4.5.3
Offred's Tattoo, Salvaging & Illegal Abortions
Offred's Tattoo, Salvaging and Illegal Abortions in Gilead
Offred's Tattoo, Salvaging and Illegal Abortions in Gilead
Offred's Tattoo references the Holocaust. The Particicutions and Salvaging reference executions in North Korea and Iran. Abortion being illegal in Gilead references Decree 770 in Romania.
Offred's tattoo - tattooing Jews
Offred's tattoo - tattooing Jews
- Offred has a tattoo of an eye and four digits on her ankle. This is a visible sign that she is part of the regime and makes her easily identifiable if she were ever to escape.
- This act of tattooing numbers on to prisoners references World War 2. The inhabitants of the Nazi concentration camps would have their identity reduced down to a number tattoed on their arm.
- It is a brutal way of controlling, objectifying and dehumanising an individual.
Particicutions/Salvaging
Particicutions/Salvaging
- As horrific as the ideas of the Particicutions and Salvaging are, the reality is that there are still countries in the world, like Iran and North Korea, which hold public death sentencing, executions and even allow people to participate in the murder of ‘so-called’ offenders.
- In Iranian history, female rape victims have been accused of adultery and buried up to their neck and stoned to death by several men as others watch. This is horribly like the Particicution in Atwood’s novel.
Illegal abortions - Decree 770
Illegal abortions - Decree 770
- The Decree 770 was a law in Romania, passed in 1967, which made abortions and all forms of contraception illegal.
- The Government was worried about the decreasing birth rate and wanted to make their country larger and stronger.
Decree 770 (cont.)
Decree 770 (cont.)
- This lead to strictly enforced conditions on women, including monitored trips to the gynaecologist (like Offred’s trip to the Doctor) and even the Secret Police surveilling hospitals to make sure women were trying to get pregnant and not trying to control their own bodies.
1Author Background
1.1Margaret Atwood
2Chapter Summaries
2.1Chapter 1: Night I
2.2Chapters 2-6: Shopping II
2.3Chapter 7: Night II
2.4Chapters 8-12: Waiting Room IV
2.5Chapter 13: Nap V
2.6Chapters 14-17: Household VI
2.7Chapter 18: Night VII
2.8Chapters 19-23: Birth Day VIII
2.9Chapter 24: Night IX
2.10Chapters 25-29: Soul Scrolls X
2.11Chapter 30: Night XI
2.12Chapters 31-39: Jezebel's XII
2.13Chapter 40: Night XIII
2.14Chapters 41-45: Salvaging XIV
2.15Chapter 46: Night XV
2.16Historical Notes
3Dedications & Epigraph
3.1Dedications & Epigraph
4Context
4.1Setting
4.2Literary Context & Genre
4.3Political Context
4.4Historical Context
4.5Parallels: Read World & Gilead
4.6Religious Context
5Narrative Structure & Literary Techniques
5.1Narrative Structure
5.2Literary Techniques
6Themes & Imagery
6.2Imagery
7Characters
7.1Female Characters
7.2Male Characters
8Readings
8.1Readings of The Handmaid's Tale
Jump to other topics
1Author Background
1.1Margaret Atwood
2Chapter Summaries
2.1Chapter 1: Night I
2.2Chapters 2-6: Shopping II
2.3Chapter 7: Night II
2.4Chapters 8-12: Waiting Room IV
2.5Chapter 13: Nap V
2.6Chapters 14-17: Household VI
2.7Chapter 18: Night VII
2.8Chapters 19-23: Birth Day VIII
2.9Chapter 24: Night IX
2.10Chapters 25-29: Soul Scrolls X
2.11Chapter 30: Night XI
2.12Chapters 31-39: Jezebel's XII
2.13Chapter 40: Night XIII
2.14Chapters 41-45: Salvaging XIV
2.15Chapter 46: Night XV
2.16Historical Notes
3Dedications & Epigraph
3.1Dedications & Epigraph
4Context
4.1Setting
4.2Literary Context & Genre
4.3Political Context
4.4Historical Context
4.5Parallels: Read World & Gilead
4.6Religious Context
5Narrative Structure & Literary Techniques
5.1Narrative Structure
5.2Literary Techniques
6Themes & Imagery
6.2Imagery
7Characters
7.1Female Characters
7.2Male Characters
8Readings
8.1Readings of The Handmaid's Tale
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