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Essential Question: How does The Handmaid’s Tale compare to other dystopian texts?

Lesson 21 | Comparing Dystopias: Dystopian Mirrors

This engaging lesson helps students compare The Handmaid’s Tale with other classic dystopian novels, including 1984 (George Orwell), Frankenstein (Mary Shelley), Brave New World (Aldous Huxley), and We (Yevgeny Zamyatin). Students will explore key dystopian themes such as control, resistance, surveillance, and oppression, while understanding how Margaret Atwood engages with dystopian conventions.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify key similarities and differences between The Handmaid’s Tale and other dystopian texts.
• Understand how Atwood reflects and subverts traditional dystopian elements.
• Develop skills to compare and contrast multiple dystopian texts in a structured essay.

Lesson Features:

• Starter Task: A Think-Pair-Share activity to discuss what makes a dystopian novel.
• Learning Stations: Students rotate through stations exploring key extracts from each novel, analyzing how themes of control and resistance are presented.
• Practice Exam Question: “Compare how Atwood and another dystopian writer present control and resistance in their novels.” Students will create an essay plan, focusing on key themes across texts.
• Essay Planning Task: Students summarize the biggest differences between The Handmaid’s Tale and another dystopian novel, then discuss the similarities and differences within the genre.
• Exit Task: Reflect on the core similarities and differences across dystopian fiction.

This lesson includes:

• A full lesson plan
• Handouts with extracts from 1984, Frankenstein, Brave New World, and We
• Essay planning guide to structure comparisons across texts

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