detachment. Posner goes against his better judgement and denies his heritage all to impress some examiners. Irwin in no way acknowledges that this was down to him.  

In this scene we are made to feel sorry for Posner. He didn’t get through Cambridge and he is in such a bad place he begs Irwin for a story on what happened between him and Dakin. This is quite unusual as all throughout the play, Posner is one of the more comic characters. Posner always seems to be mocking himself in order to ease his pain, "I'm a Jew. I'm small. I'm homosexual. And I live in Sheffield. I'm fucked." However when we come to this scene in the play, the moment is no longer funny but tragic and going back to that scene after learning about Posner’s future it is an accurate foreshadowing of Posner’s life.

“All the effort went into getting there and then I had nothing left”. Posner explains to Irwin how once he got to Cambridge he felt he could not go on even after all the hard work he put in. Posner in this scene is almost a reflection of Bennet himself. Bennett attended a public school and got into Oxford with others who came from private schools and wealthy families and so Bennett felt a lot more pressure to excel just like Posner explains to Irwin.  

Even though the play was written in 2004, Bennett still kept the stigma surrounding homosexuality at the time throughout the play. Four of the characters had homosexual predilections and three of them suffered tragic fates. Hector dies in a motorcycle accident from which Irwin is crippled and Posner becomes the loneliest, most troubled of all the boys.

Discuss how Mrs Lintott is presented in this scene (pg.82-87)

Discuss how Mrs Lintott is presented in this scene (pg. 82-87)

Mrs Lintott is constantly divided from the rest of the characters due to her gender. Although she has a close relationship with and is respected by the boys, “a nickname is an achievement”, shows how much she values the opinions of the boys, her feminist revelations indicate that she feels she is only measured by her gender. “I just wonder whether it occurs to any of you how dispiriting this can be?” “but at least you get their problems. I seldom do.” This hints the disappointment that Mrs Lintott feels at the boys open relationship with Irwin. Mrs Lintott is honest and liked but yet she isn't trusted with the boys problems. Perhaps because she is a woman.

Alan Bennett presents Mrs Lintott as quite sarcastic. “I hesitate to mention this”. Mrs Lintott says this line shortly before going on, without a hint of hesitation, to make a huge speech about women. It also suggests that Mrs Lintott is quite self aware that she isn’t always in control of her emotions. “lest it occasion a sophisticated groan”, this quotation implies that Mrs Lintott has gone off on a tangent before and now simply expects a groan from the boys.

Mrs Lintott allows her feminist views to influence her ability to be impartial in certain situations. “Nor will you. Next”. The boys are trying to prepare for their oxbridge interviews and instead of remaining professional and encouraging Akthar, she reacts quite childishly by dismissing him before he has even begun his interview. This suggests that Mrs Lintott is such a strong feminist she can’t even look past a teenage boy’s silly comment.

I believe that Mrs Lintott’s view on education changes throughout the play. At the beginning of the play Mrs Lintott feels strongly about education and prides herself on how well she has taught the boys, “They’re all clever. I saw to that.” However it seems that towards the end of the play Mrs Lintott simply loses faith in the education system.