‘Our reading experience is heightened when we care about the fate of our protagonist. Discuss the extent to which you agree.’

In the Handmaid’s Tale the reader may not like Offred, but cares for her (which in turn heightens the reading experience) because we can empathize with her and her change in setting. Gilead strips women of; Freedom of movement, Control over their Sexuality, a Life without Fear.

Agree:

1. Outcomes                -of characters
2. Investment               – invested our time into her        
3. Empathy                  – does she find her family,
4. New Environment    -we are swayed for a happy ending

Disagree:

1. Narrative             
2. Language
3. Setting                     -Struggle to connect with her, frustration with her as a character

We care for her because what she deals with:

‘Setting’ >>

1. Lack of freedom through movement (
2. Control of women and sexuality (express sexuality through clothing etc, sex with who you want, jezebels, people are supposed to have right0
3. Control through fear (surveillance, hidden agenda controlled by fear eg the commander)  

Introduction

Body Paragraph 

Our reading experience is heightened because we care about the fate of Offred. Thoumgh we may not like Offred as a character we do care about her fate, for we empathise with her and her sudden change into a Totalitarian regime. This new World that she now lives in, Gilead, has stripped her from the control of her own sexuality. Deemed as a fertile women in this regime she is subjected to become a Handmaid for the Commander and his Wife, where her sole purpose is to reproduce without having her own say in the matter. Atwood has used allusions throughout the text such as ‘marxism’ to show that women are lesser beings and should be ranked according to her abilities. “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” is a quote from Karl Marx and Atwood had correlated this idea into the text where she says “From each according to her ability; to each according to his needs.” This is the soul of Gilead, where women are put to work based on their abilities until there is no longer any need for them. For example Jezebels is a place 

Jezebels: Attwood used ‘Jezebels’ as a place in the book because it shows men control throughout all aspects of life, that women are lower ranked. Women are to be used, and aren’t there by choice. The women in there used to be business women, this shows us that these women are strong, independent. This shows women are always lower ranked and men are allowed to do anything they want to do with women. Commanders didn’t like women to be promiscuous, but commanders want to be turned on and aroused but cannot in the monthly ‘ceremony’.

Men stating their power.

Control of Sexuality: Fertility is the reason for Offred’s captivity and the source of her power, Gilead’s major failing and its hope for the future. Inhabitants of Gilead give many reasons for the society’s issues with creating viable offspring: the sexual revolution and birth control, pollution, sexually transmitted diseases. And the book hints at other, more subtle problems: in a society that restricts women so much, treating the potential child-bearers alternately as precious objects, bothersome machines, and prostitute-like sources of shame, how could anyone conceive? Similarly, though Offred knows her life depends on a successful birth, the atmosphere of extreme pressure and fear can’t be as successful a motivator as the hope, love and liberty that characterized life with her first daughter and Luke. Despite the sterile atmosphere, markers of fertility, such as flowers and worms, throng in the Commander’s Wife’s carefully tended garden.

The Commander and his wife host Offred for her proven fertility, and they even rename her as Fred’s possession—her body’s functions are valued, but her personhood is not. This division is highlighted in Janine’s Birthing Ceremony, where Janine’s Commander’s Wife pretends to give birth at the same time, and the faked birth is treated as the authentic one. In this way, Gilead manages to strip away even the Handmaid’s connection to the babies they bear in a version of a sharing, collective society gone totally wrong.

‘V for Vendetta’

Winning Beginnings

Purpose – to introduce the questions and the outline the structure for your essay

There are key elements that must be covered and these are:

• Texts Name

• What your (3) body paragraphs will cover

• Making it evident whether you agree or disagree with the statement

• Utilizing key components/ wording from the statement (question), you will also continue to follow this practice in your body paragraphs writing.

It is crucial, despite time constraints, to make your essay stand out from your peers. There are other elements we can utilize to command the markers attention and demonstrate sophistication:

• Quotes to start – from the texts or from the narrator or from a source that you know will strengthen your theme
• Broad statement that shows how the text reflects society
• Rhetorical questions

Practice Questions:

• A successful text helps us to think but doesn’t tell us what to do.
• The most challenging ideas in a text are found in the details.
• For a text to be successful, elements of the setting must be recognisable
• What matters most to viewers is not what a text makes them think but what it makes them feel.