the handmaids tale: imagery quotations

Serena Joy's tulips

"The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they have been cut and are beginning to heal there."
-the tulips are a recurring motif
-represent the Handmaids due to their red colour and fertility
-the tulips symbolise the female reproductive organs ("beginning to heal" could link to the healing after birth)
-Atwood uses yonic imagery relating to female genitalia to represent Offred's frustrations at her diminished role in society. She feels like she is nothing more than a vehicle for pregnancy.

Tulips along the border

"The tulips along the border are redder than ever, opening, no longer wine cups but chalices; thrusting themselves, up to what end?"
-Shows time has passed, presents the fertility of the tulips as they are blooming
-ironic as Offred isn't pregnant yet
-also could foreshadow a future pregnancy for Offred.

Tulips and teeth

"The tulips had their moment and are now done, shedding their petals one by one, like teeth."
-This quote references the Freudian theory 'Vagina Dentata', which is a male phobia that a woman's vagina could castrate a man's penis while he is penetrating her.
-the references to "teeth" and "tulips" reflect Offred's transgressive attitude towards her role in Gilead. She wishes she had the power to emasculate the patriarchal powers that control her.

red smiles

"The red of the smile is the same as the red of the tulips in Serena Joy's garden, towards the base of the flowers where they are beginning to heal. The red is the same but there is no connection. The tulips are not tulips of blood."
- here Offred is reminded of her situation by the "smiles" she imagines on the sacks covering the heads of those who are executed on the wall.

"red of the smile"

-Offred likens her fertility and "reduced circumstances" to the executed bodies of those who sinned against Gilead.
-She knows that she too could be on the wall or in the colonies if she doesn't fulfil her purpose or is caught breaking the rules.

doppelgangers in Offred and Ofglen

"doubled, I walk the street"
-this image symbolises the depersonalisation of the handmaids.
-they are dressed the same/ look the same
-Gilead makes sure they are never alone and always have someone to keep watch of them. "Under his eye"

Offred remembering the truth

"Palimpsest of unheard sound"
-symbolises that, even though the present has overwritten the past, Offred still remembers the truth.