Offred may be the heroine of her own story but there are many other heroines in the narrative. Discuss three of them and their function in the novel 'The Handmaid's Tale'.
Charlotte Moore Offred may be the heroine of her own story but there are many other heroines in the narrative. Discuss three of them and their function in the novel. In 'The Handmaid's Tale' the main theme of the novel is gender and the way power is unequally distributed, this is explored in an extreme circumstance of a theocracy in a time of revolution. There are different methods of heroism demonstrated in the novel such as defiance through thought and action. Offred is quite a passive woman that one could describe as selfish so you could dispute whether she deserves the title of heroine at all. She herself recognises that she is submissive yet we see random acts of disobedience from her throughout in her thoughts. Offred's way of rebellion may not be through physical action yet she tries to remember things from the past and continues her own sense of individuality. She hangs on to memory and idealises the past which makes the current regime seem all the more unreasonable yet the recollection helps make the time more bearable for her. As the narrator Offred is defying the routine and she feels it is her duty to record events and not get emotionally attached she says 'One detaches oneself. One describes.' This emotional distance enables her to accept that the responsibility of being a handmaid has been unavoidably imposed on her and that she has no other choice so the
Discuss the Narrative Structure of The Handmaid's Tale
Discuss the Narrative Structure of The Handmaid's Tale Offred's narrative begins in the middle of the (more-or-less) present although, as the narrative progresses, we realise that she is narrating from some point in the near future even though she is using the present continuous (that is, the events in the present are told as if they are happening now). Offred uses flashbacks combined with limited hindsight to fill us in on the details which lead up to this present, and this has the advantage for her as a narrator of, in effect, having a double hindsight: that is, she can locate the events in the past in contrast to the circumstances of the present, and she can situate the present in the context of these hindsights whilst moving the story along to its conclusion. This complex narrative structure ensures that the reader is forced to work a little harder for comprehension. For instance, in the first chapter, Offred is in the gymnasium where women like her have been brought to be trained as handmaids (we only find this out in later chapters), and this gym is used as a point of reference for the pre-Gilead world. At this stage, Offred does not explain how or why she and the others are where they are. Her senses tell her things which go beyond immediate perception, however, and she smells, as an "afterimage" (an interpretive frame used constantly through the novel), the
What do we learn, and what can we inferabout Hatsue and Ishmael’s relationship from chapters 7 and 8?
What do we learn, and what can we infer about Hatsue and Ishmael's relationship from chapters 7 and 8? Hatsue and Ishmael's childhood relationship emerges at the beginning of chapter eight, with them both on an empty beach at the age of fourteen digging for geoducks, and swimming in the sea. When they find their first geoduck, it appears to me like a films stereotypical dig, with one person, Hatsue, caring about the animal its size, and its condition "He'll break if we start pulling. Lets be patient..." "Easy is the way. Don't hurry it. Slow is best." With the other person wanting to dig it out straight away, only caring what they get out of it "My turn to dig." "Lets pull it now." This I think is the first comparison of the difference, a metaphor, of Hatsue and Ishmael's personalities. I see this as how they will treat their relationship to come. This can be seen as how men and women see relationships as general. Ishmael wanting to dig straight away and pull at the goal as soon as it is seen not caring if it breaks, and Hatsue wanting to be patient dig away at the foundations to reach a better goal, not just for the short term. Then in the conversation they have on the oceans, the roles, to me, have been reversed, Ishmael seeing the oceans as one big ocean with different areas, and Hatsue seeing the oceans as not just different areas but as different temperatures, colour,
Handmaids tale -flowers.
Handmaids tale -flowers In The Handmaid's Tale, much use is made of imagery; to enable the reader to create a more detailed mental picture of the novel's action and also to intensify the emotive language used. In particular, Atwood uses many images involving flowers and plants. The main symbolic image that the flowers provide is that of life; in the first chapter of the novel Offred says "...flowers: these are not to be dismissed. I am alive." Many of the flowers Offred encounters are in or around the house where she lives; it can be suggested that this array of floral life is a substitute for the lack of human life, birth and social interaction. The entire idea of anything growing can be seen as a substitute for a child growing. The Commander's house contains many pictures; as they are visual images, "flowers are still allowed." Later, when Serena is "snipping off the seed pods with a pair of shears... aiming, positioning the blades... The fruiting body," it seems that all life is being eradicated, even that of the flowers. The colour of the flowers is also of vital importance. When Offred first enters the house of the Commander and his wife, she notices "... a fanlight of coloured glass: flowers, red and blue." In the Republic of Gilead, Handmaids wear red and Wives wear blue; these colours are intended to reflect the owner's "personality" - the wanton Handmaids in
Do you think the commander is a sympathetic or corrupt character with in the book?
Ana Sekulic 12 EH Ms Ferguson English Literature Essay Do you think the commander is a sympathetic or corrupt character with in the book? Total words (1345 words) We first met the Commander within Offred's description of his appearance just before the impregnating ceremony. 'His black uniform, in which he looks like a museum guard. A semi-retired man...midwestern bank president...' his appearance, in Offred's eyes is morphing which ultimately means that his personality is too altering and changing. We can see that there is no clear way of distinguishing his true character and that throughout the book we will have to question his intentions. Later in the same chapter he's eyes are described as being 'falsely innocent' and his personality 'he's given no evidence of softness'. This forms an image of corruption and pretence. We don't meet the Commander again until the 23rd chapter and in this chapter a drastic advance takes place he wants Offred to meet him in his office, again Atwood is playing with our minds she keeps us wondering about what he wants. Straight away we find out from Offred that ' this act tells me he hasn't brought me here to touch me ...against my will' and 'the smile is not sinister or predatory', again we don't know he motive and the operative word in this sentence is 'act'. Is he just acting to make Offred like him? We don't know. He asks her to play
Compare and contrast the way imprisonment is presented in The Bell Jar and One Flew over The Cuckoo's Nest
Compare the ways in which imprisonment is presented in The Bell Jar and One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Both of these books are 'products of both the personal experiences of the author...and the specific culture in which they were written.' Thus both reflect on the gender roles during the 1950's and the struggle the protagonists had to endure in a struggling society. Ken Kesey, the younger of two sons, was born in on September 17, 1935 in La Junta, Colorado. While at Stanford, he participated in experience involving chemicals at the psychology department to earn extra money. These chemicals included psilocybin, mescaline and LSD. It was this experience that fundamentally altered Kesey, personally and professionally. While working as an orderly at the psychiatric ward of the local VA hospital, Kesey began to have hallucinations about an Indian sweeping the floors. This formed the basis for 'Chief Broom' in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest. Sylvia Plath was born in Boston, Massachusetts on October 27, 1932. In 1953, Sylvia returned home to her Boston suburb after working at a fashion magazine internship, where she made her first suicide attempt and was hospitalized for psychotherapy; these events, among other biographical details, are paralleled in The Bell Jar. One flew over the Cuckoo's nest explores the themes of individuality and rebellion against conformity, ideas that
Margaret Atwood is a poet as well as a novelist. Comment on some of the recurring images used by Atwood in the novel.
Margaret Atwood is a poet as well as a novelist. Comment on some of the recurring images used by Atwood in the novel. Margaret Atwood does indeed use a variety of different and recurrent images throughout the novel. Her use of imagery makes the story challenging, whilst at the same time painting a more visual understanding for the reader. Two important themes run through the story, biblical images relating to the ideology of Gilead and on the other hand more personal and feminine imagery portrayed by Offred. This makes the novel more human in my opinion. The first quotation in the book draws our attention to Genesis, 30:1-3: 'And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children...' This refers to the story of Jacob and his two wives, Rachel and Leah, and their handmaids who are required to bare children for them. It is repeated many times in the text, and there is a reminder of it in the name of the Rachel and Leah Centre and also in Offred's remark: 'Give me children, or else I die' (Chapter 11, page 71) There is also a long passage from the New Testament (1 Timothy 2:9-15): 'I will that women adorn themselves in modest apparel....' and further on; Notwithstanding, she shall be saved by childbearing...' (Chapter 34, page 233) Biblical names are given to the characters in the novel; for example, the law enforcers are named 'Guardian Angels' or 'Eyes of the Lord'.
Examine relationships between women in the novel "The handmaids tale".
Alex Hayes English Essay 2 01/01/2005 Examine relationships between women in the novel Gilead is a dystopian society constructed by men such as the Commander who lay down rules by which women's lives are defined by their roles. Offred's role is that of procuring children for couples, Commander and wife, who are unable to have their own. A Handmaid "A two legged womb" Offred is now forbidden any kind of communication and made to lead a life bound by slavery in this totalarian state stripped of all personal possessions, families, memories and finally identities, the women of Gilead are categorized objects, made to wear uniforms named after their Commander. The powerlessness of all women in Gilead prevents them from recognizing their common enemy, the males and the power and control they have over Gilead. When Offred and Serena first meet there is a scene of tension to see how Serena, a fertile old woman with a chin "like a clenched fist" is going to accept a younger better looking fertile woman into her house to sleep with her husband. "I want to see as little of you as possible" Serena coldly spurts out to Offred, "I was disappointed, I wanted, then to turn her into an older sister, a motherly figure, someone who would understand and protect me". Offred clearly has been welcomed not as she was expecting, however Offred and Serena are both alike in this state, they both
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood - Consider the way Atwood presents Professor Pieixoto's conference speech in the'Historical Notes'. What is the significance to the novel as a whole?
English Literature The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood Consider the way Atwood presents Professor Pieixoto's conference speech in the 'Historical Notes'. What is the significance to the novel as a whole? The anti-utopian novel, 'The Handmaid's Tale', tells the futuristic story of Offred, a Handmaid of the oppressive Gileadean regime, a society immune to any form of external influence and governed by an elite. It is the 'Historical Notes' at the end of the novel that help the reader to put one woman's autobiographical record into historical perspective by acting as an epilogue to the tale of Offred. Although not part of Offred's narrative, the notes are part of the novel, working as an essential supplement to the story in a hope to answer some of the many unanswered questions evoked throughout the novel. The notes stand as a framework with which one can use to reflect on Offred's narrative from a point in the distant future, where Gilead is long gone, along with all of the main characters of story. The 'Historical Notes' are a transcript of a convention held in 2195, two-hundred years after Offred's existence, taking place at the University of Denay, Nunavit in Arctic Canada. The symposium is lead by a male archivist from the University of Cambridge named Professor Pieixoto, proving the notes to be of a view from outside of America. The introduction to the main text of
Discuss the use of the historical notes in the Handmaid's Tale.
English Essay Ms Ferguson ANA SEKULIC Discuss the use of the historical notes in the Handmaid's Tale. The historical notes are part of the novel but not part of Offred's narrative. They are there to provide an explanation of what happened to Offred and put her story into historical perspective. The historical notes are set 200 years after the Gilead regime. They are a parody of an academic discussion about Offred's tale. The main speaker whilst being a woman is also a Native American. This can be seen in her name Professor Marian Crescent Moon. As the conference graduates it becomes evident that most of the scholars are Native American e.g. Professor Pieixoto. This is unusual as traditionally whites on Natives usually study anthropology. However Atwood chooses to turn this around to make the reader puzzled and makes a racial statement. The conference is held at the university of Denay in Nunavit. Denay is in northwest Canada which suggests that they control the Northwest of Canada as they appear to have a high social status. This reflects the time in which Atwood was writing as in the 1980 there was a fiery debate concerning this issue, in this and in her version the minority won and dominated. Atwood firstly uses the historical notes to make fun of academic conferences. This is obvious as the scholarly jargon is self-conscious and the humour extremely unfunny and