6. Birth

• Engels
• Upper Secondary (Key Stage 4)
• GCSE

Lesson objectives 

You will consider the point of view in the novel and the effect of them

You will consider external and internal worlds 

You will analyse the mood during the birthing ceremony 

Rate the word 1 to 4

1. I do not know the word, and I have never seen it before. 

2. I've heard or seen the word before, but I'm not sure what it means. 

3. I know the word and can recognise and understand it while reading, but I probably wouldn't feel comfortable using it in writing or speech. 

4. I know the word well and can use it correctly in writing or speech. 

Circumlocution 

Word of the day

Circumlocution (n) - (an example of) an indirect way of saying something, especially something unpleasant

Circum is a Latin root what do you think it means? 

"Economical with the truth" is a circumlocution for "lying".

it means 'round' or 'around' 

Can you give an example of a word that uses this root and contains this meaning? 

In summary:​

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You need to analyse a novel like it’s an artificial, constructed thing: a product designed by a creator to achieve various purposes (a main one being to convey their viewpoints about society). Focus on the methods they have used to do so, and what you think may have been their intentions for using these methods. ​

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Do NOT get lost in description of plot or writing about characters and plot events as if they were real.​

Postmodernists are interested in…​

• The idea that ‘truth’, ‘reality’ and ‘meaning’ are all relative and nebulous concepts. We cannot ever be sure of these things.​
• Referring to the act of storytelling and ‘Meta’ narratives: fiction that explores its own fictionality.​
• The effect of modern social systems on culture – capitalism, consumerism, technology.​
  
• ​An ironic and sceptical attitude towards life, and also big social institutions and ideologies.​

Fight Club is a 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk

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What aspects of postmodernism

do you see in this extract from Fight Club? 

The significance of the novel being in the first-person cannot be overstated. We are always stuck inside Offred’s subjectivity.​ Until the historical notes 

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In stream of consciousness style, Offred’s narration drifts between the present and the past  and between internal events and external events . Atwood's use of flash forward, flashback and foreshadowing needs to be considered in your analysis. It is an integral part of the non-linear narrative structure. 

External chapter 19

What details does Offred distract herself with? (p. 116)​ "I sit in the chair and think" 

​How does the siren distract her? What does the siren mean? (p. 117)​

"While I am eating the second egg" 

Internal chapter 19 

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What do we learn about pollution and infertility in Gilead? (p. 119 - 120)​

"There was no one cause" 

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Why might Offred insult Janine/Ofwarren? ( p. 121) ​

"A strong girl, good muscles" 

Watch the clip of Janine's birth. What atmosphere is created here?​ Is the same mood created in in chapter 21 during the birthing ceremony? 

Find quotes from Ch. 21 (pg 129) that support your answers to these questions. 

​1. Consider how Offred compares this birth to her own pregnancy and role as a mother. ​

2. What is her attitude towards her own role as a mother?​

3. In what ways does this chapter reinforce stereotypical gender roles, as well as stripping the Handmaids of power?​

The real mother is unnecessary – it is a stereotypical role prescribed to women by a patriarchal society 

Atwood suggests that children need a strong relationship with their mother

We don’t need a strong relationship with our mother – but it is our own right to decide that

Motherhood is presented negatively, as the women desperately seem to want it

Discuss these ideas. To what extent do you see them in the novel?