HANDMAID'S TALE demythologised dystopia

This new reading of “The Handmaid’s Tale” puts the novel into the context of feminism in the 1980s and the dystopian novel. This article is ideal for the Dystopia option of OCR English Literature A level. The article considers"The Handmaid’s Tale"'s reputation as a cult novel, as a satire of male power and Christianity and the debt it owes to Orwell’s “1984”. Attwood’s prose and structure are analysed. The author argues that “The Handmaid’s Tale” is not the greatest novel of the twentieth century or the greatest dystopian novel: it is a fine novel, written in excellent prose, but it has flaws. This article will help to engage your A level students and to give them something to argue with or against. It will thus encourage them, as the A level specifications require, to engage with critical views rather than simply to read them passively. It is written by Frank Danes, who wrote many of the materials to support OCR English Literature A level on the OCR website; Danes taught English for 30 years in English secondary schools and was Head of English in three schools.