A Transcript From The Twelfth Symposium On Gileadean Studies

amongst others. This affected the life span. Those diseases eventually killed people at an early

The authenticity of historical recounts can often be questioned as they are often biased and consist purely of opinions and memories. The Handmaid’s Tale explores the ambiguity of truth Through ‘The Historical Notes’, Atwood comments on the fallibility

Memory is used as a powerful conduit into the past; childhood experiences held in the subconscious illuminate an adult’s perception. Harwood uses tense shifts throughout her poetry to emphasise and indicate the interweaving and connection the past and the present hold. By allowing this examination of the childhood memories, Harwood identifies that their significance is that of an everlasting memory that will dominate over time’s continuity and the inevitability of death.

For this essay I aim to show the importance of memory and of remembering the past in The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid’s Tale is a ‘speculative fiction’ first published in 1985 but set in the early 2000s. The novel was in response to changes in US politics with the emergence of Christian fundamentalism, the New Right. Atwood believed that society was going wrong and wrote this savage satire, similar to Jonathan Swift’s ‘A Modest Proposal’, depicting a dystopia which she uses as a mirror to hold up to society. I will be focusing on the main character and narrator, Offred, “a handmaid who mingles memories of her life before the revolution with her rebellious activities under the new regime” (book group corner), as she

The Biological Old Regime was a time of high death rate, due to disease, and low birth rate, caused by malnutrition. The invention of agriculture caused humans to permanently settle down in order to tend to their crops. This lead to the spread of disease from the waste of humans and their livestock. Malnutrition occurred because people ate more carbohydrates instead of proteins which made the population weaker and shorter than their ancestors. It was difficult for women to bare children because they could ovulate. Stillbirths were common also. If the baby was lucky enough to be born, the mother couldn’t produce breastmilk to feed it.

However, though she uses many different types of literary approach to spice up her writing, she uses a lot of flashbacks - especially with the character June - and figurative language throughout most of the story. Some of the flashbacks include June thinking about memories with her brother before his murder just a few weeks prior. Day also has a few flashbacks here and there about his family before his dad disappeared, his mother being murdered by the government, his older brother - John - taking his own life to save Day, and his younger brother - Eden - was taken by the government to be used as a weapon. He also thought about his times when he was on the street: meaning, he thought about when he first met Tess - his best friend - and their life together on the street before he had met June. All in all, Lu used many flashbacks to explain the feelings and emotions the characters were experiencing. Marie Lu also used many examples of figurative language. For example, Lu writes, “The entrance yawns at us with its gaping mouth.” Here she is personifying the tunnel the trains usually go through to get in and out of Denver - one of the warfront cities of the Republic. Another example of figurative language in the novel is, “My flood of words hangs in the silence between us. I can’t describe the emotion on his face - something lost, something ripped from his gaze and strewn across the floor. A deep, quiet sadness that tears me

However, she moves from a literal experience and memory to pensive reflection in order to create a contrast between the younger and older character. This is used by writing about movement from the past to the present and including its effect on the future. The varies of tense further highlights the changes over time as she focuses on the dualities of self and the universal emotions.

Finding work was very difficult and led to many people in desperate need of jobs.

The living conditions were horrible for the people. So many factories were polluting the air and destroying natural beauty. Without factory pollution and other harmful things people lived longer. People started dying more, “...by atmospheric impurities…”that came from the factories (Document 6). People are supposed to live healthily and happily but now with factories, the world was becoming darker

The factories caused much damage, especially in the environment. Lush green trees were replaced with towering smokestacks spewing black filth into the air (Document 7). The conditions inside the factories were not much better. Factories were buildings designed for production and not much else, so the working conditions were unhealthy and dangerous (Document 10). Because of the mistreatment of young workers and the unhealthy conditions, labor laws were put in place that limited the time that children could spend working in factories (Document 4).

For the people who stayed in the Dust Bowl life was rather difficult as they had to deal with the illness brought on by constant inhalation of dust and the loss of their crops and livestock. The period of the Dust Bowl proved deadly for

This is because the novel itself is the story of the protagonist and narrator, Offred, recorded on cassette tapes. In one of the more perceptive examples of this importance, Offred states “I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending.” So, for Offred, telling her story allows her the chance to have “control over the ending” – a control over her own life, her own story, in a world that has removed all of her power and control. It is reasonable to assume that memories make up a large part of everyone’s own story – if you cannot remember what you have experienced, what you have lived through, then how are you able to tell any personal story? This is relevant within the context of this novel as “enforced memory loss finally entails the eclipse of personal identity…Indeed, the fact that mirrors are outlawed in Gilead means that Offred’s own sense of selfhood has begun to blur”. Here Atwood provides us with the means through which we can see how telling one’s story becomes more and more difficult to achieve in certain circumstances – memory is a fickle thing. But, this is overcome within the novel predominantly through one piece of writing that ignores this reliance on memory: a phrase scratched on the floor stating “nolite te bastardes carborundorum” or

The author heavily focuses heavily on memories. The half the book consists mostly of Ove’s memories. If it were not for the flashbacks one would not understand Ove. We

Living standards as described by Blainey (2000) were bleak. Most people lived in one roomed, small stone houses, often with four or more sharing one bed. Homes often remained unheated due to scarcity of wood (Blainey 2000, p. 423). People were largely uneducated and knew little about healthcare. Sewerage was disposed of in the same rivers that were used to drink and wash from. These contaminated rivers were used to supply water to the growing crops. This had a huge impact on health, causing infection in around two out of every three people in rural areas (Blainey 2000, p. 415). Lack of hygiene and knowledge of healthcare led to shorter lifespans.

A Critical Analysis of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” In this dystopia novel, it reveals a remarkable new world called Gilead. “The Handmaid’s Tale,” by Margaret Atwood, explores all these themes about women who are being subjugated to misogyny to a patriarchal society and had many means by which women tried to gain not only their individualism and their own independence. Her purpose of writing this novel is to warn of the price of an overly zealous religious philosophy, one that places women in such a submissive role in the family. I believe there are also statements about class in there, since the poor woman are being meant to serve the rich families need for a child. As the novel goes along the narrator Offred is going between the past and