full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Naomi R. Mercer: Why should you read "The Handmaid's Tale"?

Unscramble the Blue Letters


Gilead divides women in the reigme into ditnisct social casless based upon their function as status slymbos for men. Even their clothing is color-coded. Women are no longer allowed to read or move about feelry in public, and fertile women are subject to state-engineered rape in order to give birth to celhirdn for the regime.

Although “The Handmaid’s Tale” is set in the future, one of Atwood's self-imposed rules in wnitrig it was that she wouldn't use any event or practice that hadn't already happened in human history. The book is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city that during the American colonial period had been ruled by the theocratic Puritans. In many ways, the Republic of Gilead resembles the strict rules that were present in Puritan society: rigid moral coeds, mdsoet clothing, bnahenmsit of dissenters, and regulation of every aspect of people's lives and relationships. For Atwood, the plalalers to Massachusett's pintruas were personal as well as theoretical. She spent several years studying the Puritans at Harvard and she’s possibly descended from Mary Webster, a Puritan woman accused of witchcraft who survived her hanging.

Open Cloze


Gilead divides women in the ______ into ________ social _______ based upon their function as status _______ for men. Even their clothing is color-coded. Women are no longer allowed to read or move about ______ in public, and fertile women are subject to state-engineered rape in order to give birth to ________ for the regime.

Although “The Handmaid’s Tale” is set in the future, one of Atwood's self-imposed rules in _______ it was that she wouldn't use any event or practice that hadn't already happened in human history. The book is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city that during the American colonial period had been ruled by the theocratic Puritans. In many ways, the Republic of Gilead resembles the strict rules that were present in Puritan society: rigid moral _____, ______ clothing, __________ of dissenters, and regulation of every aspect of people's lives and relationships. For Atwood, the _________ to Massachusett's ________ were personal as well as theoretical. She spent several years studying the Puritans at Harvard and she’s possibly descended from Mary Webster, a Puritan woman accused of witchcraft who survived her hanging.

Solution


  1. distinct
  2. parallels
  3. writing
  4. classes
  5. symbols
  6. modest
  7. children
  8. regime
  9. codes
  10. banishment
  11. puritans
  12. freely

Original Text


Gilead divides women in the regime into distinct social classes based upon their function as status symbols for men. Even their clothing is color-coded. Women are no longer allowed to read or move about freely in public, and fertile women are subject to state-engineered rape in order to give birth to children for the regime.

Although “The Handmaid’s Tale” is set in the future, one of Atwood's self-imposed rules in writing it was that she wouldn't use any event or practice that hadn't already happened in human history. The book is set in Cambridge, Massachusetts, a city that during the American colonial period had been ruled by the theocratic Puritans. In many ways, the Republic of Gilead resembles the strict rules that were present in Puritan society: rigid moral codes, modest clothing, banishment of dissenters, and regulation of every aspect of people's lives and relationships. For Atwood, the parallels to Massachusett's Puritans were personal as well as theoretical. She spent several years studying the Puritans at Harvard and she’s possibly descended from Mary Webster, a Puritan woman accused of witchcraft who survived her hanging.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
fundamentalist regime 2


Important Words


  1. accused
  2. allowed
  3. american
  4. aspect
  5. atwood
  6. banishment
  7. based
  8. birth
  9. book
  10. cambridge
  11. children
  12. city
  13. classes
  14. clothing
  15. codes
  16. colonial
  17. descended
  18. dissenters
  19. distinct
  20. divides
  21. event
  22. fertile
  23. freely
  24. function
  25. future
  26. gilead
  27. give
  28. hanging
  29. happened
  30. harvard
  31. history
  32. human
  33. lives
  34. longer
  35. mary
  36. massachusetts
  37. men
  38. modest
  39. moral
  40. move
  41. order
  42. parallels
  43. period
  44. personal
  45. possibly
  46. practice
  47. present
  48. public
  49. puritan
  50. puritans
  51. rape
  52. read
  53. regime
  54. regulation
  55. relationships
  56. republic
  57. resembles
  58. rigid
  59. ruled
  60. rules
  61. set
  62. social
  63. spent
  64. status
  65. strict
  66. studying
  67. subject
  68. survived
  69. symbols
  70. theocratic
  71. theoretical
  72. ways
  73. webster
  74. witchcraft
  75. woman
  76. women
  77. writing
  78. years