1. Today’s Objectives
Analyze Atwood’s rationale for and purposeful use of graphic diction in chapter sixteen

2. Chapter Sixteen’s Graphic Diction
The scene is shocking, the language explicit. Atwood literally wanted you to feel horror when you read chapter sixteen.
In Atwood’s attempt to capture the horrors that exist in places where women’s rights are ignored and women themselves treated, as Atwood’s narrator puts it, as “incubators with legs,” she uses very graphic diction to portray the very graphic nature of the abuse women suffer in captivity.

3. Chapter Sixteen’s Graphic Diction
Atwood makes us consider our own Puritanical atavism when she shocks us with the portrayal of “The Ceremony.”
Should the content of this chapter be more shocking than, for example, learning about the Rwandan Genocide or seeing the horror of the Holocaust film “Night and Fog?”
Exposure to a shocking thing [or shocking language] is not equivalent to promotion of that thing.
If that were so, then The Iliad would be a promotion of violence and destruction, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn would be a promotion of racism, and Lord of the Flies would be a promotion of savagery and murder.

4. Analyze to Show Your Understanding
Discuss the purpose for Atwood’s use of graphic diction in chapter sixteen: why?

5. "Violence against Women. " WHO. World Health Organization, n. d. Web
"Violence against Women." WHO. World Health Organization, n.d. Web. 04 Nov <
Recent global prevalence figures indicate that 35% of women worldwide have experienced either intimate partner violence or non-partner sexual violence in their lifetime.
Globally:
30% of women who have been in a relationship report that they have experienced some form of physical or sexual violence by their partner
as many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner

6. 64% of instances of U.S. rape are not reported to the police
Planty, Michael. Female Victims of Sexual Violence, Washington, DC: U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Web.
Rape - Forced sexual intercourse including both psychological coercion as well as physical force.
In , 78% of sexual violence involved an offender who was a family member, intimate partner, friend, or acquaintance.
64% of instances of U.S. rape are not reported to the police
According to the U.N., in Europe only 14 per cent of women reported their most serious incident of intimate partner violence to the police, and 13 per cent reported their most serious incident of non-partner violence to the police
77% of women who are raped receive no medical or legal assistance to deal with their tragedy
In the U.S.A., things are improving: From 1995 to 2010, the estimated annual rate of female rape or sexual assault victimizations declined 58%, from 5.0 victimizations per 1,000 females age 12 or older to 2.1 per 1,000.
- See more at:

7. Sexual Violence Varies by Culture "Violence against Women. " WHO
Sexual Violence Varies by Culture "Violence against Women." WHO. World Health Organization, n.d. Web. 04 Nov <
15% of women in Japan and 71% of women in Ethiopia reported physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner in their lifetime
International studies reveal that approximately 20% of women and 5–10% of men report being victims of sexual violence as children.
The first sexual experience for many women was reported as forced – 17% in rural Tanzania, 24% in rural Peru, and 30% in rural Bangladesh.

8. A federal law called the Clery Act requires colleges to inform students of crime on and around campus.
The Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, also known as the Clery Act, is a federal law that requires institutions of higher education to have in place certain security and safety policies, and to disclose certain crime statistics.

9. Atwood’s Graphic Diction: Purpose
Women were stoned to death in 2014 in Syria for adultery
According to the U.N., more than 133 million girls and women have experienced some form of female genital mutilation (FGM) in the 29 countries in Africa and the Middle East where the harmful practice is most common.
Trafficking: According to the U.N., women and girls represent 55 per cent of the estimated 20.9 million victims of forced labour worldwide, and 98 per cent of the estimated 4.5 million are forced into sexual exploitation.

10. Review: Today’s Objectives
Analyze Atwood’s rationale for and purposeful use of graphic diction in The Handmaid’s Tale.

11. Chapter 14-17 Discussion Qs
We are finally told that the narrator is called “Offred,” though it isn't her real name. Why does Atwood withhold her real name?
Why was Offred’s family warned not to look too happy when they are trying to escape Gilead?
Why was Moira punished so badly at the center? Does this instance of violence reveal Moira’s evil or that of her captors?
Why does the commander keep the Bible locked up? Why might Puritanical cultures keep Bibles routinely sequestered from the general population?
The “ceremony” scene ends with Second Chronicles 16:9. Why is this verse altered to fit the needs of the commander and Gilead?
“For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war.”
Justify Atwood’s use of graphic diction in chapter sixteen.
Explain why The Handmaid’s Tale is not Anti-Christian. Complete the statement as many ways as you can— “Atwood’s narrative is anti- …” and prove your statement is true with evidence from the text.
Analyze the biblical allusion to Rachel and Leah in Ch 17, and analyze the significance of that Genesis story in HMT.
Justify the interaction between Offred and Nick in Ch 17.

12. Homework Critically read chapter 18-25 for Friday’s class.
FOAs tomorrow 