Benutzer:Verena.eisenkoeck/Gender Roles in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale/Reading: Chapters 14-24

Gender Roles in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

1. Welcome - Hints & Tips
   
2. Pre-reading
   
3. Reading: Chapter 1
   
4. Reading: Chapters 2-13
   
5. Reading: Chapters 14-24
6. Reading: Chapters 25-30
7. Reading: Chapters 31-39, 40-46 and Historical Notes
8. Post-reading

Analysing & Commenting on Important Quotes

Read ch. 14-24

Task 9

Choose ONE of the following quotes and comment on it in a Word document. Write about 180 words and use quotes from and/or references to the text as evidence for your argumentation.

Quote 1: “‘There is more than one kind of freedom,’ said Aunt Lydia. ‘Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from…We were a society dying’, said Aunt Lydia, ‘of too much choice.’” (Atwood 34-35)

Consider what Aunt Lydia means by freedom to and freedom from. How does Atwood suggest that some feminists may have contributed to their own loss of freedom in these chapters? (See pages 34, 35, 48 & 49.)

Quote 2: “Mother, I think. Wherever you may be. Can you hear me? You wanted a women’s culture. Well, now there is one. It isn’t what you meant, but it exists. Be thankful for small mercies.” (Atwood 127)

What do you think that her mother meant by “a women’s culture”. What did she have in mind? Moreover, how far does her mother’s “women’s culture” differ from the culture and society in Offred’s reality?

Quote 3: “Sterile. There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that’s the law.” AND “Give me children, or else I die. There’s more than one meaning to it.“ (Atwood 61)

What do these quotes tell us about the roles of women in Gilead? What is meant by “There is more than one meaning to it”?

Reading: Chapters 25-30