part 5: nap, part 6: household and part 7: night (WIP)

remember to go on teams and update chs 13-16 with the info on there.

CH13: significance of offred desiring to ‘weave, knit, [do something with her] hands'?’

she wants to make something that actually belongs to her, contrasts the child that will be taken from her

CH13: significance of the paintings offred remembers seeing; ‘obsession…with harems’, ‘studies of sedentary flesh [by men] who’d never been there’, ‘paintings…about objects not in use’?

reflects man’s long-lasting desire to objectify women

CH13: technique in ‘i wait, washed…like a prize pig’ and ‘pigs fattened in pens’?

animal imagery - characterizes offred as cattle - ‘fattens’ reflects the pregnancy

CH13: the paragraph starting ‘i lie down on the braided rug’ is about pregnancy exercises. what is the significance of ‘behind my closed eyes thin white dancers flit amongst the trees…like the wings of held birds’? 2 points

• white symbolizing purity - could reflect gilead ideology regarding pregnancy

• ‘held wings’ denies freedom imagery of birds

CH13: ‘you could tell yourself you were saving up your strength’ technique?

foreshadows offred staying with nick instead of trying to escape later in the book

CH13: significance of moira’s blue sweatshirt in offred’s flashback?

contrasts the handmaids, connotes freedom, masculinity

CH13: significance of janine Testifying that she was aborted after being raped?

abortion could be defiance over the handmaids’ compulsory pregnancy

CH13: significance of the handmaids being forced to blame janine for being raped? 2 points

• reflects male supremacy - men are never blamed for their wrongdoings

• chanting ‘her fault. her fault. her fault’ also reflects propaganda tactics

CH13: when janine cries at the Testifying, she looks ‘disgusting…like a newborn mouse’. significance and technique? 2 points

• simile and animal imagery

• irony - despite obsession with pregnancy, newborns are percieved negatively

CH13: significance of offred comparing urinals to ‘babies’ coffins’?

reflects the negative nature of a toxic masculinity

CH13: significance of 1. ‘i marvel at the nakedness of men’s lives’ and 2. ‘the flashing of a badge’?

1. shows the freedom men have

2. ‘badge’ implies authority

CH13: ‘i sink into my body…treacherous ground, my own territory’ significance?

independence is ‘treacherous’ or dangerous

CH13: ‘…blood…means failure. i have failed…to fulfil the expectations of others which have become my own.’ significance? 2 points

• highlights the effects of conditioning and propaganda

• reflects the message of the narrative as a whole

CH13: offred feels her body is ‘congealed around a [pear-shaped] central object…more real than [she is].’ meaning and significance? 2 points

• reflects the uterus

• fruit imagery and description as ‘central’ shows how women are valued only for their uterus and ability to serve men

CH13: ‘every month there is a moon…round, heavy, an omen’. meaning? 3 points

• reflects a period

• moon imagery - feminine, mysterious

• ‘round, heavy’ reminiscent of pregnancy

CH13: offred has a vision/dream related to her time with luke. ‘all the furniture is gone, the floors are bare…but…the cupboard is full of clothes’. technique and meaning?

metaphor - reflects agency and identity taken away in gilead, only the pregnancy (reflected by the cupboard) is valued

CH13: significance of none of the clothes fitting?

offred feels she doesn’t fit anywhere - she was the other woman with luke, and doesn’t like gilead’s regime

CH13: structure in the last paragraph/page of the chapter?

short phrases, several commas - shows panic, contrasts previous paragraphs

CH13: as offred is carrying her child in her dream she sees a ‘leaf, red, turned early’. significance? 2 points

• foreshadows her child being taken away and becoming part of gilead

• reflects her identity as a handmaid