The Handmaid's Tale- C29

The Handmaid's Tale- C29

1. summary

   • Offred plays Scrabble in the Commander’s office, at ease in her chair. She finds the Commander father-like, and maybe even friendlier than Luke.
     • He allows her to read magazines and even books. But tonight she wants to talk to him about himself. He says he used to be a market researcher and is now some kind of scientist. Offred daringly asks him what “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum” means, and writes it for him.
       • the phrase means “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” Offred understands that the previous Handmaid must have learned the phrase from the Commander.
         • He says that the previous Handmaid hanged herself, which is why they plastered over the place where there used to be a hanging light.
           • Offred realizes the Commander has been spending time with her to raise her spirits, so she won’t do the same as the previous Handmaid. Offred says that maybe she shouldn’t come to his office anymore. She realizes that his own guilt is motivating this kindness. To discourage her leaving, he asks what she wants, and she says she wants to know what’s happening.

2. narrator

   • reads 'quickly, voraciously'- starved of books 'gluttony of the famished', motif of hunger
   • wants to impress the commander by 'trying to sound as if' she 'understand's
   • doesn't have much self control 'but i can't stop myself' when it comes to finding out things from commander
   • doesn't really think about what she says to commander 'i say it with thinking', not thinking of consequences. she wants to know 'whats going on'

3. other characters

   • offred in 'the client position' in commander's office- he has the power but 'little formality remains' she feels comfortable around him 'lax, cosy'
   • being with commander reminds offred of 'earlier and more picnic days' and romanticises about setting
   • commander's 'approbation' to offred is 'like a warm bath'- loves his approval. she thinks he is 'positively daddyish'
   • commander and offred have 'built up a repertoire of such gestures', learning to know each other well
   • the way commander watches her read 'is a curiously sexual act' 'feel undressed'- self conscious but reading is forbidden as is sexual acts
   • commander describes himself as 'just an ordinary guy' offred points out the 'falsity'
   • offred is 'prompting..playing up to him, drawing him out'- wants to know things about him by acting innocent/sweet talking him which she thinks is 'nauseating'
   • offred is worried about saying 'something wrong', doesn't want him 'to know too much'
   • offred gives into temptation when commander and her were 'outwaiting each other' 'I'm the one to break first'
   • commander's laugh is 'nostalgic'- reminiscing about past
   • when commander feels 'embarrassed' about childish memories offred feels she can 'almost like him'
   • when offred states that she 'shouldn't come here anymore' commander feels 'fear' and wishes she would come- she is like an escape for him/ wants her life to be 'bearable'

4. plot development

   • offred feels so comfortable around commander that she even says 'we could look it up', used to rebelling now
   • offred offers to write down the latin phrase down, the first time she's written down anything since regime
   • 'laying it open on the desk in front of me'- has become normal for them to handle books together
   • commander and former handmaid must have had meetings too 'she must have learned it here'
   • offred has 'something on him now' 'the possibility of' her 'own death' 'his guilt'

5. setting

   • imagining 'light would be twinkling' 'glimmering warmly'

6. themes

   • rebellion- 'defiantly, as if taking a dare', commander is going along with offred's and his resistance actions
   • rebellion- Commander has long felt the need to break the rules of government he helped build in order to share human connection.
   • love- Offred has been concerned about the Commander’s motives, but she seems disappointed to learn that they’re more about his feelings than a specific desire for her. Yet Offred’s love for others (such as her mother at the end of Chapter 28) also takes this form.

7. literary devices

   • metaphor 'buttress of red skirt'- like it is supporting her
   • simile 'like an attentive pet..eager to perform'- commander's attitude to offred
   • adjective 'expensive z'- emphasises how words are priceless and rare

8. dystopian features

   • when looking at the written down latin phrase offred sees it as 'sad graffiti, scrawled once, abandoned'- reflects the former handmaid who has been abandoned and her words don't mean much
   • offred feels the 'power of the words' the pen 'contains', handmaids aren't allowed pens 'pen is envy' is like penis envy, women in regime envy males privileges to read and write. shows how oblivious handmaids are to their treatment, offred doesn't even catch on

9. context