https://padlet.com/Agathefield/ftmp47k2nxa1 en-us 2019-04-12 14:15:49 UTC 2026-02-20 21:34:54 UTC hello@padlet.com ocebec447 https://padlet.com/Agathefield/ftmp47k2nxa1/wish/1749179252 In a futuristic scenario, the USA is ruled by the Republic of Gilead, also called ''Divine Republic''. Indeed, most of the legislation is influenced and justified by a rigid and made-up interpretation of the Scripture. For instance, the government uses the story of Rachel to justify the fact that they use women as sexual slaves; for most women are barren, only a few can bear children (one woman in five). They are thereby compelled to bear children of the leaders and their infertile wifes. This is one of the main policies of Gilead, a theocratic government.
This society is also patriarchal, for women are not allowed to have a career, properties or titles... In short, they are not allowed to work anymore, but also to read and write. We can understand it in the supermarket scene, where a handmaid talks about a new in the newspapers, then stammers that she didn't read it. The government also coerces the handmaids to wear a red cloak and a white bonnet, and the wives of the leader to wear blue clothes. Therefore the government took their rights and their identities (in the trailer, it is specified that they gave another name to the Handmaids.)
Since women have no longer rights, this government is conservative. As a matter of fact, one of the policies is to go back to tradicional values. For example, the extract shows us a servant who makes the bread in an ancient way. We can also notice that there are no phone, computer, TV, cinemas, restaurants... Entertainment, technology and unessential objects have been eraised.
Finally, this government is a totalitarian regime: it rules using fear. We can see in the extract three men hanged: thus people can't disobey, otherwise they risk death. Furthermore, as we know, this government took power using force: they slaughtered Congress, suspended the Constitution and blamed terrorism: they made a coup-d'état, hence the brutal rupture with the democracy. We also feel this totalitarian aspect because of the atmosphere of the series, dull, lustreless and dark. The lack of conversation, of smile, in general of joy, between handmails but also between couples, emphazises this anxiety-inducing, insecure atmosphere as well as the lack of liberty-. The people also must salute each other with specific words, which come from Gilead's ideology (''Under His Eye'' ; ''Praised be''): they can't talk without mention the regime: Gilead is everywhere, all the time.

Gilead is a patriarchal, conservative, theocratic and totalitarian regime, a dictatorship which aims to ''save humanity from sin and trespass'', as well as to resolve the problem of infertility using extreme methods.]]> 2021-09-17 16:41:09 UTC https://padlet.com/Agathefield/ftmp47k2nxa1/wish/1749179252 ayaberzane https://padlet.com/Agathefield/ftmp47k2nxa1/wish/1750346600 First of all, we understand that there is a huge difference between the women's previous life  and their life in Gilead

  Indeed, before the coup d'état , women had a normal life (like ours today): 
 - they had a sexual liberty
 - they had a family / love life (that they chose) 
 - they had liberty of expression 
 - they dressed and behaved as they wished .
 They had a typical 21st century life. 

 However their life in Gilead is totally 
different, we can even qualify it as dystopian because : 
 - they have no sexual liberty since they have become sexual slaves (besides, men are also deprived of this right like the hung gay man) 
 - the fertile women are forced to make children for the leaders and to serve them ( by the way they are birth control pills)
 - They have to respect a certain language and style of dress (tradicionnal values given by Martha).
 In addition, some professions such as doctors who perform abortions are prohibited and punished by Gilead (such as the hanging doctor)

 We conclude that the society Gilead tends to à religious conservative dictatorship who seeks to solve the problem of infertility by making fertile's women sexual slaves of leaders]]> 2021-09-18 12:29:31 UTC https://padlet.com/Agathefield/ftmp47k2nxa1/wish/1750346600 https://padlet.com/Agathefield/ftmp47k2nxa1/wish/1754419181 The Rachel and Lea center, is made for fertile women. They bring them to this place, where they are being told that their puipose (according to the bible ) is basically to give birth for the " Leaders of the faith" (who are the power holders). The woman (way older than the others) is using a projector to spread her propagande. Her speech aims at brainwashing the women present. Then, she uses the thread of a toza against a disrespectful girl. This aurful place approaches uhabilitation camps.]]> 2021-09-20 15:24:35 UTC https://padlet.com/Agathefield/ftmp47k2nxa1/wish/1754419181 mariatoumi10 https://padlet.com/Agathefield/ftmp47k2nxa1/wish/1754869723
In this supermarket scene, the atmosphere is building up pressure.  
We also noticed that the mall is guarded at the entrance by armed men, so the women are  hugely monitored, most likely by the eyes. Looking at this passage, all along a tensed feeling settles step by step. This system includes women who can be recognised by there similar clothes or even their ways of greeting each other. They’re really religious , and we understood  that they have been programmed for that.
 We also noticed that they speak with a coded language that no one else can understand, probably to be discrete.
Of course , we figure out a hierarchy in this group . It might be a censorship.]]> 2021-09-20 17:47:45 UTC https://padlet.com/Agathefield/ftmp47k2nxa1/wish/1754869723