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ENG4UZ - THE HANDMAID'S TALE IN-CLASS ESSAY MIND MAP (Characters…
ENG4UZ - THE HANDMAID'S TALE IN-CLASS ESSAY MIND MAP
Symbols
Red
Off-red
Menstrual blood
Blood that was shed in the war; hardships people went through to achieve the society now
Eggs
Fertility: by eating eggs everyday, it is expected to help handmaids conceive: flawed logic, shows desperation of society
Palimpsest
Gileadean society has attempted to erase what was present before, covering it up with new rules/restrictions
The Wall/Harvard
People hung for their crimes
Wall divides Harvard and this orderly society; representation of the barrier put up between free knowledge and constricted society
Tulips
Refer to women: have power but this power is short-lived and they are disregarded by society when they are no longer utile
"when they are old they turn themselves inside out... the petals thrown out like shards"
Mirrors
Forbidden in households for fear that they can be broken and used as weapons
Used for vanity, self-reflection, individualism
Allusions
Religion/The Bible
Angels
Guardians of Faith
Eyes of God
Milk and Honey, All Flesh, Loaves and Fishes
Behemoth, Whirlwind, Chariot
Gilead
Characters
Offred
Serena Joy
Nick (Guardians)
Commander
Moira
Ofglen
Janine
Motif of hierarchy
Narrative perspective and structure
Irony
Offred jealous that Janine is pregnant but despises her role as a Handmaid to bear children
Serena Joy rallied against women's rights but is also restrained by this
Broke rules in society, trying to get Offred pregnant by arranging her to have sex with Nick (dramatic irony because she is ready to betray the Commander despite being unaware of his disloyalty to her)
Commander is a powerful figure who is meant to reinforce rules and restrictions; arrangements with Offred suggest otherwise
Play Scrabble
Give her hand cream
Take her out to Jezebel's
Jezebel's in itself is ironic because it is meant to be a place for love, yet it has turned into something purely for sex
Offred remembers it as appearing the same, but feels different
At first glance, appears happy but this is an illusion; have the people chosen happiness?
Sex with Luke in this hotel representative of love, transforms into undesired sex with Commander
Offred eventually claims to feel power over him, speaks to him in her head warning him to be careful
Guardians/Nick - they may be Eyes who are supposed to be in hiding; Guardians on the other hand are public and not meant to play a large role
Harvard meant to be a place for knowledge and individualism, now used for oppression