Literary Techniques - Quotes
English Lit: Edexcel A Level The Handmaid's Tale, topic 9.2.1
Metaphor, Simile and Paronomasia Quotations
The following literary techniques are seen in The Handmaid's Tale:
Metaphor
- Offred uses grotesque imagery to objectify the naked body of the Commander. This may show her disgust at the nature of the Ceremony:
- "His tentacle, his delicate stalked slug's eye, which extrudes, expands, winces and shrivels back into himself."
Paronomasia (a pun)
- In the Historical Notes, the name of the University is Denay, Nunavit, a pun on "Deny none of it!"
- Moira also makes a pun on the Biblical reference "There is a balm in Gilead", changing it to "There is a bomb in Gilead" in Chapter 34. She is attacking the beliefs of the theocracy through her language.
Simile
- Offred describes the brutality of the world in very prosaic, normal language. This may show how desensitised she is to it all:
- "Helped onto the high stool as if she's being helped up the steps of a bus... the noose adjusted delicately around the neck, like a vestment."
Literary Techniques (Cont.)
The following literary techniques are seen in The Handmaid's Tale:
Neologisms
- Neologisms are made-up words. By creating these new words, Atwood shows how language holds meaning and ideological control over those who use it.
- "Unwomen"
- "Particicution"
- "Compucheck"
Polyptoton
Polyptoton is when words which are derived from the same lexical root are repeated.
Atwood uses this technique when Offred thinks about the power of language and its many different meanings:
"Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like the dawn?"
"I wait. I compose myself. My self is a thing I must now compose, as one composes a speech."
Chremamorphism
- Chremamorphism is the opposite of personification; it is where a human is given the characteristics of an object/something inanimate.
- Atwood uses it to show how objectified Offred feels in her role as a Handmaid.
- "Buttered, I lie on my single bed, flat, like a piece of toast."
Test yourself on Literary Techniques - Quotes
What's the name of the University (Denay, Nunavit) a pun on?