Corrupt Power

Question 1

This may not seem ordinary to you

Answer 1

This may not seem ordinary to you now but after time it will. it will become ordinary

sums up atwoods bigger message about society staying silent about oppression

Question 2

He was not a

Answer 2

He was not a monster- comapring her relationship with the commander to the love a nazi wife had for a death cap gaurd

Question 3

Theres hardly any point in me thinking

Answer 3

There’s hardly any point in me thinking is there? I say. What I think doesn’t matter, which is the only reason he can tell me things

puritan and new right ideas of a women’s place in society

Question 4

But remember that

Answer 4

But remember that forgiveness too is a power

offred derives power from ideas rather than tangible objects - this gives them hope no one can take it away - when the patriarchy loose the objects that enforce their power women will be freed

Question 5

couldn’t have lost

Answer 5

couldn’t have lost that much time without help - reffering to the time between her caputre and concisouness - gilead drugs

Question 6

commander - ‘a vodka

Answer 6

a vodka add - shoemaker in an old fairytale book

constant dichotomy and confusion

Question 7

under

Answer 7

under his eye

biblical - women as inferior - links to frankey ungazed at and unmolested

Question 8

i am above

Answer 8

i am above him, looking down, he is shrinking - when offred leaves the house with the ‘eyes’ describign the commander

role reversal from ‘under his eyes’

Question 9

a sister

Answer 9

a sister dipped in blood - offred commenting on the dark undertones to their nun like outfits - but also the irony of the family like strucutre suggested by ‘sister’

Question 10

better never means

Answer 10

better never means better for everyone, it always means worse for some - commander asks offred what she thinks of gilead but jumps on defense before she can answer (link to atwood amnesty speech)

Question 11

watching is

Answer 11

watching is a curiously sexual act and i feel undressed while he does it - offred describing the commander while she reads

Question 12

he looks at me ‘…’

Answer 12

with the same air of looking in though the bars (offred describing the commander when they are talking about the handmaids rooms being searched for contraband)

Question 13

i would like to

Answer 13

i would like to steal something (offred talking about the sitting room)

Question 14

i am a reproach

Answer 14

i am a reproach for her, a necessity

dichotomy - she is both a burden and a essential
symbolic of the uncertainty of the handmaids position in society

Question 15

blessed be…
may the lord…
wait there turn…..

Answer 15

blessed be the fruit
may the lord open
wait there turn two by two

women as temptresses and manipulation of the bible
women as animals

Question 16

the hung men looked like ‘scarecrows….

Answer 16

scarecrows, which is what they are since they are meant to scare

freudian uncanny (childhood beliefs we have grown out of suddenly appear real)

Question 17

we lived in the

Answer 17

we lived in the gaps between the stories

ordinary person but she still ended up oppressed it is not to far away from any of us