Class Flashcards
‘We tried to sleep, in the army cots/ with spaces between so we could not talk’ (pg.3)
‘I am a reproach to her; and a necessity’ (pg.13)
‘We learned to see the world in gaps’ (pg.30)
‘You must be a worthy vessel’
This metaphor shows the Handmaids are expected to carry a child but apart from that should remain empty and lifeless as the regime requires
‘A child being allowed up late with the grown ups’
Metaphor - she is treated by others like she needs to be protected from the harm - she ultimately their only hope
‘She holds my hands/ to signify that we are one flesh, one being’
This is ironic as even though they are meant to be a unit there is a clear dislike between the two
‘Which of us is worse for her or me?’
The reader never finds out what other characters think of Gilead as the narrative is told from a fixed first person narrative which often makes them unreliable
‘Little whores, all of them’
The wives clearly dislike the Handmaids but again we never know this for certain as the novel is told purely from Offred’s perspective
‘It’s up to me to repay the team’
The Handmaids are the irrevocable function around all the household and Offred feels a pressure to conceive for this reason
‘He laughed. I could of slapped him’
Those in power in a totalitarian often stay ignorant to the atrocities and restrictions caused as a result as they benefit from the system
‘He’s at the top’ (p.211)
The Commander is very important in society making the consequences for his rebellion especially at the end of the book even more catastrophic
‘A blue shape, a red shape’ (p.261)
While they are different in status, they are each other double and each relies on the other to continue living
‘Wives and daughters on folding wooden chairs…handmaids at the front where everyone can keep an eye on us’ (p.275)
Wives are physically placed higher than the Handmaids showing the hierarchy of power in Gilead. The Handmaids having to be watched shows the surveillance of the less powerful in case of rebellion
What is an intersectional view on class?
gender affects a person’s class in Gilead as it determines their role and status in society
people of colour, older women and gay people are sent to the colonies while white straight men are promoted to positions of poeer
What is a Marxist perspective on class?
Gileads proletariats would include Handmakds, martha’s and jezebel’s
bourgeoise would e be Commander wives and Angels
theory misses our positions like Eyes and Aunts
