The Handmaid's Tale (Cliffs Notes) [Paperback]

Mary Ellen Snodgrass (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 1994 | ISBN-10: 0822005727 | ISBN-13: 978-0822005728 | Edition: 1

The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.

In CliffsNotes on The Handmaid's Tale, you come to realize that for every utopia, there's a corresponding dystopia. This tale of a bleak future depicts a time where women are valued only for their reproductive capacities. While this cautionary tale of repression and totalitarianism is horrifying, there are moments of poetic warmth and humor. It is a brilliant satire.

This concise supplement to Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale helps you understand the overall structure of the novel, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author. Features that help you study include

•  Chapter-by-chapter summaries and commentaries
• A timeline of critical events that leads to the climax of the novel
• A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters
• Critical essays on women's roles in the novel, and the use of literary devices, themes, and settings
• A review section that tests your knowledge

Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you'll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

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Product Details

• Paperback: 88 pages
• Publisher: Cliffs Notes; 1 edition (October 31, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0822005727
• ISBN-13: 978-0822005728
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.2 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #77,650 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very helpful guide to understand Atwood's dystopic novel, April 10, 2001

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Handmaid's Tale (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

This review is actually of Mary Ellen Snodgrass' Cliff Notes for "The Handmaid's Tale" and not Margaret Atwood's novel, which is one of the few late 20th-century works for which there is a little yellow book. Snodgrass begins with a concise review of Atwood's life, background and published works. By way of setting up the novel, Snodgrass takes the rather unusual step of providing comments from various reviewers of "The Handmaid's Tale." Establishing it as work of speculative fiction that warns (predicts?) of a triumph of totalitarianism, Snodgrass puts the novel in the tradition of dystopian novels such as "1984," "Brave New World," "A Clockwork Orange," "Fahrenheit 451," etc. (all of which would serve as interesting analogs for students to compare/contrast). We are then provided a list of characters, a very useful time line covering the events in the novel, and a brief synopsis of the novel. In terms of Critical Commentaries, Snodgrass looks at the three epigraphs than open the novels and then each of the fifteen chapters and the "historical notes," offering brief descriptions and then commentary. Two of the strengths of her approach are that Snodgrass puts literary concepts in boldface and "translates" difficult words and phrases that are important in the novel. A Genealogy of Offred and Janine (Ofwarren) is included, along with a small map of New England. For Critical Essays, Snodgrass focuses on Literary Analysis (existential apologia, oral history, speculative fiction, confession, dystopia), over a dozen Literary Devices (simile, symbol, historical and cultural lore, literary allusion, parody, etc.), and the idea of women in "The Handmaid's Tale," as well as the traditional elements of themes and settings. She even offers 15 points of significant differences between Atwood's novel and the 1990 film version directed by David Ray (perhaps the most useful information for teachers who are using this book in class to have).

Snodgrass' notes for Atwood's "The Handmaid's Tale" is an above average Cliffs Notes volume, because it does a nice job of putting the book in literary perspective as a dystopic novel, takes pains to define words/phrases for readers unique to the culture of Gilead, and integrates dozens of literary concepts into its analysis. "The Handmaid's Tale" has the advantage of being speculative fiction, what many students will insist on thinking of as "science fiction," which will entice more students to be interested in reading the novel, at which point I do not think they can help but be engaged by the world Atwood creates and the issues she raises. Snodgrass' notes will allow students to see it as "literature" as well.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book was chilling, changing, incredible., November 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Handmaid's Tale (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

I have never read a more accurate book of fiction before. I haven't thought about the personal rights that I enjoy, until I read the Handmaid's Tale. It is a story of rebellion and it is about the will to live. It is about finding the means to survive emotionally. It is about sex, but not kinky sex. It is about the neccesity for love. I loved this book, and I hope that someday, every high school senior has a chance to read this book before they graduate.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A concept of our society, framed in the future, September 29, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Handmaid's Tale (Cliffs Notes) (Paperback)

A fantastic piece of poetic prose which captures not only the horrors of a future society but also those of our own. Atwoods ability to cinematically describe events in such detail, allow vivid pictures of both characters and settings to form in our minds as we imaginatively read the text, and although often obscure Offred's perspective is made truely believable as a result of her lack of stimulants, and censored life. Although on first inspection this book appears to portray a depressing glimpse into a bleak future, on closer inspection we also see how it is a celebration of the resilience of the human spirit in adversity.This satirical account provides a moral messsage that we could all learn from, appreciate the freedom which we have at the present and never abbuse it.