A Mother’s Language: The Interconnected Power Domains of Maternity and Female Discourse in Margaret Atwood’s "Spelling" and The Handmaid’s Tale

Dalaney D. Plott
Dr. Christine Harker, Faculty Mentor

Unlike Atwood’s popular novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, the poem “Spelling” is less well-known and has received little academic attention, yet both were composed during the second-wave feminist movement. This paper will take “Spelling” and apply its themes to those of Atwood’s critically acclaimed piece The Handmaid’s Tale to gain greater insight into maternity and language within the novel. This paper is interested in exploring the interconnectedness and the relationship between language and maternity and the power that women possess in each domain. While scholarship has addressed maternity and language in the novel separately, my analysis of “Spelling” provides the critical tool to address the intersection of the two in The Handmaid’s Tale as a separate and integral source of female power. By applying “Spelling” to the Handmaid’s Tale, new insight is gained into maternity and language within the novel not previously explored in scholarship.

Keywords: Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale, "Spelling", Second-wave Feminism, Maternity, Language

Topic(s):English
Women's and Gender Studies

Presentation Type: Oral Presentation

Session: TBA
Location: TBA
Time: TBA