Chapter 1 Flashcards
Significance of Offred’s name
Of Fred - belonging to Fred
Opening sentence and it’s significance
‘We slept in what had once been the gymnasium’
What is it now
Why are they sleeping in it
Who is we
Why did it change
Images from the last
‘Music lingered’
‘Glitter ball’
Liberal
Doing something in them
Images from the present
‘Army issued blankets’
‘Barbed wire’
Army imagery, sense of force
In paragraph 3 Atwood uses deliberate repetition
‘Army cots’ and ‘army issue blankets’
What effect does this have?
Reinforced ‘army’ -> military rule
Shows something is wrong
Military regime
Atwoods use of similie
‘We had flannelette sheets, like children’s’
How does this further add to your impression of the women’s treatment?
Of a lower class and need to obedient
Belittled
What are the connotations of the name ‘Aunt’
Aunty - loving and advisor
Superior
Distance
Advice
Wise
Confident
What is surprising about the aunts
‘Electric cattle prods’
‘Talked’ when the aunts were not looking
Diagram of emerging power hierarchy
Angels
Guards
Aunts
Handmaids
What does the possible ‘deal’ that the handmaids consider making with the Angels suggest about their prospects
‘Deals’ seduce ‘we still had our bodies’
Desperation
Atwood uses several words from the same semantic field
‘Guards’
‘Daily works’
‘Chain-linked fence topped with barbed wire’
What field are those words from and why is Atwood integrating it
Prison - dystopian - world THEYRE living in to women
Imprisonment
Military regime
Oppression
Why do you think the exchange of names is so important to the handmaids
Name - exerts power - identity
Odd names
Only have each other
Past is gone
