Chapters 13 & 14

English Lit: Edexcel A Level The Handmaid's Tale, topic 9.1.7

Chapter 13 - Key Quotations

Here are five key quotations from Chapter 13:

"These pictures [of nineteenth-century harems] were supposed to be erotic... they were paintings about suspended animation; about waiting, about objects not in use. They were paintings about boredom.

But maybe boredom is erotic, when women do it, for men"
Like the women in the pictures, Offred is in "suspended animation". She is also an object. She isn't being used - and she's unable to use the parts of herself that make her a woman rather than an object.

"Behind my closed eyes thin white dancers flit gracefully among the trees, their legs fluttering like the wings of held birds".
This simile suggests that Offred is like a dancer who is, on the one hand, very rehearsed in their job and, on the other hand, very restricted from letting go and flying free.

Janine … gang-raped... whose fault …?
Atwood draws on the much-discussed issue of whether women arousing men who later rape them are in some part responsible for the rape.
In 2005, a survey by Amnesty International found that lots of people thought a woman who was drunk or wearing revealing clothing when she was raped was responsible for the rape.

"I'm running, with her, holding her hand"
Offred's memory of running with her daughter is very vivid as it is in the present tense.
The reader relives Offred's fear as she and Luke try to escape with their daughter.
Atwood creates a vivid sense of Offred's state of panic from "She's too young" to "carried away" by using one long sentence over nine lines.

Here are six key quotations from Chapter 14:

"I don't sit, but take my place, kneeling, near the chair with the footstool where Serena Joy will shortly enthrone herself"
The different positioning of Offred and Serena Joy reflects the power imbalance between them.
"Kneeling" represents submission - Offred accepts her passive state and servile life.
"As if I’m a piece of furniture"
Offred feels objectified and used by Serena Joy.

“Household: that is what we are. The Commander is the head of the household. The house is what he holds. To have and to hold, till death do us part.”
Offred plays with language: she thinks about the different meanings of the word ‘hold'.
‘To have and to hold' is part of the wedding vows found in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer.
“He's so close that the tip of his boot is touching my foot"
Offred makes physical contact with Nick. This shows the importance of touching.

“They only show us victories, never defeats.”
“Who knows if any of it is true? It could be old clips, it could be faked.”
Atwood explores the idea that governments use propaganda and all media outlets spread news according to their own agendas.
In George Orwell's 1984, a large government department manipulates ‘news' material.