Individuality Flashcards
First comparison
laughter of Stafford girls as a collective and so are handmaids.
‘Stafford girls’
Although implying the girls are a community it also suggests the school deducts their individuality and regards them as a cumulative of females.
‘How could they hope to grow to be Londons finest wives and mothers’
Pronoun implies they don’t have individual aspirations rather as women have a singular goal to achieve.
‘Uniforms red with white wings’
Generalised, by visibly looking the same unable to distinguish their individual features and styles.
‘Two legged wombs’
Emphasises handmaids only viewed as objects of reproduction.
What did Neil say?
Gilead adopts measures against women their individuality and resistance.
Second comparison
Both the handmaids and the diet determine value on body due to the societies they live in.
‘Her skeleton preened under its tight flesh’
Degradation and starvation is what satisfies the woman as she lacks the capability to take control of her self destructive desires and sees her body as what defines her.
‘Anorexia’s true daughter’
The disease is innately apart of her
What did Hornbarcher say?
‘We turn skeletons into goddesses and look to them as if they might teach us how to not need.’
‘Congealed around a central object’
Metaphor insinuates her womb is the most significant part of her body.
‘I resign my body freely to the use of others.’
Suggests she no longer perceives her body since she isn’t in control of it Gilead is.
What time periods do the authors consider?
1980s to early 2000s
Literary theory
Like Orwell and Huxley, Atwood creates a totalitarian society which deducts the individuality from the protagonists in order to prevent rebellion.
what’s another novel of Atwood’s which looks at identity?
Alias Grace
