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Filter exemplars, how does jordan peele represent racism in the 21st century in his thriller movie ‘get out’, in what ways does henrik ibsen, in his play, a doll’s house, employ stylistic features to communicate the victorian social codes of the 1870s, want to get full marks for your ia allow us to review it for you 🎯, how does barbara kruger’s usage of imagery, text, and coloring in her different artworks create relations in order to employ women’s bodies and beauty standards in society, how does beyoncé portray the american black southern identity struggle by reclaiming cultural elements in the visual album lemonade, how does shakespeare use characterisation to conform to and challenge gender roles and expectations in the play macbeth, fast track your coursework with mark schemes moderated by ib examiners. upgrade now 🚀, how does marjane satrapi portray western stereotypes about the iranian culture in her graphic novel, persepolis i , to what extent does the patriarchy dictate female identity and enforce their transformation in carol ann duffy’s the world’s wife, line of inquiry: how does the representation of women in liza donnelly’s cartoons convey harmful societal norms and expectations as a barrier to women’s empowerment in different levels of society, how does dangarembga’s use of characterisation for tambudzai and nyasha portray hybrid identities as a result of assimilating into a dominant culture in nervous conditions, how do the comedic devices come out as an expression of jo koy’s cultural identity in his netflix special 'live from seattle', how does maya angelou, in her collected poems, celebrate the resilience of women through her perspective as an african-american poet, how does social stratification affect the morality or the moral standards of the great gatsby in the given social context, how rishi sunak's speech net zero reflects a shift in political strategy towards addressing climate change, and how this impacts youth perception and support for increased governmental action, to what extent does jane austen in her novel pride & prejudice use characterization to emphasise the traditional family & marriage model of the early 19th century, how does marjane satrapi use the plot of her graphic novel persepolis to illustrate the effect of fear on a child’s personal development during wartime, how and to what end are stylistic devices utilised in portrayal of masculinity in the late 20th century marlboro advertisements, how does nawal el saadawi represent the impact of religion and culture through symbolic features in the novel, woman at point zero, how does virginia woolf portray women's struggles in the early 20th century through literary techniques and narrative style in “a room of one's own”, how does akhtar represent amir’s internal conflict with his islamic cultural identity in “disgraced”, and to what effect, in what ways and to what effect does marjane satrapi illustrate the struggle for identity formation in persepolis: a story of a childhood, through the use of emilia’s character in othello, how does shakespeare reflect the realities of women in the elizabethan era to provide historical commentary, how does natalie diaz explore the marginalisation of native american people and how it affects their relationship with their identity in her poetry, how does kazuo ishiguro employ a first person point of view to explore the ways stevens’ sense of duty and loyalty shape his identity in the novel the remains of the day, how does michelle obama’s use of transformative narratives in her speeches inspire and empower audience to affect personal and societal change, how does banksy utilize visual and textual elements in his artworks in order to transform the publics opinion on capitalisms prominence in modern-day society, how and why is the notion of corruption in colonial algerian society in the 1940s presented as the result of the rejection of that which is different from the common standard in the stranger, how does george bernard shaw offer a critique of victorian society through characterization in his play “pygmalion”, in "jump and other short stories," how does nadine gordimer employ the concept of "otherness" to examine the ways in which groups construct their identities in a society marked by racism and segregation, how does margaret atwood utilize characterization, symbolism, and setting to portray offred’s change of identity during events after the fall of the united states in the dystopian novel the handmaid’s tale, how does william shakespeare portray the transformation of othello’s character caused by jealousy in his tragic play othello, how does federico garcía lorca convey passion in a way that contradicts the social norms within blood wedding, how does duffy critique the madonna-whore dichotomy by revisiting historical representations of women, how does the narrative of the documentary "ice cold: coffee, murder, and jessica wongso" attempt to reshape the audience's perception of jessica wongso’s guilt, how does banksy utilize visual elements in his 2008 new orleans art collection, to criticize the american government’s response to hurricane katrina, how does travon free utilize symbolism in the film two distant strangers to illustrate the struggle for survival and the need for change for african americans, how does walter astrada represent the pain and violence against women in his photography collection titled “femicides in guatemala”, to what extent does the film dead poets society by peter weir promote the pursuit of passion and self-expression, how does guy delisle’s use of symbolism in pyongyang indicate the democratic people's republic of korea's tactics of maintenance of power, how and to what effect does chekhov's characterization of the titular three sisters reflect the greater sociopolitical upheavals of late nineteenth-century russia, how does natalie diaz portray addiction and its impact on family dynamics.

A-Level English With Miss Huttlestone

A FULL MARK ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Essay

The following essay, penned by Heidi in year 12, captures the essence of the top band – it is developed, has true voice, and supports each ambitious idea with extensive textual evidence. Heidi’s knowledge of theorists, and her passion for debate adds enviable flair to the response .

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is not primarily about the suppression of women but about their defiance. To what extent to you agree?

‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a piece of speculative fiction about both the extensive oppression of women and their attempts to defy it, however their attempts exist in accordance with the misogyny that existed in the time before Gilead and this greatly limits the effectiveness of it. As philosopher Christopher Lasch would say, their protest is incurvatus in se or turned inward. This means that the protest throughout the narrative is lacklustre and far more about the actualisation of the self than the organised movement against total oppression. Atwood’s writing in the era of Reganism, where the rights of women were being pushed back against and thus the narrative reflects the internalised misogyny that each woman possessed via social conditioning that lowers one’s ability to protest effectively. Characters who defy do so by becoming more masculine as the culture hegemonic standard is that men are strong, and women are weak that existed long before Gilead came to be. Atwood seems to say with the lack of effective protest that the suppression of women existed before, it harmed women before, and it will continue to do so unless far greater pushback is made.

Firstly, the character of Serena Joy is created such that her defiance comes from her personal brutality and masculinisation of the self. She is a character who smokes, a recurring motif seen in all protesting characters, however smoking itself is seen as a masculine trait throughout history, with instances such as the Nazi regime totally banning smoking for women when they came to power. Further, the image of a cigarette is incredibly phallic, and the fact that this phallus is used as a semiotic representor of protest reflects the nature of such an act for women. They see no other alternative but this masculine object to use as their defiance, the social conditioning from year of demonisation of feminine power stemming long before Gilead has run so deeply into the psyche that the characters look for a phallic object to protest using. Serena, in her smoking is described by Offred by putting ‘the cigarette out, half-smoked, decisively one jab and one grind’, this imagery is violent, it is the pressing of the cigarette downwards and crushing of its end. The use of the repetition of the determiner ‘one’ creates the imagery of conclusion, she has done this action before and she is used to pushing the cigarette out, she needs no further courses of action. These traits embody the stereotypical masculine, she has decisiveness and not the stereotypical questioning femininity that has been so greatly propounded by wider society. This line also relates to Offred later recognition that she must ‘steel herself’ when partaking in the ceremony, Serena seems steely here, she seems solid, she seems in practise and almost robotic. Further, the way Serena acts is told to be opposing those in in the same social class as her and Offred goes on to say that they ways she puts out her own cigarette is different to the ‘many series of genteel taps favoured by many wives’. Not only does this quote indicate that there is protest and the taking up of black-market objects across the female hierarchy, but it separates Serena and solidifies her as a far more masculine and expectation defiant character. The other wives are dainty and adhere to gender norms that were present pre-Gilead, their actions are graceful and ladylike, they are far more the ‘Angel in the House’ than Serena seems to be. In addition to this, to tap a cigarette is to remove the ash, presumably a fully smoked one, since the Wives cannot work they are reliant on their husbands for the money to buy the black-market cigarettes, yet Serena disrespects this, her cigarette is wasted. She defies the view of ‘waste not want not’. Atwood has stated previously that there are droughts and struggles to get things into the regime, but Serena does not care, her protest here is one of apathy. She removes herself from the feminine doting stereotype who cares over all small details. The character of Serena Joy is one of two opposing sides, on the one hand she is the defiant strong masculine woman who acts aggressively and appositionally, yet her protest is about becoming a man more than it is becoming a defiant individual. She is far more preoccupied with masculinising herself to remove from the expectation of women than fostering true escape from Gilead. This makes her character one entangled with both the suppression of women and the feminine and the defiance of expectation. 

Moreover, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ presents the extent that misogyny invades the self through the internalisation of Gileadean and pre-Gileadean ideas of women and stereotypes. Throughout the novel, the ideas of Gilead are presented through the character Aunt Lydia, who remains a construct within the mind of Offred until the near end of the book. In turning the character in to a construction, Atwood is able to expertly show just how pervasive and condemning misogyny is to the minds of women, just how easily it finds itself inside the heads of those it infects. She uses no quotation marks around Aunt Lydia’s remarks to emphasise the degree at which it has been absorbed into each person. ‘Yours is a position of honour, she said’ is something Offred repeats in her internal narrative within the story. This idea has embedded itself in the protagonist and she speaks of how her ‘flesh arranges itself differently’ and she is less a woman and more of a ‘cloud’. Through this metaphorical imagery, the reader is shown the degree at which Gilead breaks the psyche of women. Offred is within Gilead to the point at which it ahs changed her flesh entirely and is no longer herself, no longer bodily autonomous. To include this detail, Atwood creates the impression that the ideas of the patriarchy imbed themselves so deeply within the women subjected to them that they gain the ability to almost change their existence and self-perception entirely. A feminist reader would conclude from this that the character of Offred is one afflicted with internalised misogyny, she becomes her own oppressor and the oppressor of those around her due to her social conditioning. This is backed up by the recollection of a session within the Red Centre that was reflective of the struggle sessions of Maoist China where in abuse was shouted at a central, labelled dissident – in this case Janine. She says that ‘We meant it’, the ‘it’ in reference to the psychological attacks levied against the rape victim, yet she refuses to label it such due to well-placed shame, replacing it with a mediator, replacing it with the innocent and decent sounding ‘it’, she attempts to remove herself from her own actions. In using a collective pronoun, she is implicating the entirety of the Handmaidens who were with her in this abuse, she acts as though she understands their thoughts and in many ways she likely does as they were all put through the same cycle of abuse. It also creates the idea of togetherness and sisterhood; however, this is sisterhood that has been manufactured by the state to abuse someone, it is sisterhood that exists because of women coming together to attack another. So often in the modern media, women are pitted against one another and there seems a great manipulation to make them hate each other. This sisterhood is contrived, it is there because Gilead understands that they must give these women a slight amount of togetherness, so long as it is to attack another individual. This defiance here is a reflection of the patriarchy.

Despite this internalisation, there are many instances of the creation of distinction between us and them within the narrative. Although much of what Aunt Lydia has told Offred is presented uncommented on and internalised, we are still seen some instances of the opposition to her word such as the criticism of her cherry picking of the Bible verse ‘Blessed are the meek’ and her decision to not ‘go on to say anything about inheriting the earth’. The Bible verse blessed are the meek was debated in DH Lawrence’s novel ‘The Rainbow’ wherein his defiant female Ursula character criticized the term due to the connotation it holds that you must be poor and weak to be ‘blessed’ by God. Her character believed that this term is used to satiate the poor and those in unfortunate positions. In many ways, Aunt Lydia’s statement of this term represents that, she is trying to say that the women are weak and must stay ‘meek’ to be drawn under God’s Grace, however Offred unpicks this and criticizes her use of the term in the fact it has so clearly been cherry picked for this purpose. It is meant to satiate the handmaids, lower their drive to protest and suppress them. Yet in Offred educated background she is aware that this is not the full quote and defies expectation by finishing it herself. A reader may believe that this means she sees a life outside of Gilead, that she believes she will ‘inherit the earth’, or rather there will be some form of balance restored. The use of ‘they’ within this recital also indicates a belief in a collective of Handmaids that will work to subvert the rule of Gilead, she does not talk about herself here and rather talks about a collective of the ‘meek’ who shall take over and repossess what they have been stripped of. Further, this idea of the collective ‘meek’ being together is emphasised in the idea that comes after Ofglen’s taking of Offred into the resistance. Offred thinks ‘there is an us then, there is a we’ before going onto say ‘what about them’. These three collective pronouns create the idea that there are two groups of people in Offred’s mind and that she is separate from the regime and its agents. The ‘them’ is in reference to the state actors that exist within Gilead and their violence. Offred separates herself from the violence in the recognition of a ‘them’, she is no longer a part of what has placed others on a wall, what has murdered those around her because she is able to self-actualise and join a group, to join a ‘we’, to join an ‘us’. and while this sentiment is incredible, it is short lived and just a few pages onward Offred reverts to the personal. The chapter ends with the pronoun ‘me’ in Offred joy that she was not taken away by the Eyes. This is a sad reflection that relates to the thesis that protest within Gilead is protest governed by laws of self-actualisation and not true revolutionary action. Offred creates an ‘us’, joins it, and, due to social conditioning, leaves it at the first sign of struggle.  

Finally, the way protest within the novel creates itself is in line with the concept of inward protest rather than outward revolutionary action. This is called incurvatus in se in the words of Christopher Lasch and generally forms itself in the self-actualisation over active opposition against injustice. One example of this is the stealing of a ‘withered daffodil’ from the kitchen by Offred. The daffodil is named after the Greek myth of narcissus and semiotically reflects narcissism. For Atwood to specify this flowers breed she creates the impression that what Offred is doing is to oppose standards of beauty set out by Gilead. However, a Laschian reader would take this symbol far differently. The fact that her protest is the taking of a symbol of narcissism is a reflection of the inability to protest non-narcissistically created in the 1980s during the creation of neo-liberalism. This phenomena praised the individuals actions over anything else and thus the individual saw themselves as more important than the collective group. Atwood, writing at a time where neoliberalism was being created, places her character past in the same time line as her own and thus Offred is afflicted by the same hegemonic standard. Offred exhibits much of the narcissistic tendencies that are noted by Lasch, namely the taking without much real action and what little action that does take place being to self-actualise. Her decision to take the Daffodil was arrived at because it ‘will not be missed’, this is an example of ‘meek’ defiance, and the aforementioned internalisation of such a thing. We have seen how Aunt Lydia wanted the handmaids to be ‘meek’ and Offred still acts in this way, she still internalises her message. The daffodil is ‘withered’, it is presumably about to be thrown out, it is dying. And Offred recognises this and takes it, because this protest is about self-actualising more than it is protest. 

Overall, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ is a novel that cannot be split into the suppression of women and their defiance. It must be viewed as a conjunction of the two; how the suppression of women harms their protest, how the protest of women changes their suppression. These two concepts exist in symbiosis, the protest of the female characters is in accordance to hegemonic weakening female stereotypes, the women are forced to internalise ideas about their own gender that are near impossible to refute. 

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Published by gcseenglishwithmisshuttlestone

Secondary English teacher in Herts. View all posts by gcseenglishwithmisshuttlestone

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Essay writing skills – A level English Language/Literature

These are a set of interactive activities taking you through the key steps of writing an organised and well-structured essay. From introductions to conclusions and everything in between, this resource can be used in the classroom or at home to consolidate teaching. Written by an experienced teacher and examiner, it also uses examples from previous examination series.

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