Assignment Description
Using Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale and one of the short works (stories or essays of feminist criticism) we have studied (ALL LISTED AT BOTTOM), explore how female characters navigate systems of power through voice, silence, and narrative control. In a 1,300-1,500 word analytical essay (the word count includes the Works Cited page), examine how these works illuminate the relationship between gender, power, and self-expression.
Topic Options
- Language as Survival: Analyze how Offred’s narration in The Handmaid’s Tale compares to another female narrator we have studied. How do these characters use language, storytelling, or silence as tools of resistance? What role does memory and the act of telling one’s story play in maintaining identity under oppression?
- Bodies and Text: Compare how The Handmaid’s Tale and another work explore the connection between bodily autonomy and narrative autonomy. How do these texts represent the relationship between having control over one’s body and having control over one’s story? Consider scenes of reading, writing, speaking, or forced silence.
- Dystopia as Mirror: Put The Handmaid’s Tale in conversation with a non-dystopian text we have read. How does Atwood’s future-focused lens illuminate themes of gender and power that appear in works set in the past or present? What makes these connections revealing about contemporary gender dynamics?
Elements to Consider
- The role of naming and language in establishing/resisting power
- How characters document or preserve their experiences
- The significance of reading and writing within the narratives
- The relationship between personal and political forms of control
- How different literary genres shape the exploration of these themes
Requirements
- Specific analysis of narrative techniques in both texts
- Clear thesis about the significance of your chosen comparison
- Discussion of relevant historical/social contexts
- Strong textual evidence from both works
- The use of scholarly sources is optional for this essay
Lastly, make sure to include a properly formatted Works Cited page for the essay. You likely will have just one citation on this page. Don’t forget to make sure that the entire document adheres to MLA style, 9th edition (yes, you will lose points if it doesn’t adhere to MLA style).
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- Short works that can be used- “The Second Sex” by Simone De Beauvoir, Judith Butler on Gender and Performativity, “A Room of Ones Own” by Virginia Woolf, “The Jilting of Granny Weatherall” by Katherine Anne Porter, “How it feels to be Colored me” by Zora Neale Hurston, “Sweat” by Zora Neale Hurston, “The Waltz” by Dorthy Parker, “A Worn Path” by Eudora Welty, and “Good Country People” by Flannery O’Connor.
