Summary: Engels Handmaid's Tale

Read the summary and the most important questions on Engels handmaid's tale

• 1 Engels handmaid's tale

• 1.1 Chapter 1 - 12

  This is a preview. There are 1 more flashcards available for chapter 1.1
  Show more cards here

• What is a handmaid's function? What are her responsibilities?

  Their responsibility is to go shopping, but the main job is to have sex with the 
   commander of an elite household and give birth to his child. They have the choice to 
   bear a child or they are sent to the colonies: a slow death by hard labor and radiation

• Why does Serena Joy seem to dislike the narrator?

  She seems jealous and threatened by her. even though as the commander's wife 
   She holds much more power than Offred. 'She can see the difficulty of her own life 
   but not that of another woman.

• Why are handmaids kept away from all written text?

   Reading is strictly forbidden, Reading means access to information and Gilead's 
   society runs on the ability to keep women docile and unable or unwilling to rebel. It
   re-enforces the idea that their thoughts are unimportant. They are only important as
   a vessel for a child, and their brains don't matter

• Why do handmaids wear red? What is the significance?

   The color symbolizes a lot of thingsIt indicates their fertility by symbolizing the color 
   red als menstrual blood.

• 1.2 Chapter 13 - 23

  This is a preview. There are 1 more flashcards available for chapter 1.2
  Show more cards here

• Why do commanders have handmaid’s?

  The handmaids are there to bring the commander and the wife of the commander a child. This is because. That they have handmaid’s is a symbol of a man’s status and wealth. The handmais has no romantic or sexuall role, you can call her a reproductive slave. The commander and the wife can’t make a baby themselves because the wife is infertile.

• What privileges do Wives have? What disadvantages do they have?

  They don’t have to worry about being sent to the colonies, they can drink and smoke, They can be friends with other wives and they can leave their house whenever they want. But the disadvantage is simply that they are women in gilead. They are not allowed to work or even have money. She is bored and frustrated because all she can do is knit in the garden all day. She is ultimately imprisoned by gilead’s oppressive laws

• DIscuss the role of religion in Gilead. WHat aspects of gileadean religious practice are familiar?

  It is governed by a fundamentalist christian religion. There are many bible verses incorporated into gilead dogma, though they are sometimes slightly altered to better fit in the regime’s agenda. The society emphasizes male authority and female submission, which can be recognised as  a feature of some forms of christian belief. The religion is extremely anti-sex, which is forbidden to many and is supposed to be solely forprocreation.

• What do you think happened to Luke? What about the narrator’s daughter?

  The Narrator’s daughter is almost certainly alive: because she is a chile and healthy children are very rare so she is valuable. As a girl, she has the potential to eventually bear more children. I think that Luke is killed when he tries to find Offred or that he is captured somewhere. Maybe that he is in the colonies or that he is somewhere elsen taken captive

• WHo are the aunts, and what are their roles in gileadean society?

  They are older women who work as enforcers of gilead’s values on women. The aunts have many different roles. They have a role in the red center, brainwashing future handmaid’s to be obedient, frightened them for no pregnancy and brutally punishing those who disobey. Further in the book they are the ones who help the handmaids during the pregnancy. And the ones who are there everytime there is a someone is blamed for death

• 1.3 Chapter 23 - 29

  This is a preview. There are 5 more flashcards available for chapter 1.3
  Show more cards here

• Offred and Ofglen each thought the other was a ‘true believer’ why?

  Each was afraid to trust each other: They are in constant danger particularly if they are ever discovered to be breaking a rule. Gilead’s social structure seems perfectly designed to keep women from forming alliances, and to foster distrus, suspicion, jealousy and competition. If women are distracted from these emotions along with the desperate need for self-preservation, they cannot conspire or revolt