birth day

Question 1

‘the egg is glowing now, as if it had an energy of its own. to look at the egg gives me intense pleasure’

Answer 1

fertility

symbolises her desire for a baby

Question 2

‘a baby, as we all hope? or something else, an unbaby’

Answer 2

reflects the nazis - untermenschen

no place in gilead for children who aren’t healthy

Question 3

‘exploding atomic power plants… and the mutant strain of syphilis no mould could touch’

Answer 3

environmental concerns

perception of aids in the 1980s

Question 4

‘they were lazy women… they were sluts’

Answer 4

blames women for not having children

misogynistic - never the mans fault

Question 5

‘no anaesthetics’

Answer 5

can’t have help - women’s pain isn’t of any value

physically punishing them - misogyny

Question 6

‘oh yes, can i ma’am please?

Answer 6

janine is the ideal gileadean women

becomes robotic

Question 7

‘that’s all dear, you can go back to your room’

Answer 7

treated like a child

like giving a pet treats

Question 8

‘janine, inflated but reduced, shorn of her former name’

Answer 8

lost her real self - psychological effects

what gilead wants

Question 9

‘at her feet stands aunt elizabeth, in her khaki dress with the military breast pockets; she was the one who taught gyn ed’

Answer 9

disturbing aspects of propaganda

military - birth is a procedure

having kids for a reason

Question 10

‘the birthing stool, with its double seat, the back one raised like a throne behind the other’

Answer 10

used by puritans in the 17 century

hierarchy and inequality

handmaids suffer, the wives don’t

Question 11

‘the rest of the women sit crossed legged on the rug’

Answer 11

childlike - treated like this to increase dependency and vulnerability

inferior

Question 12

‘aunt lydia didn’t show these kind of movies’

Answer 12

propaganda - lucky to live under gilead

doesn’t want the handmaids to see the freedom they could have

Question 13

‘freedom to choose. every baby a wanted baby. recapture our bodies. do you believe a woman’s place is on the kitchen table?’

Answer 13

2nd wave feminism protests

gilead has captured their bodies and owns them

Question 14

‘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’

Answer 14

authorities have some sympathy

alcohol - rebelling from rules

all despotic regimes have corruption

Question 15

‘she’ll never be declared an unwoman. that is her reward’

Answer 15

fulfilled her purpose

nazi germany links

Question 16

‘here is a different story, a better one. this is the story of what happened to moira’

Answer 16

offred manipulates and romanticises her memories to suit her

Question 17

‘i think we found this frightening . moira was like an elevator with open sides. she made us dizzy’

Answer 17

how quickly the handmaids have become used to the oppression of gilead

power and rebellion gives them hope

Question 18

‘moira was our fantasy. we hugged her to us, she was with us in secret’

Answer 18

symbol of hope

‘fantasy’ - too far fetched for conforming handmaids like offred, something they can only dream of

Question 19

‘we are for breeding purposes only: we aren’t concubines, geisha, girls, courtesans’

Answer 19

no connection

more degrading than those

Question 20

‘we are two legged womb’

Answer 20

dehumanisation

reduced to machine like functions

Question 21

‘we play two games…larynx…valance. quince. zygote… this is freedom , an eye blink of it’

Answer 21

zygote - fertilised egg cell

larynx - voice box

even the meaning of the words offred spells are significant - what she wants

language forbidden