Comparative and Contextual study: Exam Questions. Exam Questions and
Correct Answers | Graded A+ | 2025/2026 Update|
'Dystopian writing is driven by the voice of protest.'
By comparing Nineteen Eighty-Four with at least one other text prescribed for this topic, discuss
how far you agree with this view. - There were many excellent answers to this question,
usually starting from the premise that the writers of their chosen texts (often the two core texts,
Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Handmaid's Tale) were inspired by contemporary events and
situations to produce their dystopian works. Knowledge of context was often excellent, and at its
best where closely tied to the texts and to literary issues.
Thesis: Orwell uses '1984' to protest against conformity and a lack of individual thought, whilst
Atwood, through Offred, protests against women's subordinate position and treatment in society.
AO1/2:
1984:
The Handmaid's Tale:
AO3:
1984:
• Orwell influenced by regimes such as Nazi Germany and soviet Russia.
• In his essay 'Why I write', Orwell stated that everything he had 'written from 1935 onwards either
directly or indirectly challenges totalitarianism'.
• States that man 'truly dies' when he 'loses his ability to take on a new thought'
The Handmaid's Tale:
• Atwood's concerns stemmed from Ronald Reagan's 'religious rule' in the USA as a means of
control.
• Religious term 'go forth and multiply' from the Bible has been satirised by the book.
• Women's reproductive rights were limited under Reagan's presidency.
• Important during 2016 Women's March during presidential election.
,• New York Times article in 1986 criticised THT as its 'didacticism wears thin', unsuccessfully
conveying Atwood's motives and warnings.
AO5:
1984:
• Critics have called Big Brother a 'Hitler-Stalin-like figure'.
• The novel has been described by critics as 'hopeless'
The Handmaid's Tale:
• 'Eyes' arguable represent God's gaze upon the people of Gilead.
• Offred is accused of being a 'passive protagonist' by critics.
• Atwood's novel is professed as a 'feminist dystopia'.
• Has a 'real and true' protest of inequality.
'Dystopian writing frequently suggests that men, not women, are responsible for society's
problems.' - Answers to this question usually referenced second wave feminism as a
contextual factor for The Handmaid's Tale and put some work into sharing out the blame for
society's problems; oddly, some suggested that women were at fault for precipitating the crisis in
fertility in the Atwood novel. Links to Nineteen Eighty-Four were often made, and better
candidates made some capital about the relative scarcity of female characters in this novel.
AO5:
1984:
The Handmaid's Tale:
• Cixous' definition of 'jouissance' challenges the male patriarchies, stating that women should be
celebrated in terms of excess, rather than lack.
'Social and religious conformity are key areas for dystopian writers.' - Answers to this
question usually focused on the oppressive forces which require conformity in dystopian fiction,
and pointed out that the human instinct for self-expression and rebellion creates the drama in these
texts. The two core texts were again the popular choices, although work was also seen on most of
the other listed alternatives, often in addition to the first two.
, 'Much dystopian fiction attacks social and political institutions.' Compare ways in which Orwell
portrays such institutions in Nineteen Eighty-Four with the methods employed in at least one other
text prescribed for this topic. - AO1/2:
> 1984:
• Dystopian fiction is almost entirely negative, written in the form of a warning. The catastrophe
can be environmental, or artificial.
> The Handmaid's Tale:
• The Handmaid's Tale exposes power politics at their most basic: 'who can do what to whom' as
described by Offred.
• Offred states 'there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it'
• Offred acknowledges that the power of the Gilead state comes from how 'All they needed to do
is push a few buttons'. The technological society is under scrutiny in the novel, and Atwood
challenges the modern acceptance of such advancements and institutions.
AO3:
1984:
• Orwell looks to the Spanish Civil War (1936) to enhance the reality of the themes in his novel.
The Handmaid's Tale:
AO4:
Both governing institutions in The Handmaid's Tale and 1984 exist only to pursue power. The
Party openly state their aims are for ultimate power and control over civilisation and human lives.
The Gilead Republic claims to have been created for the purposes of ensuring the sexual
reproduction of the human race in America, and to protect the sexual rights of women. However,
the hypocrisy shown in the operations of Jezebels contradicts the intentions of Gilead, seeing them
as wanting to obtain power and control instead.
AO5:
> 1984:
• Orwell's novel was 'an ideological weapon in the Cold War' - (Isaac) Deutscher
• On 1984, 'such inconsistencies of detail prevent our surrendering' - Harold Nicolson (a British
diplomat and politician)
Correct Answers | Graded A+ | 2025/2026 Update|
'Dystopian writing is driven by the voice of protest.'
By comparing Nineteen Eighty-Four with at least one other text prescribed for this topic, discuss
how far you agree with this view. - There were many excellent answers to this question,
usually starting from the premise that the writers of their chosen texts (often the two core texts,
Nineteen Eighty-Four and The Handmaid's Tale) were inspired by contemporary events and
situations to produce their dystopian works. Knowledge of context was often excellent, and at its
best where closely tied to the texts and to literary issues.
Thesis: Orwell uses '1984' to protest against conformity and a lack of individual thought, whilst
Atwood, through Offred, protests against women's subordinate position and treatment in society.
AO1/2:
1984:
The Handmaid's Tale:
AO3:
1984:
• Orwell influenced by regimes such as Nazi Germany and soviet Russia.
• In his essay 'Why I write', Orwell stated that everything he had 'written from 1935 onwards either
directly or indirectly challenges totalitarianism'.
• States that man 'truly dies' when he 'loses his ability to take on a new thought'
The Handmaid's Tale:
• Atwood's concerns stemmed from Ronald Reagan's 'religious rule' in the USA as a means of
control.
• Religious term 'go forth and multiply' from the Bible has been satirised by the book.
• Women's reproductive rights were limited under Reagan's presidency.
• Important during 2016 Women's March during presidential election.
,• New York Times article in 1986 criticised THT as its 'didacticism wears thin', unsuccessfully
conveying Atwood's motives and warnings.
AO5:
1984:
• Critics have called Big Brother a 'Hitler-Stalin-like figure'.
• The novel has been described by critics as 'hopeless'
The Handmaid's Tale:
• 'Eyes' arguable represent God's gaze upon the people of Gilead.
• Offred is accused of being a 'passive protagonist' by critics.
• Atwood's novel is professed as a 'feminist dystopia'.
• Has a 'real and true' protest of inequality.
'Dystopian writing frequently suggests that men, not women, are responsible for society's
problems.' - Answers to this question usually referenced second wave feminism as a
contextual factor for The Handmaid's Tale and put some work into sharing out the blame for
society's problems; oddly, some suggested that women were at fault for precipitating the crisis in
fertility in the Atwood novel. Links to Nineteen Eighty-Four were often made, and better
candidates made some capital about the relative scarcity of female characters in this novel.
AO5:
1984:
The Handmaid's Tale:
• Cixous' definition of 'jouissance' challenges the male patriarchies, stating that women should be
celebrated in terms of excess, rather than lack.
'Social and religious conformity are key areas for dystopian writers.' - Answers to this
question usually focused on the oppressive forces which require conformity in dystopian fiction,
and pointed out that the human instinct for self-expression and rebellion creates the drama in these
texts. The two core texts were again the popular choices, although work was also seen on most of
the other listed alternatives, often in addition to the first two.
, 'Much dystopian fiction attacks social and political institutions.' Compare ways in which Orwell
portrays such institutions in Nineteen Eighty-Four with the methods employed in at least one other
text prescribed for this topic. - AO1/2:
> 1984:
• Dystopian fiction is almost entirely negative, written in the form of a warning. The catastrophe
can be environmental, or artificial.
> The Handmaid's Tale:
• The Handmaid's Tale exposes power politics at their most basic: 'who can do what to whom' as
described by Offred.
• Offred states 'there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it'
• Offred acknowledges that the power of the Gilead state comes from how 'All they needed to do
is push a few buttons'. The technological society is under scrutiny in the novel, and Atwood
challenges the modern acceptance of such advancements and institutions.
AO3:
1984:
• Orwell looks to the Spanish Civil War (1936) to enhance the reality of the themes in his novel.
The Handmaid's Tale:
AO4:
Both governing institutions in The Handmaid's Tale and 1984 exist only to pursue power. The
Party openly state their aims are for ultimate power and control over civilisation and human lives.
The Gilead Republic claims to have been created for the purposes of ensuring the sexual
reproduction of the human race in America, and to protect the sexual rights of women. However,
the hypocrisy shown in the operations of Jezebels contradicts the intentions of Gilead, seeing them
as wanting to obtain power and control instead.
AO5:
> 1984:
• Orwell's novel was 'an ideological weapon in the Cold War' - (Isaac) Deutscher
• On 1984, 'such inconsistencies of detail prevent our surrendering' - Harold Nicolson (a British
diplomat and politician)
