Survival & 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.

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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."

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.

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.

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 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.

"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."

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 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.

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 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."

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"

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.