#aplit16genre

[cheyennewestover]

[susan-the-mini-mexican-blog]

Romance Novel

Now that I can finally access my account...

While it may not appear it on the surface, The Handmaid’s Tale is a romance novel. It has many tropes common to other romance novels, with deconstruction and enforcement of those tropes as necessary. There’s the forbidden relationship between Offred and the Commander, along with her excursions with Nick. Like many romance novels, Offred is involved in a love triangle. Only, instead of the two men actively competing for Offred against each other, the Commander has no idea that Nick is seeing Offred. They also have elements of the star-crossed lovers, with Offred being at a “lower” class to both of them and in a position where it it forbidden for her to reciprocate any feelings.

[sarahmonahanap]

Dystopian Novel

I think The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian novel as the main genre/category it would be put into. It is proven over and over again not only by the time period that it's set in but also the events that take place within that period. As discussed in the historical notes, the book takes place in a setting that is highly toxined by nuclear waste and is being cleaned up by women who have broken the rules of the society of Gilead. All of these crazy-strict rules were started after their president was shot and things got out of hand from there. The feminist nature of Gilead and it's baby-making-machine ways is definitely something that wouldnt be happening in our time.

[kaitlyngornick]

The Handmaid's Tale...Dystopian Fiction?

This book can fall under many genres if we really try and argue it. It could be considered a Chick Lit because of the strong female lead and her good pal Moira, it could be considered speculative fiction because of aspects we don't see in modern society and in our everyday lives, but dystopian fiction is an excellent way to describe this novel. By definition, dystopia is "a community or society that is undesirable or frightening. It is translated as 'not-good place'". It's pretty obvious that the setting in "The Handmaid's Tale" is very undesirable, considering that the women had no social or political freedom. They weren't allowed to read, write, look up in public, talk in public, or show any ounce of confidence left in them at all. It may not seem physically frightening with the fear of being shot or eaten at any moment, but the thought of being a Handmaid in Gilead is frightening enough.

[alexa-hill]

Is The Handmaids Tale A Myth?

First lets start with the definition of a Myth: a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining some natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. 

A natural or social phenomenon takes place in the story with the women being infertile due to sicknesses and pollution which is a natural occurring thing. I think this is the main focus of the story so this already fits part of the definition. 

A story concerning early history of a people..... Well the early history of the story would be what the story is heavily based on which is the BIBLE. I also think back to the early history of when women didn’t have any rights, this story shows the same situation of women not having any rights but in a new way. Instead of not having any rights and being told their place is in the kitchen now women are only valued and worth something if they can produce children!

The reason this would work as a myth is because it fits the criteria of a myth, and I think Atwood could have wrote this as a myth to show history can repeat itself.  But this book could fit under many other genres as well! 

[mohiuddin-baig]

Speculative Fiction and The Handmaid’s Tale

Human beings are prone to speculating. We like things to make sense. When they don’t there is chaos. That’s why we speculate, to make the ideas and tiny points of data, that we know little about, make sense. It’s even better when our speculation becomes a story, able to entertain and influence the minds of others. This is what some books, like The Handmaid’s Tale, are. They are works of fiction, set in a future with elements speculated from what we have and know now, as well as what we imagine and promise ourselves the future brings.  There are several details in The Handmaid’s Tale that qualify it as speculative fiction. For one, there is technology not so far fetched that we enter the realms of science fiction, but advanced enough to be a plausible in the setting of the book. The book was published in 1986, and the setting seems to be 10-20 years into the future, around late 90s into the 2000s. The technology mentioned is often referred to as “Compu_____”, because they are computerized devices and services available at this time. Many of these mentioned devices are similar to actual technology we have today. For example, the “compubank” is similar to computerized banking and transactions we have today. A “computalk” is probably some sort of cell phone.  The Handmaid’s Tale is also qualified as speculative fiction by its political setting and parallels to the political sphere at the time of writing. It also hold strong parallels with political opinions today. Radical Christian elements, such as Westboro Baptist Church, exist today and advocate much of what is law in the state of Gilead. Gilead also strongly opposes abortion, considering it a crime punishable by death. Unfortunately there are some people today that share and support these views. Even tough they make up a nearly insignificant portion of the population, abortion is still an issue of much debate, causing party lines to splinter, attacks on people and property, and alliances to be forged and broken in the complicated political sphere of the USA today. Another issue that permeates the novel, and is very important today is feminism. Feminism was an influential force into the early 1980s, just around the time this book was written. The Handmaid’s Tale features mention of marches and other feminist activities before the founding of Gilead. Issues of women’s rights are frequently mentioned and discussed among characters. Given the nature of the book itself, it could be labeled as feminist or women’s literature as well.  Overall, Margaret Atwood did an amazing job incorporating parts of the modern day political sphere, technology, and belief (faith/religion) into The Handmaid’s Tale. Her speculations are without a doubt extremely dystopian, but thank god they’re fiction; speculative fiction. 

[jameslica]

i guess it's a romance novel.

Handmaid's Tales is most likely viewed as a romance novel. I mean there is examples of love through the depiction of sex, but there's also representations of intimacy. For example, there is a part where Offred has memories of having a family. It show what happens to her family and how they broke apart, but the sad thing is...she doesn't know where they are. Now for a romance novel there's action of where the both of them would get together despite the opposing sides...which happens between Nick and Offred, but that doesn't last and what happens is that she gets taken away by the Eyes who could've also been the resistance. Besides those two variating factors...this seems like a chic romance novel.

[saimrehman]

Myth???

The Definition of mythology includes aspects of supernatural means and ideas. While there is nothing too obvious in regards to supernatural aspects. there are multiple symbols that can connect to the theme of mythology. The color red in regards to her dress alludes to fairytales and, she says “some fairy tale figure in a red cloak, descending towards a moment of carelessness.” William Bascom refers to mythology as “tales believed as true, usually sacred, set in the distant past or other worlds or parts of the world, and with extra-human, inhuman, or heroic characters.” The Handmaids Tale is set in a world not too distant from ours and tells a story from a different perspective that is unfamiliar to us. Many would argue that this story could become true, and the situation she is in could soon become a reality.