Moira

Question 1

‘I turn her into Moira’ (pg.52)

Question 2

‘Got any cig?’

Answer 2

Cigarettes become a symbol of rebellion in the novel so this consolidated Moira to be subversive

Question 3

‘Don’t move, said Moira…I’ll puncture your lung’

Answer 3

Here Atwood portrays Moira as violent adding on to the rebellious nature of her character

Question 4

‘She was now a loose woman’

Answer 4

This is a pun, Moira is free from the restrictions of the red centre but she is also seen as sexually uninhibited

Question 5

‘Moira was our fantasy’

Answer 5

Moira’s escape gives the other Handmaids a slight hope that there is a way out - this means Moira’s end in Jezebels makes Offred lose any kind of hope of escape she might have had

Question 6

‘Moira didn’t reappear. She hasn’t yet’

Answer 6

Atwood uses this pattern of going between past and present tense to engage with the idea that Offred’s story takes place over different periods of time

Question 7

‘They won’t mess around with trying to cure you’ (p.218)

Answer 7

Moira’s matter of fact response to Janine shows her authentic and daring attitude

Question 8

‘There is a balm in Gilead’/’There is a bomb in Gilead, said Moira’ (p.220)

Answer 8

The first quote is taken from an African American hymn about the power of Christ to heal, Moira twists the word ‘balm’ to ‘bomb’ showing she can see the violence by which Gilead’s beliefs are enforced

Question 9

‘She’s dressed absurdly in a black outfit…that looks worse for wear’ (p.240)

Answer 9

Moira has been reduced and objectified which completely juxtaposes her rebellious and subversive nature she has exhibited previously - the behaviour that Offred uses as hope

Question 10

‘I won’t go into what happened after that. I’d rather not talk about it’ (p.250)

Answer 10

Atwood leaves an uncertainty about what actually happened to Moira but we can deduct that she was traumatically tortured - Gilead using violence

Question 11

‘What I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of violation’ (p.251)

Answer 11

Moira is supposed to be subversive and rebellious however the events she has endured during the regime have made her lose this overall showing how oppressive the regime is

Question 12

‘I’d like her to end with something daring and spectacular…I never saw her again’ (p.252)

Answer 12

This is the end of Moira’s story and it is very tragic as she has been reduced to a sex worker, working to please men - this means Offred loses her only means of hope for escaping Gilead