chapter 8 Flashcards
Gender Treachery - Homosexuality is an offence punishable by death in
Gilead - as it is still in some régimes today
Mayday
-used to be an SOS signal- Ofglen trying to send a message
-remembers it “was something from Beethoven”- victory among the anti nazis in his symphony
-She reminisces on Luke saying it has French descent- etymology of words, importance of language as it is restricted in Gilead
M’aidez. Help me
M’aidez. Help me - Atwood gives extra meaning to ‘help me’ by placing it on a separate line, where
it becomes more than a simple translation from the French: it is also a cry from Offred.
Short syntax- cry for help for Offred- meaning in words
“two or three months”
babies are so precious that even a foetus is given a funeral. But many women in society at the time chose to abort babies that size
“she’s like my own reflection”
a doppelgänger
However here offred is “moving away” suggesting she rejects the identity thrust upon her and still tries to remain her own individuality in spite of Gileads stict rules and efforts to suppress it
“tulips are redder… chalices thrusting”
“they are after all empty”
A chalice is a cup usually with religious precedence as it is used in ceremonies. Here, Atwood combines both religious imagery and sexual imagery; their life
force is a challenge in Gilead.
“they are after all empty”
vibrancy is short lived- defiance doesnt last long under regimes
All flesh is weak. All flesh is grass -
All flesh is weak. All flesh is grass - Aunt Lydia frequently alters biblical texts for her own
purposes. The text she is mis-quoting is 1 Peter 1:24: ‘For all flesh is as grass, and all the
glory of man as the flower of grass.’ Offred here reminds herself, through remembering the
original text, that all earthly powers, including the Aunts, are mortal, whereas Aunt Lydia has
altered the wording to warn the Handmaids to be aware of sexual temptation
She has become speechless
- Offred’s pun highlights the fact that part of Gilead’s
oppression of women is to control their language and to remove their right to speak out.
-added suffix of “less”- women used to have the power to speak out and now they do not
“used to make”- past tense stative verb highlights how presently women have no freedom of speech, and despite how Serena Joy is in power now, that power doesn’t afford her the same freedom and liberties as her old life did.
Tammy Fae Bakker and Phyllis Shcalfly
the true shape of things to come -
the true shape of things to come - Offred feels that Serena Joy must have been
appalled when she realised the true nature of the state she was supporting. Atwood is
alluding to H.G. Wells’ 1933 science-fiction novel The Shape of Things to Come in
which he imagined a world state emerging after devastating wars
a treacherous smell
a treacherous smell - Offred knows that she cannot afford to think too much
about her past life and about people she loves if she is to survive in Gilead. Smells
evoke memories - as the bath soap does later (in chapter 12).
treacherous means betrayal- not loyal to the regime by remembering- only brings guilt and sadness
The hall mirror … bulges .. like an eye under pressure
The hall mirror … bulges .. like an eye under pressure - Many of Atwood’s
images are grotesque, suggesting the abnormality of Offred’s life. Such rounded
mirrors are used in surveillance as they reflect more than one angle.
the room where i stay… I called it mine.
avoids saying “where I live”- ownership and submission- different connotations
mine is emphatically stressed so while she is acknowledging shes succumbing to the system (having refused to call the room “my” in ch1) she is also ironically claiming her room as hers, where she is free to think of the past and free from control
