6.1.1
Survival & Language
Themes - Survival
Themes - Survival
"By telling you anything at all I'm at least believing in you, I believe you're there, I believe you into being."
Storytelling for survival
Storytelling for survival
- Offred uses storytelling as an act of survival. She records her memories, feelings, observations and transgressions on the audiotapes in the hope that someone, someday, will hear them and know about her struggle.
Resistance and reconstruction
Resistance and reconstruction
- The reader is told in Chapter 1 that it is forbidden for the Handmaids to speak.
- This means Offred's tale is an act of resistance against the regime.
- The Historical Notes indicate that Offred recorded her story after her escape, which makes the content and recollections a reconstruction. These recollections have then been reconstructed by the Academics for the Symposium in 2195.
Oppressed woman
Oppressed woman
- Offred's voice is symbolic of defiance and resistance to a totalitarian regime.
- Her narrative gives insight into the public and private life of a woman who was physically oppressed by a patriarchal theocratic government.
Offred's self-consciousness
Offred's self-consciousness
- Offred is conscious that her narrative is 'reconstructed'.
- Atwood may be encouraging us to question what a 'true' account of history really is, and encourage us to not just accept as true what we're told.
- In her questioning, Offred stays hopeful that there is an alternative version of events which she will find if she keeps on searching.
Quotation about survival
Quotation about survival
- "I would like to believe this is a story I'm telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it's a story I'm telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off."
Themes - Language
Themes - Language
The theme of language is key to The Handmaid's Tale. Language helps Offred stay sane in a regime that tries to silence every thought.
Language as power
Language as power
- Language is power, especially for those who can manipulate language to reflect their ideological beliefs.
- This means language becomes a tool in the novel to oppress and to liberate people.
Oppression of the Handmaids
Oppression of the Handmaids
- The Handmaids can only speak to each other in accepted Biblical phrases ("Blessed be the Fruit"; "Under his eye").
- These phrases remind them of their reproductive role and the threat of surveillance/punishment.
- They have to listen to Biblical passages read by the Commander/Aunts which reinforce their oppression under the name of God.
- They have to listen to the government-owned news channels' propaganda about how successful the Gileadean forces have been in the wars in the former USA.
Offred's satirical use of words
Offred's satirical use of words
- Offred uses language in a very creative and satirical way when recalling moments from her past.
- She subverts the patriarchal ideology that influences most language in Gilead.
- "The difference between lie and lay. Lay is always passive. Even men used to say, I'd like to get laid. Though sometimes they said, I'd like to lay her. All this is pure speculation. I don't really know what men used to say. I had only their words for it."
Offred "making" words
Offred "making" words
- When Offred plays Scrabble with the Commander, the reader sees the joy and delight she feels when she is given access to "making" her own words. She is usually completely deprived of any reading material, apart from FAITH embroidered on the cushion in her room.
- Atwood uses gustatory (taste) imagery to show how starved of language and intellectual stimulation Offred is:
- "I would like to put them in my mouth...The letter C. Crisp, slightly acid on the tongue, delicious"
Symbolism of Scrabble
Symbolism of Scrabble
- Offred makes high scoring symbolic words:
- She spells LARYNX, which refers to the voice box which makes noise in the human throat. Offred may be suggesting that she, as a Handmaid, is voiceless and is limited to what she can say.
- A ZYGOTE is when a sperm and an egg fertilise in the first stages of conception - ironically, the only time Offred and the Commander create a Zygote is on a Scrabble board.
1Author Background
1.1Margaret Atwood
2Chapter Summaries
2.1Chapter 1: Night I
2.2Chapters 2-6: Shopping II
2.3Chapter 7: Night II
2.4Chapters 8-12: Waiting Room IV
2.5Chapter 13: Nap V
2.6Chapters 14-17: Household VI
2.7Chapter 18: Night VII
2.8Chapters 19-23: Birth Day VIII
2.9Chapter 24: Night IX
2.10Chapters 25-29: Soul Scrolls X
2.11Chapter 30: Night XI
2.12Chapters 31-39: Jezebel's XII
2.13Chapter 40: Night XIII
2.14Chapters 41-45: Salvaging XIV
2.15Chapter 46: Night XV
2.16Historical Notes
3Dedications & Epigraph
3.1Dedications & Epigraph
4Context
4.1Setting
4.2Literary Context & Genre
4.3Political Context
4.4Historical Context
4.5Parallels: Read World & Gilead
4.6Religious Context
5Narrative Structure & Literary Techniques
5.1Narrative Structure
5.2Literary Techniques
6Themes & Imagery
6.2Imagery
7Characters
7.1Female Characters
7.2Male Characters
8Readings
8.1Readings of The Handmaid's Tale
Jump to other topics
1Author Background
1.1Margaret Atwood
2Chapter Summaries
2.1Chapter 1: Night I
2.2Chapters 2-6: Shopping II
2.3Chapter 7: Night II
2.4Chapters 8-12: Waiting Room IV
2.5Chapter 13: Nap V
2.6Chapters 14-17: Household VI
2.7Chapter 18: Night VII
2.8Chapters 19-23: Birth Day VIII
2.9Chapter 24: Night IX
2.10Chapters 25-29: Soul Scrolls X
2.11Chapter 30: Night XI
2.12Chapters 31-39: Jezebel's XII
2.13Chapter 40: Night XIII
2.14Chapters 41-45: Salvaging XIV
2.15Chapter 46: Night XV
2.16Historical Notes
3Dedications & Epigraph
3.1Dedications & Epigraph
4Context
4.1Setting
4.2Literary Context & Genre
4.3Political Context
4.4Historical Context
4.5Parallels: Read World & Gilead
4.6Religious Context
5Narrative Structure & Literary Techniques
5.1Narrative Structure
5.2Literary Techniques
6Themes & Imagery
6.2Imagery
7Characters
7.1Female Characters
7.2Male Characters
8Readings
8.1Readings of The Handmaid's Tale
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