The book I am reading is The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. The setting is a place called the Republic of Gilead. I think it's somewhere in America since it mentioned California and Florida. The main character is a handmaid who works for the Commander and his wife. There is also a low birth rate so they have Handmaids to give birth to kids. There are also people who work in kitchens called ¨Marthas¨ The two in the kitchen are called Rita and Cora. They gossip and talk about what’s happening outside. Women are treated like objects and are not allow to have relationships with other people. They also cannot speak freely. They are not allow to read or go walk by themselves. Handmaids wear long red dresses and hats with wings. The Commander’s Wife turned out to be a person named Serena Joy who used to be a happy signer but is now an old lady who wants nothing to do with the main character. So far the main character is just going through her daily life.
I have read dystopian novels before. A recent one I read is called Fahrenheit 451 which is about a society were firefighters start fires to burns books because they are illegal and having one can get you killed. So far I think The Handmaid's Tale is interesting. I’m looking forward to also learning about the main characters past. The book also mentioned life before their form of government was put in place so I also would like to know how everything changed. Some similarities I see with this book and previously read dystopian novels, are problems in their society regarding population of and birthrate. In one book I read, there was a problem with the growing population of people and the government had strict rules for distributing food and things like that. There is also that sad feeling that most dystopian novels have with everything being depressing and people living in a controlling system of government. I think the story takes place on earth. I’m not sure when this novel takes place but there are cars so I assume somewhere around our time. I will be commenting on Sydney and Mariana's blog posts.
1 Comment
Mariana Alvarez
6/8/2018 01:29:43 pm
Great blog post Maddie! You have great information about the book and amazing detail as well, I also loved reading some of your own thoughts about where the book takes place and many more. Referring to your first paragraph, what do you think about how the handmaids in this book are being treated and how they can't have a freedom of speech and how they can't be seen as more than just maids?
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