4.2.2

Links to Dystopian Fiction

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Parallels with Nineteen Eighty Four

Parallels between The Handmaid's Tale and Nineteen Eighty Four are:

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The use of neologisms (new words)

  • Atwood: Compucheck/Particicutions/Unwomen.
  • Orwell: Newspeak/Doublethink/Facecrime.
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Constant threat of surveillance

  • Atwood: Under his Eye.
  • Orwell: Big Brother is watching you.
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Political context

  • Atwood: rise of New Right and Fundamentalist Christianity in 1980s.
  • Orwell: post World War 2, Cold war setting and rise of Stalin/Communism.
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Use of violence for control

  • Use of violence as a way of controlling the masses and deflecting the focus away from those in charge:
    • Atwood: Salvaging and Particicutions.
    • Orwell: Two Minutes Hate ritual.
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Protagonists

  • Both protagonists are beaten down by the totalitarian regime and willing to say anything or incriminate anyone to surivie:
    • Atwood: "I'll say anything they like. I'll incriminate anyone. It's true, the first scream, whimper even, and I'll turn to jelly, I'll confess to any crime, I'll end up hanging from a hook on the Wall"
    • Orwell: "Do it to Julia! Do it to Julia! Not me! Julia! I don't care what you do to her. Tear her face off, strip her to the bones. Not me! Julia! Not me!"

Jump to other topics

1Author Background

1.1Margaret Atwood

2Chapter Summaries

3Dedications & Epigraph

3.1Dedications & Epigraph

4Context

5Narrative Structure & Literary Techniques

6Themes & Imagery

7Characters

8Readings

8.1Readings of The Handmaid's Tale

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