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The Handmaid’s Tale Ch. 28.2: The Day Her Money Stopped Working | Banned Books Comedy
Description
One morning her debit card stops working. By that afternoon, armed soldiers have shut down her workplace and the government has frozen every woman's bank account in the country. In this chapter of The Handmaid's Tale, Jennifer and Dan watch an entire life get taken apart in the space of a single day — one bureaucratic switch at a time.
This episode includes AI-voiced content, including our trusty fact-checking robot, Robot.
Banned Camp is a comedy podcast where we read banned books chapter by chapter — we don't read ahead, so you're discovering the story with us.
Things To Listen For:
- The Handmaid's card gets declined at the store, and the reason turns out to be much bigger than a mix-up
- Robot fact-checks the real 1970s feminist "women's collectives" behind Moira's new job
- Dan draws an unsettling parallel between Gilead's F/M account freeze and modern-day disaster-funding fights
- A flashback to the narrator's activist mother sparks a debate about who actually fights back when it counts
- Dan's theory about which character in this book never gets named — and what that says about how she's coping
- The chapter's gutting final line, and why Jennifer calls it "the one to pay attention to"
Why was The Handmaid's Tale banned?
This chapter's central image — a government freezing women's bank accounts overnight simply because they're women — is exactly the kind of scene that makes The Handmaid's Tale a perennial target for challenges. It's less about explicit content and more about how plainly it shows a society building oppression through paperwork instead of force.
If this is your first episode, you're fine starting here. Our fact-checking Robot catches you up fast, then we read the next chapter (spoilers).
Banworthy to Bingeworthy
Beowulf closes out this episode's news segment with a plug for his own show:
- Good News for Lefties — Beowulf Rochlen's own program, straight news for people who are sick of being lied to. Find it wherever you get your podcasts.
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Disclaimer
Banned Camp features readings and discussions of banned books for the purpose of criticism, commentary, education, and entertainment, in accordance with fair use guidelines.
The material used from the book The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood is shared under these principles, with the intent of provoking thought and discussion about literature, censorship, and societal issues. The original work remains fully owned by its copyright holders, and we strongly encourage listeners to purchase a copy here to experience the book in its entirety.
https://bookshop.org/a/20953/9780385490818
This podcast is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially connected to Margaret Atwood, her estate, or the publishers of The Handmaid's Tale. Any monetization of the podcast is separate from the copyrighted material discussed.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why was The Handmaid's Tale banned?
The Handmaid's Tale has been challenged or banned in American schools and libraries every single year since its publication in 1985. It was the most challenged book in the United States in 2023. It has been targeted for profanity, sexually explicit content, and content deemed "offensive to Christians." But the deeper reason is that Margaret Atwood showed what happens when a government uses religion, tradition, and "protecting families" as justification for stripping women of the