Children of Ham & Soul Scrolls
English Lit: Edexcel A Level The Handmaid's Tale, topic 4.5.2
The Children of Ham and Soul Scrolls
The resettlement of the Children of Ham references Apartheid. The Soul Scrolls chapter references Tibetan Buddhist’s Prayer Wheels.
Children of Ham - Apartheid
- Atwood references prejudice against African Americans with the news from the television in Gilead reporting the "resettlement of the Children of Ham". This suggests that they are being segregated because of their race.
- This clearly references slavery in the United States and across the globe.
- But the reference to the ‘resettlement’ could also be referencing Apartheid in South Africa, which means ‘Apartness’ in Afrikaans.
Apartheid (cont.)
- Apartheid started in 1948.
- It led to the widespread discrimination of non-white people, including political and economic discrimination.
Soul Scrolls - Prayer Wheels
- In the chapter Soul Scrolls, Offred discusses the practice of wealthy citizens in Gilead using machines to print out and read aloud personalised prayers in succession. This creates a "palimpsest" of prayers as the machines run 24 hours a day.
- These scrolls reference Tibetan Buddhist’s Prayer Wheels, which they use to create mantras to help their worship.
Satirising prayer wheels
- These prayer wheels are holy and sacred, but Atwood is satirising this idea to show how prayers in Gilead have become commodified, as the reader finds out: "Commanders' Wives do it a lot. It helps their husbands' careers."