Introduction:
Welcome back to the Underground Bookshelf Book Club! During the month of March, we are reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. This famous book has been adapted into a well-known series on Hulu and has often been used as a way to discuss women's issues in United States political discourse. Set in the fictional society of Gilead, where women are considered property of the state, it presents the perspective of a handmaid, a woman assigned to bear a child on behalf of a childless woman of higher status. Margaret Atwood made a point of incorporating historical practices and events to ground her work of fiction in human realities. I'll pop in throughout the month with discussion prompts, but in the meantime, if you've read this book before, what does this book mean to you? Let us know in the comments.
Prompt 1:
Welcome back to the Underground Bookshelf Book Club! During the month of March, we are reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. The author uses many historical events as inspiration for the events and details within this book. Our discussion prompt for today is this: Why do you think it is so impactful for historical events to be reflected in a work of fiction? What does that say about human truths, and how does it impact discourse about this book and others like it?
Prompt 2:
Welcome back to the Underground Bookshelf Book Club! During the month of March, we are reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. This week's prompt comes from Inkish Kingdom's article "22 book club questions for The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood."
In this book, the narrator dwells on Gilead's belief that too much choice can destroy a society. In your opinion, "Can a society die for too much choice?" What are your thoughts about Gilead's point of view versus your own?
Image Description: The front cover of The Handmaid's Tale. The backdrop is matte black with white text. An abstract image of a woman in a red dress with her face concealed by a large, white bonnet takes up the center of the image.
Prompt 3:
Welcome back to the Underground Bookshelf Book Club! During the month of March, we are reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. This week's prompt comes from Inkish Kingdom's article "22 book club questions for The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood."
In this book, Atwood uses the narrator to discuss the nuance between passive ignorance and the decision to actively ignore something. Our question, today, is as follows: “'Ignoring isn’t the same as ignorance, you have to work at it'. Do you think that people have to work and put an effort to be ignorant?" What are your thoughts about this concept?
Prompt 4:
Welcome back to the Underground Bookshelf Book Club! During the Month of March, we are reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood. This week's prompt comes from Inkish Kingdom's article, "22 book club questions for The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood."
In this book, handmaids lose the right to their own names and become referred to only by the man they serve. If they are given to a new man, their name changes to reflect the new man. Our question, today, is as follows, "What is the implication of the handmaids losing their name and that their “original name” is forbidden?"
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