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Knowledge organiser/overview of all poems

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Knowledge organiser/overview of all poems

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The Feminine Gospels: Ultimate Flashcards | Quizlet

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AQA A-level English Literature Paper 2: The Handmaid’s Tale - PMT

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Summary notes, past papers, character profiles, themes, glossary, flashcards, and exam and essay writing guides for AQA A-level English Literature Paper 2: The Handmaid’s Tale

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AO2 and 4: 1st person narrative in Handmaids and other texts

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AO2 and 4: 1st person narrative in Handmaids and other texts

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Handmaids and Feminine Gospels flashcards 

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Handmaids and Feminine Gospels flashcards 

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AO2: Close focus on a passage by Barbara Bleiman

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AO2: Close focus on a passage by Barbara Bleiman

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AO1: The Commander (sequencing activity - key quotes)

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AO1: The Commander (sequencing activity - key quotes)

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AO2 and 5: Language and Resistance in THT

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AO2 and 5: Language and Resistance in THT

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AO2: Surveillance in The Handmaids Tale. Link to motif of 'eye'

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AO2: Surveillance in The Handmaids Tale. Link to motif of 'eye'

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AO1. AO2 and AO4: Atwood and Orwell as two different types of Dystopia

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AO1. AO2 and AO4: Atwood and Orwell as two different types of Dystopia

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The Handmaid’s Tale has a problem with racial erasure

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And both use the history of black people to provoke empathy for the suffering of white people.

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Un-utterable longing--feminine sexuality in 19th cent

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13.1 Conservatism and the "Reagan Revolution"

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the goals of the New Right and the way this movement represented the concerns of many Americans of different backgrounds during the 1980s. Also, demonstrate understanding of the perspectives of those who opposed the New Right.

2. Explain the priorities of Reagan's administration and how his economic policies affected the nation. Describe "Reaganomics" both from the perspective of the president's supporters and his critics.

3. Describe the impact women had on the conservative movement. Also, summarize the election of 1980. Explain the key issues of the election and the significance of Reagan's victory on US history.

The New Right

Ronald Reagan shakes hands with President Gerald Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention. Reagan had just been narrowly defeated by Ford in the Republican primaries, but Reagan's strong showing against the incumbent president demonstrated the former actor's political appeal to a growing conservative movement.

Just as the New Left sought to distance themselves from the Socialists of the "old left," the New Right attempted to shed its association with the "old right" that had attempted to keep women and minorities "in their place" during previous decades. The New Right hoped to mix compassion and conservatism, assisting the poor but avoiding the direct welfare payments they believed discouraged individual accountability by rewarding those who did not work. They also hoped to replace the nation's progressive tax code that charged wealthier Americans higher rates with a new tax bracket they believed was more balanced. By this perspective, Americans who had demonstrated initiative and entrepreneurial skill should be permitted to keep more of their income as a means of encouraging reinvestment.

The conservatives of the 1980s had learned from the social movements of the 1960s, especially the importance of simple and direct messages appealed to Americans' sense of justice. However, while liberals had looked toward the future in crafting their message, conservatives looked toward the past. This orientation helped the New Right win many supporters during an era of uncertainty about the future. It also offered tremendous appeal to those who feared that traditional values were slipping away. At the same time, the nostalgic orientation of many conservatives encouraged the creation of a sanitized version of the past that neglected America's many failures both at home and abroad. Perhaps unintentionally, the New Right appealed to many of the same people who had opposed the expansion of civil rights. As a result, there remained a tension between those of the New Right that sought both equality and limited government and those who simply wanted to roll back the clock to another era.

What the base of the conservative movement lacked in racial diversity, it sought to make up by representing a number of different backgrounds and perspectives. Evangelical Christians, struggling blue-collar workers, middle-class voters, and disenchanted Democrats united with economic conservatives and business leaders. Together these individuals supported a movement that merged conservative and probusiness economic policies with socially conservative goals such as ending abortion, welfare, and affirmative action. Interest groups affiliated with the Republican Party also stressed a return to moral standards they identified as "family values." These conservative groups increasingly viewed opposition to multiculturalism, gay rights, the feminist movement, abortion, busing, affirmative action, illegal immigration, and welfare as panaceas for the nation's ills.

This new conservative movement advanced a populist rhetoric that appealed to the working and middle classes in ways not seen in US politics since the turn of the century. Unlike the People's Party of the 1890s, which focused primarily on economic issues, the public focus of the new conservative coalition was on social issues. The challenge for the New Right was that modern politics required the mobilization of both wealth and the masses, two groups that had traditionally opposed one another. The strength of the conservative movement was its ability to weld probusiness economic policies with support for conservative social issues in a way that attracted a core group of devoted supporters and the backing of wealthy donors.

Without the Evangelical revival of the late 1970s and early 1980s, such a coalition might have never occurred. The United States experienced a period of religious revivalism during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Similar to the Great Awakening of the early eighteenth-century, charismatic religious leaders became national celebrities and attracted legions of loyal followers. The most outspoken of these leaders were a new breed of clergy known as "televangelists" who attracted millions of loyal viewers through religious television programs. Televangelists like Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, and Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker saw their virtual congregations grow as they progressed from old-fashioned revival meetings to radio programs and eventually popular television programs like the 700 Club -each broadcast on several Christian cable networks.

Evangelical Christians formed the base of the New Right. Pictured here is a group of fundamentalist Christians in Charleston, West Virginia. Evangelicals made national headlines in 1974 when they protested the use of textbooks they believed contained a liberal agenda to spread ideas such as multiculturalism.

Evangelical Christian denominations experienced a tremendous surge in membership during these years. Southern Baptists become the nation's largest denomination while the more rigidly structured Christian denominations declined in membership. Christian religions in which membership largely shaped one's daily life, such as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (known colloquially as the Mormons), Seventh-Day Adventists, and the Assembly of God also experienced tremendous growth and influence.

While many of these churches avoided direct political affiliations, some televangelists and independent clergy saw political action as part of their mission. These and other religious leaders advocated a host of conservative social issues and recommended political candidates to their followers. Most churches avoided explicit support for a particular candidate or political party for a variety of reasons. Churches were exempt from taxes because of the doctrine of separation of church and state. Many believed sponsoring political candidates threatened that separation and would lead to forfeiture of a church's tax-exempt status. Televangelists like Jerry Falwell challenged that division along with several other leading religious conservatives. Falwell hosted the popular Old Time Gospel Hour and solicited his donors to join his political action committee, known as the " Moral Majority A political action group consisting of an estimated 4 million evangelical Christians at its peak in the early 1980s. The Moral Majority was led by televangelist Jerry Falwell and supported issues such as legalizing school prayer, teaching creationism rather than evolution, and outlawing abortion. ." These and other political groups claimed responsibility for the election of President Ronald Reagan and a host of other conservative Republicans. The boast was likely a stretch in the case of Reagan, especially given the public's frustration with Carter and the small following these interest groups enjoyed in 1980. However, during the 1982 congressional election, groups such as the Moral Majority enjoyed the support of millions of donors. As a result, the endorsement of these religious-political groups was essential in many congressional districts.

The religious fervor of the 1980s featured aspects of protest against the materialism of the decade, as well as a celebration of it. Just as some Puritans of the colonial era believed that wealth was a sign of God's favor, wealthy individuals during the 1980s were more likely to flaunt their affluence than previous generations. Displays of conspicuous consumption had become regarded as unsavory during the more liberal era of the 1960s and 1970s, but during the 1980s, they were once again celebrated as evidence that one adhered to righteous values such as hard work and prudence. Many of the leading televangelists joined in the decade's celebration of material wealth by purchasing lavish homes and luxury items. The result was a number of high-profile investigations into the possible misuse of donations by televangelists.

Many conservatives, especially white Southerners, inherited traditions of suspicion toward the federal government. This circumspection was magnified by the federal government's legalization of abortion and stricter enforcement of the doctrine of separation of church and state in the public schools. Conservatives also bristled at many of their governmental leaders' growing toleration of homosexuality while mandatory school prayer and state-funded Christmas celebrations were forbidden. From the perspective of social conservatives, each of these occurrences demonstrated that large and powerful government bureaucracies were more likely to support liberal causes. As a result, Evangelicals increasingly supported both social and fiscally conservative causes. Tax breaks, the elimination of welfare programs, and the reduction in the size of the federal government became leading issues of the new Evangelicals. However, most of the new religious right also supported increasing the power of the government to ban behaviors they believed were sinful, while supporting increased authority for law enforcement and larger budgets for national defense.

A variety of conservative intellectuals who were concerned with each of these social issues had developed a number of organizations dedicated to advancing their ideals among the American people. These "think tanks," as they would euphemistically be called, included the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, among others. Each of these groups depended on the donations of both rank-and-file conservatives and a number of wealthy donors. As these groups and the conservative causes they believed in grew in popularity, conservative politicians won elections by promoting the issues these think tanks supported. Although many conservative politicians tended to subordinate their economic platform in favor of discussing hot button conservative issues that mobilized their supporters, by 1980, many conservative voters also came to believe that lowering taxes for corporations and the wealthy while reducing government spending for social programs would lead to greater prosperity. In other words, the conservative movement succeeded not only by mobilizing voters on social issues but also by altering the perception of the government's proper role in the economy. Whereas middle- and working-class Americans had been more apt to support unions and progressive tax policies during the previous three decades, by the 1980s, a growing number of these same individuals agreed with conservatives about the potential danger of powerful labor unions and feared that higher taxes for corporations and the wealthy might discourage economic growth.

Election of 1980

Reagan first tapped into the frustrations of the 1970s as a gubernatorial candidate in California promising to cut taxes and prosecute student protesters. As a presidential candidate in 1980, he took every opportunity to remind Americans of the current recession. The Reagan campaign convinced many voters that Carter had made the problem worse by pursuing strategies that tightened the money supply and pushed interest rates as high as 20 percent. Although inflation was the main reason these rates were so high and Carter's actions would reduce inflation over time, the inability of corporations and consumers to borrow money in the short term added to the dire condition of the economy in the summer of 1980. "Are you better off than you were four years ago?" Reagan asked, connecting the nation's economic problems to the Carter administration. The fact that the recession predated Carter's election mattered little. "A recession is when your neighbor loses a job," Reagan later remarked as the election neared. "A depression is when you lose yours." After pausing for effect, the former actor delivered his final line: "and recovery begins when Jimmy Carter loses his."

Candidate Reagan promised to reverse America's declining international prestige and restore its industrial production-two problems many agreed had grown worse under Carter's watch. Reagan also promised to reduce taxes in ways that would spur investment and job creation, reduce the size of the federal government, balance the federal budget, and strengthen national defense. More importantly, he communicated what most Americans believed to be true-that theirs was a strong nation with a noble past. Behind Reagan's populist appeal was one essential message with a long history in American political thought: freedom from government rather than freedom through government. Reagan preached that the cure for America's ills was to take decision making and power away from Washington and place it in the hands of US businesses and consumers.

As a Hollywood actor, Ronald Reagan played the character of Notre Dame's George Gipp. In this photo, Reagan is holding a customized jersey bearing the nickname "Gipper" but featuring America's colors instead of the gold and blue of Notre Dame.

Critics of the California movie star claimed that Reagan's rhetoric was hollow and clichéd, even if it was uplifting. They likely missed the point: Reagan was appealing to a nation that felt like it needed a win. Years before, Reagan starred in a film where he played the role of legendary Notre Dame athlete George Gipp. As the nation appeared to be up against the wall, the former actor now assumed the role of Notre Dame coach Knute Rockne, asking America to "win one for the Gipper." Reagan's use of the phrase was out of context, historically inaccurate, and offered nothing in terms of policy or substance. And it was political magic. If presidential elections were popularity contests, Carter did not stand a chance.

With his charisma, charm, and populist appeal, Reagan won the general election by sweeping forty-four states. The Republican Party won control of the Senate for the first time in several decades. The landslide was not as clear as it might appear, however, as voter turnout was so low that only a quarter of Americans of voting age actually cast ballots for Reagan. As some historians often point out, had voter turnout been the same as previous elections and if those voters had followed historical patterns (such as union members supporting the Democratic candidate), Carter would have actually won in a landslide. At the same time, voter apathy is usually a reflection of how many Americans feel about their government. As a result, the low turnout may have been its own kind of referendum on Carter's presidency. The most significant factor in the election was the political power of the New Right. More than 20 percent of self-identified Evangelical Christians who had voted for Carter in 1976 indicated that they voted for Reagan in 1980.

Even Reagan's opponents conceded that the new president was one of the finest public speakers when it came to delivering a scripted oration. Years in front of the camera meant that Reagan instinctively knew where to stand and what camera to look at, much to the chagrin of interns whose job it was to place tape marks and arrows on stages across the country. However, Reagan was often adrift when speaking without a script. He relied heavily on clichés and empty platitudes, and sometimes told stories from popular films as if they were part of history or his own life.

While most of Reagan's tales were anecdotal in nature and some were simply meant to illustrate a point, Reagan's casualness with the truth could also be quite damaging. As a candidate, Reagan aroused populist anger against welfare recipients by fabricating a story about a woman in Chicago's South Side neighborhood. This scam artist reportedly drove a new Cadillac and had received hundreds of thousands of dollars in welfare checks under multiple names. Later investigations demonstrated that Reagan had made up the entire story. Even if Reagan would have offered a retraction, the populist anger against welfare recipients could not be easily reversed. Although the woman was fictional, Reagan played heavily on prejudices against African Americans by describing this "welfare mother" in terms that were clearly meant to imply race.

Many scholars in subsequent decades have questioned whether social conservatives had actually been tricked into voting for politicians who represented the interests of the wealthy and corporations while offering little support for social issues. Reagan had been president of the Screen Actors Guild and could hardly be counted on to support tougher censorship laws. As governor of California, Reagan had supported a reproductive rights law that removed barriers on abortions. Although he relied on the support of pro-life groups, once President, Reagan avoided direct action on the controversial subject of abortion. He also did little beyond offering verbal support for socially conservative causes such as school prayer.

Some observers were surprised that Evangelicals would support a candidate such as Reagan, a divorced Hollywood actor who did not attend church. In contrast, Jimmy Carter was a born-again Christian. However, Evangelicals understood that Carter did not believe that his personal religious ideas should influence policy and he generally supported the more liberal views of his Democratic supporters. In addition, many working-class voters supported Reagan's proposed tax cuts, believing they would result in domestic job creation. Although their reaction confounded many liberals, cuts to welfare were also popular with the working-class voters because welfare had failed to eliminate poverty and seemed in many cases to offer a disincentive to work. Finally, in the wake of scandals involving union leaders such as Jimmy Hoffa, many social conservatives were also hostile toward unions.

Although he did little to further socially conservative causes through legislation, Reagan took immediate action against unions. One of Reagan's first actions as president was to fire more than 10,000 federal air traffic controllers who were part of a union that was striking for a pay increase. Reagan replaced these workers with military personnel on active-duty orders, a move that quickly destroyed the strike and the union. Reagan also supported employers who used similar measures to crush labor activism. And yet 40 percent of union members still voted for Reagan over the Democrat Walter Mondale in 1984. Reagan and other conservatives also supported measures that lowered taxes for corporations and supported free trade policies that made it easier for US companies to open factories in foreign countries. By 1986, Reagan had slashed tax rates for the wealthy by more than 50 percent without similar cuts for the middle and lower classes. Although it confounded many Democrats, Reagan retained the support of many union voters and lower-income Americans through his second term.

Women and the New Right

Women had composed both the leadership and the rank-and-file of the New Left. The role of women was equally as important to the New Right during the 1980s. Mobilized in opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), conservative women mirrored some of the tactics and organizational structure of civil rights activists. Conservative women leaned heavily on the church and other institutions, and also mirrored the organizational structure of previous social movements. The names of conservative women's groups reflected their belief in traditional notions of family and gender. Women Who Want to be Women (WWWW) and Happiness of Motherhood Eternal (HOME) were two such organizations. Conservative women viewed the rapprochement of straight and lesbian activists within the feminist movement, along with recent decisions by the Supreme Court upholding abortion laws and banning school prayer, as proof that they were waging a war against the ungodly forces of both Sodom and Gomorrah.

Reagan's nomination of Sandra Day O'ConnorAn attorney originally from El Paso, Texas, Sandra Day O'Connor became the first female Supreme Court justice in 1981. encouraged conservative women, less as a symbol of women's advancement as the first woman to join the Supreme Court than the hope that O'Connor would reverse Roe v. Wade. Despite her conservatism, O'Connor and other Supreme Court justices upheld the legality of abortion in a number of cases, although they did support an increasing number of restrictions to the procedure. Many conservatives and Evangelicals felt betrayed by the Republican Party and began organizing direct protests against abortion providers.

Sandra Day O'Connor became the first woman on the US Supreme Court. Because she had a conservative orientation, many of the president's supporters among the New Right hoped she and other Reagan appointees might overturn Roe v. Wade.

Thousands of antiabortion activists descended on Wichita, Kansas, under the auspices of a group called Operation Rescue in 1991. The majority of the participants in the self-labeled "Summer of Mercy" were women, many of whom physically blocked the entrances to abortion clinics and were among the 2,000 protesters who were arrested. At the same time, many conservative and evangelical women who opposed abortion also opposed the aggressive tactics of Operation Rescue. This was especially true of the individuals who harassed and even murdered abortion providers that summer. More representative of the conservatism of women during this period were the hundreds of thousands of local women who led community organizations that sought encourage single mothers to consider adoption. Others joined organizations that sought to ameliorate some of the social changes they felt had led to increases in the number of single mothers. Other conservatives sought to prevent drug addiction, crime, and pornography, and to reverse societal toleration for obscenities in Hollywood.

Protests against an increasingly secular popular culture raised questions regarding traditional modes of gender-based divisions of labor in modern families. For millions of women, a life dedicated to family was an important and fulfilling vocation, a dignified calling they feared the feminist movement sought to slander. Books written by conservative homemakers and career women alike proliferated during the 1970s and 1980s. For example, Helen Andelin's Fascinating Womanhood sold millions of copies and launched a movement that inspired thousands of women to create and attend neighborhood classes and discussion networks. Andelin believed that the ideal family was one of male leadership and provision alongside female submission and support. Andelin asked her readers to consider what traits made them desirable to their husbands and strengthen their marriages by finding ways to increase this desire and better serve their husband's needs. Although historians might question the accuracy of the author's claims that this patriarchal model was ever typical in any era of American family life, Andelin described a mythical past that most Americans believed had existed. For millions of conservatives seeking a return to a bygone era, it naturally followed that the family should seek a return to traditional arrangements based on paternal leadership.

Other conservative women criticized Andelin as promoting a fiction that more resembled the 1974 novel The Stepford Wives than a well-adjusted family. Many conservative women simply sought to counter the image that stay-at-home mothers were somehow naive or victimized. These women agreed that gender discrimination did limit the options of women in the past and believed that women should be free to pursue careers. However, these women also feared that elevating the dignity of women in the workforce had at least unintentionally led many to question the dignity of labor within the home. Not all who espoused a return to traditional modes of gender and family were conservatives or Evangelicals, and many women who had enjoyed successful careers outside the home reported their equal happiness as homemakers. These women hoped to encourage the recognition that many "traditional" couples were genuine partnerships based on mutual respect.

"Reaganomics" and its Critics

Income tax in the United States historically followed the doctrine of progressive taxation, creating tax brackets that increase as an individual earns more money throughout the year. For example, a physician making $200,000 might have the majority of her income taxed at 40 percent, while a firefighter who made $35,000 would be taxed at 20 percent, and a college student working part time who earned only $5,000 might pay no federal income tax at all. For Reagan, the progressive tax structure was responsible for the persistence of America's economic problems. As a Hollywood actor in an era where taxes on those with large salaries was very high, Reagan saw more and more of his income go to taxes as his annual earnings increased. After producing a couple of films each year, any additional money Reagan might make could be taxed at rates approaching 90 percent when adding California's state tax to the federal rate. In response, Reagan chose to make only a handful of films each year.

Reagan drew heavily from his experience as an actor in many aspects of his presidency. In the case of tax policies, the president believed that high tax rates discouraged other talented and successful individuals in their chosen fields from making a maximum effort each year. In his field, it might mean fewer movies. However, if entrepreneurs and financiers followed a similar strategy, then high taxes would constrain economic growth. Believing in a sort of economic Darwinism, Reagan argued that the best way to encourage job creation was to reduce the taxes for high-income Americans because these elites had demonstrated a talent for creating wealth. The wealthy, Reagan argued, could be expected to use their money to produce more wealth through investment and innovation that would spur job growth for everyone else. To this end, Reagan's Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981 reduced the top tax bracket from 70 to 50 percent while slashing taxes paid by corporations.

The super wealthy were not the only beneficiaries of Reagan's tax cuts, which led to an overall reduction of tax rates by 30 percent throughout his first term. More controversial was the reduction in inheritance taxes. These taxes were not based on earned income, but rather taxed the transfer of wealth from one generation to another. These taxes had inspired many of the richest Americans to donate their fortunes in previous decades. As a result, removing the inheritance tax was much harder to justify in terms of economic stimulus.

President Reagan discusses a chart that portrays his tax plan as offering substantial savings for the average family. In reality, Reagan's tax policies favored the wealthy and corporations, something the president's supporters believed would result in greater overall economic development.

Reagan's tax cuts reduced federal revenue by hundreds of billions of dollars each year. This reduction of income could only be offset by equal reductions to the federal budget, borrowing money, or a massive economic boom that created so much taxable wealth that the government still took in more money each year. Reagan promised the latter would occur-the result of an unfettered economy free from aggressive taxation and government regulation. Reagan also proposed significant budget cuts to Social Security and Medicare, just to make sure that the federal budget could be balanced while the nation awaited the economic bonanza he believed his tax cuts would produce. However, cuts to Social Security and Medicare provoked outrage, and Reagan quickly reversed course. In the end, the president approved a budget that was similar to previous years except with massive increases for the military.

Supporters of Reagan's belief in supply-side economics point out that the Dow Jones Industrial Average-a measurement of the value of the 30 largest companies in the United States-tripled during the 1980s. Inflation fell from over 10 percent when Reagan took office to less than 4 percent, while unemployment fell from 7 percent to just over 5 percent. Critics of Reagan point to the increasing disparity between the rich and the poor that also accelerated during the 1980s as being the real consequence of Reagan's regressive tax policies. They also disagree that tax cuts for the wealthy created jobs, pointing out that the percentage of jobs that paid wages above the poverty level had declined. Critics agree that tax cuts for corporations provided additional revenue for investment, but argue that much of this investment had been used to create manufacturing facilities in other nations.

Political candidates are known for making sweeping promises, yet the question of whether Reagan kept his pledge to restore the strength of the US economy remains an item of fierce debate. Democrats are quick to point out that Carter's decision to halt inflationary measures as well as the normal business cycle were part of the reason the economy recovered during the 1980s. Reagan's critics also contrast his promise of fiscal responsibility and smaller government with the tripling of the national debt and the expansion of the federal government, which grew in terms of both budget and the number of federal workers. Furthermore, President Reagan never submitted a balanced budget, and even the debt projections that came from his budget office were too optimistic.

Reagan himself usually deflected the criticisms of his economic policy in a good-humored manner that undermined some of his critics. "You know economists," he would respond, they "see something that works in practice and wonder if it works in theory." Reagan even seemed impervious to an assassin's bullet that ricocheted and lodged near his heart in March 1981. The unfazed president thanked nearby secret servicemen for their service and even joked with surgeons by asking if they were Democrats before they removed the bullet. Most Americans lacked a sophisticated understanding of supply-side economics, but they knew the economy had floundered under Carter and was recovering under Reagan. Questions regarding the long-term wisdom of Reagan's policies continue to engage historians and pundits alike, with responses usually reflecting both economic theory and one's political orientation.

Wall Street and the S&L Bailout

Because utility companies were public utilities and had a natural monopoly in the communities they served, these industries had been heavily regulated. However, Reagan reduced these regulations in hopes of increasing competition and reducing prices. Airlines and other common carriers were treated much the same way, with the federal government transferring the control over prices to the executives of these companies and the free market. Energy prices and airfares fluctuated according to market forces following deregulation. These reforms led to mostly lower prices in air travel, but also led to numerous difficulties for utility consumers in some markets.

While the results of deregulation were mixed in most industries, the deregulation of the financial industry led to complete disaster. Banks known as savings and loan institutions (S&Ls) had a reputation for safety because they followed strict rules regarding the ways they could invest their depositors' money. Chief among these rules was the provision that S&L loans be backed by collateral such as a home mortgage. However, interest rates were at record highs during the early 1980s, and the Reagan administration agreed to ease these restrictions and permit S&Ls to make riskier loans. By the late 1980s, hundreds of the S&Ls were facing bankruptcy due to bad loans and a decline in the real estate market.

The Department of the Interior had been insulated from controversy since the Teapot Dome Scandal of the 1920s. However, Reagan appointee and secretary of the Interior James Watt kept his agency in the headlines throughout the 1980s. One of Watt's comments regarding his religious beliefs were regularly quoted out of context by the political left in an attempt to discredit the secretary as well as other religious conservatives. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Watt responded to a question about long-term preservation of resources by stating that he did not know how many generations would pass before the return of Christ but that Americans must shepherd their resources for future generations until that time.

Many on the left at the time reported that Watt had suggested environmental policies did not matter because the end of the world was nigh. Watt himself was fond of misrepresenting the words of his opponents and had earlier declared that there were only two kinds of people in the United States: liberals and Americans. This war of words did not mask the actions of Watt's department for long, as nearly two-dozen high-ranking officials were forced to resign for improper actions. In addition, several officials were convicted of accepting bribes or other ethics violations. Similar to the Teapot Dome Scandal, Department of the Interior officials permitted oil and timber companies to lease, log, mine, drill, and otherwise commercially develop millions of acres of previously protected areas of the federal domain at prices that were often far below estimated market value. One of the most immediate results was the growth of environmental interest groups such as the Sierra Club, whose protests resulted in some areas of the federal domain again being declared off limits to developers.

The Reagan administration also approved a wave of corporate mergers that consolidated vital industries in the hands of a few companies. Critics protested that the government-approved mergers created monopolies. The architects of these deals argued that the mergers created stronger and more efficient businesses. Other practices that were common throughout the 1980s, such as leveraged buyouts, increased the risks to the entire financial system. These leveraged deals permitted a group of investors to purchase a controlling stake in a publicly traded company by using loans to purchase shares. In addition, these investors often secured the loans by using the stock they had just purchased on credit as collateral. As a result, a small drop in the price of any particular stock could bankrupt an entire company and send shockwaves throughout the financial system.

This is precisely what happened on October 19, 1987, when Wall Street experienced the worst crash in its history. Although the market had risen quickly in proceeding years due to speculation, these gains were erased in a single day when the Dow Jones average fell over 20 percent. Companies such as RJR Nabisco that participated in the leveraged buyouts were forced to lay off thousands of employees, yet the CEO of the company received over $50 million in compensation. Brokers that facilitated these and other risky strategies, such as junk bond investor Michael Milken, earned over $500 million in 1987 alone. Unlike previous Wall Street financiers, such as JP Morgan, Milken's deals did not support economic growth by matching legitimate entrepreneurs with investors. Instead, Milken's incomes were commission-based, which led him to violate federal laws in order to increase the volume of his transactions. Milken served only two years of a ten-year prison sentence and remains one of the wealthiest men in America.

Accompanying many of these high-stakes mergers was the dreaded news of "restructuring" that often meant the loss of jobs for the employees of the affected corporations. For those in manufacturing, restructuring was often a code word for laying off employees to save money. Sometimes restructuring meant that a company was preparing to close a factory in the United States in favor of another country where operating costs were lower. At other times, it simply meant laying off full-time employees with salaries and benefits and replacing them with low-wage hourly workers.

Even privately owned companies that had historically offered high wages to their employees, such as Levi Strauss & Co., soon adopted these strategies. In some cases, these companies had no choice if they wanted to stay competitive. At other times, these measures were simply used to enhance profitability. Levi's blue jeans were the most recognizable American fashion; yet between the early 1980s and 2003, each of the dozens of US Levi's factories was closed. Each announcement resulted in thousands of workers losing jobs that were relatively well paying. Although what was happening at Levi Strauss & Co. was typical of the clothing industry, the fact that the United States no longer produced Levi's came to symbolize the US trade imbalance, which grew to $170 billion by 1987.

Review and Critical Thinking

1. Why might the political orientation of the nation have become more conservative during the 1980s than other decades? What role did Evangelicals and women play in this transition? How might one argue that the 1980s were actually not any more or less conservative than previous eras in US history?

2. Why might Evangelicals support Reagan over Carter? What about union members and blue-collar workers? Were these individuals "fooled" by Reagan's use of social issues, or is this an unfair characterization?

3. What role did women play in the New Right? How did feminism affect the rise of the New Right? What arguments were made in support of and against the introduction of equal rights amendments to state constitutions? Look up the Equal Rights Amendment, and explain your position on the proposed law in relation to these arguments.

4. What was Reaganomics, and how did it differ with other theories, such as Keynesianism? Why did so many Americans support tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations during the 1980s?

5. Were the 1980s a second Gilded Age? Explain your position using specific historical examples.

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Conservatism and the "Reagan Revolution"

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Understand the goals of the New Right and the way this movement represented the concerns of many Americans of different backgrounds during the 1980s. Also, demonstrate understanding of the perspectives of those who opposed the New Right. Explain the priorities of Reagan's administration and how his economic policies affected the nation.

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In January 1990, Daily Mail reporter Bob Graham was one of the first British journalists to visit a Romanian orphanage in Bucharest. This trip unraveled the troubled history of Romanian orphanages. "Usually, when you enter a room packed with cots filled with children, the expectation is lots of noise, chatter or crying, sometimes even a whimper," he said in an interview with Public Radio International in 2015. "There was none, even though the children were awake. They lay in their cots, sometimes two to each cot, sometimes three, their eyes staring. Silently. It was eerie, almost sinister."

"They were inhuman," he continued, recalling the living conditions of those he saw. "Stalls where children, babies, were treated like farm animals. No, I am wrong - at least the animals felt brave enough to make a noise."

Journalists like Graham began to expose the nightmarish history of Romanian orphanages in December 1989. Their reports broke the hearts of the international community. As the haunting details of such places began to emerge, so did numerous charities, fundraising activities and adoption efforts.

The impassioned relief effort provided things such as blankets, powdered milk and toys. However, little improvement was actually made in the decade following the collapse of the Iron Curtain. Much of what defined the old, corrupt regime bled into the new government. Consequently, this interrupted any progress and left the abject conditions of orphans unaddressed.

When Emil Constantinescu was elected in 1997, however, a period of greater reform ushered in. Under his government, services were implemented that helped his countries' parentless, such as establishing a new Child Protection Authority and promoting foster care. Since then, the system has made vast improvements. However, the living conditions of orphans remain problematic in Romania and throughout Eastern Europe to this day.

The 'Decret'

It all started with a decree.

The last Communist leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceauşescu, took a page out of the 1930s Stalinist dogma and enacted pronatalist laws to fuel his belief that population growth would lead to economic growth. In October 1966, Decree 770 was enacted. It forbade both abortion and contraception for women under 40 with fewer than four children.

Children born during these years are popularly known as decreței. Decreței comes from the Romanian word "decret", meaning decree. Ceaușescu announced, "The fetus is the property of the entire society ... Anyone who avoids having children is a deserter who abandons the laws of national continuity."

After the decree, birth rates rose significantly from 1967 to 1969 to catastrophic numbers. Coupled with Romania 's poverty, this policy meant that more and more unwanted children were turned over to state orphanages. There, they were subjected to institutionalized neglect, sexual abuse, and indiscriminate injections to 'control behavior.'

By the end of the 20th century, over 10,000 institutionalized children were living with AIDS due to neglect and failure to sterilize medical instruments. "Children suffered from inadequate food, shelter, clothing, medical care, lack of stimulation or education, and neglect," a report by nongovernmental organization Human Rights Watch stated.

Disabled children suffered even worse conditions and treatment. Many were malnourished, diseased, tied to their own beds or dangerously restrained in their own clothing. When Western psychologists entered the mix in the 1990s, they noted stunning developmental problems in institutionalized orphans. Their traumatic experiences served a tragic experiment, showing what happens to children denied normal human relationships.

Brain Development

The Bucharest Early Intervention Project launched a 12-year study following 136 infants and children who had been abandoned in Romanian institutions. They discovered institutionalized children more slowly acquired language skills. They also lacked problem-solving and reasoning skills, compared to children raised in foster homes. Moreover, the study noted the brains of institutionalized children were smaller and they had lower IQs. Similarly, they had increased rates of psychiatric disorders, particularly emotional disorders like anxiety and depression. Institutionalized children also displayed abnormal social development. This supported the theory of a 'sensitive period' of acquisition-the narrow time frame for the development of particular skills to occur.

"For children being raised in any kind of adversity, the sooner you can get them into an adequate caregiving environment, the better their chances are for developing normally," says Charles Zeanah, a principal BEIP investigator. Unfortunately, adopted Romanian orphans are still suffering in adulthood to this day.

Romanian Orphanages Today

Today, only one-third of Romania 's children are housed in residential homes maintained by the state. Historically, Romanian orphanages had little to no recourse. Today, there are a few different ways they can receive the tender love and care they deserve.

Many of the problems today can still be traced back to Ceausescu. In aiming to create a race of Romanian worker bees, his policies precipitated the abandonment of thousands of children each year. Because parents could not afford to raise children, the state orphanage system grew. Many parents believed the state could better take care of their children. And unfortunately, such a mentality, especially among the poor, remains today.

The majority of Romanian children in the state system are in foster care. The state pays Romanian foster parents a salary to rear children. There are also 'family-type' homes, where five or six children grow up together. In regards to the more problematic, remaining institutional buildings-called placement centers-the government has made a public commitment to close them all by 2020.

Ultimately, many countries in Eastern Europe are fighting to decrease their orphans and orphanages. In Moldova, Europe's poorest country, the orphanage population has dropped from 11,000 to 2,000 since 2011. In Georgia, the number of state-run orphanages dropped from 50 to two. Additionally, Bulgaria has focused its reforms on children with disabilities, finding family-style care for all in state institutions.

While it was once the region with the highest rate of children in orphanages, Eastern Europe leads the movement to empty them today.

- Photo: William Cozens
National Archives of Romania

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Romanian Decree 770 | The Borgen Project

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In January 1990, Daily Mail reporter Bob Graham was one of the first British journalists to visit a Romanian orphanage in Bucharest. This trip unraveled the troubled history of Romanian orphanages. "Usually, when you enter a room packed with cots filled with children, the expectation is lots of noise, chatter or crying, sometimes even a whimper," he said in an interview with Public Radio International in 2015.

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Duffy: Women are presented as victims throughout history

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Duffy: Women are presented as victims throughout history

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DUFFY WOMEN AS VICTIMS SAMPLE ESSAY (Autosaved)

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AQA Band 5: Stella and Stanley's relationship as inconceivable 

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AQA Band 5: Stella and Stanley's relationship as inconceivable 

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AQA Streetcar: Blanch as a self pitying snob 

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AQA Streetcar: Blanch as a self pitying snob 

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Violence in Streetcar. Annotated examples (doesn't matter that it is the wrong exam board)

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Violence in Streetcar. Annotated examples (doesn't matter that it is the wrong exam board)

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Band 3: Political protest in The Handmaids Tale and Kite Runner (different exam board / requirement but good to read)

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Band 3: Political protest in The Handmaids Tale and Kite Runner (different exam board / requirement but good to read)

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An exemplar student response to a Section C question in the specimen assessment materials, followed by an examiner commentary on the response.
Paper 2B, Section C

'Political and social protest writing often focuses on rebellion against those in power.'

Explore the significance of rebellion as it is presented in two political and social protest texts you have studied.

Band 3 response

Both The Kite Runner and The Handmaid's Tale do indeed focus on rebellion but not to the same extent. The whole story that Atwood's narrator Offred tells is itself a form of rebellion and within it she documents many other rebellions of those who protest against those in power. The Kite Runner is different. Although it is also a first person narrative - Amir's coming of age story, his story of becoming a writer so that he can tell the truth of Afghanistan - the novel 'itself' is not a rebellion though it does tell of incidents when characters rebel.

Offred's story apparently survives because she escapes Gilead and records her thoughts on tape. These tapes are later transcribed which accounts for the fragmented nature of the narrative. The story she tells is of her rebellion in thinking about the horrors of the oppression of Gilead, of not believing in the rightness of the regime and the power of men. Her apparent escape is also evidence of her rebellion.

The Gileadean authorities have enforced rules to restrict the people's freedom while preserving their power. There are particular restrictions imposed on women. Offred breaks the rules in small ways to make life more bearable. She saves butter to use as a moisturiser. Serena Joy smokes and rebels by using the black market. The Commander too rebels against his own regime - he arranges for Offred to visit him alone at night, something that is strictly forbidden. Women 'are for breeding purposes', only they aren't 'concubines, geisha girls, and courtesans'.

When Offred lies alone in her room at night she rebels by thinking and being imaginative, things which Gilead is trying to suppress. By thinking in her language instead of the 'amputated speech' of the regime she is showing defiance. 'I know where I am, and who I am, and what day it is...sanity is a valuable possession'. In her room she finds the words 'Nolite te bastardes carborundorum' written by the previous Offred; she savours these words and connects with the other Offred, suggesting that rebellion is a shared delight. The rebellion against the restrictions of language use is a central part of the novel, best shown in the game of Scrabble. When Offred meets the Commander in his 'oasis of the forbidden', they play Scrabble. Because the game is forbidden, it becomes desirable. Offred delights in being subversive - 'to be asked to play Scrabble...seemed kinky in the extreme'.

Offred also rebels by telling the stories of other silenced women, contradicting Gilead's command of the completely submissive female. Moira is the most rebellious and politically sharp woman of them all. In some ways she is an example of true rebellious heroism. Perhaps her most rebellious act is when she escapes disguised as an Aunt. The effect of Moira's rebellion is inspirational to Offred: 'Moira was our fantasy. We hugged her to us, she was with us in secret, a giggle; she was lava beneath the crust of daily life'. The warmth of the language here and the power of the imagery suggest how important Moira is to Offred's own rebellion. Moira's rebellion, however, ends tragically with her in a brothel having been tortured and silenced. Perhaps her end suggests that Atwood is being pessimistic in where rebellion ends - that there are no ultimate winners. This idea is supported when we read the historical notes and realise that Offred herself is long dead and to some extent overlooked by the new 21st century historians.

In The Kite Runner all kinds of different power regimes operate - the ruling Pushtun elite during Amir's childhood, the Russians during the Soviet invasion and the Taliban and Hosseini shows rebellion in all situations. The story of Sanaubar tells of a rebellion that can be judged in different ways. She rebels against the rules that outlaw female sexual desire and independence and she could be seen therefore as brave. It seems that she was also more or less forced into marriage with Ali (he was her first cousin and 'a natural choice') so her affair with Baba could be a form of empowerment. Sanaubar also flaunts her sexuality. Amir says 'I have heard that Sanaubar's suggestive stride and oscillating hips sent men to reveries of infidelity' and in some ways does seem attractive. However, Ali as a Hazara is hardly powerful and he is not characterised as being disrespectful or oppressive towards women. Given his gentleness, he does not deserve her cruelty. She also abandons Hassan when he is a baby and the idea of mothers abandoning their children is not something that readers can sympathise with.

Under the Soviet occupation, Baba offers a form of rebellion against the Russian who demands that he has half an hour with a young Afghan woman in the back of a truck as the price for safe passage out of the country. Baba stands up in her defence and says 'I'll take a thousand of his bullets before I let this indecency take place'. This act of rebellion by Baba is presented positively by Hosseini even though Amir is personally critical. Amir wonders why his father always has to be the hero and he also sees that his father is endangering both their lives. This is a point in the novel when the narrator is not a guide for our feelings and Amir is seen to be cowardly and spoilt rather than an accurate judge of his father.

Amir's rebellion that happens in the final section of the novel, when he finds some backbone can also be viewed in different ways. Although Amir doesn't present himself as a hero exactly, there is some satisfaction that he stands up to Assef, who represents the terrifying power of the Taliban. Amir is happy to take the beating because it makes him feel healed for his earlier failure to defend Hassan when Assef rapes him. In this sense the rebellion is significant because it is part of Amir's journey to redemption and is important if the novel is seen as a confessional or growth novel. However, it is Sohrab's rebellion when he fires the slingshot at Assef, that leads to Assef's defeat, 'The slingshot made a thwiiiiiit sound when Sohrab released the cup. Then Assef was screaming'. Here the novel is more of a thriller. Hosseini's focus on sounds and actions make this section exciting.

Overall, rebellion is important in both of these political texts in showing that human beings do not want to be suppressed. It is also significant because the writers show it can be judged in many different ways.

Examiner commentary

This is a straightforward and consistent response and the candidate makes a number of relevant points in a clear way. There is clear focus and two texts are covered in an appropriate way. The candidate has used the texts appropriately in selecting some relevant detail as befits an Open book exam.

AO1

The response is structured clearly and ideas are sensibly ordered. The task is always in mind. The candidate uses terminology in an appropriate way. The writing is clearly expressed and mainly accurate.

AO2

There is some sense of the author's shaping meanings and the candidate integrates relevant comment on the structures of the two texts to show how the writers have shaped meanings. There is also some appropriate comment on the narrators and on some language features.

AO3

There is some clear engagement with social and gender contexts. These contexts are connected to the political context in an appropriate way through the candidate's focusing on rebellion and power. There is no sense given of the historical contexts which the two writers use in their stories and this is a limiting factor.

AO4

There is straightforward understanding of how the texts connect with the political and social protest writing genre. Relevant comments are made about how writers represent the rebellion of individuals against those in power.

AO5

There is a relevant debate here in that the candidate thinks about how readers might judge the acts of rebellion that the writers document. Sometimes the candidate's approach is a little descriptive though just showing what the rebellious acts are. There is however an attempt to give an overall judgement and the candidate is clear in saying that The Kite Runner and The Handmaid's Tale elicit different responses from readers in terms of attitudes to rebellion.

This response seems consistent with the Band 3 descriptors, and is likely to be placed towards the top of the band.

This resouce is part of the Elements of political and social protest writing resource package.

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Political and social protest writing: exemplar student response band 3

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An exemplar student response to a Section C question in the specimen assessment materials, followed by an examiner commentary on the response. 'Political and social protest writing often focuses on rebellion against those in power.' Explore the significance of rebellion as it is presented in two political and social protest texts you have studied.

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Wider reading: exploring characters in drama

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Wider reading: exploring characters in drama

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Wider reading (AO3): Old vs New South in Streetcar

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Wider reading (AO3): Old vs New South in Streetcar

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Wider reading (AO2): dramatic devices in Streetcar

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Wider reading (AO2): dramatic devices in Streetcar

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Wider reading (AO2 and AO3): Setting in Streetcar

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Wider reading (AO2 and AO3): Setting in Streetcar

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Wider reading (AO4): The Southern Gothic

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Wider reading (AO4): The Southern Gothic

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Wider reading (AO1): Blanche the anti-hero

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Wider reading (AO1): Blanche the anti-hero

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THEATRE REVIEW: Recent production of Streetcar  via FT 

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THEATRE REVIEW: Recent production of Streetcar  via FT 

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Review: Feminine Gospels by Carol Ann Duffy

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Feminine Gospels
by Carol Ann Duffy
80pp, Picador, £12.99

Carol Ann Duffy likes the play of words. The truths of her scripture may be drawn from female experience, but she prefers games to gospel, her stories are closer to surreal cartoon than fairytale, and all are told with the pace of a quick-cutting TV ad, collapsing whole narratives into a couple of lines:

wanted a wedding, a wedding dress, groom
Married him, wanted a honeymoon, went on one...

Quite as much as her gambler, in a poem of that name from this collection, she "goes for the sound of the words"; making use of ebullient street talk, off-rhythm rhymes and internal echoes, all the tricks of the trade, indeed, and always with a child's relish in discovery:

When language came, it glittered like a river
silver, clever with fish.

This book is not bound by a theme like The World's Wife, which trained an idiosyncratic eye on the women at the side of historical or legendary men. Yet, rather as the Long Queen - in the poem that opens this collection - rules over a female population of "wetnurses/witches, widows, wives, mothers of all these", Duffy too knows her constituency.

There is nothing cosy about her vision, however. This is a dark book, for all the jokes, exposing equally the trash of our aspirations and the crumbling urban landscape around us. As she thinks of history, she imagines an old woman, who with

not a tooth
in her head, half dead shuffled
and limped downstairs
in the rag of her night dress
smelling of pee...

The world this creature inhabits is apocalyptic, with the old alone and vulnerable to thieves in the night:

When they rang on her bell
there was nobody there, fresh graffiti sprayed
to her door, shit wrapped in a newspaper posted
on to the floor.

Out of this ugliness women metamorphose under our eye. A shopaholic becomes a shop. In "Beautiful", a series of women appear to be manifestations of the same being, defined only by the ability to excite the desire of men. Helen of Troy changes into Cleopatra, Marilyn Monroe puts Sinatra on her record player before going off to sing "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy. The dubious gift of beauty passes to Princess Diana, who obediently widens her eyes for the flashbulbs of the press. Helen and Cleopatra elude us with a certain dignity - well, they are essentially myths - but in our latterday world, to be desired brings more danger than privilege and has precious little to do with magic. Diana is insulted even as she smiles, and will soon feel "History's stinking breath in her face".

Duffy likes to take a familiar psychological reality and extend it as an outrageous metaphor. In "The Map Woman", for instance, an A-to-Z street map of the town in which a woman has grown up is tattooed over the skin of her whole body. Wherever she goes, and whatever she becomes, that geography remains an indelible pattern she cannot escape; until, that is, almost accidentally, she hits on the remedy. She decides to return to the real town that haunts her. In the intervening years, the place she remembers has become almost unrecognisable under newly built arcades and shopping malls. Bewildered by these changes, she retreats to her hotel room. There, she sloughs her skin like a snake. In the last verse, Duffy escapes from the metaphor to close the poem with a resonance that recalls some of Larkin's memorable conclusions:

She woke and spread out the map on the floor. What
was she looking for? Her skin was her own small ghost,
a shroud to be dead in, a newspaper for old news
to be read in, gift wrapping, litter, a suicide letter.

She left it there, dressed, checked out, got in the car.

As she drove, the town in the morning sun glittered
behind her. She ate up the miles. Her skin itched,
like a rash, like a slow burn, felt stretched, as though
it belonged to someone else. Deep in the bone
old streets tunnelled and burrowed, hunting for home.

Not all the fantasies carry the same charge. "Work" takes a single mum, working her fingers to the bone to fill her larder, and develops her problem through a rhetoric of absurdity that leaves her at the heart of the capitalist internet trying to feed a planet. Sometimes the gritty details make a familiar point surprising. An anorexic shrivels like Alice until she is blown away as a seed, to nestle at length in the stomach of a gloriously self-indulgent eater. She has become literally that thin woman notoriously found inside every fat one, except in this version, she has no wish to get out .

The longest poem in the book is "The Laughter of Stafford Girls' High" and Duffy clearly enjoyed writing it. At one level the poem is a tour de force of sparkle and fizz. A mysterious giggle grows ineluctably into an all-consuming merriment that destroys the whole structure of grammar school propriety. Those who went to such a grammar school, as I did, will recognise the discipline and the drudgery, and recall the passionate longing to escape shared by teachers and students alike. At the same time it is hard to keep out of mind Searle's St Trinian's, or even the hearty attachments of Angela Brazil's captains and head girls. I found the poetry lay mainly in the asides: a teacher on a cold night, watching her own breath, a moment of loving abandon, an evocation of "The world like Quink outside". For all its accomplishment, this was not my favourite poem in the collection.

When she wants to, Duffy can write with lyric intensity, noticing "where the lights from the shop ran like paint in the rain", observing a child's beauty in the glow under the skin of her hands, or watching the same child sleeping "with the whole moon held in your arms".

The poems near the end of the book - which are closer to prayers or love poems - have that kind of intensity in abundance, particularly those that lament the dead, and tease the living with the hope that after all

Nobody died. Nobody
wept. Nobody slept who couldn't be woken
by the light...

Are these poems placed at the end to the book to signal a movement or development? We shall have to wait for the next book to know. For the moment Duffy prefers to wear a tougher face, and to keep her voice jaunty. She moves through the lives she invents with a kind of casual confidence which her characters sometimes briefly share, like the shopaholic who

purchased a hat with a brim
walked with a suitor under its shadow, ditched him...

It is hard not to find that assumption of freedom heady. Even if, in this particular poem, the character is hardly given Duffy's approval, that readiness to move on is intoxicating. It teaches an odd, contemporary post-feminist courage; and perhaps that is the source of Duffy's huge popularity.

· Elaine Feinstein's Ted Hughes: The Life of a Poet is published by Phoenix, and her Collected Poems and Translations by Carcanet.

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Review: Feminine Gospels by Carol Ann Duffy

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Feminine Gospels by Carol Ann Duffy 80pp, Picador, £12.99 Carol Ann Duffy likes the play of words. The truths of her scripture may be drawn from female experience, but she prefers games to gospel, her stories are closer to surreal cartoon than fairytale, and all are told with the pace of a quick-cutting TV ad, collapsing whole narratives into a couple of lines: wanted a wedding, a wedding dress, groom Married him, wanted a honeymoon, went on one...

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Realism as Cruelty in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams

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Realism as Cruelty in "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Tennessee Williams

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Listen to this episode from SUBTEXT Literature and Film Podcast on Spotify. In the transition from stage to screen, "A Streetcar Named Desire" retained its long-running Broadway cast with a single exception: the role of Blanche Dubois, which passed from Jessica Tandy to Vivien Leigh. Like Blanche, Leigh was the odd woman out.

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Examine the view that 'Feminine Gospels' is solely concerned with female suffering

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Duffy: Is Feminine Gospels solely concerned with female suffering 

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Duffy: Is Feminine Gospels solely concerned with female suffering 

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In 'The Long Queen', Duffy establishes the suffering caused by patriarchal oppression, but suggests that the resulting subversive nature of women is one of beauty and power. Duffy opens the poem (and the collection) with the blunt and definitive 'The Long Queen couldn't die', introducing the idea of a mythical representation of female experience. Despite the noun 'Queen' denoting power and authority, reinforced by the monosyllabic words and end-stopped line, Duffy conveys the extent of female suffering through the use of modality. Duffy uses the phrase 'couldn't die' to simultaneously convey the Long Queen's immortality and God-like status, but also her lack of autonomy over her existence and hence her powerlessness. Such a paradoxical opening line befits a collection that promises to tell the 'gospel' truth about womanhood: the truth, Duffy suggests, is complicated. Duffy suggests that suffering is inevitably present in women's lives; however she suggests that its rejection can inspire a fascinating form of power and freedom that is worthy of celebration. In 'The Laughter of Stafford Girls' High', Duffy uses the motif of the laughter to symbolise the joy that can be gained from challenging the repressive, conservative regime for both the girls and the teachers, suggesting that it enables women to fulfil their potential. Here, Duffy alludes to Lacan and Cixous's principle of 'female jouissance' and the danger of its suppression. Duffy describes 'the hush like an air balloon/ tethered with ropes', using the uncomfortable imagery of unnatural restriction to convey the stifling atmosphere in which the girls are educated. Although Duffy uses the biographical 'Stafford Girls' High' as her setting for the mock epic, such an environment is representative of an oppressive patriarchal society in which women are denied gratification and fulfilment, be it on an academic level (Dr Bream hopes the girls will 'grow to be/ the finest of England's daughters and mothers and wives', a psychological level (the 'mad, muttering, free' Mrs Mckay's suicide), or a sexual level (Miss Fife and Miss Batt's 'silently virtuous love'). Despite this setting initially appearing overwhelming, Duffy suggests that even the smallest individual acts can cause personal liberty and collective solidarity: the smallest 'low and vulgar giggle' is capable of 'yank[ing] at the silence', inspiring 'clumps of laughter' to 'sprout among the row upon row of girls'. The collective noun and the description of 'row upon row of girls' emphasises the importance of female unity and the power it can yield, a similar, subversive power to that depicted in 'The Long Queen'. The noun 'clumps' and the verb 'sprout' also convey the momentum and pace of the spread of the laughter and their connotations of plants and greenery suggest that the laughter is life-giving, strong, and ultimately independent of its surroundings. Indeed, by the end of the poem, 'seagulls, like schoolgirls, laughed' 'in the cold sky', the simile conveying the extent to which the female solidarity between the girls and the teachers has transcended the suffering that patriarchy ('the cold sky') aims to impose. This could also be commenting on the successes of the second-wave feminist movement, which took place during the 1960s when this poem is set. Therefore, while Duffy presents another manifestation of suffering that is initially overpowering and pervasive, she suggests that the rebellion it causes empowers women and allows them to make much needed changes in society.

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Examine the view that 'Feminine Gospels' is solely concerned with female suffering

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In 'The Long Queen', Duffy establishes the suffering caused by patriarchal oppression, but suggests that the resulting subversive nature of women is one of beauty and power. Duffy opens the poem (and the collection) with the blunt and definitive 'The Long Queen couldn't die', introducing the idea of a mythical representation of female experience.

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AO3 for The Handmaids Tale

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Listen to this episode from Bookclub on Spotify. James Naughtie is joined by Germaine Greer to discuss her groundbreaking book The Female Eunuch. Published in 1970, the book changed women's lives and has been in print ever since.

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Listen to this episode from Auckland Writers Festival on Spotify. Auckland Writers Festival 2015 Clever, provocative and fun, the work of UK Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy is the perfect counter to anyone who would deny the allure of poetry.

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The Play Podcast - 060 - A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

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Streetcar Named Desire: Podcast discussion 

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Streetcar Named Desire: Podcast discussion 

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The Play Podcast - 060 - A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams

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Listen to this episode from The Play Podcast on Spotify. The Play Podcast - 060 - A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams Host: Douglas Schatz Guest: Thomas Keith The Play Podcast is a podcast dedicated to exploring the greatest new and classic plays.

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Desert Island Discs: Tennessee Williams 

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Desert Island Discs: Tennessee Williams 

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Listen to this episode from Desert Island Discs: Archive 1976-1980 on Spotify. Roy Plomley's castaway is playwright Tennessee Williams. Favourite track: Danny Boy by Harry Belafonte Book: Poetry by Hart Crane Luxury: Typewriter and paper

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An Introduction to Tennessee Williams, Pt. 1

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Podcast: Part 1 Intro to Tennessee Williams 

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Podcast: Part 1 Intro to Tennessee Williams 

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An Introduction to Tennessee Williams, Pt. 1

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Listen to this episode from I Don't Need an Acting Class on Spotify. This episode begins with Milton giving general notes on plays, and then gets more specific to the work of Tennessee Williams. The world of Tennessee Williams is one of fantasy and escape because of the characters' inability to face reality.

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An Introduction to Tennessee Williams, Pt. 2

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Podcast: Part 2 Intro to Tennessee Williams 

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Podcast: Part 2 Intro to Tennessee Williams 

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An Introduction to Tennessee Williams, Pt. 2

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Listen to this episode from I Don't Need an Acting Class on Spotify. Tennessee Williams was keenly interested in outcasts, artists and wounded people like himself. He also wrote about the south and regardless of where his character's find themselves, the mentality of the south looms large, whether they are holding onto their heritage or pushing it away.

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Symbolism and motifs in The Handmaid's Tale