The Handmaid's Tale Context Portfolio

Daniel Arcega

Mrs. Emerick

IB English HL II


Socio-Historical Context 

        For my historical context portfolio, I created a model of a panopticon. A panopticon relates to The Handmaid's Tale because the society depicted in the novel is similar to that of a panopticon. On the outside is the description of a panopticon along with real-life examples as well as its connection in The Handmaid's Tale. On the inside is a ring of prison cells, creating a model panopticon.














Works Cited

“Internalized Authority and the Prison of the Mind: Bentham and Foucault's Panopticon.” HAAW Workplace, Brown University, 2009, https://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/courses/13things/7121.html.  

 Foucault, Michel. Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Trans. Alan Sheridan. New York: Pantheon, 1977.

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