The sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale” explores the workings of repression

  • 📰 TheEconomist
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 43 sec. here
  • 2 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Qulity Score:
  • News: 21%
  • Publisher: 92%

Long crimson gowns and winged white headdresses have become a universal symbol of women’s oppression

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

THEY STOOD in a line outside the Capitol while senators considered a health-care bill that would restrict family-planning services. They reappeared in Washington to watch over the confirmation hearings of Brett Kavanaugh, a controversial Supreme Court justice. In Ohio’s statehouse they sat, heads bowed, as lawmakers discussed banning a common abortion procedure. Each time the protest was silent. Their long crimson gowns and winged white headdresses made the point.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” imagines that the American government has been overthrown by the Sons of Jacob, a fundamentalist Christian group. They murder the president and members of Congress—“they blamed it on the Islamic fanatics”—suspend the constitution and declare the Republic of Gilead. In this totalitarian state, men and women have strict roles.

The new book leaps ahead of the TV series, which itself extended the drama of “The Handmaid’s Tale” far beyond Ms Atwood’s original novel. Set more than 15 years later, “The Testaments” has three main characters: Aunt Lydia, one of the architects of Gilead’s policies towards women; Agnes Jemima, Offred’s first daughter, who is still in Gilead; and Daisy, Offred’s second daughter, who, like her mother, has made it to the safety of Canada. The narrative alternates between their accounts.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 6. in US
 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

I thought the hijab was a symbol of women’s oppression nowadays. Long crimson gowns and winged white headdresses were the Christian hijab of the 17th century, weren't they?

alllibertynews 🙂I knew this was coming..

Where, in the west, are women being 'oppressed'?

Has it been translated to Arabic and Farsi yet?

no they haven't. 'Universal' is a big word, use it responsibly.

If only there was a nonfictional type of clothing that could serve as that symbol 🤔

lol, another symbol, meaningless

I would never wear such a thing. I will not be seen as a victim symbolically or otherwise. I feel the same about nuns’ habits, veils, robes, and all the other nonsense insecure males impose on women.

Fictional oppression, yes.

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Margaret Atwood thinks Roe v. Wade will be overturned⁠—and there will be the 'most horrific backlash'The Canadian author's hotly anticipated sequel to 'The Handmaid's Tale' comes out on Tuesday, September 10. Cool cool cool It's much more facile for women to band together and raise hell NOW than to start from scratch once Roe v. Wade is overturned. Apathy will cost us our reproductive rights. Uh, sorry but, not killing kids is, not horrific to me. This is a twisted reality
Source: Newsweek - 🏆 468. / 52 Read more »

The real-life events that inspired 'The Testaments,' Margaret Atwood's 'Handmaid's Tale' sequelLike its predecessor, Margaret Atwood turns real-life issues into literary prose.
Source: Newsweek - 🏆 468. / 52 Read more »

Margaret Atwood on New Book ‘The Testaments’: ‘Instead of Moving Away From Gilead, We Started Moving Towards It’Margaret Atwood, upon the worldwide publication Tuesday of her sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” said she was inspired to return to that repressive world because that repressive world had returned t… nice
Source: Variety - 🏆 108. / 63 Read more »

'The Testaments': What 'The Handmaid's Tale' Sequel Means for the ShowHow will MargaretAtwood's The Testaments affect TheHandmaidsTale series?
Source: etnow - 🏆 696. / 51 Read more »

Atwood says 'Handmaid's Tale' got much closer to reality, prompting sequelCanadian author Margaret Atwood says a deterioration in women's rights in some parts of the world, including in the United States, prompted her to write a sequel to her best-selling 1985 novel ‘The Handmaid's Tale’. TheTestaments beautiful weman. charming! she's also a huge bigot What a surprise
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »

‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ ‘Veep,’ ‘When They See Us’ Writers Honored at Emmy Nominees ReceptionAva DuVernay (“When They See Us”), David Mandel (“Veep”) and Bruce Miller and Kira Snyder (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) were among those honored at the Televisio…
Source: Variety - 🏆 108. / 63 Read more »