Study/Discussion Questions for Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale

Consider some of the following issues (print this page for access in class):

What is the significance of the opening scene?

What is the significance of the opening quotes (Genesis, "The Modest Proposal," and the Sufi Proverb)?

How is the setting at the beginning of the story (high school gym) significant?

What is the significance of the Handmaids' dress?

Name some significant details about Offred's room in the Commander's house.

Why does Offred compare herself to Little Red Riding Hood (p.9)?

What is the significance of the Commander's "Garden"?

Baptist "rebels"? Why?

Guardians (of the Faith)-Angels---Eyes. How are these terms apt, strange, ironic?

What is the difference between "freedom to" and "freedom to" (24)?

"We were a society dying . . . of too much choice," said Aunt Lydia. Explain.

"Modesty is invisibility . . . To be seen is to be . . . penetrated." Explain.

What is the significance of the Wall? Of the "Men's Salvagings"?

What is the significance, both to Offred and the book’s overall structure, of Night?

What is the importance of Offred’s discussion of story telling and audience on 39-40?

What is the significance of the Latin phrase that means “Don’t let the bastards get you down”? Why did Atwood choose Latin for this message? (52)

After Offred’s doctor’s appointment, she says “It’s the choice that terrifies me. A way out, a salvation” (61). What does she mean? What is the significance of the entire scene?

Offred does not like to look at her naked body. “I don’t want to see it. I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely” (63). Explain this.

Why is Offred’s tattoo called “a passport in reverse” (65)?

On p. 69 Offred mentions 19th century paintings of harems. How are harems of paintings of harems relevant to her situation or the plight of other handmaids?

Define Offred’s attitude towards her body as described on 73-74.

What is the “Resettlement of the Chidren of Ham” referred to on 83?

Why is the bible kept under lock and key (87). Is there historical precedent for this?

“For our purposes your feet and your hands are not essential,” says Aunt Lydia (91). Why?

The “Ceremony” described on 93-95 evokes an odd mixture of emotions in readers. Describe some of these different emotions. Why has Offred (or Atwood) described the Ceremony this way?

Is there anything ironic about the ideology of Offred’s mother? What do we know about her and her beliefs?

How do you interpret the passage on 134-35 on forgiveness?

“We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices” (136). Explain.

Why, of all things, Scrabble!!!?

Why do the magazines in the Commander’s room (157) represent “promise”?

Do the scenes describing Soul Scrolls satirize anything in modern culture? What? Do prayer scrolls appear in any world culture today? What about the concept of paying for prayers?

What is the meaning of “Pen Is Envy” (186)?

On 211 the Commander says “We thought we could do better” (i.e., make a better world). And then, “Better never means better for everyone . . . .  It always means worse, for some.” Explain the implications of this.

Partly to explain Jezebel’s, the Commander says “You can’t cheat Nature . . . Nature demands variety, for men. It stands to reason, it’s part of the procreational strategy. It’s Nature’s plan.” Comment.

Do you recognize the significance of Moira’s costume at Jezebel’s?

What does the Prayvaganza episode satirize?

Compare the two “Ceremonies,” the monthly ritual of copulation and the ritual birthing.

On 260-63, Offred tells three different versions of the story of her first sexual liaison with Nick. Why? Which one do you thing is true? Which do you prefer to believe?

What does Offred (Atwood?) mean when she says “I tell, therefore you are” (268). You = the reader.

Where does the District Salvaging occur? How is the setting appropriate? Ironic?

Does the Particicution that follows the Salvaging having any Biblical precedent? Any mythic or anthropological precedent?

What is the significance of “Mayday” at the end of the story?

What does the last line of the story mean?

What does the section entitled “Historical Notes” contribute to the preceding narrative?