Plot
The name of the club to which the Commander takes Offred
The class of women in Gilead who perform domestic activities.
What is a Martha?
The year that the Historical Notes takes place.
What is 2195?
The male-centric model of society on which Gilead is built.
What is Patriarchy?
The pillow in Offred's room has what word written on it?
Faith
Organization(s) that Gilead is at war with.
What is Baptists?
The order of soldiers/military in Gilead.
What are Angels?
The format or medium on which Offred's The Handmaid's Tale is found.
What is 30 unordered cassette tapes?
Name for the movement or era of advocacy for women during which The Handmaid's Tale was written.
When did Atwood publish The Handmaid's Tale?
What is the year 1985?
The means through which Nick/The Commander acquire items like cigarettes.
What is the Black Market?
The "bad place" of Gilead- which has been contaminated by toxic waste and is populated by political prisoners.
What are "The Colonies?"
The group of men forming the religious think tank responsible for the formation of Gilead.
What are the Sons of Jacob?
Bible story used as justification and precedent for the use of surrogate mothers (Handmaids) in Gilead.
Who are Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah?
What location symbolises Serena Joy's desire for fertility, and where she can most often be found?
the garden
Factor(s) behind the drop in birth rate in The Handmaid's Tale.
What is Pollution?
What is Toxic Waste?
What are STIs?
Mass prayer meetings held in Gilead for special occasions such as weddings.
What is a Prayvaganza?
Who is Frederick R. Waterford?
Model of prison created by Jeremy Bentham and analyzed as a theoretical model of power and surveillance by Michel Foucault.
What is the Panopticon?
Stands in contrast with the Mayday movement; manifested in grey suited agents
the Eyes
Women's rights targeted first by Gileadean rulers.
What is women's bank access?
What is women's employment?
Resistance organization that conducts "safe houses" and assists in the escape of Gileadean fugitives.
What is "the Underground Femaleroad?"
Things which the Aunts in Gilead were named for.
What are cosmetic lines, cake mixes, frozen desserts, medicinal remedies, etc?
The Commander's twisted rationale for the role of women in Gilead.
"You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs" (Atwood, 211)
"Better never means better for everyone ... It always means worse, for some" (211)
Which two characters is Offred referring to? "They cannot be exchanged, one for the other. They cannot replace each other."
Nick and Luke