Night I

Question 1

Key events

Answer 1

Recurrent name of sections
Flashbacks
Punctuate/fragment the narrative with Offred’s thoughts in this section focusing on her time to the Rachel and Leah Centre (name comes from Genesis)

Question 2

Speculative meaning

Answer 2

Predicts the possible, oppressive, futuristic socio-political changes that deprive society of worldly pleasures

Question 3

Key methods

Answer 3

Unreliable narrator
Dystopian
Palimpsest-originally a manuscript on which the writing has been partially erased but is still visible when written over again. The same principle exists in the novel: the layering of past and present.

Question 4

How is palimpsest used in the opening

Answer 4

Army cots, old army blankets, US (old name)
Names
Electrical cattle prod- previous purpose
Football field- now the place of daily exercise
Memories of clothes- skirt, hairstyles
Smells chewing gum, perfume, sweat
Unheard music
Gymnasium- what had once been

Question 5

Listing of names

Answer 5

pg 4
Learnt to be secretive
Not allowed to use their names
They’re all women
Assume she’s Jane as the rest are mentioned throughout the book

Question 6

How is it opened?

Answer 6

Establishes a mini hierarchy
Outlines the dystopian genre
Use of palimpsest
We- women as a collective are affected
Narrator- subverting the regime, trapped, unreliable
Past tense- maybe escaped, presents the idea of hope
Set at night- darkness, secrets, conceal, nightmares, dreams, escape

Question 7

What is the benefit of opening the novel at night?

Answer 7

Offred
Glimpses into why she is there
Hints as to what life is like

Question 8

How does the narrator feel?

Answer 8

Trapped
Half the description is being trapped
‘We yearned for the future’- the feeling continues to the end of the section