The Handmaid's Tale - Random notes/ideas

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Descriptions in the night chapters when revisiting Offred's past are extremely sensual - "baby powder and child's washed flesh and shampoo, with an undertone, the faint scent of urine" - whereas her descriptions of the present are a lot more concise and matter of fact - "The bathroom is beside the bedroom.... There's a blue bathmat, a blue fake-fur cover on the toilet seat...". This contrast in description between past and present could reflect her desensitisation brought on my the regime, the regime's control over Offred and how she is a changed woman now. This change can be seen through her attitude to nakedness and her disbelief that she once wore bathing suits at the beach without a care - she now deems it as "shameful, immodest".

"I step into the water, lie down, let it hold me. The water is soft as hands." - desperate for affection so searches for this in anything she can, even non-human things. Could also read it as her basking in the luxury of having a bath - they are so detached from what we deem as normality that even the smallest of everyday activities are considered to be a luxury to the Offred.

"...Every month there is a moon, gigantic, round, heavy, an omen. It transits, pauses, continues on and passes out of sight, and I see despair coming towards me like famine." - fertility: Offred not fulfilling her duty, not getting pregnant as she is supposed to. If she fails, she may have to face dire consequences. Cycle.

Jezebel's: Jezebel = "a shameless, morally unrestrained woman" - women who rebel against the regime are sent there, showing how if you don't conform to the regime and their rules, you are labelled in this way.