The Handmaids Tale

• palimpsest'


  Ch 1 Pg 9: All the echo's of what was once in this gym and has lingered there like faded ink.
• Why is Gilead a palimpsest?


  Offred can see her past life and uses it to judge the present and to give her hope. If she retains her sense of the past, perhaps there will be some future for her. The past is still visible to her because she remembers it.
• old ones that still say US'


  Ch 1 Pg 9: First hint the world has drastically changed.
• chain-link fence topped with barbed wire'


  Ch 1 Pg 10: prison imagery, emphasising enclosure/trapped
• Alma. Janine. Dolores. Moira. Jane'


  Ch 1 Pg 10: Separated by full stop rather than comma only individualises the women more, more solidarity.
• A chair, a table, a lamp'


  Ch 2 Pg 13: Offred focuses on the minor details of her room to keep her occupied. Themes of repression and boredom
• I am alive, I live, I breath, I put my hand out, unfolded, into the sunlight.


  Ch 2 Pg 14: Offred's natural instinct, reminding herself she is still alive is her coping mechanism. She wants to feel the outside world, something the regime has disconnected her from.
• there are few mirrors'

  Ch 2 Pg 14: Removes identity and vanity for the women
• The door of the room-not my room...'


  Ch 2 Pg 14: Offred emphasises how shes uses language to retain a small amount of control over her situation. Can't control most of her reality but can her possessive pronouns
• blue for the commanders wife'


  Ch 2 Pg 15: Virgin Mary reference, as she is the ideal woman which is how they want the commanders wife.
• unwomen'


  Ch 2 Pg 16: Strips them of their gender
• It's not that bad. It's not what you'd call hard work


  Ch 2 Pg 16: Problem women v women. Marthas think handsmaids have it easy
• pictures'


  Ch 2 Pg 17: Power of the written word, they aren't allowed to read as it would allow them leverage. They don't want them to have any power
• The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they have been cut and are beginning to heal there'


  Ch 3 Pg 18: Tulips add to colour motif/fertility. Suggestive image as Atwood draws on connotations of growth, flowering, fertility, youth, menstruation.

  
  

  The fact the tulips are in the garden is a reference to the way the Handmaids have been cultivated for a purpose against their natural instincts.

  
  

  Links to Offred, as although life has been taken from her she may be beginning to heal
• The garden is the domain of the Commander's Wife'


  Ch 3 Pg 18: Holds an illusion of power, but also the pointlessness of her as she only had control over the garden Links femininity and traditional roles. Natural imagery holds connotations of peace etc. contrast to the real Serena Joy.

  
  

  Garden could be euphemism for handmaid herself= control over fertility and any offspring produced. Religious connotations through the Garden of Eden, backwards empowerment through Eve's actions
• I once had a garden'


  Ch 3 Pg 18: Reference to her child, comments on how children take time and attention however the commanders wife isn't putting in any work but will reap the rewards.
• this posting'


  Ch 3 Pg 19: Militaristic language emphasises prison like qualities
• Aunt Lydia said she was lobbying for the front. Yours is a position of honour, she said'


  Ch 3 Pg 19: AL thinks handmaids should be honoured, subtly indoctrinates HM into thinking their lives are better and more worthwhile.
• you're the new one'


  Ch 3 Pg 19: lack of human connection
• There's always a black market...cigarettes are forbidden'


  Ch 3 Pg 20: Offred states that there is always something that can be exchanged but she doesn't have anything but her body this would be illegal and most likely would get her killed.

  
  

  She extents to an undertone of resistance towards the government as she ponders over the idea of having a slither of freedom gives her hope.

  
  

  The fact she looks at the cig 'longing' shows she doesn't care where its from but wants to satisfy her own desires and wants.
• I was disappointed. I wanted, then, to turn her into an older sister a motherly figure, someone who would understand and protect me'


  Ch 3 Pg 21/22 : They are in a society which pits women against women both are trapped in the system.
• it's one of the things we fought for'


  Ch 3 Pg 22: Tells us how both men and women were involved in the making of Gilead- they chose this life.
• "Here and there are worms"


  Ch 4 Pg 23: metaphor for fertility and handmaids
• (Description of Nick)


  Ch 4 Pg 23: Subtle hint of defiance from his appearance, again tells us how she pays attention to small details
• "Then he winks"


  Ch 4 Pg 24: Blatantd defiance, form of rebellion, could lead to temptation
• Why are the spies called eyes?

  From the Bible "The eyes of the lord are in every place observing the evil and the good"
• "Sidewalks are kept much cleaner than they used to be"L


  Ch 4 Pg 24: Looking for small signs that things have become better despite the government they are living under x
• "Think of yourselves as seeds"


  Ch 4 Pg 24: metaphor, dehumanises the handmaids as there bodies should be used purely for reproductive purposes. Water=man flower=child
• "I don't know what happened to the one before"


  Ch 4 Pg 25: Disappearance? We don't know why? What happens in totalitarian governments. Also theme of identity as they are easily and quickly replaced.
• "and they're either stupid or old or disabled or very young"


  Ch 4 Pg 26: Men are cherised in Gilead and aren't discarded of as easily as women are.
• "he sees my eyes, and I see his, and he blushes"


  Ch 4 Pg 27: Another form of rebellion, and form of temptation is wrong.
• "I move my hips a little"


  Ch 4 Pg 28: Offred is trying to gain back any momentary form of power she can obtain in a world which controls her every move.
• "none of this is the fault of these men, they're too young"


  Ch 4 Pg 28: They aren't to blame for the formation of Gilead yet Offred can't help tempting them.
• Doubled I walk the street'


  Pg 29; . Gilead tries to change women into a 'mass' existence, depriving anyone of any individuality.
• the facades are gracious'


  Pg 29; Offred is aware of the fakery of her surroundings
• There are no lawyers anymore and the university is closed'


  Pg 29; No needs for lawyers, no debate, totalitarian government. No education as they don't want people to learn
• Women were not protected then'


  Pg 30; One of the things they are supposed to be grateful for.
• Freedom to and freedom from'


  Pg 30; Despite all woman are lost they argue they are more free now, free of abuse, be grateful instead of mourn. Twisted representation
• She's a flag on a hilltop'


  Pg 32
• trace of a smirk'


  Pg 33; She doesn't have to be outside, but she want's to gloat to the other women, women on women culture again.