birth day Flashcards
‘the egg is glowing now, as if it had an energy of its own. to look at the egg gives me intense pleasure’
fertility
symbolises her desire for a baby
‘a baby, as we all hope? or something else, an unbaby’
reflects the nazis - untermenschen
no place in gilead for children who aren’t healthy
‘exploding atomic power plants… and the mutant strain of syphilis no mould could touch’
environmental concerns
perception of aids in the 1980s
‘they were lazy women… they were sluts’
blames women for not having children
misogynistic - never the mans fault
‘no anaesthetics’
can’t have help - women’s pain isn’t of any value
physically punishing them - misogyny
‘oh yes, can i ma’am please?
janine is the ideal gileadean women
becomes robotic
‘that’s all dear, you can go back to your room’
treated like a child
like giving a pet treats
‘janine, inflated but reduced, shorn of her former name’
lost her real self - psychological effects
what gilead wants
‘at her feet stands aunt elizabeth, in her khaki dress with the military breast pockets; she was the one who taught gyn ed’
disturbing aspects of propaganda
military - birth is a procedure
having kids for a reason
‘the birthing stool, with its double seat, the back one raised like a throne behind the other’
used by puritans in the 17 century
hierarchy and inequality
handmaids suffer, the wives don’t
‘the rest of the women sit crossed legged on the rug’
childlike - treated like this to increase dependency and vulnerability
inferior
‘aunt lydia didn’t show these kind of movies’
propaganda - lucky to live under gilead
doesn’t want the handmaids to see the freedom they could have
‘freedom to choose. every baby a wanted baby. recapture our bodies. do you believe a woman’s place is on the kitchen table?’
2nd wave feminism protests
gilead has captured their bodies and owns them
‘someone has spiked the grape juice. someone has pinched a bottle, from downstairs. it won’t be the first time at such gathering; but they’ll turn a blind eye’
authorities have some sympathy
alcohol - rebelling from rules
all despotic regimes have corruption
‘she’ll never be declared an unwoman. that is her reward’
fulfilled her purpose
nazi germany links
‘here is a different story, a better one. this is the story of what happened to moira’
offred manipulates and romanticises her memories to suit her
‘i think we found this frightening . moira was like an elevator with open sides. she made us dizzy’
how quickly the handmaids have become used to the oppression of gilead
power and rebellion gives them hope
‘moira was our fantasy. we hugged her to us, she was with us in secret’
symbol of hope
‘fantasy’ - too far fetched for conforming handmaids like offred, something they can only dream of
‘we are for breeding purposes only: we aren’t concubines, geisha, girls, courtesans’
no connection
more degrading than those
‘we are two legged womb’
dehumanisation
reduced to machine like functions
‘we play two games…larynx…valance. quince. zygote… this is freedom , an eye blink of it’
zygote - fertilised egg cell
larynx - voice box
even the meaning of the words offred spells are significant - what she wants
language forbidden
