The Handmaid’s Tale Key Themes/Scenes Flashcards
List 2 Key Scenes for Rebellion.
- Moira escaping the Red Centre.
- Offred’s secret relationship with Nick.
Give me one quote and analysis for each scene.
“Moira was our fantasy. We hugged her to us, she was our fantasy of freedom”.
- reflects Moira becoming a symbol of hope and rebellion.
- Her escape reflects defiance.
She is the embodiment of resistance and personal freedom.
“Better never means better for everyone… It always means worse for some”.
- Offred reflects on the complexities of the regime.
- Not directly about her relationship with Nick, but reflects her growing knowledge of the systems injustices.
- Her secret relationship becomes a small, personal act of rebellion against Gilead.
List 2 Key Scenes for Gender.
- The Ceremony.
- Offred’s outing with the commander.
Give me one quote and analysis for each scene.
“We are two-legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices”.
- Emphasis how women, particularly Handmaids are reduced to mere tools for reproduction.
- Their identity and humanity stripped away in Gilead’s gendered system.
“I feel that I’m a little bit of a tourist in this place, this world”.
- Reflects on the complexities between the commander and herself.
- Despite being a handmaid, she gains some sense of power or autonomy, revealing the nuanced gender dynamics between them.
List 2 Key Scenes for Mistreatment of Women.
- The public hanging of a “Traitor”.
- The treatment of the Handmaids by Serena Joy.
Give me one quote and analysis for each scene.
“Nolite to bastardes carborundorum”
- A key simple of resistance in the novel.
- It’s carved in Offred’s closet in her room, a remnant of past rebellion.
- Mistreatment of women in Gilled has led to both acts of resistance and the normalisation of suffering.
“You can’t help it. You were made that way”.
- Serena speaking to Offred, highlights the internalised masogyny that permeated Gilead.
- Serena enforces the oppression, whilst also being bound by the strict roles that are placed on them in the patriarchal society.
List 2 Key Scenes for Power Imbalances.
- The Commander’s power over Offred.
- Serena Joy’s power over Offred.
Give me one quote and analysis for each scene.
“Ignoring is one way of coping. I’m ignoring you, I’m ignoring you”.
- Reflects Offred’s internal rebellion, as she distances herself from the situation.
- Although the commander holds the dominant position, Offred attempts to regain some sense of control by rejecting him in her mind.
“Don’t you wish you could take it all back? […] I would. I would, if I were you”.
- This quote said by Serena Joy reflects her deep resentment and frustration that she feels in her own subjugation.
- She also uses her position of power to reinforce the system making Offred feel small and helpless, despite her own limitations.
- The power imbalance emphasises the cyclical nature of oppression in Gilead.
- Women often oppress other women to maintain their place within the rigid structure.
List 2 Key Scenes for Masculinity.
- The Commander’s role in the Ceremony.
- Nick’s relationship with Offred.
Give me one quote and analysis for each scene.
“He doesn’t say anything, but I know what he wants. He wants me to lie still, to be there for him”.
- Detached masculinity of the Commander in the Ceremony.
- Role is reduced to a man exercising control of a woman’s body.
- This highlights the cold and utilitarian side of masculinity in Gilead.
“He doesn’t speak, he just looks at me. His look says: There is no such thing as a ‘perfect’ world. There is only this world”.
- This highlights Nick’s more human side.
- This contrasts masculinity of the higher-ranking men in Gilead.
- His actions, while still constrained by the system, an attempt to find genuine connection in society, where masculinity is often tied to dominance and control.
