U.S. Social Movements through Biography

Teaching Situation and Rationale

I teach at a magnet school in Tulsa, Oklahoma. It has a diverse student body, ranging from those students who help support themselves and their families to those who are extremely wealthy. Specifically speaking, at Booker T. Washington High School, our current student body is 35% African American, 36% Caucasian, 3% Asian, 13% Hispanic, 9% Multi-Race, and 4% American Indian with 38% free and reduced lunch. My classroom reflects this diversity. Also, the three classes I teach, Pre-AP English II IB-MYP (focus on World Literature), AP Language and Composition (focus on American Literature), and IBHL Literature I, have students with ranging abilities, so it is important that I differentiate and scaffold my instruction, as well as build in some flexibility for those students who need it. This unit will be written for my AP Language and Composition and my IBHL Literature classes, but I feel like the information and texts will be useful for other grade levels as well.

The Handmaid’s Tale: Connection to Social Movements

When my students start reading The Handmaid’s Tale, they go through many stages of grief. Expecting a hero, the first thing they realize is how plain, uninspiring, and complacent Offred is upon learning her new role of Handmaid in Gilead. The second realization they make is how dependent Offred is on men, especially concerning her husband Luke and her new love interest Nick. They then champion characters like Moira or even Offred’s feminist mother, only to find out that both strong female characters are eventually broken. Finishing the final chapters of the book, they end in a state of frustration with no true resolve as to what happens to Offred. Finally, in its Historical Notes, they get to see Offred reduced to nothing and used as the butt of a joke. A snooty male professor from the future focuses on her Commander’s history, overshadowing her story and showing that not much has changed for women. Despite its dissatisfying and dismaying ending with no victories for the women in Gilead, it is these elements that engender a feeling of rebellion against the mistreatment of these women in fictional Gilead, and against the mistreatment of women in our own world.

Born from this frustration and from the recent adaptation of the book into a television series, a new women’s social movement has been formed. Hulu’s adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale has brought the 1985 text to the spotlight, and with its powerful visuals and visceral acting, this modern adaptation “showcases the ways in which women struggle within power structures surrounding consent and the body.”² Not only has this adaptation brought to light issues concerning rape culture, sexual assault, sexism, and LGBT+ discrimination, it has been received as a call to action for women around the world to stand up against these injustices. It is clear that this series and book have ignited the fire for the Fourth Wave of the women’s social movement.

Mimicking the costume seen in the television adaptation, people have donned the red cloaks and white bonnets as a symbol of resistance to protest issues regarding women’s rights, particularly in the realms of anti-abortion and #metoo demonstrations. Amy Boyle notes how The Handmaid’s Tale and its costume has a tangible influence on politics and feminist activism around the world.³ Most social movements use powerful leaders to voice their message, like Betty Friedan for the women’s movement of the ‘60s and ‘70s or Stokely Carmicheal for the Black Panthers. Instead of a powerful voice, this Fourth Wave of the women’s movement is using the nameless, silent image of the Handmaid to visually unify their message against “the heteropatriarchal system”⁴ that exists not only in Gilead, but our world too. It is like that old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” The visual of women dressed as Handmaids gathering to protest the injustices against women is just as dynamic and persuasive as a compelling speech a movement leader might give. The way that this show and novel are rallying women around the globe cannot be ignored, and using the visual strategy of the Handmaid symbol is imperative to continue to shape modern feminist communities and conversations.⁵ This social movement technique uses a popular TV series and world-renowned book’s powerful imagery to bring women’s issues to the forefront. Ultimately, this shows how fiction can inspire political activists and even start social movements, which is important for students to see and understand.

Now, my students may not have watched the series, and if they have, they may be totally unaware that it was based on a book they are going to read in English class. Some may have watched the show and know a little bit about the impact it has had in protests about women’s issues. It will be important for students to  understand the effect the show and the book have on our society. Almost as interesting as this work of fiction instigating a social movement, is how the TV series has decided to continue the story of Offred and the Mayday Resistance against Gilead.  Boyle points out that “Hulu’s move to document the revolution beyond Atwood’s novel is pertinent -- ‘because of what is going on’ in the world, ‘we need The Handmaid’s Tale.’”⁶ The TV show’s producers, the actors, and even Atwood herself, after realizing the effect it had on the world and the response from fans which appropriated the Handmaid symbol for today’s injustices against women, felt that it was necessary to continue the revolution and finish Offred’s story. Soon we will see the demise of Gilead and it is certain “that the handmaids’ revolution will be televised.”⁷ This idea brings me and countless others so much joy. There is a certain power in this reimagination-- this continuation of the story. That is the power I want to give my students with this unit; I want them to feel what it is like to be in the center of a social movement and revolution. If they can continue this story that seems almost too close to reality through a fictional social movement, they will understand how to change their reality when the time comes.

Although my students will be reading the book and not watching the show (clips would be brought in from time to time), the attention the show drums up mirrors the richness and importance of the novel itself and its message. What cannot be ignored is the fact that this book inspires social action because it deals with injustices that plague society today.  This dystopian novel-turned television show helps to converge fiction and politics. When writing The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood was inspired by the events in her world. Teaching students the historical context that influenced the creation of Gilead is a huge benefit as well, and is usually the approach taken by many teachers. Atwood not only was responding to her experiences at Harvard, but to the feminist movement of the 1960-70s, which eventually led to a backlash - the Conservative Right movement of the 1980s. In many interviews, she has cited that she was also inspired by the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the Communist reign of Ceauşescu in Romania, the Lebensborn movement in Nazi Germany, the Berlin Wall, etc. She collected many of her ideas from newspaper headlines and used these events to fuel her dystopian vision. The book’s historical context is replete with stories of social movements of the past, and within the novel itself, we see the strategies and effects of social movements in this dystopian world.  Because of this, we can see how teaching this novel alongside the importance and structure of social movements can be so useful. Introducing this information to students about The Handmaid’s Tale’s influence on today’s society will show them how a work of fiction, on one hand, can inspire social action in real life, and on the other, how current events and social movements of the past can inspire fiction.