The Handmaid's Tale Analysis by Michelle Duggan https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj en-us 2020-06-22 00:40:44 UTC 2025-09-11 11:46:57 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f440.png 1. Narration and POV (unreliable narrator) mduggan42 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635453400 2020-06-22 00:51:16 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635453400 2. Setting (Gilead and it’s rules.) mduggan42 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635453540 2020-06-22 00:51:31 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635453540 3. Plot structure (Offred’s reflections are non linear) mduggan42 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635453602 2020-06-22 00:51:38 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635453602 5. Paratext (recurrent chapters, space, preface, epigraphs or “The Historical Notes”) mduggan42 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635453735 2020-06-22 00:51:48 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635453735 4. Characterisation (relationships) mduggan42 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635454662 2020-06-22 00:53:18 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/635454662 Suburban Village feel solomonab1 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/636257574 Despite the text clearly taking place within an Urban environment, unlike 1984, we notice a suburban village like feeling. We are made keenly aware of the nature in the river, the trees, the lawns, and the church yards, which make the world itself much less oppressive. ]]> 2020-06-22 15:06:28 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/636257574 Boston, Massachusetts https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/636268725 Puritan hegemony: settlements in Massachusetts and other northern colonies. 
Gilead as a religious, totalitarian goverment.]]> 2020-06-22 15:15:00 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/636268725 (radical)Religious beliefs: response to religious right 1980´s (Moral Morality,Focus on the Family, Christian Coalition) https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/636279848 - women's only use procreation
- no sex outside of marriage
-traditional family values ]]> 2020-06-22 15:23:31 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/636279848 Narration https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/636294308 2020-06-22 15:34:56 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/636294308 Characterization https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637538595 2020-06-23 14:26:42 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637538595 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637564691 2020-06-23 14:47:21 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637564691 The Colonies solomonab1 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637584904 Swaths of land around the edges of Gilead. These are characterized by being areas of "cleaning up", either dead bodies, toxic pollution, or radioactive waste. (260)]]> 2020-06-23 15:00:46 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637584904 Symbols of Control solomonab1 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637595551 The Wall
A symbol of the power of the regime, it displays traitors and heretics dead bodies on the wall for days at a time. It is special because it is the only way for Offred to get news of loved ones, and only by seeing if they are dead or not.
Unlike the symbols of state power in 1984, the wall is not a structure which towers over the city (like the ministries of Oceania), it is a structure which the characters choose to look for and go past.
In a sense it is a more sobering symbol, because it does not impose itself, but its presence is nevertheless always felt.
The Eyes
Like the Thought Police in 1984, the eyes are the governments secret agents, and enforcers of the regime. They could be disguised as anyone, prompting distrust and a lack of unity among people. They command a high degree of fear and respect. 
However unlike the Thought Police, they seem not to concern themselves with peoples thoughts, but rather with 
The Eye symbols

]]> 2020-06-23 15:08:27 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637595551 Releasing Anger solomonab1 https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637609553 The lack of a leader or figure to hold to account or direct the peoples anger too, allows the regime to control the release of this anger. 

We see this through the five minute hate in 1984, and through the Particicutions in the handmaids tale.]]> 2020-06-23 15:20:09 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/637609553 Setting https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/644084839 2020-06-30 15:17:33 UTC https://padlet.com/santiagocollege/tmigaii8evq20kcj/wish/644084839