A Handmade

’s Tale Essay, Research Paper

Final assignment

Novel Analysis

The handmaid.s tale

1997-1998

Gerald F. Curial

Table of contents

Introduction 1

A. Analysing a Short Story or Novel.

Outline of key-events 2

Characterization 3

Use of Frequency 4

Theme(s) 4

Narrative technique 4

Plot and tension 4

Style 4

B. Discussion questions 5

Personal evaluation 5

Introduction

.The handmaid.s tale. was recommended to me by Vanessa Arendsz. She was a student at the H.A.N.

.The handmaid.s tale. is about a woman that narrates her story. The story of how she struggles in a society where women have lost their freedom. She desperately wants to see her daughter again, and she is willing to do anything to get her daughter back.

A.

ANALYSING A SHORT STORY OR NOVEL

OUTLINE OF KEY EVENTS:

 Offred remembers walking with her mother, who was a liberated woman, through a park, where women were burning porno books and magazines.

 Offred fall in love with Luke. Luke had already been married.

 The president of the republic of Gilead and a lot of members of Congress were killed, money was abolished and the Constitution was suspended.

 Strong measures were taken against immoral practices.

 The bank accounts of women, who were single or married to a divorced man, were blocked and the women were obliged to quit from their jobs.

 Offred and Luke tried to escape from the Republic, but they fail and she lost Luke and her daughter.

 Offred is taken to the Red Center, Rachel and Leah Re-education Center, where the .Aunts. took care of them.

 The Handmaids are not allowed to talk to each other and are only allowed to go outside the building twice a day for short walks.

 Moira, an old friend of Offred, tried to escape from the Center, but failed and after being tortured she could not walk for a week.

 Moira tried to escape from the center and she succeeded in it.

 Handmaid are obliged to see old porno films, to see how women where treated, and films about unwomen.

 Offred is transferred to the house of a Commander and his wife Serena Joy.

 Ofglen is assigned to walk with her when they to the heart of the Republic. They are supposed to spy each other.

 On their way back they walk along the Wall to see the hanging bodies. The bodies are a result of the Salvagings.

 In the summer Handmaid.s change their dresses.

 Once a month Handmaids are taken to the doctor to do a pregnancy test.

 The doctor offered Offred help, because she was not pregnant. But she refused, because it is illegal and the punishment is death.

 Each month the Ceremony took place and the Commander read the same passages out of the bible.

 Ofwarren gave birth to a girl, but her Commander.s wife took the baby away.

 Offred and the Commander began meeting in the evening, and sometimes he gave her a present.

 Because Offred could not get pregnant from the Commander, Serena offered her to make sex to Nick (the driver). If Offred accepts, Serena will show her a picture of her daughter.

 The Commander took Offred to a party to a club, where they do things that are strictly forbidden (e.g. prostitutes).

 Offred met Moira in the club and Moira told her how she escaped and was caught.

 Offred started seeing Nick each evening.

 One day they went to a Salvaging. There they killed a man, who was accused as a rapist. But he really was a member of the underground movement.

 On the next walk another Handmaid has replaced Ofglen. The former Ofglen committed suicide.

 They came and take Offred away in a black van. She was accused of .Violation of State Secrets..

 Professor Pieixoto is analyzing the tapes of Offred during a convention.

CHARACTERIZATION:

Offred (round character)

1. Offred (in the beginning of the story)

Object: to stay alive and not be brainwashed

Motivation/stimulus: not clear

Receiver: herself

Helper(s): her memoirs

Adversary: the regime

2. Offred (mid-story)

Object: to serve the commander and have a good time

Motivation/stimulus: desire for living.

Receiver: herself and the commander

Helper(s): the commander

Adversary: no one

3. Offred (in the end of the story)

Object: to stay alive and escape from the center

Motivation/stimulus: her daughter, who was still alive.

Receiver: herself

Helper(s): Nick

Adversary: Serena Joy

End: She escaped from the country

Moira

Object: to escape from the center.

Motivation/stimulus: her desire for freedom.

Receiver: herself

Helper(s): herself

Adversary: the aunts

End: she becomes a prostitute.

There is not much development in this character.

The commander 1

Object: to follow the doctrine of the Republic

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