HMT & ACO

• The Handmaid's Tale is a 1954 novel
• The Handmaid's Tale was written during the time of second wave feminism
• The Handmaid's Tale highlights the moral issues around reproductive rights
• The Handmaid's Tale parallels attitudes toward abortion rights prevalent to the 1960s - remains relevant in contemporary discourse - overturning of Roe V Wade in 2022
• Atwood took heavy inspiration from 17th century Puritan New England (women had no rights and were merely 'vessels' or procreation)
• The oppressive atmosphere of The Handmaid's Tale is influenced by Atwoods own experience living in West Berlin - where she was surrounded by the constant threat of violence and surveillance
• The Handmaid's Tale is influenced by Orwell's 1984 and the presence of 'Big Brother'
• The Handmaid's Tale is a speculative dystopia on theocracy
• Romania's government took control of women's fertility - outlawing birth control and abortions
• China's - one child policy legalised
• A Clockwork Orange is a moral panic of youth violence
• A Clockwork Orange reflects the societal fear surrounding youth violence that was rampant in the 1960s
• Burgess's wife's brutal rape by young soldiers deepened the portrayal of sexual violence in A Clockwork Orange
• The Ludovico Technique in A Clockwork Orange is based on Pavlov's dog experiment
• Burgess' scepticism towards the efficiency and ethical implications of the social sciences is reflected in A Clockwork Orange
• Kubrick's 1971 film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange was X rated
• Burgess was catholic - catholicism exerted the greatest influence on his moral views - his portrayal of violent human beings as predisposed towards violence reflects his acceptance of the catholic view that all human beings are tainted by original sin
• A Clockwork Orange is an attack on communism - given the novel's extremely negative portrayal of a government that seeks to solve social problems by removing freedom of choice
• A Clockwork Orange is influenced by the English Teddy boys - a youth culture of the 1950s and 1960s
• A Clockwork Orange satirises Skinner's Behaviourism
• "Everything except the wings around my face is red: the colour of blood, which defines us": 'Symbolic of menstrual blood'
• "Could not have been more than ten"
• Examples of Nadsat


  • Deng
  • malenky
  • litso
  • gulliver
• Ending of 2 versions of the novel - 1963 Norton - "I was cured all right" - 1962 Heimann - "But you, O my brothers, remember sometimes thy little Alex was"
• Atwood - "I would not put anything into it that human societies have not done already"
• Malack - [Gilead has been hailed as] "openly misogynistic in both its theocracy and practice"
• L. Beran - "Offred's power is language"
• Daniels - "every step, every mouthful of food, every move is observed, reported or approved"
• Goh - "Alex is detached from the consequences of violence"
• Bakhtin - [Alex's actions are] "carnivalesque"
• Petix - "Nadsat confers energy and tempo on the narration, and gives the reader distance"
• Arglees - "The violent youth is a prediction of 21st century youth in Britain"
• Groups in The Handmaid's Tale

  • "The Eyes"
  • "The Angels"
• Examples of Nadsat


  • Deng, malenky, litso, gulliver
• Endings of A Clockwork Orange

  • 1963 Norton - "I was cured all right"
  • 1962 Heimann - "But you, O my brothers, remember sometimes thy little Alex was"