A Lovely Jaunt | The Handmaid's Tale Ep 1: Summary and Background @ALovelyJaunt | Uploaded February 2018 | Updated October 2024, 5 hours ago.
VIDEO SUMMARY:
In this video I discuss Margaret Atwood as well as give a summary of this work in particular. Margaret Atwood is a writer of not only novels, but short stories, essays, poetry, and literary criticism. She's been a professor at universities in both Canada and the United States. Throughout her career she has been a polarizing figure: too feminist, not feminist enough, too political, writing too much science fiction, not writing science fiction at all. She has resisted labels of all kinds and gives her novels the description of "speculative fiction" rather than anything else.
As far as the plot of The Handmaid's Tale itself, we follow the character Offred in a new society called Gilead. It is totalitarian and puritanical. The narrative is told in stream of consciousness as she alternates between her present experiences in Gilead and her memories of the United States in the 1960's and 70's, of her life before this new regime. As the story moves forward, Offred's relationships with the Commander, his wife, and Nick the driver progress, leading ultimately to her being framed for illegal activity. Then the novel jumps further into the future and we see her tale being analyzed in a university lecture by a professor. The whole book serves as an examination of how our society could revert in equality for women, how religiosity can be a tool for control, and the effect of totalitarian regimes on individuals psychologically.
In the following episodes, I will be looking at some of the concepts this novel brings up. Get ready for an analysis of dystopias and theocracies in episode two!
FIND ME ONLINE
alovelyjaunt.com
Facebook: facebook.com/A-Lovely-Jaunt-1936732789973390
Twitter: twitter.com/alovelyjaunt
Google+: plus.google.com/u/0/117766983252390417932
Instagram: instagram.com/alovelyjaunt
GoodReads! goodreads.com/user/show/73893100-alexandra-lauber
VIDEO SUMMARY:
In this video I discuss Margaret Atwood as well as give a summary of this work in particular. Margaret Atwood is a writer of not only novels, but short stories, essays, poetry, and literary criticism. She's been a professor at universities in both Canada and the United States. Throughout her career she has been a polarizing figure: too feminist, not feminist enough, too political, writing too much science fiction, not writing science fiction at all. She has resisted labels of all kinds and gives her novels the description of "speculative fiction" rather than anything else.
As far as the plot of The Handmaid's Tale itself, we follow the character Offred in a new society called Gilead. It is totalitarian and puritanical. The narrative is told in stream of consciousness as she alternates between her present experiences in Gilead and her memories of the United States in the 1960's and 70's, of her life before this new regime. As the story moves forward, Offred's relationships with the Commander, his wife, and Nick the driver progress, leading ultimately to her being framed for illegal activity. Then the novel jumps further into the future and we see her tale being analyzed in a university lecture by a professor. The whole book serves as an examination of how our society could revert in equality for women, how religiosity can be a tool for control, and the effect of totalitarian regimes on individuals psychologically.
In the following episodes, I will be looking at some of the concepts this novel brings up. Get ready for an analysis of dystopias and theocracies in episode two!
FIND ME ONLINE
alovelyjaunt.com
Facebook: facebook.com/A-Lovely-Jaunt-1936732789973390
Twitter: twitter.com/alovelyjaunt
Google+: plus.google.com/u/0/117766983252390417932
Instagram: instagram.com/alovelyjaunt
GoodReads! goodreads.com/user/show/73893100-alexandra-lauber
