Pre-reading Phase: Researching The Handmaid's Tale

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

1. Welcome - hints & tips before you start
   
2. Pre-reading Phase: Researching The Handmaid's Tale
   
3. Grundbegriffe
   
4. Graphische Darstellung
   
5. Übungen

Researching The Handmaid's Tale

The dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale (1985) was written by Margaret Atwood. In this novel, Atwood paints a very negative picture of our future: characterised by the oppression of women and very conservative gender roles.

The following article deals with the background that, among other things, motivated Margaret Atwood to write this novel. Read the article carefully and answer the questions below in a Word document.

Tasks:

1) What do the words in red mean? Try to guess from the context and match the terms with their definitions.

2) Copy the following questions into a Word document and answer the questions:

• According to the text, what is the novel The Handmaid’s Tale about? What is the main theme?
• Sum up on what social and environmental developments the novel is based on (using bullet points).
• Do some further research and answer the following questions:
  • What is a Puritan?
  • What is Listen America! all about?

Reading: Chapter 1