handmaids tale notes

  • What does Faith charity and hope pillows symbolise

    • Faith pillow still to use and control

    • No charity or hope

    • No love for other humans

  • What does Lotion and butter symbolise

    • Trying to feel normal

  • What is the symbolism for The eye

    • Ever presence on guards

    • All knowing all watching

  • What is the symbolism for an Egg

    • Symbol for fertility hope for fertility

  • What is the symbolism for the clothing women wear

    • Red of handmaids is blood reproduction and birth

    • Blue in wives virgin mary always in blue, puritiy

  • What are the 3 epigraphs?

    • Johnathan Swift’s A modest Proposal

    • Genesis 30 1-3

    • Sufi Proverb

  • Jonathan Swift’s A Modest proposal Meaning

    • During the Irish potato famine satirically proposed eating babies to fix the problem

    • Matching the problems in gilead problems in environment

    • Victimize babies like they victimize women

  • Genesis 30 1-3 Meaning

    • Give me children or else i die

    • Used to justified handmaids 

  • Sufi Proverb Meaning

    • In the desert there is no sign that says thou shalt not eat stones

      • aka No one says you cant eat stones in the desert

    • People don’t prohibit things no one will do all prohibits are things routed in desires

  • The book of job Meaning

    • Justification of evil and job and his suffering of evil

    • God allows job to suffer for no reason

      • Job does not stop believing in god but questions why

    • Parallels that their suffering is justified because gilead will fix all of their problems

      • The society of gilead morphs religion to serve their purpose

  • The mural of victory and death Meaning

    • Solider in center with two female figures one representing victory and one death

    • Pays tribute to soldiers and glorify death

    • Like how Gilead uses religion to glorify oppression of women

      • Death and Victory are women but those are the ones who have their rights taken away

  • Colosseum Meaning

    • Built by emperor as a place of entertainment to unify the people

    • Piece of propaganda and to keep his political hold

    • Gladiators were all of lower class

      • Came at the cost of lower class

  • Venus de milo Meaning

    • Statue of the woman

      • Latin phrase i am you are we are

        • Reinforcement of sacrifice of self to prioritize the we as seen in gilead

    • Pulling from the individual for justification of the acts

    • Considered true of femininity and beauty

      • Created by a man

      • Like the men in gilead reconstruct what the looks of what a women should be

  • The sabine women Meaning

    • Romulus invited them to a party and fought off the men and captured the women

    • Raped the women and forced them to populate Rome

    • Sabine Men came back and tried to fight the Romans but the Sabine Women wanted to stay “for the children”

    • Like how in Gilead they justify the rape of their handmaids as for the children

  • Significance of Scrabble

    • Game offred and commander play

    • Offred didnt want to play the game in her past but only thing that keeps the ties to her past

  • Significance of Flowers

    • Gardening Serena

    • Keeps part of the old life there

  • Significance of the Vogue magazine

    • The commander get her to look at a vogue magazine and it reminds her of the past time

    • She yearns for the feeling of what it was before

  • What was the Latin phrase in closet

    • Don’t let the bastards grind u down

  • What is the Concept of reconstruction

    • Often gives different versions of events

    • Coming to come to terms with everything

    • Building story as a human

    • Give herself hope