MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - MobileRead Book Club December 2016 Discussion: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (spoilers)

issybird · 12-24-2016, 01:43 PM

I entertained myself by coming up with various theories for the book's setting at and around Harvard. Perhaps because Harvard was founded by the Puritans? Or because elite academia was still a white male stronghold? Because liberal institutions aren't sufficient defense against the powers of reaction? But I looked up Atwood after I finished and I suspect it's because

Spoiler:

.

I rather disliked Offred. She was not heroic in the mold of Ofglen or Moira. She fought back only to the extent of hiding a matchstick in her mattress and made stupid choices. Her passivity was understandable but not admirable. And yet the machinery of the resistance saved her and not the others.

12-24-2016, 01:43 PM	#9
issybird o saeclum infacetum Posts: 20,187 Karma: 222235366 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: New England Device: H2O, Aura One, PW5	I entertained myself by coming up with various theories for the book's setting at and around Harvard. Perhaps because Harvard was founded by the Puritans? Or because elite academia was still a white male stronghold? Because liberal institutions aren't sufficient defense against the powers of reaction? But I looked up Atwood after I finished and I suspect it's because Spoiler: she got a Master's degree at Radcliffe and it's the part of America she knew best . I rather disliked Offred. She was not heroic in the mold of Ofglen or Moira. She fought back only to the extent of hiding a matchstick in her mattress and made stupid choices. Her passivity was understandable but not admirable. And yet the machinery of the resistance saved her and not the others.