The Handmaids Tale

themes

gender roles
rebellion
religion
love
fertility
memory

symbols

the eye
colour red
makeup
reflection
flowers
costumes
fruitfulness

motifs

rape
religious terms
feminism
scrabble
hanging bodies
cigaretes

offred her real name

telling nick her names shows commitment not knowing name represents oppression

offred survivor

"i intend to last" she will not fully give in

offred internal freedom

gilead isn't able to take her thoughts

offred unique voice

she doesn't tell her fate as she is a symbol of freedom

offred and relationships

her desire for real love overrides her desire to escape

aunts

"in sorrow though bring children" painful birth for sins

offreds mother

"you young people don't appreciate things"

offreds child

"easier to think her dead" the unknown fate of daughter scares her

ofglen

"she has dies that i may live" sacrifice for the bigger cause

commander developing relationship

"i don't know what to call it it isn't love"

commander a cultured man

"compromised himself" because of the books and scrabble

commander sexism

"can't make an omelette without breaking eggs" justifys oppression

commander hypocrisy

there is a brothel for the highest people in gilead

commanders fortune

professor believes he "met his end"

luke the facts

offred had affair with him she always tries to see him in positive light

luke symbol of intimacy

"i want to be held told my name" offred misses their love

luke symbol of protection

"squeezes my hand" holds offered as they try to escape

luke gender equality

"instead i am his" offred looses job fears change in their relationship

lukes fate

offred never reveals what she believes happens to him he is a symbol of hope

serena object of fear

"i wouldn't have liked her nor she me"

serena appearance

"hostile blue" eyes

serenas life

the garden is her "domain"

serenas manipulation of women

"she's known all along" about offreds daughter

serenas defeat

"bitch after all he did for you"

moiras unconventionality

"if i were moira i'd know how to take apart" she understood mechanics

moiras subversive humour

"talking like that does you good" language id voice against oppression

moiras heroic resistance

"moira was our fantasy" offreds idol

moiras defeat

"i don't want her to be like me" "give in go along" at jezabels

nicks non conformity

"tilted at jaunty angle" subtle rebellion

nicks body language

"for the moment were mirrors" when they're alone together in living room

nicks deepening relationship

"tanned skin moist in the sun" offred describing nick

nick love or just intercourse

"i want to be here with nick" offred desires him

offreds trust in nick

"therefore i am known" offred tells nick her name

dystopian features

unjust society
oppression
power struggle
damaged environments
rebellion
rebuilding society
extreme ideologies

atwoods context

after ww2 large environment concerns
1980 antifeminist movement
rise of religious right
1984 for women vice president candidate

readers context

nuclear war
donald trump
katie hopkins
growing up with wars