[AQA] [English Literature] [A Level]

[Paper 2B: Texts in shared contexts:

Modern times: Literature from 1945 to the
present day]: [The Handmaid’s Tale]
[Moira character analysis]
Margins on the left and right should be changed to 2cm
Moira. Key chapters: 7, 13, 20, 22, 28, 33, 38

AO1/ AO2 consider: Students could consider Moira through themes of –rebellion –hope –
freedom –friendship –feminism but ultimately arguments must be shaped around the given
question.
Chapter 7: Consider the reasons for Atwood’s initial characterization of Moira and
presentation of female friendship, how does this contradict with Offred’s experiences within
Gilead? How does her exposition introduce key themes?
Moira’s exposition: she wears juxtaposing colours such as ‘purple’ and ‘yellow’; has stereotypically
masculine habits she is associated with ‘beer’ and ‘cigarettes’; and introduces feminist issues such
as ‘date rape’ to the protagonist, who trivialises this comparing the word to ‘dessert’.
Chapters 13, 20, 22, 28, 33: Consider Moira’s relationship with Offred and Jeanine.
When Moira arrives the protagonist is presented as becoming engrossed in the religious rhetoric of
Gilead (‘we meant it’) however Moira’s presence helps the women avoid indoctrination.
Key quotes: ‘Moira said later that it wasn’t real’ ‘Moira was our fantasy’ ‘Moira had power now,
she’d been set loose, she’d set herself loose. She was now a loose woman’ ‘If I were Moira’
Yet despite Moira’s use of imperatives ‘Get back right back here!’ and factual language ‘My name
is Moira and this is the Red Centre’ Jeanine loses herself to the regime, as symbolised by her
adoption of the name ‘Ofwarren, formerly... Jeanine’ whilst Moira retains her name, thus identity
throughout.
Chapter 38: Consider the development of Atwood’s presentation of Moira and her
appearance in the first person focalisation of the narrator.
Loss of optimism: Offred recognises ‘resignation’ and ‘indifference’ instead of ‘heroism’.
How does this contradict with her exposition and usual dialogue? Is the development of
Moira and her failure to save Jeanine testament to the strength of Gilead?

AO3 consider: Students could note the realism of the novel and references to contemporary
history within the ‘Historical Notes’.
The political and religious context of the 1980s e.g. Romania’s Decree 770 and the rise of religious
fundamentalism against the ‘sexual revolution’
Second wave feminism: the emphasis on rape as contemporary feminists were setting up rape
crisis centres, and arguing issues of maritial rape, sexuality and pornography.
By creating a protagonist who consciously rejects the ideals of contemporary second wave
feminism introduced by Moira, and is ultimately oppressed in a theocracy which legalises
rape and suppresses female sexuality, what is Atwood suggesting to her readers?

AO4 consider:
Typicality within dystopia: To what extent does the depiction of torture/ punishment and
indoctrination mimic Burgess’ ‘A Clockwork Orange’ and Orwell’s ‘1984’?
Typicality within feminist literature: To what extent does Atwood’s presentation of Moira reflect
arguments within feminist literature such as Simone de Beauvoir’s ‘The Second Sex’ and
Germaine Greer’s ‘The Female Eunuch’?

AO5 consider: -Feminism –Marxism –New Historicism –Louis Althusser (in relation to the
Rachel and Leah centre)