Notes for Handmaid's Tale Essay – Quality of Women's Life
Eng A Lang & Lit HL
Examine the quality of life for women in the light of Aunt Lydia’s statement, illustrating the method used to ‘protect’ women.
Introduction
- ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ written by Margaret Atwood; published in 1985
- Offred, the protagonist, is one of the Handmaids whose ovaries are functioning
- Such women were kept at a place where they got brainwashed
- Aunt Lydia (the main teacher at the Center) - ‘There is more than one kind of freedom, said
Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of Anarchy it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from.’
- This essay will discuss the quality of life for women in the society of Gilead; different points of view from Aunt Lydia & The Commander and us, the reader
Body 1 - Safer life for Women (‘Freedom from’)
- Freedom from physical threats (e.g. rape, sexist catcalls, potential abuse from men)
- “Now we walk along the same street, in red pairs, and no man shouts obscenities at us, speaks to us, touches us. No one whistles” (Chpt 5-10)
- “Modesty is invisibility, said Aunt Lydia. Never forget it. To be seen - to be seen is to be
- her voice trembled - penetrated”
- penetration also means sexual act
- shows the state’s perception on the women’s behavior -> more restriction for the sake of security
- Freedom from emotional threats
Body 2 - Restrictions and Confinement of Women (‘Freedom to’ ALL RESTRICTED) to protect them
- ‘Freedom to’ in context means the right to do something
- Most of the reader would think that Aunt Lydia and the Commander have restricted and confined the freedom of women
- Freedom of escape
- “As long as we do this, butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will some day get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire. We have ceremonies of our own, private ones”
- “I know why there is no glass, in front of the watercolor picture of blue irises, and why the window opens only partly and why the glass in it is
Examine the quality of life for women in the light of Aunt Lydia’s statement, illustrating the method used to ‘protect’ women.
Introduction
- ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ written by Margaret Atwood; published in 1985
- Offred, the protagonist, is one of the Handmaids whose ovaries are functioning
- Such women were kept at a place where they got brainwashed
- Aunt Lydia (the main teacher at the Center) - ‘There is more than one kind of freedom, said
Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of Anarchy it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from.’
- This essay will discuss the quality of life for women in the society of Gilead; different points of view from Aunt Lydia & The Commander and us, the reader
Body 1 - Safer life for Women (‘Freedom from’)
- Freedom from physical threats (e.g. rape, sexist catcalls, potential abuse from men)
- “Now we walk along the same street, in red pairs, and no man shouts obscenities at us, speaks to us, touches us. No one whistles” (Chpt 5-10)
- “Modesty is invisibility, said Aunt Lydia. Never forget it. To be seen - to be seen is to be
- her voice trembled - penetrated”
- penetration also means sexual act
- shows the state’s perception on the women’s behavior -> more restriction for the sake of security
- Freedom from emotional threats
Body 2 - Restrictions and Confinement of Women (‘Freedom to’ ALL RESTRICTED) to protect them
- ‘Freedom to’ in context means the right to do something
- Most of the reader would think that Aunt Lydia and the Commander have restricted and confined the freedom of women
- Freedom of escape
- “As long as we do this, butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will some day get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire. We have ceremonies of our own, private ones”
- “I know why there is no glass, in front of the watercolor picture of blue irises, and why the window opens only partly and why the glass in it is