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Why should you read "The Handmaid's Tale"? - Naomi R. Mercer

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Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction masterpiece The Handmaid's Tale explores the consequences of complacency and how power can be wielded unfairly. Atwood’s chilling vision of a dystopian regime has captured readers' imaginations since its publication in 1985. How does this book maintain such staying power? Naomi R. Mercer investigates.

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Margaret Atwood limited the events in The Handmaid’s Tale to real occurrences. How are the dystopian elements of The Handmaid’s Tale, based on historic events, still relevant today?

TED-EdLesson CreatorNew York, NY

The Handmaid's tale is still relevant today because there are still ongoing problems with women rights, and women protesting for their rights. In our history, it is clear that women never had more power than men and that their rights were always limited. In one of the most recent problems, Roe v wade, the right for women to have an abortion was turned away. This means that in some states, women are no longer able to get an abortion. The Handmaid's Tale will forever be relevant in our society because there will always be problems involving women's right somewhere in the world.

Avatar for Qingxi Li

Posted on 03/09/2023

Posted by Qingxi Li COMPLETED LESSON

Margaret Atwood is warning people that something like that could happend and also are happening. (For examples in lots of asian coutry women have no rights)

Avatar for Elia Marchesin

Posted on 04/13/2022

Posted by Elia Marchesin LESSON IN PROGRESS

we still live in a society where they aren't born into classism, so they will do whatever it takes to get fast money or a high power position willing to sacrifice everything.

Avatar for Casandra Gomez

Posted on 03/29/2022

Posted by Casandra Gomez COMPLETED LESSON

the dystopian elements in the handmaids tale are showing that what has happened in the past could easily happen today again

Avatar for mia ostwald

Posted on 08/12/2020

Posted by mia ostwald COMPLETED LESSON

Perheaps because fear is not limited by the time. In addition, there are still opposite movements against femenist movement, which could recall to people the danger. As long as it is a warning against a possible future danger, and as we are iin the furure from the time of this story, we can be afraid to repruduce the errors made in this book.

Avatar for solène solène

Posted on 06/05/2020

Posted by solène solène COMPLETED LESSON

The handmaids tale is based on a new type of government that controls everyone one. Women are sorted by their past mistakes. Barren women have handmaids to bear children for them. Woman are basically slaves to them. This is all still relevant to now because this could happen in the future

Avatar for Daniel Trujillo

Posted on 05/15/2020

Posted by Daniel Trujillo COMPLETED LESSON

The Dystopian elements are relevant to how society is in the sense of how men see women; and depict certain things about them before anything else. Women also not being on a certain level in the eyes of men, also women joined in unison in groups due to the fact that most of the time they have to protect each other from men out there that have this ideology that they are inferior to them. These are all characteristics the people in gilead have to deal with.

Avatar for Jesse Diaz

Posted on 05/14/2020

Posted by Jesse Diaz COMPLETED LESSON

The Dystopian elements of the Handmaids Tale is still relevant today because there is a possibility that this has happened somewhere. Margaret Atwood said she drew these from actual global events to create the world of Gilead.I feel like some events today are similar to dystopian ideas from the novel because men sometimes use women for their benefit. I feel like they control women as if they are the slave. Men even make their decisions when they shouldn’t. This is similar to the dystopian society because women don’t have a choice to make their own decisions and are being used for their bodies.

Avatar for natalia gauna

Posted on 05/14/2020

Posted by natalia gauna LESSON IN PROGRESS

I don’t see the dystopia in this novel

Avatar for Jack Fletcher

Posted on 08/27/2019

Posted by Jack Fletcher COMPLETED LESSON

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