Religion
CONTEXT: Televangelism, indoctrination, Free will, injustice, feminist theology,
bible shaped to promote and align with the patriarchy.
REFERENCES: Epilogue, 8,14-16, 27
Intro: Epigraph, Christ (Angela), Angels, Guardians = false perception, the fall of
the US linked with the fall and starting anew.
1. Inducing fear: CH 8 The wall + death
2. Ceremony: CH14-16 gender roles + secularization, associated with
Christianity so must obey.
3. Soul Scrolls: CH27
CONCLUSION: Hypocrisy of the regime fails to meet the criteria for any belief.
Christians from the past are being forced to commit adultery – Gilead is ran by a
new organized religion, but does that make Christianity right in the past ---- link
back to Attwood’s fear of Christianity getting out of hand.
Propaganda
CONTEXT: indoctrination, manipulated through religion (religion = justification),
authoritarian control. Suffragettes voting for rights, women in work, women’s
bodies, equal pay etc = second wave.
REFERENCES: 6, 27, 20
1. Human propaganda: CH6 The wall. Described liked painted posters or
symbolic dolls, which don’t hold a purpose but highlight a meaning and
inflict fear – semantic field.
2. Religious language: CH27
3. Red center indoctrination: CH20 Shown movies about surrogacy in the
past. Censorship + manipulation. HYPOCRISY – Saying that the suffragette
posters were wrong, but they are promoting ideas in worse more
dangerous + manipulative ways.
Women’s bodies
CONTEXT: Attwood inspired by 1970-80s and trump jumpscare. Christian
theocracy. Abortion rights. Economic pragmatism regarding underage marriage,
absurd cultural norms.
REFERENCES:
1. Gilead as a museum: CH5 – Japanese tourists. Spectacles, sentience,
pride?
2. Objectification + dignity: CH12 comparison with daughter in the bath +
heads shaved in town square = humiliation. Why are their bodies being
stripped apart but expected to perform and for immoral purposes.
, 3. Body as an instrument: CH13 Testifying, fault of the rape was Janine. So,
the body is faulted but forced to grow life and blamed for being faulted.
Ignoring of the problem of men.
Punishment
CONTEXT: used to establish rule, immorality, injustice, negative affects of power
and religion. Method of indoctrination used in regimes like Nazi Germany +
North Korea. True to life dystopian worlds (Attwood takes inspiration from reality).
Constant reminder of fate of unwomen.
REFERENCES: 6, 8, 12, 20
1. The wall = Ch6, CH8, their future.
2. Shaved heads = CH12
3. Aunt Lydia = CH19 – she calls women who don’t want children, ‘scorners
of God’s gifts’ CH20 lucky – pornographies of raping, ‘old days’ deemed
worse, to make Gilead seem desirable. Punishment was “worse” in the
past.
Knowledge
CONTEXT: censorship, false reality of religious information. What leaders do to
misinform. Women’s rights to knowledge, deemed to have ‘smaller brains’ –
American parochialism + populist imprudence (limited worldview). Social
Darwinism – women were less evolved – less worthy of having knowledge of the
world – does this prove that women are truly more capable and smarter, are men
in fear.
REFERENCES: 21, 23, 27.
1. Luxury of scrabble CH23 – Even these words turn to gibberish – can she
distinguish between truth and the manipulated world of Gilead.
2. Janine’s birth CH21 = only knowledge available is gossip. Construed by
false interpretations?
3. Soul scrolls CH27 = Religious knowledge, imagery of superficiality and
processing.
Ofglen
CONTEXT: slight reminder of moira, symbol of rebellion, integration of hope
(Attwood – there’s always balance, but in dystopian instances an over saturation
of negatives and disparities. Instrument of relativity for Offred, stimulate
thoughts and questions, engages the reader in the issues too and shows that this
is the communal problem in the minds of multiple.
REFERENCES: 4, 5, 27, 43, 44
CONTEXT: Televangelism, indoctrination, Free will, injustice, feminist theology,
bible shaped to promote and align with the patriarchy.
REFERENCES: Epilogue, 8,14-16, 27
Intro: Epigraph, Christ (Angela), Angels, Guardians = false perception, the fall of
the US linked with the fall and starting anew.
1. Inducing fear: CH 8 The wall + death
2. Ceremony: CH14-16 gender roles + secularization, associated with
Christianity so must obey.
3. Soul Scrolls: CH27
CONCLUSION: Hypocrisy of the regime fails to meet the criteria for any belief.
Christians from the past are being forced to commit adultery – Gilead is ran by a
new organized religion, but does that make Christianity right in the past ---- link
back to Attwood’s fear of Christianity getting out of hand.
Propaganda
CONTEXT: indoctrination, manipulated through religion (religion = justification),
authoritarian control. Suffragettes voting for rights, women in work, women’s
bodies, equal pay etc = second wave.
REFERENCES: 6, 27, 20
1. Human propaganda: CH6 The wall. Described liked painted posters or
symbolic dolls, which don’t hold a purpose but highlight a meaning and
inflict fear – semantic field.
2. Religious language: CH27
3. Red center indoctrination: CH20 Shown movies about surrogacy in the
past. Censorship + manipulation. HYPOCRISY – Saying that the suffragette
posters were wrong, but they are promoting ideas in worse more
dangerous + manipulative ways.
Women’s bodies
CONTEXT: Attwood inspired by 1970-80s and trump jumpscare. Christian
theocracy. Abortion rights. Economic pragmatism regarding underage marriage,
absurd cultural norms.
REFERENCES:
1. Gilead as a museum: CH5 – Japanese tourists. Spectacles, sentience,
pride?
2. Objectification + dignity: CH12 comparison with daughter in the bath +
heads shaved in town square = humiliation. Why are their bodies being
stripped apart but expected to perform and for immoral purposes.
, 3. Body as an instrument: CH13 Testifying, fault of the rape was Janine. So,
the body is faulted but forced to grow life and blamed for being faulted.
Ignoring of the problem of men.
Punishment
CONTEXT: used to establish rule, immorality, injustice, negative affects of power
and religion. Method of indoctrination used in regimes like Nazi Germany +
North Korea. True to life dystopian worlds (Attwood takes inspiration from reality).
Constant reminder of fate of unwomen.
REFERENCES: 6, 8, 12, 20
1. The wall = Ch6, CH8, their future.
2. Shaved heads = CH12
3. Aunt Lydia = CH19 – she calls women who don’t want children, ‘scorners
of God’s gifts’ CH20 lucky – pornographies of raping, ‘old days’ deemed
worse, to make Gilead seem desirable. Punishment was “worse” in the
past.
Knowledge
CONTEXT: censorship, false reality of religious information. What leaders do to
misinform. Women’s rights to knowledge, deemed to have ‘smaller brains’ –
American parochialism + populist imprudence (limited worldview). Social
Darwinism – women were less evolved – less worthy of having knowledge of the
world – does this prove that women are truly more capable and smarter, are men
in fear.
REFERENCES: 21, 23, 27.
1. Luxury of scrabble CH23 – Even these words turn to gibberish – can she
distinguish between truth and the manipulated world of Gilead.
2. Janine’s birth CH21 = only knowledge available is gossip. Construed by
false interpretations?
3. Soul scrolls CH27 = Religious knowledge, imagery of superficiality and
processing.
Ofglen
CONTEXT: slight reminder of moira, symbol of rebellion, integration of hope
(Attwood – there’s always balance, but in dystopian instances an over saturation
of negatives and disparities. Instrument of relativity for Offred, stimulate
thoughts and questions, engages the reader in the issues too and shows that this
is the communal problem in the minds of multiple.
REFERENCES: 4, 5, 27, 43, 44
