Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel "The Handmaid's Tale" was recently made into an Emmy winning TV series for HULA in 2017. Please watch this summary to familiarize yourself with the novel. https://www.yout...

• Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel "The Handmaid's Tale" was recently made into an Emmy winning TV series for HULA in 2017. Please watch this summary to familiarize yourself with the novel.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v-mfJMyBO0Links to an external site.
• Please answer the questions below within a one-page response single spaced. 
• Social hierarchy is evident throughout the book. For example, women are assigned the role of:
  • "Handmaids"-Fertile women who are assigned to commanders to procreate.
  • "Martha's"-Work as household servants for commanders.
  • "Econowives"-Young women, if loyal, may become commanders' wives.
  • "Commanders' Wives"-High ranking, but in subjugation to their husbands.
  • "Aunts"-High ranking, responsible for training and indoctrination of Handmaids.
  • "Unwoman"-Those that threaten the regime and hierarchy (i.e., sterile, activists, widowed, divorced)
  • "Jezebels"-Women who refuse to comply and are forced into sex work.
• How can we apply "Intersectionality" to better understand the significance of these roles? Can a feminist lens alone adequately explain these roles?
• In what way are our current lives "regulated"? For example, in the first video they talk about "moral codes", "modest clothing" "banishment of dissenters" and "regulation of lives and relationships" that existed during the Puritan movement.
• Earlier we explored the story of James Egan. This is an example of a case that involved historical and discriminatory definitions of "deviance" and "criminality". Part of the Egan case centered around the traditional definition of marriage that centered around the role of procreation. How does this quote from the Handmaid Offred: "We are two-legged wombs, that's all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices" relate to the Egan case and historical definitions of marriage?
• In the book, women have their language, behaviour and thoughts controlled.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0AwShd_z3QLinks to an external site.Can you think of examples, in Canada, or in other countries where people are unable to express themselves freely? 
• The book is ultimately about resistance.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIx6XZgodyMLinks to an external site.(please watch from 3-8 minutes). Where else have we witnessed acts of resistance?
• Surveillance is a prominent theme in the book. Although this is speculative fiction, surveillance (government or otherwise) is evident in our society. What is your personal threshold for surveillance (what do you consider to be acceptable and unacceptable)? How would you respond if someone said "if you have nothing to hide, who cares?

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Understanding Social Hierarchy and Intersectionality in The Handmaids Tale In Margaret Atwoods The Handmaids Tale the society depicted is structured by a rigid hierarchy with women occupying various r... View the full answer