Narrative Structure
English Lit: Edexcel A Level The Handmaid's Tale, topic 5.1.1
Narrative Structure of The Handmaid's Tale
In the Historical Notes at the end of the novel, we learn that Offred's tale was actually a curated selection of tapes found and reorganised by academics.
Offred's narration
- Offred's narrative is like a mosaic of the past and the present. It contains fragmented sections of memories, recollections and reimagined "versions" of events which show just how distressed and traumatised Offred is by her experiences.
- Offred openly says she's an "unreliable" narrator. The reader just has to trust Offred's account as her mind flits in a stream of consciousness from one moment to the next.
Night sections
- The Night sections, which are repeated throughout the novel, are the chapters in which Offred's analepsis (when a past event is narrated later on) really develops and expands. The Night sections are also significant because:
- The moon is conventionally a female symbol.
- The night time is the only time Offred is free to let her mind explore freely without interruption.
Cixous - The Laugh of Medusa
- Offred's tale, or "Her-story", has parallels with the literary theory called L'Ecriture feminine by French theorist Helene Cixous in her essay The Laugh of the Medusa.
- Cixous theorised that women needed their own style of writing to express their experiences. She claimed that male writing is too linear and straight to the point, whereas female writing is more circular with digressions, repetitions and transgressions.
L'Ecriture Feminine
- Offred's tale, with its anamnesis and differing versions of events, fits Cixous' L'Ecriture Feminine model.
- But we must remember that the order of events is reshaped into "His-tory" by the Academics in the Historical Notes.
Test yourself on Narrative Structure
When is Offred free to let her mind explore freely without interruption?