Handmaid's Tale and Alias Grace
The Handmaid’s
Tale is written by Margert Atwood, a prominent feminist and Canadian writer. She
has also written other very influential and critical successful books such as
Oryx and Crake, The Blind Assassin, and Alias Grace. I read Alias Grace last
year (when I forgot to bring a book for independent reading in English last
year). It’s a book about Grace Marks’ life, a Canadian servant living in the 1840s.
The book chronicles Grace Mark’s life and her eventual time in prison for the
murder of her employer Thomas Kinnear (this may not sound super interesting,
but plot is very layered, and it ends up as more of a murder-mystery towards the
end. There is also a Netflix series you don’t want to commit to reading the
book).
Both of
these books deal with feminism and the power of men over women. In the Handmaid’s
Tale, Offred is very obviously stripped of her power and made to serve men with
power. She is even raped under the supervision of her government. In Alias Grace,
Grace Marks is a poor servant who is subjected to the power of her male employers.
In the book, Grace is pursued to have sex with her employers (basically upper-class
men) with the threat of losing her job if she doesn’t. A large part of the book
is about the ways she tries to avoid their interest. In both of Atwood’s book
the main heroines deal with being forced into impossible situations because men
with power.
Alias
Grace is a work of historical fiction. It creates a fiction world from the real-life
murder’s of 1843 murders of Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery. Grace Marks actually
existed (although her fate is unknown, and she is obviously different in the
book). I think that is what makes Alias Grace different and in certain aspects
more powerful than The Handmaids Tale. It doesn’t deal with the fictional suppression
of women in a dystopian society. Instead it portrays struggles of real women as
they lived in the 19th century.
- Anna Ondrejckova
First of all, Alias Grace sounds super interesting. Thank you for telling me about it! I wonder why The Handmaid's Tale gained more popularity when it seems like both books are important: Handmaid's Tale shows a possibility of a society where women are incredibly objectified, and Alias Grace acknowledges the sexism and abuse that happened in the past, which is not as much of a focus of Handmaid's Tale.
ReplyDeleteI think also The Handmaid's Tale has recently become so incredibly popular because the TV show has been so high profile. Though both books have TV shows made based off of them, the idea of THT has become really popular recently, especially in political scenarios. Women dressed up in the red cloaks with the white wings to protest Brett Kavanaugh and I think also to Women's Marches. This has probably helped the popularity of the show, especially for people who already were feminists, and therefore the book too.
DeleteThey just released the trailer for handmaids tale season 3. It's interesting that they've split off so much from the book. The TV show definitely has a different viewpoint (more of a 2019 outlook) than the book.
Delete- Anna O.
I agree with Raine, Alias Grace sounds really good. I get why it's not as popular, though. Handmaid's Tale probably lends itself more to sensationalism than Alias Grace, and dystopias are always pretty popular.
ReplyDeleteAlias Grace sounds really interesting. I agree that it could be more powerful than the Handmaid's Tale because of how used a real life event instead of creating a dystopia. While the Handmaid's Tale didn't use anything that hasn't in some way happened, because it's a work as fiction it seems less "relatable" because Gilead doesn't exist. It's easier then to "relate" to Alias Grace because it is more based in history and you can't really argue that it didn't happen, while you can argue that Gilead will never exist.
ReplyDeleteI am willing to agree with Annette. Alias Grace appears to be interesting. I do not get, however, why it might be less popular than Handmaid's tale. I would expect people to like reading about the topics Alias Grace has to offer and perhaps be scared off by the sensationalism in Handmaid's tale.
ReplyDeleteI am willing to agree with Kevin. I feel that given the rather extreme world conditions that were depicted in Handmaid's Tale would lend themselves to producing a more gripping story, since you are drawn into a different world, and the conditions are less familiar (so you may find that you pick up more details since you have no assumptions made). Thanks for the great post!
ReplyDeleteI think it's very interesting the story line that the author tends to lean towards. Handmaid's Tale is being brought up a lot right now because of the abortion laws that are being made, and this idea that men are controlling what women do. It shows that women are still struggling with their lack of rights in this modern day society.
ReplyDeleteYeah I would definitely want to read Alias Grace because it a warning of how if we don't regulate workplace environments and give employees protections situations can become extremely dangerous to women. Samaia I like how you brought up the current change in abortion laws in the U.S and how it reflects the fact that women are still struggling to gain full rights today.
Delete