Chapter 16 Flashcards
1
Q
Setting
A
- “Healthy white cotton drawers”
- “Large white canopy”
- “Colonial-style four-poster bed”
- Lots of blue indicate SJ’s territory
- Depiction of white suggests innocence and purity which contrasts with the act
- SJ’s bedroom is the most private space which holds a public event
- “Cold” suggest emotionless and cruelty
- “Colonial”: idea of colonization, to take what does not belong to you
2
Q
The act (Sex)
A
- We are one flesh, mocks christianity
- Rape
- Taboo: “fucking” not a romantic act
- Commander hums “humanizes him” sympathizes with him and makes him less of a monster
3
Q
Attitude of the narrator (Offred)
A
- No adjectives that reference emotions, does not share emotions
- Offred avoids the trauma of story-telling
- Comical “I dare not laugh”, shows that she is becoming used to the ceremony, subsumed by the laws of Gilead
- Reflects on what the commander and SJ might be feeling
- Doesn’t see the act as rape which makes her an unreliable narrator
4
Q
The commander
A
- Views the ceremony as a duty/ chore
- Attempts to detach “one detaches oneself”
- Stoicism
5
Q
Serena Joy
A
- 100% Gilead during the ceremony, conforms
- After the ceremony, she rebels “Get up and get out”
- Reduces the chances of Offred getting pregnant and conceiving
- Questions her desire for a child
6
Q
Whom is it worse for?
A
- In Offred trying to humanize the commander and SJ, you have to pity Offred, increases tragedy around her
- “The ceremony goes on as usual”
7
Q
Positioning of the characters
A
- Both women lie down/reclined, indicating passive participation
- The commander towers over them indicating he has control, active participant, authority, power
- “If I were to open my eyes”: Offred tries to escape the reality of the ceremony
- “The rings of her left hand cut into my fingers”- SJ takes advantage of the situation showing that some women are complicit with women suffering
- “Hanging over my torso”- Highlights how Offred has been reduced to a body part and only useful for reproduction, also shows hierarchy