The Environment: Power of reproduction:

o Was concerned about nuclear weapons & energy
o Calls herself a ‘biogeek’
o 3 Mile Island incident – incident with nuclear energy but no
one was hurt
Second Book of AHT:
o Sexual misconduct within the political sphere
o Relevance of AHT – used in protests
o Ohio – abortion – death sentence – issues are coming to its
peak so we still need to address these issues
o Women are used to propagate evil regimes
o TODAY: Boko Haram – Jihadi Militant organisation in Nigeria
– kidnapped 279 girls from a government secondary school
o TODAY: Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act = Illegal
for women after 20 weeks to have an abortion.
o Atwood is taking notice of what is happening & not ignoring
it – AHT “ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance”

A Handmaids Tale :
Atwood’s Views

“a rat in a maze is free to go anywhere as long as it stays inside

Feminism:
the maze”
o Made her own definition – sexism in any form is bad
Þ The illusion of freedom – choice seems like freedom
o “if practical hard line, anti-male feminists took over &
became the government, I would resist them”
“if we are all on the trail for our thoughts, we would all be
“Am I a propagandist? No ! am I an observer in society? Yes and
hanged”
no one who observes society can fail to make observations that
Þ The freedom to think = restricted – thoughtcrime
are feminist. That’s just common sense”
Þ It is common sense to notice there are inequalities
“every aspect of human technology has a dark side including the
between men and women
bow & arrow”
Þ Distance from any characterisation that is placed upon
Þ Being able to hunt ‘bow & arrow’ - more food
her “I write about what has already happened” –
Þ Technology used to advance our lifestyle
defending herself from this already
 A Handmaids Tale :
Atwood’s Views

“an eye for an eye leads to more blindness”

Þ It’s not a solution for truth & justice

“we still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a

powerful women as anomaly”
Þ Social attitudes to gender – makes a difference to
personality traits

“a word after a word after a word is power”

Þ Language = power – words & expression
Þ Language = power in literature & life – having a voice and
being herd