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The Handmaid's Tale (Fertility (Serena Joy's hobbies are taking…

- - - - Women at jezebels are given jobs because of male demand
- - - - Based on biblical precedents
      - Handmaids are used to allow infertile women like the Commander's wife to have babies
      - Reproductive purpose
  - - - The diction "multiply" and "replenish" suggests that being fertile is necessary
  - - - The roles of people in Gilead are justified with the religious references through the book of Genesis
        
        By doing this, there would be a great importance and influence of religion on the citizens
- - - - she's named as his possession
      - her body function is valued but her as a person is not
  - - - many reasons: sexual revolution and birth control, pollution, sexually transmitted disease
      - subtle problems: society that restricts women so much, treating potential child-bearers alternately as precious objects, bothersome machines, and prostitute-like sources of shame
    - - extreme pressure
  - - - "tulips are opening their cups,spilling out colour"
        
        representing Offred who is blooming, is fertile, in contrast to Serena Joy who is "sterile"
      - "a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they have been cut and are beginning to heal there"
  - - - simile
    - - could be referencing the handmaids
        "caught by the sun", caught by the Commanders whom the society sees as the leaders(?), they are never wrong, never questioned
        or caught by the hope that society places on them because of their fertility
        they are "half dead" because being chosen by being fertile is "their job", they have been trained emotionally in the red centre and are now
  - - - Duty to Gilead, to be fertile and have a baby, parallels duty to her loved ones in her mind
  - - - emphasises importance of fertility
  - - - At that moment she does not care about the importance of having the baby
  - - - linked to her meeting and sexual interaction with Nick, fertility of both of them could results in a baby
- - - - Face cream and lotion is forbidden by the wives as they make the handmaid's attractive
      - They sneak butter and use it at night
    - - "What should I take? Something that will not be missed"
      - Even when committing a rebellious act, she makes sure no one else will notice
        
        In a way, it defeats the purpose of rebellion
      - Even when performing a rebellious act, she makes sure the act goes unnoticed
    - - Holding eye contact of the guardian at the gate
        
        "He is the one who turns away"
      - Teasing the guards with lust
        
        "I move my hips a little, feeling the full red skirt sway around me"
    - - Chapter 18 Night. She imagines Luke in 3 different scenarios. 2 of them are the government winning. Only 1 of them is Luke being free and joining a rebellion
        
        Perhaps fear of thinking rebellion? Fear of the government has seeped into her. That is why she fears imagining the government's defeat
        
        She limits these thoughts to herself late at night when she's alone, even though no one can actually see what she's thinking during the day
        
        Fear
    - - Looking at Ofglen's reflection on the glass window of Soul Scrolls
      - Holding eye contact with the guard at the gate
    - - "Stretches in the sun, I feel the ripple of muscles go along with him"
        
        Stimulates desire, something not allowed in that society
      - "He's too casual, he's not servile enough"
      - "Shirt sleeves, bare arms sticking shamelessly out from the rolled cloth. Where does the tan end?"
        
        Showing skin is a taboo yet Nick does it "shamelessly". The tan also suggests showing more skin.
      - "He stops, looks up at this window"
- - - - Searches for him, yearns for him
        
        When Dr offers her help, she believe's its to find Luke
        
        Love is her first priority
        
        Has different scenarios as to what happened to him
        
        Hope he's dead
        
        'I pray that that at least one hole is neatly, quickly and finally through the skull' - Chap 18
        
        He's being kept prisoner
        
        'Hai ir ragged, the back of neck is nicked (...), he looks ten years older, twenty, he's meant like an old man, his eyes are pouched, small purple veins have burns in his cheeks' (Chap 18)
        
        Escaped to freedom from Gilead
        
        'He made it, reached the bank, swam the river, crossed the border, dragged himself up on the far shore, an island, teeth chattering' - Chap 18
        
        'made contact with others, there must be a resistance (...), taking care of things.'
      - Has memories of their time together
        
        Discussions on Mayday
        
        Argument on plastic bags
        
        The beginnings of their relationship
        
        Memories of their love, cuddles and bedtimes
        
        Gives her the emotional capacity to take a more decisive action
        
        STEALING
        
        When she was first pregnant, them feeling the baby's kicks together in bed
        
        Last memory together: their escape from Gilead
        
        Luke and Offred complimented each other; he 'sings confidently', she's terrified
    - - Remembers the theft of her 11 month old baby at the grocery store
        
        Signals the start of Gilead thinking
      - Believes her as a ghost of 4 years old
        
        Allows her to not feel hope, or suffer through pain
        
        Believes that her love for daughter, led to rebellion, leading to the capture of all of them
      - Remembers the birth of her daughter, and Luke's reaction to it
        
        'Oh, he said, oh Jesus, breath coming out in wonder. That night he couldn't go to sleep at all, he said, he was so high'.
    - - Close friend through college, life and red centre
      - Attempt stop save Moira from pain
        
        Pleads her not to try and escape
        
        Steals sugar for her tortured feet
  - - - ' Not like that, he says, 'As if you meant it.'
        
        'He was so sad'
- - - - "We slept in what had once been the gymnasium"
      - "I get up out of the chair"
    - - Remembering life with Luke and daughter
    - - "We thought we had such problems. How were we to know we were happy?"
    - - "But people will do anything rather than admit that their lives have no meaning. No use, that is. No plot"
    - - "One day...."
      - "Healthy food. You have to get your vitamins and minerals, said Aunt Lydia coyly."
    - - "we meant it"
    - - Adds comments on past events, clarifies actions.
        
        "I only pretended to think so. Really she was a little frightening."
        
        There was a treacherous smell, and I know i must shut it out'
        
        "Though I remembered now"
    - - "I often amused myself thisi way"