identity

Question 1

“The floor was of varnished wood, with stripes and circles painted on it , for the games that were formally played there”

Answer 1

Freedom, happy place
- Rules enhanced freedom
- In the present, rules are dreadful so ironic

Question 2

The pungent scent of sweat, shot through with the sweet taint of chewing gum and perfume from the watching girls, felted skirts….

Answer 2

• Valued individualism and uniqueness which contrasts with Gilead

Question 3

There was old sex in the room and loneliness, and expectation, of something without a shape or a name. I remember that yearning

Answer 3

• Nostalgia and hope
• Sexual yearning and desire freedom to pursue your own relationship

Question 4

We tried to sleep in the army cots tat had been set up in rows, with spaces between so we could not talk. We had flannelette sheets, like children’s and army issue blankets, old ones that still had….

Answer 4

• Regiments, discipline, lack of communication
• Cots and children, images of innocence

Question 5

Like a trained pig

Answer 5

• Ofglen has no personality and this makes Offred disinterested

Question 6

University life with Moira Chp 7

Answer 6

• Education was free, “psychology, English, Economics”
  -Dressing was free “purple overalls, one dangling earring”
• Money: “I’m borrowing five bucks off you” economic freedom
• Freedom to smoke “Lets go for a beer”
• “Date rape”: male violence against women, sexual freedom, autonomy

Question 7

What is Offred’s attitude and response to the doctor? Chp11

Answer 7

Stoical

Question 8

What does Offred’s interaction with Nick suggest?

Answer 8

Suggests that her humanity is not killed and gives hope to the reader

Question 9

Sexual desire between Nick and Offred

Answer 9

• “I want to reach up, taste his skin”
• “To be felt so greedily, to feel so greedily”- Nostalgia
• Mutual desire between Nick and Offred
• Spontaneous

Question 10

Why does Atwood place this meeting between Offred and Nick after the ceremony Chp17

Answer 10

• To show that Gilead does not have total control over people’s desire
• Emphasize the risk in breaking Gilead’s rules

Question 11

Give quotations showing how the handmaids operate as one body, in unison with each other during the birthing ritual and why? Chp21

Answer 11

• “We grip each other’s hand”
• “We are jubilant”
• “We are one smile, tears run down our cheeks, we are so happy”
• Use of inclusive pronouns
• To show loss of individualism
• They are mentally and physically with Ofwarren