The Handmaid’s Tale: (a) The opening

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Lesson focus:

To explore how the opening chapter sets up the novel.

Opening exercise: Read

Swift’s A Modest Proposal (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1080)

The story of Jacob and Rachel

from Genesis 30:1-24 (http://texts.crossref-it.info/bible/genesis/30)

Discuss The significance of these stories The extracts Atwood has used

from them What the Sufi proverb might

mean.

(The Handmaid’s Tale > Synopses and commentary > Interpretation and the opening epigraphs)

Textual examination: Read Chapter 1, preferably aloud.

Before any discussion, give out the

Worksheet a)i (perhaps enlarged to A3). Students should individually fill

in the middle column, noting any clues to the themes of the novel, or hints towards the style or content of the story. (The Handmaid’s Tale > Synopses and commentary >

Section 1: Night - Chapter one)

Discussion ideas: Share the ideas which students

have written down. The teacher can decide how much information about the novel to reveal. (Themes and significant ideas in

The Handmaid’s Tale) Discuss generally what the

students expect from the rest of the text.

At the end of the Worksheet, students could list questions they have, or things the reader has NOT been told.

(Imagery and symbolism in The Handmaid’s Tale > Vivid word pictures)

Recreative task: Imagine that you have joined

the women in the old school.

Write a diary entry describing your first day.

(If you are male, you will have to use your imagination even more. Or you could write as a guard.) (The Handmaid’s Tale: Synopses and

commentary > Section 1: Night - Chapter one) (Characterisation in The Handmaid’s Tale > The writer’s focus)

Critical task: Margaret Atwood would call

the novel ‘speculative’ rather than ‘science’ fiction. What do think this might mean? Discuss the problems of

this sort of fiction, with reference to other texts that you know, if possible. (The Handmaid’s Tale >

Introduction) (Structure and methods of narration in The Handmaid’s Tale > Tale as construct)

Extension task: Students should keep the

Worksheet in their files and add comments in the third column as they read through the novel. They are looking for examples of any similar ideas or developments of what they wrote in the second column.

(Themes and

significant ideas in The Handmaid’s Tale)