Summary
Summary The Handmaid's Tale - genres
- Course
- Institution
Notes on the genres that influenced/are a part of the novel
[Show more]
Seller
Follow
clempitrat
Content preview
GenresFeminist dystopia
- Challenged by Atwood
- Feminist dystopia – inequality of society/oppression of women exaggerated/intensified to highlight
the need for change in contemporary society
- Feminist science fiction – more often seen as concerned with societal roles and power dynamics
- Makes parodic use of main dystopian features
Selected community isolated within the walls of Gilead – can be subjected to the extreme
consequences of the central hypothesis
Has to be distanced and isolated in time – generally some more or less distant future
- Concentrated vision on women as victims of the misogynistic hypothesis
Focus made sharper as everyone is perceived through the consciousness of Offred – most
characters are types reduced to their social functions by their different unforms
Swiftian satire
- Writings (like swift’s) that are satiric and ironic – use parody and exaggeration
- Swift – took middle ground between extreme of religions practiced by puritans and Catholics and
extremes of rationalism practiced by enlightenment scholars and early imperialists
- Harsh and unforgiving tone
- Satire – used as a technique to criticize people, government or society through literary tools
Verbal irony, sarcasm and use of mocking
- Uses Juvenalian satire – bitter and ironic criticism of contemporary persons and institutions that is
filled with personal invective, angry moral indignation and pessimism
Swift raged at shallowness and arrogance observed in intellectual and moral life
- A modest proposal – dauntless criticisms and satire on the political and social problems of Ireland
(which was completely dominated by England)
- Uses humanitarian projector as narrator – represents to critic
Used to convince his readers that his proposal is the best option to solve social and economic
problems
Speculative fiction
- HMT – tends to denounce the potential dangers lurking in the institutions in the land of liberty and
western democracies
- Imagines an alternate word not far removed form our own
- Atwood satirizing various trends she observed in the 80’s – poor treatment of women, disease and
infertility and the corruption of religion
HMT exploring consequences of existing trends
- Suggests that rise of religious right with a declining birth rate could produce a totalitarian regime in
the US
Political warning
- Atwood wants reader to be left with uncertainty – wrote HMT to serve as a warning to American
society
History repeats itself is change does not take place
- Execution of defiant ones – parallel to lynching that African Americans had to endure during times of
inequality
Legal to execute anyone who rebels in the novel
- Republic of Gilead’s government – com bination of past real policies from governments around the
world
- Goal was to prove how sudden dramatic shifts in laws and cultural mores can be
The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:
Guaranteed quality through customer reviews
Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.
Quick and easy check-out
You can quickly pay through credit card or Stuvia-credit for the summaries. There is no membership needed.
Focus on what matters
Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!
Frequently asked questions
What do I get when I buy this document?
You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.
Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?
Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.
Who am I buying these notes from?
Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller clempitrat. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.
Will I be stuck with a subscription?
No, you only buy these notes for $5.86. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.
Can Stuvia be trusted?
4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)
75759 documents were sold in the last 30 days
Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy study notes for 14 years now