Offred Flashcards
chapter 12 Offred feeling like she deprived of her identity and freedom
context:
- I am too important, too scarce, for that. I am a national resource….
‘national resource’ army imagery - no longer a person but an object - her worth isn’t determined by her traits or skills just what her organs can contribute to society
- I don’t want to look at something that determines me so completely.” - she avoids looking at herself because It seems as if Offred is disgusted by this perception men have of her, so much so she doesn’t even want to look at her own body.
- ‘did I really wear bathing suits to the beachimpact emotionally the collective dictatorship is having on her. That even now she is having doubts and questioning actions which used to be deemed as completely normal and innocent as “shameful” and “immodest”.
chapter 17
context:
‘butter our skin to keep it soft’ - to be appetising to others - wants to keep normal habits because she still has hopes they will ‘get out’ and have normal things like being ‘loved’ ext
chapter 14
context:
My name isn’t Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden. - Forbidden’ - evaluative adjective - highlights the emphasis of not being able to retain any of her old identity. - dystopian context - freedom has been restricted.
‘Telephone number’ - initiates how a name is memorised as you would a telephone number. Without it, an inevitable part of your identity is lost. Offred refers to it as being a useful element given to others to remember you by, but now feels like she is robbed of even this.
‘Some treasure I’ll come back to dig up, one day. I think of this name as buried’ - conveys how the past life she lived is extinct; she hopes it is only dormant, and that there is a prospect of her being able to dig it back up again and retrieve it. The auxiliary verb ‘dig’ signifies that in order for her to discover it again, she would have to dig it up as if it was a thing of the past.
‘This name has an aura around it, like an amulet, some charm that’s survived from an unimaginably distant past’ - initiates how the name could date back even to the Primitive era, as it’s so precious and ancient. The concrete noun ‘Amulet’ is a good luck charm supposedly to protect a person from trouble. The word “amulet” derives from the Latin word amuletum. It highlights the importance of identification and how even in a dystopian society with no chance of escape, it is important to wear your name like a necklace, a form of protection around you and simply luck, despite how Offred has had none.It is also silent rebellion, for something as simple as name. - dystopian context.
chapter 23
context:
“This is freedom, an eyeblink of it”
Abstract noun - The scrabble is so brief and so unusual that it doesn’t quite feel real to Offred
“I still haven’t discovered what the terms are, what I will be able to ask for, in exchange”
Everything that they do for others, they will be able to ask for something in return as they know that, if they don’t, they will be able to report the other - there is a constant fear associated with helping people
Links to the dystopian context as the people control themselves
“What a luxury”
Abstract noun ‘luxury’ shows the extent of the control that the people of Gilead are under. Because reading is forbidden by any of the women, this game of scrabble symbolises Offred’s first leisure of the rules of Gilead. It foreshadows her disregard for the rules later in the novel
This also links to the dystopian theme as the people are restricted in their freedom - the state has done everything it can to prevent women from being able to read (such as replacing shop signs with pictures) that when they are given the opportunity to read, it becomes a luxury and something to preserve.
“I hold the glossy counters with their smooth edges” - these scrabble tiles have lied unused for many years because of their illegality
chapter 36
context:
“subverts the perceived respectable order of things” - The noun phrase ‘respectable order’ shows how Offred does seem to buy into the rules of Gilead, however she is still willing to break those rules. The stative verb ‘subverts’ also presents Offred’s desire to break away from the boring life of Gilead as a rebellious act, as she is going against the oppression the regime has placed upon her
The repetition/parallel phrasing of ‘i want’ in “I want to go anyway” and “I want anything that breaks the monotony” highlights Offred’s desire to break out of the rigid day to day boredom of Gilead regardless of the danger posed to herself. The abstract noun ‘monotony’ also emphasises that Offred’s lack of freedom leaves her with nothing to do, and her boredom drives her to take risks.
chapter 35
context:
“Fat lot of good it did her” - adjective “fat lot” sarcastically implies that the other Handmaid was killed: shows Offred thinks her actions were stupid or illogical
“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum” - Offred repeats the phrase to herself - shows Offred has admiration for the other Handmaid, and her actions resonate with her - motif
chapter 46
context:
“Behind me I feel her presence” - shows Offred’s intimacy with the other Handmaid and how she thinks about her a lot
“My double” - the abstract noun “double” implies the two are very close and have the same ideology and opinion on Gilead
chapter 41
context: Offred’s relationship with nick is progressing, it makes her feel in control of her own body and in turn make her content with not resisting
“Freedom” - abstract noun. Nick is now her freedom, he allows her to do what she wants with her body. Gilead controls all of its citizens - making them live deprived lives. Nick is her escape from this control
No longer want to leave” - adjective phrase “no longer” shows that her wants have changed. They’ve gone from more rebellious (like how her mother would be) to more simple needs (Nick). Shows how Gilead breaks people (like how Moira has given up trying to escape).
chapter 43
context: Offred has just returned from the particicution and is digesting her emotions and how she feels
Death makes me hungry. Maybe it’s because I’ve been emptied
‘ I am, I am. I am, still’ repetition shows the way she reacts to the particicution, refers the ‘the bedrock prayer’ which links to dystopia, people being controlled through fear.
‘I could eat a horse’ hyperbole shows Offred’s hunger to survive, and how the Guard’s death has intensified that survival instinct.
‘it’s the body’s way of seeing to it that I remain alive’ Shows Offred’s determination to survive, how after seeing the particicution she wants to keep on living.
chapter 45
context: The end of the novel Offred feels hopeless like Gilead is inevitable so she’s willing to give herself over now
I don’t want to be a dancer, my feet in the air
The concrete noun “doll” shows that she knows that she is lifeless, just as a doll has to be controlled to come alive, she knows that she is a puppet under the oppressive rule and that is how she is staying alive.
chapter 46
context: Offred is being taken away however she doesn’t know if it’s for breaking the law or being saved by nick and mayday
into the darkness within; or else the light- “Darkness within”, the abstract noun “darkness” represents the dark side of gilead: the eyes. However, it can also represent Offred succumbing to her own individual darkness, which is her fear and instability of her future.
The abstract noun “light” juxtaposes the darkness; there is still hope at the end of her story. Mayday is associated with light, a saviour for Gilead, it shows there is a possible happy ending.
