The Handmaid's Tale

by Margaret Atwood

Hillary H. & Abby N <3 and Alisssssar.

Plot (List 7 - 12 major events)

• The night when Offred is describing how the women communicate, in darkness and whispers.
• Offred goes shopping. 
• Offred goes to the doctor; is accosted.
• Offred finds the writing in the vicinity of the closet.
• What is going on with the Commander? 
• Janine has baby; birthmobile; rapture!
• Offred does her duty with Commander.
• Asks her to come back and expresses secret desire to play Scrabble :]
• Runs into Nick while sneaking around; they kiss.
• Moira escapes! By punching a Martha in the face.
• Commander takes her to gentlemen's club. Oh la la.
• Serena Joy approaches Offred about possibly having Nick's baby.
• Nick & Offred fornicate, multiple times, as she narrowly escapes getting caught.
• New walking partner. Oh where, oh where has her previous partner gone?
• The black van shows up.
• Offred freaks. Nick assures her it is okay, and she slips away, quite sneakily.
• Years later, a professor recalls the civilization and its many crazy cultural morays and folkways.
• The End.

Characters (list 3 - 8 characters, with descriptive info on each)

• Offred: a handmaid who is nostalgic, clever and resourceful. desires companionship.
• Moira: a fellow handmaid, offred's friend of the past, desires cigarettes. is rebellious, troublesome.
• Aunt Lydia: "matriarch" of the handmaids. has very set beliefs on their actions.
• Cora: a martha, is nice to offred. spiteful.
• Ofglen: offred's shopping parter, (the first one) is a handmaid also. worrysome.
• The Commander: man in command. expresses interest in offred. player of scrabble. drinker.
• Serena Joy: the commander's wife, desires children, holds the key to offred's past. (in the form of a photograph of offred's daughter.) 
• Janine: one of the handmaids; successfully becomes impregnanted, baby is considered viable at first.
• Nick: drives the commander around, makes googly eyes at offred, she thinks he's an eye.
• Luke: offred's husband in the past.

Settings (list 3 - 5 settings, with descriptive info. on each)

• The Commander's House
• The Commander's Office/Bedroom
• The Street
• "The Past" (flashbacks) 
• Serena Joy's parlor/garden
• Offred's room
• The Club
• Nick's Room

Conflicts (identify 3 - 4 major conflicts and explain the importance of each)

• male dominance: in AHT, the women have no choice but to succumb to their male counterparts, this brings up the issue of male dominance across several cultures and societies and begs the question of what = power in the male gender.
• past vs. present: will it behoove offred to struggle with her past or make plans for her future? 
• conflict 3

Themes  (identify 3 - 4 major themes and explain the basis of each)

• fertility and the virtues of womanhood.
• men and power.
• internal conflict, struggles with one's own choices.
• serendipity.

Symbolism (identify 3 - 4 symbols and provide an interpretation of each)

• White Hat = Purity/Seclusion
• Red = Fertility
• symbol 3

Commentary (express your opinions about the book here)

• opinion 1
• opinion 2
• opinion3