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The Handmaid`s Tale
作者Author  /  Margaret  Atwood  瑪格莉特.愛特伍德

The Handmaid's Tale

 

 Plot Summary

 Epigraphs

 The novel as a whole

 Study Guide to The Handmaid's Tale (remote) -- A study guide prepared by Paul Brians of Washington State University
 


 


Image from Maclean's Sept. 23, 1996
 
 
 Plot Summary
 

Flashbacks are marked in blue.  Biblical allusions marked in orange.

I. Night
Chapter 1  -- training in a place which used to be a gym.

II. Shopping

Chapter 2 -- Offred in her own room, preparing to go shopping, seeing two Marthas (Rita and Cora; Martha, devoted herself to housework while her sister Mary sat and listened to Jesus.)
Chapter 3 -- Offred goes out into the garden, meets the commander's Wife (Serena Joy)
Chapter 4 -- Offred goes out of the gate into the driveway, meets the Guardian Nick, joins Offglen and then goes past the gate guarded by two Guardian of the Faith
Chapter 5 -- Out of the Commanders compound and "doubled," Offred goes on the sidewalk and goes past or to several stores: Lilies of the Field, Milk and Honey, and All Flesh.  They also meet some Japanese tourists.
Chapter 6 --  the Wall.   "Luke wasn't a doctor. Isn't"?
III. Night -- "The night is my time out.  Where should I go?"  p. 49
Chapter 7 -- memories of the past: Moira, her mother, being arrested.

IV. Waiting Room -- "I wait.  I compose myself.  My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech.  What I must present is a made thing, not something born." p. 86

Chapter 8 -- Narrative resumes.  Three new bodies on the Wall.  They go back to the commander's compound, parting with Ofglen's words  "Mayday" as possibly a secret code.  Aunt Lydia's lecture on how the handmaids should treat the Wives (62-63).   Offred gives  Marthas what she bought.  The commander's brief approach and departure.
Chapter 9 -- "My room."   Offred is in her room, waiting and remembering Luke and their past relationship.  Sees the sign "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum" and think of the woman who leaves this message.  
Chapter10 -- Memories.  Moira and Aunt Lydia.
Chapter 11 -- (yesterday) at the doctor's office
Chapter 12 -- bathroom;  Memories of Luke and their daughter; supper.
V. Nap
Chapter 13 -- waiting; Memories: Moira and Offred in the training in the gym; reams of escape scene (with Luke and the daughter).    The bells wakes her up: "Of all the dreams this is the worst."

VI. Household

Chapter 14 -- The household meet in the sitting room, waiting for the commander and watching news.  Memories: escape scene.
Chapter 15 -- The commander comes, reads the bible and is watched by the others.  Moira.  "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum"
Chapter 16 -- The ceremony.
Chapter 17 --  Offred back in her room, "buttering" herself, repeating her name and wating to steal something.  Nick  comesto fetch Offred. 

VII. Night

 Chapter 18 -- Memories: Luke and their daughter.  Hope.

VIII. Birth Day

Chapter 19 -- Dream.  Birthing ritual. 
Chapter 20 -- Birthing ritual.  Memories: Red Center and Offred's young mother
Chapter 21 -- Birthing ritual.  Unwoman" v.s. a "women's culture"
Chapter 22 -- Back to her room.  Moira.  
Chapter 23 --  "All of this is reconstruction."  Offred goes to the study.  Plays scrabble with the Commander.   

IX. Night

Chapter 24 --  Back to her room.  "What I need is perspective."   Memories: documentary about the death camp commander's mistress
X. Soul Scrolls
Chapter 25 --  visiting the commander at night.  provided with magazines and lotion.
Chapter 26 --  The Ceremony--changed.
Chapter 27 --  Walking with Ofglend on the summer street.  Memories:  the ice cream store; her daughter.  The Soul Scroll machines.   Ofglen: "You can join us."  A black van with two Eyes.
Chapter 28 --  Memories:  Luke and Moira; her mother-- against porn and for abortion;  losing her job; Luke.  
Chapter 29 --  In the Commander's office.  The meaning of  "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum": "Don't let the bastard grind you down."  The previous Handmaid who killed herself.  

XI. Night

Chapter 30 -- satire of a traditional Jewish prayer for men which thanks God for not having made them women

XII. Jezebel's 
(Biblical allusion:   One king, Ahab of "Israel" (the Northern Kingdom), had a wife, Jezebel , who worshipped the "gods" Baal (1 Kings 16:29-33) or Baalzebub and Asherah. Jezebel tried to kill the Lord's prophets and encouraged Ahab to do evil. 

Elijah, a prophet, . . .told King Ahab that the dogs would devour Queen Jezebel's body. (1 Kings 21:23). source)

Chapter 31 --   Walking with Ofglen to the shops and then the Wall.   Serena Joy's offer of the picture to Offred.  "Maybe he can't. . .  .Maybe you should try it another way."
Chapter 32 -- In the Commander's office.  "You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs"
Chapter 33 -- Prayerganza.  Janine's miscarriage.   Memories:   Janine and Moira;
Chapter 34 --   Prayerganza.  Ofglen: "find out (about the Commander) and tell us."
Chapter 35 --  Offred's comments on love; the daughter's photo.
Chapter 36 --  Jezebel
Chapter 37 --  Jezebel
Chapter 39 --  Moira working at Jezebel
XIII. Night
Chapter 40 -- Nick 

XIV. Salvaging

Chapter 41 --Offred goes back to Nick, time after time.
Chapter 42 --  Salvaging.  
Chapter 43 --  Salvaging.  
Chapter 44 --  Ofglen disappears.   Offred faces the new treacherous Ofglen.  "She hanged herself."  
Chapter 45 --  "She has died that I may live."  Serena finds out about Offred and the Commander.  

XV. Night

Chapter 46 --the black van comes...

Historical Notes on The Handmaid's Tale

Professor Pieixoto about the discovery of "The Handmaid's Tale."

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 Epigraphs
 
And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die. 
And Jacob's anger was kindled against Rachel: and he said, Am I in God's stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? 
And she said, Behold my maid Bilhah, go in unto her; and she shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her. 
--Genesis 30: 1-3
See Genesis from the Web Bible

  (What comes after: 
And she gave him Bilhah her handmaid to wife: and Jacob went in unto her. 
And Bilhah conceived, and bare Jacob a son.) 
 
But as to myself, having been wearied out for many years with offering vain, idle, visionary thoughts, and at length utterly despairing of success, I fortunately fell upon this proposal . . . 
 
--Jonathan Swift, A Modest Proposal
(The actual text from "A Modest Proposal" ---
As to my own part, having turned my thoughts for many years upon this important subject, and maturely weighed the several schemes of other projectors, I have always found them grossly mistaken in the computation. It is true, a child just dropped from its dam may be supported by her milk for a solar year, with little other nourishment; at most not above the value of 2s., which the mother may certainly get, or the value in scraps, by her lawful occupation of begging; and it is exactly at one year old that I propose to provide for them in such a manner as instead of being a charge upon their parents or the parish, or wanting food and raiment for the rest of their lives, they shall on the contrary contribute to the feeding, and partly to the clothing, of many thousands.)
  
In the desert there is no sign that says, Thou shalt not eat stones.  
  
--Sufi proverb

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 The Novel as a Whole
  Main Topics:

1. Target of Atwoods's Satire: The Nation's (Men's) Control and Her stories, Distopia and the present world

2. Intertextuality & Language: Atwood's use of fairy-tales, (or generic elements of history, science fiction, etc.) & child's desire /language

3. Novel and Film

=====================================================================

Male control and female roles, past and "future"
Targets of HT's Satire

-- Three epigraphs: Genesis, Swift's "Modest Proposal" and a Sufi proverb ("In the desert there is no sign that says, Thou shalt not eat stones" --lack of resources).
-- American Fundamentalism and Puritanism
 -- The New Right in the 80's and its backlash of feminism.
-- Feminist controversies: 1. Anti-pornography, 2. Abortion: Pro-choice vs. pro-life.
 -- U.S. domination over Canada
--  American Fundamentalism
-- Technologies: Compucount, Computalk, and infertility
* relativity of power: 
we watch him 113; 
power and forgiveness: 174
the German commander's mistress 188-89
(Cf. "The Gap Betwen Official History and Women's Histories: Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale" Magali Cornier Michael)
  1. 1980 America and 1990 Gilead -"context is all" 187; 248
  2. connections 'moments of change'  chap 28: Moira, loss of job and money.  Constitution suspended 225; escape:  pp. 108-110: one Sat. in Sept.; 248-50: to kill before escape, and kill things inside one's mind; chap 35 at the border
  3. Contemporary feminism: 1st generation: June's mother152-154; called Unwoman 152- ; second: Moira chap 28 (222-23); 
pre-Gilliead period 386
  1. parallels
 
1980 America
1990 Gilead
hierarchy

& family structure

-- classes of men and women; surrogate motherhood
  • Luke patronizes Offred 236; 332; 
  • argument over garbage bags 37 
  1. male-centered; gender stratification 4; 24 (Commander'Eye, Angel, Guardian of the Faith 27'Ethnics in colonies); 
  2. women's childbearing potential valued 
(Wives, blue 17'Aunts, brown 10'Handmaids, red,--Marthas, green'Econowives, striped blue, red & green'Unwomen 
  • color 29 
women's complicity & rebellion the mother's separatism 154-57; Moira's chap 28; 

"falling" in love292
freedom to change: 294; 
 

women's collusion'p. 233 (self-interest)

burning "bad rubbish" (51) -implying separatist, or radical, feminism's censorship of pornography 50-51

networking 261-62 lunch

control of women: e.g. Prayvaganza 277 - 
Birth- chap 21;  Women's culture 164; 209; a spirit of comaderie of women 287  <--> 
women's mutual hatred and jealousy 13, 17; 63; 64; 351; 
Salvaging, Particicution, 

fear and suspicion 24; Eyes everywhere 38; the doctor episode chap 11; 

Jezebel's 305

bloodlust 358

grapevine 261

(economic) control through technologies; environmental issues non-liquid money, computer network economic structures: e.g. credit card'Compubank (231); laws against women's holding property, jobs (224), 
freedom as either/or concepts freedom to --rules 32; 

the Commander's criticism 273

strict regulation

freedom from rape and abuse (32-33); 

space old dorm 41 her room 4, the barriers, the Wife's room, the kitchen; Wives only in cars 32
control of thought and desire   Son of Jacob Think Tank 388; control thought system 10; 25; no bounds 31; 38; 45; 85; no university, no lawyer, no gym; 
religious control   --Eye of God, Angel, Guardian of Faith

--Bible, kept locked up 112

--Soul Scrolls 215-17

subjectivity imaginary identity 67 no names, only roles and signs 33;
not on newspapers, live in the gaps between 74;
body as the central object 95; a blank, like a parenthesis, in waiting295
(names of the store in Gilead: Milk and Honey, All Flesh, Lilies; Red Center, the Wall, Birth Center; rituals: Salvaging, Prayvaganza (285), Particicution,
subjects: Serena Joy 60-61)
Michael: p. 144 "a feminist version of freedom cannot be an either/or choice between "freedom to" and "freedom from."
  • Post-Gilead World: 12th Symposeum of Gilead Studies in 2195.
     University of "Denay¡§("deny¡§; native group in The Northwest Territories); Canada criticized.
    Explains the source of the tale (30 something tapes), their inability to identify Offred, the Gilead¡¦s ways of arresting women and possible reasons for infertility.
    Similarities between Pre-Gilead period and Gilead period: birth services; polygamy, totalitarianism (e.g. KGB) p. 386- 87
    Gender structure unchanged:
    Professor Pieixoto flirting with Crescent Moon ¡V"enjoy" her;
    "Underground Femaleroad" --> "The Underground Frailroad" 381
    His distrust of the narrator.
    "Our job is not to censure, but to understand." 383
  • Sociology of sex roles: Pamela Hewitt (from Teaching Approaches p. 110)
sexual objectification (e.g. Jezebel's, an underground nightclub, where women serve as sexual playthings), patriarchy (e.g. the use of Bible), Gender stratification (differential access to cultural resources such as prestige, respect, self-esteem, money and goods)

the other concepts: androgyny, gender stereotyping, homophobia, the Cult of true Womanhood, pornography, rape, etc.

  1. surveillance of Eye and the characters' look / Power' and its reversal
the guardian's look 30; Nick's 30; 302-03; the handmaids' mutual gaze 217; Serena and Offred 264

"We watch him, every inch, every flicker" 113

power to forgive, temptation to forgive 174

  1. the narrator's and other people's resistance
a. the narrator--
  1. her keen senses: smell 1, touch 4; heart beating with the womb 190
  2. empathy and connections 29, the previous girl, protected 275; talk 13-14; look 24; enjoys the power of a dog bone 30; her idea of freedom 38; 
  3. her use of language: food (date rap 50 ); correcting Aunt's lessons in her head 60; "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum": "Don't let the bastard grind you down."  p. 117; 241
  4. her memory 16, nightmares 96-98; remembering as filling up a space-time 35; her focuses -on Luke, his whereabout pp. 133-35
    mother and daughter relationships--on her daughter 52; 139; her with ice-cream 213; 82; her mother 152-54; 
  5. her composition and writing: 86; 123; 166; 173: reconstruction: two-fold: in the mind and writing ; 181the kiss scene; 185: her need of perspective and depth ; made-up stories: with Nick 338-40
on flowers 10, 16; 59; Serena's garden 196; different flowers 347, drier
on words'"chair" 140; "job" 224; body marked with J 259;
  1. her stories: about the daughter 82-84, about Luke 44,
  2. her story-telling 52'having control; a story is like a letter to you 53
-- "you will have to forgive me" 294
--hatred "no longer pure and simple" 207
  1. her challenge of the Lord's Prayer251-53
  2. Nick 24; 
  3. Moira 73; her escape, 166-72; her story 317-
  4. Mayday 58; words left in the room 69, 242, Ofglen and "Us" 218; grapevine 261; 376?

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fairy-tale motif & a child's desire /language
Intertextuality: Bible, The Little Red Riding Hood, p. 11; garden p. 16; red tulips 44;
Scarlet Letter, etc.
Biblical Allusions ¡V
 Martha, devoted herself to housework while her sister Mary sat and listened to Jesus.
 Jezebel -- tried to kill the Lord's prophets and encouraged Ahab to do evil. the dogs would devour Queen Jezebel's body
(Kathleen E.B. Manley TA 135) the use of folkore'as product (e.g. a traditional house described; often to provide verisimilitude) , situation (context; e.g. storytelling or building of a traditional house included), medium (the language or style used)

fairy-tale elements'fragments reconstructed,

the garden, the wolf, the grandmother, the Little Red Riding Hood. "In the novel she explores the relationship of character traits to flowers to the subtext of sensuality she sees in the original tale" (TA 137, Cf Sharon Wilson for discussion of the connection between flowers and sensuality.)

garden images: 23; 31; Serena's garden 196; baskets carrying strawberries 240; the last walk 368

other images of sensuality and desire: 3 the gym and dance

Offred like a child 29; 32;

children's language-- dolls 43; the red of the smile = the red of tulips 44; child 178; candy 180; Commander "indulging a child's wish for bubble gum" 203

eggs'with life inside, incubated by women140-141

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 novel and film:

  • film as the "metaphoric art" (Stuart McDougal, qut in TA 111)
  • five concepts differentiate the novel from the film adaptation: sexualization, plot smoothing, simplification, thrill seeking, and resolution (TA 111)
  • Differences: the novel: More thinking, remembering, narrating creativity and feeling on the narrator's part.
    e.g. after the 1st ceremony

    the film --
    Memory¡Xescape scene, quiet
    The woman as still an object of gaze.  e.g. after the 1st ceremony.
    The ending: killed the commander, rescued by Nick--no ambiguity.

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