“ We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

“We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.” Atwood

The Handmaid’s Tale &Feminism

“Mother, I think…Can you hear me? You wanted a woman’s culture. Well, now there is one, It isn’t what you meant, but it exists, Be thankful for small mercies.”Slide2

‘Born a Woman’ Sandy Posey 1966http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWDZ0YpgViUIt makes no difference if you're rich or poorOr if you're smart or dumbA woman's place in this old world Is under some man's thumb

And if you're born a womanYou're born to be hurtYou're born to be stepped on, lied to, cheated onAnd treated like dirtAh if you're born a womanYou're born to be hurtA woman's lot is to give and giveAnd go on giving

A woman's got to love and lose

And go on living

Well I was born a woman

I didn't have no say

And when my man finally comes home

He makes me glad it happened that way

Because to be his woman

No price is too great to pay

Yes I was born a woman

I'm glad it happened that way

Oh I was born a woman I'm glad it happened that waySlide3

I am woman, hear me roarIn numbers too big to ignoreAnd I know too much to go back an' pretend'Cause I've heard it all beforeAnd I've been down there on the floorNo one's ever gonna keep me down againOh yes, I am wiseBut it's wisdom born of painYes, I've paid the priceBut look how much I gainedIf I have toI can do anything

I am strong (strong)I am invincible (invincible)I am womanYou can bend but never break me'Cause it only serves to make meMore determined to achieve my final goalAnd I come back even strongerNot a novice any longer'Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

Oh, yes, I am wise

But it's wisdom born of pain

Yes, I've paid the price

But look how much I gained

If I have to

I can face anything

I am strong (strong)

I am invincible (invincible)

I am woman

I am woman watch me grow

See me standing toe to toe

As I spread my

lovin

' arms across the land

But I'm still an embryo

With a long, long way to go

Until I make my brother understand

Oh, yes, I am wise

But it's wisdom born of pain

Yes, I've paid the price

But look how much I gained

If I have to

I can face anything

I am strong (strong)

I am invincible (invincible)

I am woman

Oh, I am woman

I am invincible

I am strong

I am woman

I am invincible

I am strong

I am woman

Helen Reddy, 1972

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGMESM8JKOgSlide4

The Lifeless Wife Atwood The lifeless wifeKisses with pursed lipsHer grim husband (thin

Pinstriped businessman);She is his safe Deposit box and bankThe nickelodeon

That plays his favourite tune

She was just an ordinary

Woman: all he had to do

To make her fully his

In pure domestic bliss

Was just break through

Her backbone, empty out her head

Stuff her heart with money

And bury her in bed.Slide5

Plan of attackHandouts Frieden and de BeauvoirEnglish ReviewWith the people around you share what you ‘coloured-in’and be able to share what you’ll take from the readings into the novel?Examples from the novel & how is the feminist message subverted in Gilead?Slide6

Examples of how Feminism has been subverted in the novel?There is more than one kind of freedom…Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it. (5, 34)We seemed to be able to choose, then. We were a society dying…of too much choice. (5, 35)

There is no such thing as a sterile man any more, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that’s the law. But whose fault was it? Her fault, her fault, her fault (13, 82)For the generations that come after..it will be better. The women will live in harmony together, all in one family; you will be like daughters to them…women united for a common end…Why expect one woman to carry out all the functions necessary to the serene running of a household? It isn’t reasonable or humane…But we can’t be greedy pigs and demand too much before it’s ready, now can we? (26, 171/2

)

Don’t you remember the terrible gap between the ones who could get a man easily and the ones who couldn’t? ….This way they all get a man, nobody’s left out….what did we overlook? Love, I said. (34, 230)

Consider the alternatives, said Aunt Lydia. You see what things used to be like? That was what they thought of women, then. Her voice trembled with indignation (20, 128)

FREEDOM TO CHOOSE. EVER BABY A WANTED BABY. RECAPTURE OUR BODIES. DO YOU BELIEVE A WOMAN”S PLACE IS ON THE KITCHEN TABLE? Under the last sign there’s a line drawing of woman’s body, lying on a table, blood dripping out of it. (20, 130)

We are for breeding purposes(21, 146)… we are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.