WebQuest for Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale

“In the desert there is no sign that says, Thou shalt not eat stones.”

Introduction | Webquest Description | Feminism | New Historicism | Marxism | Psychoanalysis | Deconstructionism | Critical Lens Qs | Little Red Riding Hood | Section Qs Overview | Section I Questions | Section II Questions | Section III Questions | Section IV Questions | Section V Questions

Introduction

Some Background

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead — formerly the United States. She is allowed to leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets where the signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and hope that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are only valued if their ovaries are viable.

Offred can remember the days before, when she had a loving husband and family, when she had a job—money of her own, and access to knowledge. But those days are long gone....

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood has created a vision of the future that is at once oppressive and hopeful, darkly satirical and ruefully funny. Provocative in nature, the text compels the reader to compare the fictional world of Gilead with our own contemporary society. 

Now — on to the WebQuest.