Jakob: i thought the handmaid's tale was unrealistic. i mean, men and women have differences of opinion on things sometimes, but i don't think it's logical to say that women could ever be controlled totally by men. kareem: i don't think it's supposed to be realistic, exactly. it's more like it's pointing out the problems society really does have by showing that a totally crazy situation like the one in the story isn't completely different from the problems of today. lana: right. men might not be totally in control, but the book shows a world sort of like ours, where things are not equal. in the book, for example, men control all the money, and women have no financial power at all. in ours, men don't control all the money, but they do have more of it, in general. maria: i don't think that's true, necessarily. my mom makes a lot more than my dad, so i don't think the problems of the book even apply to our world. i think the story is really a metaphor for what happens whenever any group gains all the power in society. jakob: i did like how the things that happened seem like things that really could happen if you didn't keep an eye on social problems. that kind of violence can actually happen really easily. kareem: i wonder whether in writing this book the author thought that society was getting better or worse in terms of social differences. was it supposed to be a celebration of how good things have gotten or a warning? which of the following is a research question that arises most naturally from this discussion? a. how easily does violence happen in a society? b. are the differences between men's and women's salaries decreasing? c. is the handmaid's tale meant to be a warning or a celebration? d. is the situation described in the book very different from that of our society?