night (1) Flashcards
‘we slept in what had once been the gymnasium’
reduction of freedom
things have changed
communal space - prom, romance, optimism about the future
‘we’ - lack of identity, everyone is the same
‘the hoops for the basketball nets were still in place, but the nets were gone’
structure there, details gone - past lingers over them
gilead doesn’t have to destroy everything to keep control
uncanny - familiar place put against an oppressive society
‘pungent scent of sweat shot through with the sweet taint of chewing gum and perfume’
smell linked strongly to memory
sibilance - memory slipping away/ freedom they used to have
harsh sounds - oppressive, restrictive regime
‘mini skirts, then pants’
appearance of women - sign of power
how fashion and gender roles have evolved from the 1950s
gender roles
‘music lingered, a palimpsest of unheard sound’
traumatic
can’t be like she was
past is still part of her and cannot be erased - highlights change over time and the attempt to wipe out the past
‘there was old sex in the room and loneliness’
temporal deixis - sex had mostly stayed the same
loss of hope - old sex is differentiated from the sex of gilead. emphasises the division and isolation that sex in gilead brings
‘we yearned for the future. how did we learn it, that talent for insatiability?’
intense desire - can’ have that
want equality and freedom
shame associated with desire in the novel - desire is a natural part of humanity
‘army cots’
oxymoron
infantilised but disciplined
‘aunt sara and aunt elizabeth patrolled; they had electric cattle prongs slung on thongs from their leather belts’
authority - guard, gives them an element of control
treated like animals - no identity
sara - mother of the nations, wife of abraham who gace her maidservant hagar to abraham to conceive the new nation
elizabeth - childless wife of zaceriah
‘we still had our bodies’
only value is their bodies
can be given up in exchange for a better life
the one thing the handmaids can control
‘whisper almost without sound’
unity
rebellion against authority
repressed, can’t talk - similar to how children are treated
‘alma. janine. dolores. moira. june’
intimate act - draws readers closer into offred’s life
names are precious - gives them identity and a sense of control
