The Handmaid's Tale Critical Quotes

Wagner-Martin

On Sexuality and Gilead.

"The novel is a ==prediction of the horrors of cultures so frightened by normal sexuality that it codified and prescribed all such procreation, and created hierarchies of life and death== around it. It is a ==brutal horrifying cultur==e."

Coral Howell

On foundational themes in THT.

"Atwood's ==feminist concerns are plain here but so too are her concern for basic human rights==."

K. Reshmi

"Ecofeminist Vision: A Study of Margaret Atwood's Surfacing and The Handmaid's Tale".

"In the Gileadean patriarchy, a woman is denied the right to possess or to have control over her own body. ==Her body is segmented and her value is determined on the basis of her reproductive capability==. In The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood suggests that the ==society of today where choices are too many may lead to a totalitarian future that prohibits choice==."

Coomi S. Vevaina

On sexism and racism in Gilead.

"The republic of Gilead ==justifies its sexist policies with the socio-biological theory of natural polygamy and legitimises its racist and sexist policies as having a biblical precedent==."

Jessie Givner

On anonymity in Gilead.

“…desire of the Gilead regime to ==remove name is as strong as the desire to remove faces.== Just as the rules of Gilead try to ==eliminate mirrors, the reflection of faces, so they attempt to erase names."==

Carol Beran

On Offred’s language and power.

"==Offred's power is in language==."

Cavalcanti

On the Ceremony and corrupt Biblical Foundations/ Interpretations.

"==The monthly rape 'Ceremony'== \[which\] follows the scriptural 'and she shall bear upon my knees/ and grotesquely requires the presence of Wife, Handmaid, and Commander. It ==synthesises the institutionalised humiliation, objectification, and ownership of women in Gilead.=="

Calloway

On women’s hatred of/ treatment of one another.

"The ==evolution of a new form of misogyny, not as we usually think of it, as men's hatred of women, but as women's hatred of women.=="

A. Gulick

On the Aunts.

They are "==mouthpieces for the ideas of the patriarchal leaders== of this society."

Atwood

On her own work and influences.

"One of my rules was that ==I would not put any events into the book that had not already happened"==

M. Kouhestani

On Atwood’s motives for text.

"To ==admonish the reader and make them think about all the catastrophes in their society==."

Paul Bell

On women.

"Women are ==at the margins and exist mainly as a source of frustration, irritation and temptation=="

R. Stokwisz

On when Offred begins to feel content and passive towards regime, “==They can do what they like with me. I am abject==”.

“==Offred is teetering on the brink of total acquiescence==”.

R. Stokwisz

On the Historical Notes and innate evils of male domination and abuse of power.

“Professor ==Piexoto's fascination with male politics serves to irritate readers into recognising the evils of male domination== and unneeded sources of power”.

Simone de Beauvoir

On female sexuality and identity.

==“When a women loses her reproductive capacity, she loses her primary function and therefore identity”.==

CONCEPT:

The Male Gaze in THT.

The ==“all-seeing eye of God==” merges with the objectifying male gaze. Being ==seen is equated \n with sex, with being desirable, insinuating that women have the choice between being a \n sexual object for men or invisible altogethe==r, as shown through ==Aunt Lydia's “modesty is \n invisibility”== comment (Atwood 38). The male gaze ==ensures that women are objectified and \n viewed as sexual objects,== and this happens ==despite== them being ==covered from head to toe==, as seen in the beginning of the novel when ==Offred teases the young guard==, enjoying the power of deciding for herself when she wants to be looked at, knowing that the guard wants a handmaid “of \[his\] own”.

CONCEPT:

Jezebels and the Male Gaze Concept.

The women at ==Jezebel's are meant to be seen and desired by men==, and their costumes, mimicking old dance- and Halloween costumes, reflect that just as much as Gilead's ==modest clothing reflects how they view the handmaids as innately sexual beings that should cover up as to not be 'tempting'.==