Chapter One

Afterchange, 2065.

A boy sat on the high pillars of the sea wall as he did every evening, no different from yesterday and no different from tomorrow. His features weathered so much so that it was hard to tell his age. He is perched above the gradual growth of ocean weed and salt, enjoying the nip of breeze. This was his spot, his quiet relief from his settlement, Surmise. Spending most of his evenings on the wall high above the world, not many things escape his sight. To his left, the chimneys and iron roofs drown in the endless spill of crests, the ocean taking more victims as it continues to rise. When Miles first showed Enzo this place you could see the houses which these roofs and chimneys belonged to and the rest of the village. These monuments of times which seem very distant now reside beneath the surface. As he sits up here the world continues to move beneath him, the transport line buzzes with activity, the water licks ever closer to his feet, the workers continue to build the backup wall for the inevitable collapse of his wall. This system of mitigation which he despites is so evident from up there. Years ago he fought to for change and despised acceptance of the climate problem yet now he despises his own acceptance. He spends his days mitigating the effects of the new environment rather than striving to change the ways of the world and save what is left. He imagines what Mama and Annie think of him, do they hate him for not fighting enough for them? Do they forgive him? Do they miss him? He ponders these dismal thoughts as the day turns to dusk, the light leaving the day as his hope follows suit. He is shaken back into his head by the micrometer’s call as beckons him back. He feels the pull of home yet he cannot follow. Back he goes to the Dorm not back to his home. 

As his strides become uniform, the outpost comes into view ahead. All he can manage today is a slight tilt of the head to Juno. Juno is a reminder of home. A reminder of the place that he is bound in. A reminder of the fear. He can no longer look Juno’s way, let alone believe in him again. Being unable to trust a person who had been through all he had, tears away any hope Enzo had. That’s what they want. By doing what we always did, we will always get what we always got. A shake of the head and on Enzo continues, past the place where his hope runs so thin.

Eventually, he sees the dorm, shadowed by the multitude of towering buildings ever enclosing his own dorm. He skims through the door frame, the older boys don’t glance today, they don’t care enough to dedicate him such effort. Kicking aside some bottles of certified water, he lays on his bed looking up at the struts of the bed above. Annie’s smile gleams back at him as his eyes grow heavy. The day is not done, her happy face reinstalls the hope stripped from him at the outpost. Today is the day. He makes his way back down the stairs and assumes his normal seat in the dining room, a few benches across from the older boys. Today they are sitting closer, dozing like giants seemingly large and dull. Today he knows he has to try so he begins to talk to Miles. The others seem interested but do not join as they begin to talk about the wall. Miles has been moved further south, towards the other settlement down the coast and the other boys seem to have been moved in the same direction according to their dissatisfied grunts. Enzo has never strayed from this conversation but filled with a sudden boost of confidence he slips out a cryptic reply “Are you going home for the holidays”. This is followed by a startling from the extended members of his conversation. “If I can afford it”, Josh seems content with his reply and with that Enzo retreats off. He struggles to contain the hope, the excitement this simple reply brings him. In the days of BeforeChange, the times of panic and fear, he never thought he would end up here, in this situation. When the boys of his dorm were assigned, the ‘position’ was accompanied by an assurance of pay, holidays and communication. Since arriving, none of this has been seen and any questions have been met with questions in return and then we don’t see the boy who questioned again. No more questions are asked. Enzo’s question leaves him elevated with excitement, this small defiance gave him so much more than you could imagine. He now knows he is not alone. Satisfied, he heads back to his bed. He allows himself a smile, this simple act has taken him more days than the strains of wood in the struts of the bed above his sleepy eyes. He now smiles back at the snapshot of Annie. He will see her soon enough, he hopes. 

Fast forward to the evening after. Enzo is once again posted in his seat on the wall, the excitement of the previous evening yet to fade. As he stands up to leave he sees trucks bumping along the transport line. The trucks come this way from time to time but this occurrence intrigues Enzo. The leading truck passes, a pained gasp or a desperate attempt pulses the airwaves around Enzo’s head. He sits as still as he can manage, ears pricked to the most minutiae sounds. The precession carries on and he hears nothing more. It must have been some new livestock, graded as sufficient from the town down the wall. Enzo does not believe that the trucks hold only animals yet nobody dares to speak of what is really hidden behind the shutters of those trucks. They all think it though, they know it is more of the Temporal’s secrets.  

The light begins to fade again as the trucks fade from his thoughts. Disgruntled but determined not to let this evening ruin his mood he begins the walk home. At the bottom of the wall, he starts to run, jumping across the tracks of the transport line not daring to place a foot in the fire which lay in them. After years he still played this game, Annie used to insist and he could not face seeing her face drop as he resisted the urge to play with her. Careful not to take any wrong steps, he carries on towards the outpost. He passes he offers a smile towards Juno, only to receive a blank face in return. This is odd you see, Juno always acknowledges him, despite weather Enzo was much blunter than he was friendly some days. The passing by Juno left him shaken, it was as if a plane of glass had resurrected itself between them. He was bewildered but soon the thought slipped his mind much like the train of trucks had not so long ago.

He returned home, the ratchet smell of men and supper hit him. He now faces the bombardment of his smells and sits down at his usual place. The older boys sit at their table. The table seems barer than it had the night before though this was not uncommon, many times boys were kept later to finish a job. Yet sometimes these jobs never finished, they didn’t come back for supper, ever. Enzo sat at his table, he felt so alone. Despite being surrounded by people in every direction, loneliness lingered much like the smell of the boys after 12 hours of sweltering in the sun. On account of his bad mood, he headed to his bed, sleep always helped these feelings. He crawled into his sheets and it clicked, he had not seen Miles, Gabe or Eli at supper. As if in a floating display in front of his eyes, the day’s events arranged themselves in front of his eyes. The cry from the truck, Juno’s guilty refusal to acknowledge him as he passed, the table half full at supper. He scrambled out of bed, bouncing off walls and the other boys as he ran to Miles’ room. They must have worked late, sometimes they missed supper, maybe they were sick, maybe they were tired. He crashed into Eli as he rounded the last corner, “Eli, Eli, where is Miles”. For the second time today he only received a blank look, Eli’s refusal to lift his head installed further panic into Enzo. He charged on, determined to find Miles, he was here, he had to be. As he stumbled into the room, he fell into Gabe’s arms, at the foot of Miles’ empty bed. As tears flowed, the chalky voice of Gabe began its warning, “They came this morning, you had just left to go to that silly wall of yours, they took him but they wanted you, they will be back, save yourself.” Enzo stood and swayed on his unsteady legs, struggling to stand as his assurance of tomorrow was ripped from beneath him.

Second Viewing of V for Vendetta.

Characters.

Evey – Her persona changes through the film, even to the extent of facial expressions. The narration of the starting of the film about Guy Fawkes. Both listening to the show as Evey puts on makeup and V puts on the mask. Both hiding their faces. It begins as innocent and small against other characters. Constantly mirroring V. Clothes too small, belittled. Valarie story – outcast by her parents after coming out to them. Sun and warmth, nature is so present in the story, of past times. Her flat with her female lover always smelt of roses, roses stopped after the American war came to London. She loves everyone despite the features of any person, loves everyone. Walks out of the darkness of the cell in the light of V’s home. Arms up in the rain just as V did as he emerged from his torture.

V – Symbol for anarchy upside down. Face cast in half shadow and light. Constantly speaking with words starting with V. Collector of fine things, academic for his appreciation for the finer things. Cooks the egg in the hole, a subtle gesture of the forbidden. V showed in reflection. Sees Edmount Dontay as similar to V, choose vengeance over love. Leaves Scarlett Carson roses. Red V on the door of his cell. As he talks of hate he compares what he did to Evey as what to happened to himself. Walks out of the center on fire on the 5th of November.

Camera Shots.

Parrell scenes of Evey and V at the beginning along to TV talking about the domination of the population. Small second in commands overshadowed by the General. Low angle shots for police/enforcers. All homes show flags and obedience. Camera shots rising to high with Evey and other pure characters as V speaks of surveillance and manipulation of the citizens. Pan showing the books in the room where Evey finds herself, surrounded by knowledge and literature. Low angle as V screams coming out of the fire.

soundtrack.

Starting soundtrack of rising up feeling. The bells chime as the dark city sleeps on the morning of the 5th of November. Glorious sound as the buildings blow up. Classic orchestra soundtrack varying from intense and apprehensive to glory. Powerful speech from V over the V. Both scenes where Evey’s parents and Gordon are taken there are intense non-diegetic sounds.

Dialouge.

“Remember the 5th of November” “The power of ideas” “The guy defending them” “This is for your protection.” “Fairness, Justice and Freedom are more than just words.” “If they ever find this place, you will be the least of your worry.” “People should not be afraid of their governments, the governments should be afraid of its people” “We all did what we had to do” – Survive. “If the government ever searched my house you would be the least of my worries”. “You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you are beneath it” “There are no coincidences, just the allusion of coincidence.” Reoccuring talk of coincidences – egg in the basket, the chief talking about the attacks. “All you have to do is cooperate” “I remember how the meaning of words changed” “Different became dangerous” “You have no fear anymore, you are completely free”

Minority Report.

Important things you see.

Degraded building, very low end, scared children accepted as normal, shocked by spiders, build up of suspense, the eye scans stop everything you are doing.

Symbolistic camera angles.

  • The birds eye view of Spiders breaking into the apartments in a feat of complete invasion of privacy gives an outside perspective of the peoples lives getting invaded.
  • The spiders perch on top of the victims as they scan them, looking down upon them. The spiders nature of looking down on the victims shows the hierarchy of the society in which technology is placed on a pedestal and human race is looked down on. Connotations of spiders are scary and very unliked as a species.

Important things you hear.

Fast violins – Music suspense combined with silence, ability to talk across the whole building, spiders communicating, spiders physical size compared to the sound of the tapping.

Enhancement of Diegetic Sounds.

  • The tapping sounds are intensified as the spiders infiltrate the citizens privacy. This emphasises the intense impact they have on the symbolism of the scene.
  • The Spiders screeching portrays the humanistic traits which the technology is developing and the communication alludes to the intelligence of this technology and humans reliance on it.

Non Diegetic Sound.

  • Suspenseful music added in post production to create suspense and leaves us wondering on the fate of John.
  • It also contributes to the overbearing control of the spiders and pre crime unit which the citizens of the building endure.

Paragraph.

This particular extract of the piece ‘Minority Report’ is essential to the overall theme of control created by Steven Spielberg and is intensified by the Cinematography Techniques of camera angles and sound. The control of the Dystopian society which John finds himself fleeing from only reveals its true dictatorship to John when he is hunted by his own unit. The utter and complete disregard for privacy and rights of the citizens is an evident part of the Spider Scene. The bird eye view angle which follows the Spiders in search of the to-be murderer shows the high position of technology in the society and establishes the citizens value to the government. It emphasises the disregard for human life, they are framed like animals in captivity, rats in a maze whom “are free to go anywhere as long they stay in the maze”. This accompanied by the elaborate use of Diegetic and Non diegetic sound, of which Spielberg was able to give the viewer insight into the citizens true apprehension and fear which holds the innocent in constant submission. The birds eye view and fast paced violins installs fear in the hearts of the citizens and viewers and this fear is what holds them in the captivity society. In alternate sections of the scene, the high position the spiders take when scanning the eyes forces the victim to look up as the spiders to perch high above the eyes. The intensified volume of Spiders screeching and tapping has a large influence on the scene and alludes to the undeniable control the surveillance and pre crime unit in the lives of the less fortunate. This reinforces the place of technology in the hierarchy of society and shows the strict encouragement of citizens to ‘look up’ to the higher powers. The spiders are portrayed as evidently large and powerful through the continuous use of low angle camera angles which gives a prospective how dangerous and powerful they really are in these citizens lives. Control is also highlighted through the manipulation of Sound in the Spider scene. Diegetic sounds, the tapping and screeching of the spiders alludes the over.

‘V for Vendetta’ Initial Response.

Give a brief plot overview.

The piece is set in future London, which still grieves at the lost of 80,000 to a viral ‘terrorist attack’. The antihero, who goes by ‘V’, is on a quest to bring down the overruling party as a vendetta for the injustice he faced in the Lark-hill Centre. The party and its leader follow in similar footsteps to that of the Nazi party and the dehumanisation of the diverse of the population gives grounds for the uprising and revolution which V desires.

Discuss the setting of the text and how it could be influential to the genre.

Set in London, the future dystopian London gives the viewer a point of reference to the present and the possibility of what our world could become. A familiar setting provides insight into the lifestyle these citizens would suffer and creates a deeper connection to the message the director intends to display. Surveillance is evident and everywhere has been industrialized, no nature and minimal trees/greenery.

Uncover a character that was of interest and why.

All the character keep up a facade in order to survive.

Evey is an interesting aspect of the movie due to the symbolism of change she represents. She herself, undergoes a drastic change from that of an undermined, controlled citizen to a critical part of a revolution against the corrupt government. It is not only the change undergone by her character, but it is also the change that is created by this process. Evey fuels the rebellion through her newfound fearless nature and executes the remodel of society. Although the rebellion would not have existed in the manner it did without ‘V’, Evey influences change upon V as we see his fight for freedom begin to merge with his fight for love.

Outline one Cinematography technique that stood out… Why?

The intensive use of Lighting stood out as it conveyed the overbearing and utter control utilised by the government. The common associations of darkness and ‘dark times’ allude to the emotional wellbeing of the population and the total control of the government. The transition of dark to light scenes as the movie progresses also displays the realignment of power and control.

What Message would you take from this text? Uncover how you experienced this.

I would like to take the message of hope and belief in the human race. As a genre the inclinations of war, suffering and control leave a rather foul taste in the viewers mouth. It is refreshing to view a piece which continues to believe and encourage people of a society which have themselves created this dystopian setting. In similar pieces it is uncommon to see an ‘Hollywood’ style perfect ending yet the poetic finish further enforced my need and want to believe in our race and hope that our generation can learn from artistic predictions such as these.

Compare this to ‘HMT’, ‘Children of Men’, and ‘Minority Report’ – what similarities exist between these texts?

Internal 3.4

Gilead was used to present the overhanging ironic links to a society Atwood warned against.”

Gilead and the more obscure settings within, are the imprisonment of Offred and the other servants to the totalitarian society situated just outside of Boston, US. The roots of New England and Puritan beliefs embed the nature of male dominance and the prehistoric pastimes of ancient biblical beliefs into the lives of those imprisoned. The simple, seemingly innocent minor settings are ingrained with broad array of ironic links to the society Atwood wrote the book in effort to prevent. “These things have happened before, there is nothing to say they won’t happen again”, and while some have very active endeavours to warn against a disdainful future, Atwood has placed specific irony in her novels to warn us of the society she fears. Yet despite her efforts, in our world, current fact imposes on future fantasy.

To start at the beginnings of higher human education but also at the opening pages of the novel we are to place ourselves on the grounds of Harvard. The Harvard establishment is considered to be guiding the world’s most bright and resourceful humans to careers where their intelligence can lead humanity to a more protective and even society. Yet within Gilead’s time, sexism is abundant. The “Sexism at Harvard Law is not a new problem”. When put under scrutiny in a Business Insider article in 2013, many women felt under-minded and isolated in a male dominated environment. The basis of women being so uncomfortable in their unfair environment stands as a contrast to the favourable prejudice surrounding Harvard. The purity and moral integrity of not only the staff but the students alike is considered by society to be above such past times but in Gilead the complete dehumanisation of women takes place its in very grounds. The bold ironic nature of this setting only fuels the outrageous nature of the treatment of these women and the values which this regime holds dear. 

The material structures in the grounds hold badges of the violence conducted on or within them. Once again, coming back to the purpose of pursing the truth through knowledge, Harvard was created in honour. The ignorance that contributes to the violence in Gilead and the shootings and war of the present world are so ironically opposite to Harvard and its values. The physical buildings on the grounds of Harvard have been transformed into the detention buildings of the Eyes, a secret enforcing unit filtered into the society in wait of the brave exposing themselves. A wall is in place to prevent enemies from invading a community and to protect its people. The wall still stands in the future, yet now it surrounds grief and imprisonment. The handmaids are left without a choice on their whereabouts and the wall constructed in efforts to keep others out leaves them trapped. The bodies hanging from its heights further intensifies the fact that it is more than just the physical structure holding within, but the elephant in the establishment, the “women are afraid that men will kill them”.

The Commanders Study is a place of liberation and temptation. The unlawful acts of Scrabble, pleasantries like moisturiser, and general chat of better times create a small escape for Offred although she knows it is more for the Commander. Her Oasis from a barren world forbidden from life’s greatest experiences is merely an exercise of guilt for the Commander. As a Commander of a household, he was undoubtedly part of societies reform yet now as the complete isolation of his regime builds its walls around him, he begins to see the harm he has caused. He longs for connection and feels he can force his servant of reproduction to serve his craving for connection. The  current outside world struggles with the increasing pandemic of instant connection through the arising technologies and humans have lost their touch. The many centuries of our kind before us lived in a time where communication was purely primary. The instant contact removes the emotion and one becomes disconnected. The study acts as an Allegory of what the world should not become. Fear of losing personality and connection was at the forefront of Atwood’s worries while articulating the world she does not want to see. Wether it be through technology, or another method of which removes the need to be human, the world will always face these challenges as we do today. These ironic links of disconnection are slowly creeping into our society, the society Atwood warned against.

Garden fertility irony. “You can only be jealous of someone who has something you think you ought to have yourself.”

Internal Planning.

Gilead was used to present the irony overhanging society.”

Gilead, the totalitarian society situated just outside of Boston, US. The roots of New England and Puritan beliefs embed the nature of male dominance and the prehistoric pastimes of ancient biblical beliefs. The innate settings of a pensioners garden, or perhaps the study of an “wise” older man prompt the predisposed inclination of sexism embedded in our minds. When one looks further, the layers of irony begin to reveal themselves through the simple yet deliberate settings Atwood purposely chose.

Harvard, the intelligence which resides there in the current day society plays direct contrast to the simple minded society which was created in efforts only considering the simple needs of the creators. The inability to consider the greater good and humanities simple living needs not practiced in the Harvard gym are the basis of the study for people on the grounds today. The facility trains the best and the brightest to lead the world in the way that it isn’t in handmaids tale.

Commanders Study, It is seen as a place of both liberation and temptation. She takes part in acts of unlawful classification such as the scrabble games, moisturiser, and normal chat with commander. There is symbolism of the words she comes up with – exercising her freedom within the Oasis from the barren forbidden world. It is the closest link to previous times, “A flip backward of time”. The propose of her visiting the space, remove some of the tension and dissipates the dark reality of the rest of the scene. It highlights how filtered the handmaids tale really is, the intense wakening of how suppressed and forbidden her life really is when she is allowed to read to exercise her thought. The room also highlights how simple and ironic the Commander is, he encourages the things he goes so hard against and also he uses it to exercise his boredom through the shadow of the good deed he is creating for Offred. The complete isolation which the regime has built around everybody has now come back to play against him and his deep directors of selfishness enables him to cover his own fulfillments through false kindness. Cynical, in his acts of teasing her and pilling her debt to him. Dangling her freedom as bait which in-fact reduces her freedom further as she would take the brunt of the blame.

The garden, The garden is a huge symbol for gilead society. The impulse of nature runs directly along side the the totalitarian regime that is present in the gilead society. It also again highlights the irony in the text, as Serena Joys only task is to look after the garden, and it seems a ironic that an infertile woman has to aid to the reproduction of nature, it also fills her with the sense of power she has lost in other aspects of her life, she seemingly takes joy in mutilating the flowers. Also, flowers which as discussed before serve as a symbol for prosperity and hope, which is somewhat tantalising especially to the handmaids who have the inability of freedom. Flowers have many connotations especially within the novel they symbolise blossoming life, beauty, fertility, freedom and prosperity.

The Handmaids Tale.

Margaret Atwood

Answer each question/section in full and use quotations where necessary.  

For revision purposes, I would advise you to take note of page references.

“These things have happened before, there is nothing to say they wont happen again” “Four digits and an eye, a passport in reverse” “There is more than one kind of freedom, the freedom to and the freedom from”

Allusions

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is full of Allusions.  Research the categories below in order to gain further understanding of their significance.

Biblical AllusionsBiblical Allusion; a reference within a literary work to a story, idea, or event that is related in the Bible or other biblical writings. Atwood used these within the handmaids tale to show the skewed take on Biblical concepts and how they were presented in Gilead.

  • Biblical Allusions – The whole book is centred around the Catholic Religion. It expands on the characters as Readers can gain further understanding through the similarity between the Religious aspects and Gilead. Justification for horrible events – this is very topical at the moment. Irony that exists between the image that they do these things for the good of the population and use the bible to justify their actions while actually playing against these lies. The suppression of women is a common connection between the Allusions.
  • Jezebels – Jezebels is a secret brothel where women are asked to work as prostitutes of sort under the republic of Gilead. Biblical women were offered the choice between being sent to the Colonies or working as a Jezebel. Many preferred the sex trade where they were allowed certain privileges like cigarettes and make up. This comes from the adaption of Jezebel, the Biblical queen who was killed and remembered unfairly as sexually immoral. The sexual immorality of prostitution as viewed by many alludes to the perceptions of the ancient Queen’s sexual immorality. The location of Jezebels, an old hotel Offred remembers from the older days, is of importance as well. Offred and Luke were in the beginnings of an affair when they first stayed there. An Affair is a sexually immoral action and it is yet another allusion to the sexual immorality surrounding Jezebel within the bible.
  • Rachel and Jacob – The pair from the bible have substantial presence in the novel as the essential idea of offering forward a handmaid as passage of making a baby. ” When Rachel saw she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister, and said unto Jacob, ‘Give me children or else I die.’ And she said, ‘Behold my maid, Bilhah. Go unto her and she shall bear upon my knees so that I might also have children by her.’ “. The subtle naming implications of bible references such as the Centre which Offred was in, “Rachel and Leah Center”, and the Christian Fundamentalist group which took over the US going by “Sons of Jacob”, further alluded to the overpowering sense which the structure of Life in Gilead followed that of verses of the Bible. “Republic of Gilead” is an authoritarian, theocratic regime. Within the bible, Gilead is the place which Jacob fled to with his father in law in pursuit. Jacob took his family of Rachel and children away with him in fear of Laban deceiving him and taking his family from him. This is another direction allusion to structure of life for Handmaids in Gilead. They are tricked and deceived into a mindset of stupidity and simplistic, primitive life – defined by a single purpose and held back from any individual decisions.
  • Gilead – The ideal image of what Handmaids Tale’s Gilead wishes to be. Peaceful, Fertile, Clean. A place of fertile crops and land which the people of the area don’t suffer from detrimental effects of toxic and unhealthy environment. “Gilead was a tormented city, full of evil men and the memories of their sins” Hosea.“There is no Balm in Gilead” Jeremiah 8:21
  • Freud and his theories – ‘Penis Envy’ – If you don’t have a penis, you do not have rights. The women are strictly classified as how adjacent they are to a man ( Penis Carrier ). Also alludes the pun “Pen is Envy”, as women are stripped of their individual freedom and lose the ability to pass information and contribute. Literally the inability to access a pen has removed the possibly of writing and reading and therefore the main route of communication.
  • Marxism – Not so much to do with economic class more to do with Gender. Women are seen as lower men upper, yet without the women the men would have nothing. This is the concept that the working class fuel the upper classes. The handmaids were essential to upholding the society. The classes can be seen in the sitting room, the different levels at which different classes present themselves show their status clearly; Offred on her knees, Serena on a chair at the front, Commander coming as he pleases. “Religion was the opiate of the masses.” Karl Marx .
  • George Orwell’s 1984 – “The majority of Dystopians, Orwell’s included, have been written by men and the point of view has been male. When women have appeared in them, they have been sexless or rebels who’ve deified the sex rules of the regime. I wanted to try a Dystopia from the female point of view, a world according to June” Margaret Atwood. 1984 is centred around the Big Brother, a world formed around the control of thought and fear. The parallel is the Eyes integrated into society , the complete unknown of when the powers are listening to you. All manipulate the population through control of fear, thought, language, class.
  • Descartes’ theory – “I think, therefore I am” The concept that in order to think is the proof of your own existence. Theres a good quote on pg279.
  • Puritan New England

Why has Atwood included Allusions in the text?  What do they tell us about Offred and Gilead?

As a point of relation and to enforce the idea that these things could ever so easily happen again.

Setting

The setting in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is incredibly influential upon its characters.  It is suggested that the novel is set early in the 21st Century.  The story spans the 3 – 4 months of summer and flashes back in time often.  The flashbacks indicate that Gilead seems to be around five years old. Offred’s daughter was in day-care, “about three or four” when the revolution took place.  She is five when they try to escape, and “she must be eight’ when Offred sees her photo. As readers we know that Gilead is relatively new, through information such as “blankets that still said the U.S” and through the fact that the Handmaids are told they are pioneers, front-runners of the new system: “You are a transitional generation.”

Work through the points below, giving as much detail as possible and using quotations.

  • Where is the novel set?
  • In which contemporary geographical place is Gilead located?  Cite evidence.
  • What contemporary university is referred to?  Give information about this university. Why is its inclusion important?
  • What are we told about the world outside of the house/Gilead?  What is the significance of that?
  • Make notes on the following areas of the Commander’s house, using quotes to support your comments: Offred’s room (Chapters 2 and 9); The garden; The sitting room (Ch. 14); The Commander’s study (Ch. 23)
  • Make notes on the town and specific settings within it
  • Makes notes on Jezebel’s.  Focus upon the contrast with the rest of the Gilead settings (Ch. 37)
  • Research a Totalitarian regime; either one that is contemporary or historical.  How does Gilead echo this setting?

The novel is set in a post revolution area in USA which has been renamed as “Republic of Gilead” is an authoritarian, theocratic regime which Offred exists in. Gilead is set in a fictional, futuristic New England where the government has been overthrown. The handmaids tale also dwells on the grounds of Harvard University, one of the most prestigious University famous for extremely competitive nature and high standing requirements to even be considered to study there. It is a place where some of the most intelligent and even minded of our race spend their time specialising. Yet in the Handmaids Tale, Gilead practises techniques of ignorance and general inequality which goes with the strand of significantly less intelligent times. The world outside Gilead is in the wake of a nuclear war, the colonies are used as a form of punishment, a place one is sent to help clean the waste of the radioactive war weapons. This indicates that the rest of the US and possibly the world is left as a broken, radioactive wasteland from a fight between previous superpowers. The regime in Gilead could be created from the simple misguided energy to keep the human race alive while higher powers attempt to sustain a skewed perception of what life used to be. Some of the seemingly absurd practices in the totalitarian regime are not so unrealistic. Things such as Public executions, covering dress, and the patterns of violence and oppression all relate to Catholic practices and totalitarian practices in places like the Middle East and North Korea. The only information on the outside world comes as news of war which could not even been fought and general fake news. Dripping information so that it only pushes people towards the leading party. The society is controlled by the faith that they are always being watched and that all is known yet they don’t have a known dictator which is holding a gun to their head. The what ifs are left to their minds and this pushes the doubt out which further singles out the non believers.

Offred’s Room: Seemingly bleak, yet Offred mentions a lot of sun light entering the room. The idea that hope as light gets past the bars on the windows and through the immensely saddening situation. Also the fact that nature cannot be contained. The complete stripping of any opportunity to open a possibly of escaping not to the outside world away from her world. “The stains on the mattress like dried flower petals”. Single bed, it is no common occurrence to see a women of age in such a confining and rigid safe. Bedrooms tend to be a safe place and an area to share with a loved one and sex which is fuelled by passion rather than the pure purpose of reproducing. Her bare bedroom shows how her individually and freedom has been stripped away. Devoid of emotion, personality and thought.

The garden: Representing Nature. Flowers have many connotations especially within the novel they symbolise blossoming life, beauty, fertility, freedom and prosperity.

The sitting room: The room which marks the conception phase. The whole act is so planned which also draws it back to becoming almost sterile the complete irony of what the ceremony is made in efforts of. The juxtaposition of the setting, the room is luxuriously decorated in Serena Joy’s mixed style of quality and sentimentality. Serena Joy’s perfume, Lily of the Valley, smells like innocent girlishness but it is a “sweetly scented yet highly poisonous woodland flowering plant.”

Commanders Study: It is seem as a place of both liberation and temptation. She takes part in acts of unlawful classification such as the scrabble games, moisturiser, and normal chat with commander. There is symbolism of the words she comes up with – exercising her freedom within the Oasis from the barren forbidden world. It is the closest link to previous times, “A flip backward of time”. The propose of her visting the space, Atwood has included in novel, these captures remove some of the tension and dissipates the dark reality of the rest of the scene. It highlights how filtered the handmaids tale really is, the intense wakening of how suppressed and forbidden her life really is when she is allowed to read to exercise her thought. The room also highlights how simple the Commander is, he encourages the things he goes so hard against and also he uses it to exercise his boredom through the shadow of the good deed he is creating for Offred. The complete isolation which the regime has built around everybody has now come back to play against him and his deep directors of selfishness enables him to cover his own fulfillments through false kindness. Cynical, in his acts of teasing her and pilling her debt to him. Dangling her freedom as bait which in-fact reduces her freedom further as she would take the brunt of the blame.

Town: Sterile, The wall with bodies hanging on it – manipulation and fear, Movie Theatre, Church, Scrolls. Palimpsest landscape.

Jezebels: Sex was too easy to have so laws came into function. “Its like walking into the past” Commander. Offred is completely on display, she is there to be objectified, to be in a sense feasted on by their eyes, her body reviewed by most in the room. It displays how childish the Commander really is, his winks when no one is looking, the games, wanting to watch her apply lotion.

Themes

Control is the overriding theme presented within the novel, but there are subsets of this theme.  Using the subsets below, find three examples (use quotations and list the page reference) that highlights each idea.

  • Control of thought

“Knowing was a temptation, what you don’t know cant tempt you” “Thought must be rationed” “Thinking can hurt your chances and I intend to last”

  • Control of women
  • Control of movement

“A rat in the maze is free to go anywhere, as long as it stays inside the maze” “

  • Control of sexuality
  • Control through fear

Closely analyse one section of the text that shows ONE theme and discuss how it encapsulates the theme (photocopy this and annotate it)

Characters

  • Major Characters

Offred

  • 33 years of age, had a daughter and husband in pre-Gilead, she has brown hair and stands about five foot seven.
  • Offred resists inwardly, she is not a hero, merely an anti hero who has submitted to the system in fear of her own and her close families safety. Offred is no feminist either, she flicked back to memories of times when she shied away from mentions of her mothers activism. She began her relationship with Luke being his mistress and meeting him in cheap hotels for sex. This does not indicate much inclination of deep rooted feminism within Offred. Most of all, despite living in constant fear, anger, and being continually controlled, she never is bold enough to join the resistance and make a change.
  • Offred is educated (University graduate; good job in library).
  • Offred is the narrator and protagonist, she tells us the story through her vivid memory, in almost excessive detail ( a sign of the desperate boredom her intelligent mind is in ). She internally despises the system yet does nothing to improve her situation. Offred is a normal being placed in this horrible situation as a scientific prediction of how the world that Atwood lived in may have unfolded to be like and the situation normal people among us would have suffered in.

The Commander

  • Commander Fred Waterford is the head of the house hold and the husband of Serena Joy who is in his 50’s.
  • The commander does openly oppose the system and is suggested that he was among the key founders and leaders of Gilead. Yet in the storylines time, he has become bored with his regimented life and feels his wife no longer understands and confines in a one sided relationship with Offred. By doing so, he forfeits his clean appearance and opens up the side of him which opposes the new environment of Gilead he may of helped create. In the small acts of taking Offred to his study and large defiances like Jezebels, his opposition is made clear.
  • Relatively old fashioned and seemly educated to a good extent. Enjoys the forbidden simulation of board games.
  • The commander is just another piece of the puzzle who opposes the system deep down but does not do anything note-able to create opportunity for change.

Serena Joy

  • Thin  lips, hair blonde; her eyebrows are “plucked into thin arched lines”, blue eyes (“a blue that shuts you out”), with eyelids tired-looking.  She has a large face and knuckled, diamond-studded hands. In the past life, Serena ( Pam ) was a famous gospel singer but has now become bound to her home.
  • Serena is a mere agitated lady whom despises the inconvenience Gilead has brought her but not any further than her own needs. Although she turns a blind eye to the Commander’s antics and encourages Offred to take unorthodox methods to get pregnant indicating she has little to no respect for rules.
  • Serena was a talented performer but has grown old and cranky due to the unsatisfactory life she now has to live.

Moira

  • “quirky, jaunty, athletic, with a bicycle once, and a knapsack for hiking. Freckles, I think; irreverent, resourceful.” Moira was Offred’s roommate in College and they are long time best friends.

Nick

COVER THE POINTS BELOW:

  • Facts, for example – Offred is 33 years old, has had a daughter….
  • Actions, for example – Offred capitulates to the regime because she is too afraid for her daughter to protest
  • Adjective/Phrases – Offred is educated (university graduate; good job in library)
  • Conclusions/ overall description – For example; The whole story is told from Offred’s p.o.v…She is not a hero…She is passive…
  1. Minor Characters

Janine/Ofwarren

Luke

Offred’s mother

Aunt Lydia

FOR THE MINOR CHARACTERS, COVER THE POINTS BELOW:

  • overall description, as well as their discussing their significance.

Narrative structure

The structure of this novel is discontinuous, fragmentary, revelatory, episodic.  There is considerable use of interior monologue. Rather than following a straightforward chronological narrative, the story is gradually revealed to the reader through some narrative and dialogue combined with interior dialogue that includes a great deal of flashbacks, hint and allusion.  It gradually builds a cumulative picture of the setting, the characters, the themes and events of the story. The story needs to be pieced together, like a jigsaw puzzle, with the final picture revealed only as the last pieces are put in.

  • What do you notice about the use of present and past tense?  Of speech marks? Of capital letters?
  • Very little actually happens in Offred’s story.  Why is this appropriate to the themes of the novel?
  • What is the strength of this type of narrative structure?  Why is it appropriate and more effective than a straightforward narrative would be?
  • What is the point of view of this novel?  What is the effect of this POV on this story?  How reliable is the narrator?
  • What is the dominant overall tone of the writing?

Margaret Atwood and her writing techniques

  • Research Margaret Atwood (this background information is important for including in essay analysis)
  • ‘THT’ fits the genre types of; ‘Dystopian’ and ‘Speculative’ fiction. Discuss the importance of such literature and the effect they have for their readers.

Analyse how the interaction between a hero and a villain reinforced or challenged your ideas about justice in the visual text.

As child we are only taught to see in black and white, good or bad. However as we know having grown up in such an advanced world, nothing is simple as that. ‘Crash’ reinforced my belief that the world is as corrupt and judgement as it ever was, yet it also challenged my tendency to judge a book by its cover so to say. In this case, the villain becomes the hero through his rocky personal journey. Officer John Ryan battles with struggles in his dad’s unpredictable health care system and long shifts on the job. All of this came together to form his journey which we follow through the movie and which challenges me while enforcing my initial ideas. 

Bad – BP1. When you hear the words Sexual Assault what comes to mind? When Officer Ryan sexually assaulted Christina Thayer on the sidewalk of a gloomy street in LA, many events were set in motion and the first thoughts of disgusting and bad, would be moved aside when we later find out the extent of the effects his actions had on Christina’s Life. Officer Ryan sparked a chain of events which ultimately led to a life threatening crash, and a lifetime of pain. The law enforcement is at the pinnacle of societal justice and are employed to enforce the restraint of crimes such as this. Yet in this instance it has granted the power for an evil man to be charge of his own offences and inflict pain on others from his position. The childhood belief in good and bad begins to fade as we enter the real the world and Officer Ryan is a symbol of a pure contrast between what is seen as good but bad lays just beneath the surface. This could be seen as an Allegory to the justice system, the soul influencer on the fate of billions of people, which is seen as the ultimate good yet corruption and illegitimate dealings lie so very close to the surface. 

Good – BP2. Officer John Ryan has battled with his father’s health care for years, and lose everything when the Black’s gained advantage through the new laws. His life had recently been ruled by loss and hardship and although this does not in anyway justify his actions but it gives a background to his actions. Having to deal with a racist and corrupt police force through his career he passes a sentiment of know ledge down to his young partner, “You think you know who you are? [Officer Hanson nods] You have no idea.” The world twists, chews and spits us out but it is how you recover that shows the true character. John Ryan, despite Christina screaming and swinging at him, he persists and saves her from her ticking time bombing, the burning gas tank above her. He dives back into the car after being pulled out, never giving up the slight chance he could save the life of  a woman who could ruin his own life. His journey from villain to hero from his true character yet as we leave him, he is shown from a low angle, with light beaming from behind him symbolizing a hero but his face telling a story of inner turmoil. Justice has been served to Christina but at what cost? Officer Ryan challenged me to see the best in people and the best in the justice system, a hope to believe that the ones that enforce the justice in our world can bring the best out in themselves and become the Hero. 

Challenge and Reinforce – BP3. My decision of the true character of John Ryan was continually challenging and reinforcing my view of the Justice System of today. On one hand, the initial experience of meeting John Ryan in a heated call, and then following him to a scene of sexual assault that he committed and came away clean from was too much. This confirmed all of my inner belief that the world is lead and controlled by corrupt people, and the justice system serves nothing but injustice to its citizens. Although, as the story line progressed and the light shone down on John Ryan as he became a hero, he also began to challenge me. The constant protrial of his heroism through the high lighting and low angles, showed a different side of John Ryan which got me thinking about the good side of people. If the world constantly assumes the worse, it will create the worst. 

Crash.

Analyse how a character or narrator’s fate was used to reinforce one or more themes in the visual text.

Everyday the world wakes and goes about their time, preforming actions which causes small ripples across society. We never really stop to consider the extent of the effects of our small, seemingly insignificant daily actions. The inability to consider this, has crafted an ignorant and alienated society. Paul Haggis, the director of the polarising visual text Crash, challenged his viewers by directing his character, Farhad, into bad fate as a result of others effecting her more significantly than they ever considered. The strong overhanging theme that Haggis believed that everybody’s lives are intertwined further enforced this.

BP 1 – The shop door break and break in.

BP 2 – His attempted murder of Daniel Ruiz’s Daughter, Lara. 

BP 3 – The racism and separation in LA.

BP 1 – Farhad only appears a selection of times throughout the movie but all appearances are influential in their own way. The scene with Daniel in his store is the set up for the series of events which occurs in the future. By fate, the two are brought together in Farhad’s shop over a broken door. A feeble argument breaks out among them and Farhad unleashes the bottled anger and pain from his own racial predicament on Daniel throwing racial insults at him. It is so ironic that despite Farhad knowing and feeling the pain of being discriminated, he continues to fuel the fire. The chain of mistreatment and discrimination runs through the world through the deep interconnection between our own lives with everyone elses and our actions become part of a larger scale more quickly than we could ever imagine. This small interaction was triggered into argument because of the past and will continue to affect the future as we see in the following scenes. 

BP 2 – A accumulation of anger and pain has lead Farhad down a dark path, to driveway of Daniel Ruiz’s home. A place he will never forget.

BP3 – It not a coincidence that the movie begins with Farhad being battered by derogative racial comments and identify being mistaken and disrespected. Farhad was confused with Arab terrorists despite being Persian, and was told to “plan a jihad on your own time.” This is was not accident by Haggis, the immediate confrontation of the immense racism which still evidently controls many grieving people in the wake of 9/11 is not avoided in the early stages of the movie. The magnitude of the effects following the actions of the humans behind the 9/11 attacks illustrates the theme explored by Haggis in Crash. Millions left distraught and shocked by the actions of a small group of people, a small group which shook the world. When scaled down to everyday life, we can imagine the spread of the effects of own actions. The racism and continual second class treatment from many people who likely did not think one then once about it, pushed Farhad into an attempt of murder. His fate was decide not by himself but the people around him who continually ruined his life. The people which he encountered did not know the full extent of their actions, but as the viewer we were able to follow and understand the effects they had on Farhad. 

Genesis and Catastrophe.

Genesis and Catastrophe.

Roald Dahl.

September 2018.

Short Story.

Roald Dahl is an author with the ability to create a story which however bizarre and unique it is, he is still able to create a love for his writing in his readers through his intelligent techniques and interesting relevance. This particular story is based on real events and is formed on a man’s beginning who many know little about despite knowing the name so well, Adolf Hitler. Dahl’s ability to command such strong feelings of sorrow and compassion for such an evil and hated man shows the extent to which he can expand his literary merits and the wonderful distinctness of his stories.

There are many distinctive features in the story, being the extensive use of dialogue, the use of outside knowledge to further engage the reader, and the overall plot twist. The short story is compiled mainly of dialogue, leaving the reader to decipher the deeper intentions of the words. Klara, the distressed mother who asks about the baby’s health so many times catches the reader’s feelings and due to her unfavourable past we feel deep sorrow and compassionate for her. Without Dahl’s selective choice of words we would not feel so deeply for her and his intention would not come through so throughly during the plot twist. With the abrupt reveal of the baby’s identity it is difficult to comprehend the full meaning of the revelation at first. Once it sets in as a reader I began to struggle with the flood of links and thoughts I had about Adolf Hitler and the immediate contrast to the thoughts I had about the innocent baby. As humans we are prone to judgement and negativity. The realisation that we as readers, can feel such sorrow for a terrible man brings us down to the roots of our humanity and really challenges our ability to disregard our prejudice defences and evaluate a person on account of their present being.

By the end I was left with mixed emotions as the harrowing short story disturbed and unsettled me. I wondered if Hitler was a product of his terrible upbringing, yet still struggled to feel any sympathy for such a man. While I did not particularly enjoy it, it gave me another insight into Dahl’s more unexplored writings as well as his character. Having grown up knowing and loving Roald Dahl’s playful and light-hearted humour in his children’s books, I went into this short story expecting something quite different to this dark and ominous piece.