Why read The Handmaid’s Tale through feminist magazines?
Reading Atwood’s novel through feminist magazines encourages students to meet the Assessment Objectives for the A Level English Literature exam (AQA and Edexcel).
Why read The Handmaid’s Tale through feminist magazines?
Thinking about feminist magazines is a great way to introduce students to ‘relevant concepts and terminology’ (AO1) such as: reproductive rights, the sexual division of labour, feminist activism, patriarchy, media representation and sexual politics.
Feminist magazines also give students an insight into the key feminist issues and debates of the 1980s. Campaigns to end violence against women and girls, debates about reproductive justice, anti-racism and pornography are recorded in the pages of Spare Rib and many other women’s movement magazines. These campaigns and debates inform The Handmaid’s Tale in various ways and help students to develop interpretations that draw on the ‘significance and influence of context’ (AO3).
Perhaps most importantly, however, thinking about feminist magazines helps students to reflect on narrative form. Atwood chooses to write a novel rather than an article for a feminist magazine. What difference does this make? How does she embed feminist debate into the novel? Requiring students to think about narrative technique helps them to analyse ‘the ways in which meanings are shaped in literary texts’ (AO2).
