handmaids tale critics

'Offred's power is in language'

Carol Beran

'language is the main instrument of ideological and social control'

Stokwisz

her narrative status diminishes in Pieixoto's Reconstruction

Coomi

'grotesque parallel of biblical values'

Simons

Hamlet, Just like Offred uses quibbling to negotiate an oppressive state

Tim Clist

'Offred's narrative is revealed to have been undertaken by men'

Greenwood (feminist perspective)

'The apathetic public response to Gilead...seems like real life'

Robertson

legitimises its racist and sexist policies as having a biblical precedent.

Vevaina

The Handmaid's Tale focuses strongly on the devastating effects of environmental abuse.

Ecocriticism

In what way is THT postmodern?

Everything is a 'construct'
There are different versions of the same event
Everything is open to interpretation
There is no certain ending.

'reduced people to their functions: control, reproduction, service and those who regulate those functions.'

Wisker - comparable to 1984

"Nick serves to release Offred'

Freibert

"Atwood's novel lacks the direct, chilling plausibility of Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World." -

Gray

'there is no sisterhood, only division and disempowerment'

Wisker - links to 'you wanted a womans culture'

'horrific vision of things to come based on the exploration of things as they are'

Greene

It synthesizes the institutionalized humiliation, objectification and ownership of women in Gilead

Cavalcanti

"Offred's monotonous manner of expression just drones and drones."

Hooper

"Offred's narrative transcends time and space."
-the events and fears in the novel are more relevant as time goes on.

Madrigal

"Gilead is only a colouring book version of Oceania."
"Offred is a sappy stand-in for Winston Smith

Ehrenreich

"A nation formed by a backlash of feminism."

NYT 1986