Analysis of an extract from the Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood

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A Sister, Dipped in Blood

English SL: Extract from The Handmaid’s Tale

The science fictions novel of Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale portrays how the Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian state, oppressively rules its people because of the dangerously low birth rate. In the perspective of a Handmaid named Offred, Offred’s role in society, bearing children for elite couples, is disagreeable and insignificant to her and only abides with the government to save her neck. The author’s style of writing conveys vivid images to the mind of the readers and thus, aids in the understanding of the whole situation as the story progresses. In the extract from page two of chapter two, a manifold of literary elements is used to effectively introduce the main themes and issues of the novel. The use of metaphors and similes, many adjectives and punctuations, references to the Bible, and how the passage is structured as a whole are all key factors to consider in order to comprehend even the vague, but equally significant, connotative definitions of the words the author has specifically chosen to use in this extract.

        This extract teaches the readers about the narrator’s lifestyle from the very first paragraph. The biblical reference to “nunnery” announces metaphorically that “time here is measured by bells, as once in nunneries” and that “as in nunnery, there are few mirrors.”

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The negative connotation of the word “nunnery” hints the cloistered and systematic lifestyle of a nun, who has only one purpose in life: to be devoted to God, avoid being involved in the materialistic world and push away human desires. Therefore, this biblical reference to “nunnery”suggests to the readers that the narrator also lives a careful, abstaining, and restricted life with only one purpose in life. The physical appearance is unimportant and thus, “as in a nunnery too, there are few mirrors.” In this extract, the name of the narrator nor the narrator’s one purpose in life in the society ...

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