The themes in Handmaid's Tale

The themes in Handmaid's Tale

1. Religion

   • "nunneries"
     • "Time is measured in bells"
       • Sense of conformity
       • strict, no independence
     • "As in a nunnery too, there are few mirrors" to avoid vanity and individual expression
       • Devices to
     • to which we derive nuns (female only)
       • Holy, adds to sense of religion by comparing the two
   • Uniform
     • "White wings"
       • Angel connotations
         • Purity and innocence
         • Holiness and light
         • Messengers of God
       • "keep us from seeing but also from being seen"
     • "the colour of blood which defines us"
       • The blood of Christ spilt when he was crucified
         • seen to "define us" because he died for our sins
       • Communism
         • no individualism- uniform is same so status is equal
       • Passion/ Love/ Lust
         • sinful past?
           • died for our sins
           • "A sister, dipped in blood"
             • describes herself as this, reference to her sin with the Commander or fertility

2. The role of the Handmaids

   • Acts to fulfil tasks
     • Shopping
     • Deliveries
       • Fairytale allusion
     • Maintaining household
       • Offred's detailed description of the "Victorian" house and surroundings

3. Narrative techniques

   • Purely descriptive
     • "I get up out of the chair"
     • "The red gloves are lying on the bed"
     • stark language at the start, then becomes more complex (gaining confidence of reader?)
   • Idiolect
     • her stream of consciousness
       • "-not MY room, I refuse to say MY-"
     • sounds professional
       • "A sitting room in which I never sit"
     • Retaliation

4. Attwood's use of language

   • Use of colour
     • Red
     • White
   • Theme of freedom
     • use of italics highlight individual retaliation and freedom
     • "once a tree"
     • "distorted shadow"
     • "path through a forest"
     • "descending towards a moment of carelessness"
   • Theme of nobility and history
     • Used to emphasise need for freedom?
     • "carpet for royalty"
     • "turned into another century, rubbed to a warm gloss"
       • idea of improvement and making things better
         • Can be linked to idea of indoctrination
           • Applied to Offred and all handmaid's
             • She didn't even get to keep her name explaining need for her to exaggerate personal pronoun MY

5. The rules, routines and values of Gilead

   • Uniform
     • All women must wear one, men do not have to
     • Indicator of status
     • Must wear what is issued to you dependant on position you hold
   • "Shopping basket"
     • Indicator of status
     • Roles and jobs are normal
   • Strict conformity and control
     • "Time here is measured in bells"
   • Respect for the traditional
     • "Late Victorian, the house is"