waiting room Flashcards
‘gender treachery’
homosexuality
freedom
gilead doesn’t want this
‘it’s a beautiful may day’
does offred know about the rebellious group
edelweiss pirates - anti nazi group
language as rebellion - importance of language in society
‘when they are old they turn themselves inside out, then explode slowly, the petals thrown out like shards
flowers - fertility
women are disregarded if they can’t have babies
‘her speeches were about the sanctity of the home, about how women should stay home. serena joy didn’t do this herself, she made speeches instead, but she presented this failure of hers as a sacrifice she was making for the good of all’
hypocrisy of women
stereotypical gender roles
this is what makes her further resent offred because she has now stooped to her level
‘the commander, he isn’t supposed to be here. he hears me coming, turns, hesitates, walks forward. towards me. he is violating custom’
she’ll be in trouble, not him
not supposed to interact - he makes the rules but it breaking them
rebellion
’ i called it mine’
shows she has nothing
realises what’s been taken from her
‘i had a lot of time to pass’
one thing she can control
how she copes with her oppressive life
‘there were postcards too… you could write on the postcards and send them to anyone you wanted. it seemed like such an impossible thing now, like something you’d make up
normal things we take for granted to today
be careful - it could regress, don’t get too comfortable
‘like dried flower petals’
negotiable
sign of sex - depresses narrator. bed where love was expressed. will she ever experience this again?
‘i looked up at the dried plaster eye in the ceiling’
technology
no freedom
constantly under surveillance
‘nolite te bastardes carborundorum’
don’t let the bastards grind you down
reading - rebellion
rewards her harsh reality
communication between offred and the previous handmaid - gives her hope of escape
knows she’s not alone
‘so there have been more than one. some haven’t stayed their full term of posting, their full two years. some have been sent awa, for one reason or another, or maybe not sent’ gone?
childlike but treated like army troops
easily replaceable - army features
‘i am like a child here, there are some things i must not be told. what you don’t know won’t hurt you, was all she would say
treated like a child - not telling her
low status in society
could suggest her fate
the more she knows, the more danger she’s in
secrets protect other people and the regime
‘sometimes i sing to myself in my head’
amazing grace - religious song, spiritual song for slaves
gilead supports slavery in the southern states
‘songs are not sung anymore in public, especially ones that use words like free’
intertextual links to orwell and newspeak
if freedom is removed you won’t think about it - control
‘amputated glory’
taken away
discarded - once there, now gone
‘the spectacles women used to make of themselves. oiling themselves like roast meat on a spit’
degradation of women
worthless and easily manipulated
‘i’m doing my best she said. i’m trying to give you the best chance you an have. she blinked, the light was too strong for her, her mouth trembled’
calculated emotions of caring whilst indoctrinating gilead’s rules
more likely to follow and believe regime
‘nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub, you’d be boiled to death before you knew it’
as society changes, you don’t notice straightaway - slow change
eventually be you - nothing will change
‘we lived in the gaps between the stories’
eventually become stories because they were passive
‘i’m taken to the doctors one a month, for tests: urine, hormones, cancer smear, bllod test: the same as before, except that now it’s obligatory’
only going to the doctors to ensure they’re fertile
no choice over their bodies
‘he’s six feet tall, about forty, a diagonal scar across his cheek; he sits typing, his hands too big for the keyboard, still wearing his pistol in the shoulder holster’
not the right person for the job
usually a female - gilead has taken women out of the workplace
‘snake twined sword upright… symbolism left over from the time before’
symbol of american healthcare
past still remains in society
‘he deals with a torso only’
only purpose in society
isolation of the handmaids
nothing is personal - dehumanisation of women
