Handmaid's Tale
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Reading and Writing Workshop

Reading Dystopia, Writing Resistance — Exploring The Handmaid’s Tale
Session 1: Introduction to Dystopia and Power
Focus: Analyze the genre of dystopian literature and explore how Atwood constructs a theocratic state rooted in gendered oppression.

• Reading:
  • The Handmaid’s Tale, Chapters 1–5
  • Utopia by Thomas More (excerpt)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2130
  • The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli (chapters on power and control)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232

Writing Prompt:
Compare Gilead’s system of power to either More’s utopia or Machiavelli’s model of control. How is the concept of a “perfect society” manipulated in The Handmaid’s Tale?

Session 2: Language, Storytelling, and Identity
Focus: Examine how language shapes identity and resistance. Discuss Offred’s use of memory and narrative.

• Reading:
  • The Handmaid’s Tale, Chapters 6–12
  • Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (on literacy and resistance)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23
  • Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson (on individual voice and expression)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16643

Writing Prompt:
How does language function as a tool of both oppression and liberation in Gilead? Compare this with Douglass’s or Emerson’s view on self-expression.

Session 3: Religion and Rhetoric in Gilead
Focus: Explore how Atwood uses biblical language and religious justification for societal control.

• Reading:
  • The Handmaid’s Tale, Chapters 13–20
  • Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards (sermon as persuasive religious rhetoric)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13703
  • The Book of Genesis, King James Version (creation and fall stories)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10

Writing Prompt:
Analyze how Gilead uses religious doctrine to justify its treatment of women. How does this parallel historical uses of religious rhetoric?

Session 4: Reproductive Control and Women's BodiesFocus: Investigate how control over women’s reproductive roles is central to Gilead’s structure.

• Reading:
  • The Handmaid’s Tale, Chapters 21–27
  • A Vindication of the Rights of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft (on autonomy and education)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3420
  • The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (on medical control and confinement)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1952

Writing Prompt:
Compare the control of women’s bodies in Gilead to that depicted by Wollstonecraft and Gilman. How do different authors represent resistance?

Session 5: Surveillance and Social Control
Focus: Explore the role of surveillance, fear, and betrayal in maintaining totalitarian order.

• Reading:
  • The Handmaid’s Tale, Chapters 28–33
  • 1984 by George Orwell (excerpts on Big Brother and the Thought Police)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7370 (NOTE: This is a placeholder URL — 1984 is not yet public domain; use Orwell’s essay Politics and the English Language instead)
    • Substitute URL: Politics and the English Language by George Orwell: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7370
  • The Trial by Franz Kafka (on invisible systems of control)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7849

Writing Prompt:
How does Gilead maintain compliance through fear and surveillance? Compare this with Orwell or Kafka’s depictions of invisible oppression.

Session 6: Resistance and the Role of Memory
Focus: Discuss the importance of memory, personal relationships, and storytelling as forms of resistance.

• Reading:
  • The Handmaid’s Tale, Chapters 34–40
  • Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (selected poems on freedom and individuality)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1322
  • Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71

Writing Prompt:
What does resistance look like for Offred? How do memory and love help her survive? Compare to Whitman or Thoreau’s ideas of individual resistance.

Session 7: Why The Handmaid’s Tale Was Banned
Focus: Understand the history of book banning and examine the specific reasons The Handmaid’s Tale has been censored.

• Reading:
  • The Handmaid’s Tale, Chapters 41–End
  • Areopagitica by John Milton (defense of free expression)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/608
  • On Liberty by John Stuart Mill (chapters on liberty of thought and discussion)
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/34901

Supplemental Discussion:
Explore cases where The Handmaid’s Tale has been banned or challenged — for themes of sexuality, religion, and political critique.
Writing Prompt:
Why do books like The Handmaid’s Tale face censorship? Use Milton or Mill to support your argument about the importance of protecting literature that critiques power.

Session 8: Final Project – Writing Our Own Dystopias
​Focus: Apply literary tools and themes to craft original dystopian short stories.

• Reading (Mentor Texts):
  • The Machine Stops by E.M. Forster
    • URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/17321
  • Brave New World Revisited (public domain essays or excerpts by Huxley if available; substitute with The Republic by Plato on ideal societies)
    • The Republic URL: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1497

Writing Prompt:
Write a short story or narrative poem imagining a dystopian future that critiques a current social, political, or technological issue.