Handmaid's Tale Postmodernism Historical Notes

This is four lessons (in one document) which helps students understand Postmodernism, and applies this in detail to the ‘Historical Notes’ section of The Handmaid’s Tale.

First, students look at 3 poems to explore Victorian, Modernist, and Postmodern themes. They also look at how painting styles have changed over the centuries to less realistic and more abstract forms. They also consider the relative reliability of different ways of researching the past.

The Historical Notes is then broken up into 6 sections, with specific questions linking to Postmodernism for each section.

Finally, other theories (such as Marxism and Feminism) are used to analyse the text through different lenses.

See my complete SoW on The Handmaid’s Tale for more useful lessons!