Literary and Narrative Techniques in the Handmaid's Tale

Epigraph

A short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme.

First Person Point of View

A storytelling technique where the narrator is a character in the story and shares events from their perspective. The narrator uses pronouns like “I,” “me,” “my,” and “mine” to convey the story. In some cases, the narrator may use plural pronouns like “we,” “us,” “our,” and “ourselves.”

Unreliable Narrator

Cannot be fully trusted; One whose credibility is compromised. Credibility may be dependent upon the character’s sanity, desire to mislead, or naivete/lack of life experience. They can be found in fiction and film, and range from children to mature characters.

Fragmentation/Disjointed Narrative

Nonlinear narrative, or disruptive narrative, is a narrative technique where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct casualty pattern of the events featured, such as parallel distinctive plot lines, dream immersions or narrating another story inside the main plot-line.

Flashback

A literary device that interrupts the chronological order of a story to show a scene from the past. Often used to reveal important information about a character’s past, such as personal secrets or inner conflict. They can also be used to foreshadow important events or to create interest.

Flash-forward

A literary device in which the plot skips ahead in its chronological sequence in order to reveal important information.

Pairings/Opposites/Juxtapositions

An act or instance of placing two opposing elements close together or side by side. This is often done in order to compare/contrast the two, to show similarities or differences, etc.

Black Humor

Black comedy, also known as bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor, or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to discuss. It is a tool for exploring vulgar issues by provoking discomfort, serious thought, and amusement for the audience.

Deliberate Ambiguity

The author uses this to blur the lines between different states, such as sleeping and waking, dream and memory, and reality and representation.

Neologisms

Literally, new words. The author creates words that are in use in the world of his/her novel.

Biblical Allusion

This is an indirect or direct reference to a person, place, story, or scripture from the Christian Bible.