The Handmaid's Tale, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 404

This week, John Green continues to teach you about Margaret Atwood's speculative fiction, The Handmaid's Tale. In this installment, we're looking at Atwood's desire to tell a story from a female point of view, and what exactly it means to tell a story in that way, and if in fact there is an inherently male or female way to tell a story. We'll also look at why Atwood presents the story's final chapter from the perspective of a male scholar.

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[kenzitaylor]

I just realised that crash course John Green and Fault in our Stars John Green are the same person.

[blackkittyfreak]

John low-key insulting his own writing at the beginning.

[nell]

I told my mom I was watching this and she told me to say hi to John for her so. Hi John.

[saifrahmanur]

Just saying John seems like a really nice and incredibly humble guy.. he has made millions in his career as an author with best sellers like 'Looking for Alaska', 'The Fault in Our Stars', 'Paper Towns' and 'Will Grayson, Will Grayson' and still makes useful content due to his general passion for literature and the arts. Thank you.

[waywardwillard]

Fun Fact: Margaret Atwood is the Aunt who slaps Offred in Episode 1 of the Hulu series.

[corwin]

Of all the novels I have read, none has ever made me as profoundly uncomfortable as The Handmaid's Tale

[hfar_in_the_sky]

*looks around* What's this? John mentioned the word "feminism" and talks extensively about gender politics in a video and people are still acting in a calm and reasonable manner? Perhaps there's hope for humanity yet.

[shivimohan]

for anyone interested, there's a sequel now, called The Testaments

[curiousKuro]

That editing by men reminds me a lot of how Emily Dickinson's works have been organized and reorganized over and over again. When the author is completely absent it can be hard to determine any meaning from their work, and easy for others to frame it however they like.

[leahdooley]

I love reading female writing, particularly from times when men were the artistic and cultural majority. I feel they provide a unique perspective on the life of their time. British Victorian writers like Mary Shelley or Christina Rossetti are for sure worth reading to hear a historical, feminine voice.

[nettieb]

Study Tip for anyone who spends most of their life reading article and reviews - read it in John Green's voice. I don't know why but it makes it make a little more sense than it did before

[Carols]

Probably what makes the not-happy-epilogue so much worse is that, before all that, the world was (at least in our perspective) way better, more egalitarian, less racist, even though not perfect. Still, imagine watching this from the point of view of, say, black abolitionists, they would look at the future happy that the worst part, slavery, is over, but damn there is still decades of segregation and even after that racism, cop violence and etc. Would they react as we do to the epilogue?

[doggiedaydreamer]

Good luck to all of you A Level literature students tomorrow! we will smash this!

[BLPZ]

Margaret Atwood actually just came to my city recently and read an official/unofficial second final chapter with the university students in the novel actually asking questions to piexoto and him giving educated answers. It was actually really cool.

[MoeLoveeee]

Did ...did he just throw shade at his own book? 😂

[vitify]

Offred wasn`t necessarily arrested, it is kind of unclear what exactly happens to her but what seems most likely is that she managed to flee escorted by the rebel secret society

[djaleksandr]

The fact that the female professor was from Nunavut is itself compelling and interesting because of its ties to indigenous sovereignty.

[alfienice]

My friend's mother always told me to not take my freedoms for granted but to not become complacent and now I'm thinking maybe she was quoting this amazing book haha. I never made that connection till now

[redbullandspite]

As someone that’s just started studying this, the context and ideas about narrative perspectives were very useful! I have to say, despite the ending showcasing the continuation of misogyny (among other things), the fact that Offred had managed to record her story and share it at all gave me hope. Thank you!

[ramaneeshraviraman]

Interesting that you didn't actually specify that the movie "The Fault In Our Stars" was better than the book, just that it was good...
-Rex