I hadn't really made connections between this book and history before we discussed it in class. The society in this book seems so unreal and alien to me that it is difficult to think that it all comes from actual parts of history. People used to and some still do live in societies like this. In my group we saw connections between The Handaids Tale and the underground railroad as well as with things like re-patriation, public executions, the handmaid's uniform, testifying, and propaganda and censorship. After discussing these things I think that I can see the message that Margaret Atwood was trying to send, about our societies. I couldn't even believe how horrible this society sounded but now I realize that almost every country has had at least some negative aspects of Gilead in their society. We related certain propaganda from the book to what happened in WWII. The censorship is very similar to that in communist China and the Soviet Union. It is pretty obvious how aspects of the book are similar to the underground railroad, people can secretly escape by going and staying in different houses, just like the underground railroad. Having a discussion about this in class helped me see a purpose and message in this book.