Freeforall (short story)

Freeforall (short story)

"Freeforall" is a 1986 short story by Margaret Atwood.

The story is set in the near future, a time of widespread and rampant sexually transmitted disease, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It describes a dystopian society with extremely limited freedoms tightly regulated by a totalitarian state in the name of saving society from the sexually transmitted diseases. The world's population is tightly segregated with the infected living somewhere on the "outside" presumably in deplorable conditions and left to their own devices. The presumed anarchy and privation will lead to the natural elimination of the diseases when all the human carriers are dead. Moral value has been placed on disease with the infected being treated as having brought the trouble onto themselves. The infected are condemned and are left to perish with no assistance offered from the "inside". Minimal detail is supplied about the "outside" world and it is referred to only indirectly and reflected in the fears of the healthy inside population.The "inside" presumably healthy population lives under extreme duress and gender roles appear to be breaking down. The veiled reference to a "turkey baster" as necessary ingredient to maintain a semblance of a marriage is provided toward the end of the story.The story supplies few details but succeeds in painting the mood and the context of the world in highly vivid colors. The sense of paranoia and anxiety and fear of the "healthy" population is omnipresent and overwhelming. Religious, totalitarian, radical evangelical currents run through the story and appear to justify the current world order as morally acceptable, if not desirable.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction — Apocalyptic fiction is a sub genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization due to a potentially existential catastrophe such as nuclear warfare, pandemic, extraterrestrial attack, impact event, cybernetic revolt,… …   Wikipedia

  • The Handmaid's Tale — For the film adaptation, see The Handmaid s Tale (film). For the operatic adaptation, see The Handmaid s Tale (opera). The Handmaid s Tale   …   Wikipedia

  • Environmental effects of fishing — The environmental effects of fishing can be divided into issues that involve the availability of fish to be caught, such as overfishing, sustainable fisheries, and fisheries management; and issues that involve the impact of fishing on the… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”