Summary IEB: English home language- The Handmaid's Tale quote analysis
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Course
English Home Language
Institution
12th Grade
Book
The Handmaid's Tale
A thorough, in-depth analysis of quotes in Margaret Atwood's novel 'The Handmaid's Tale', specially compiled for IEB literary essays. Fully analysed quotes, sorted by chapter and page number, with an explanation of each quote.
IEB English home language paper 2: The handmaid's tale-full chapter summaries
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Quote Context Chapter/pg
‘We learned to whisper almost without Women’s voices were taken away; they were muted 1;2
a sound’
THE HANDMAID’S TALE
QUOTE ANALYSIS
Quotes:
Quotes:
Quote Context Chapter/pg
‘like the place in a face where the eye Society doesn’t want women to kill themselves. 2;3
has been taken out’ - They lose an asset
- They know how badly the women are treated; they 2;3
‘they’ve removed anything you could tie know they don’t want to be here
a rope to’ - The minute you remove something, it is in place of fear
‘[the white wings] keep us from seeing, Restriction, limitation. No sensual/ sexual attraction. If you just 2;4
but also from being seen’ see the silhouette of fabric, they’re seen as objects, not
recognized as women. Women constantly in danger.
‘not my room. I refuse to say my’ She sees nothing that belongs to her- she’s a wallflower. 2;4
She doesn’t fully engage; she can’t accept that this is her
reality.
‘my face is red: the colour of blood, Symbol of red/blood: life. Oxygenated blood is red- childbirth 2;4
which defines us’ Gushing of blood during childbirth- represents glorious birth of
child.
‘like a distorted shadow’ Symbol: mirror- offers reflection, should be accurate but she 2;5
sees a distorted shadow. She’s not herself.
Orange- distortion/ shadows of danger. She knows her reality
in this world is dangerous.
‘they have the choice’ Rita says that a handmaid has the choice to be a handmaid or 2;6
go to the colonies with the Unwomen.
There is no choice for a fertile woman to choose between the
commander and the colonies. If they have put so many
measures in place for her not to kill herself, she won’t have the
choice to go to the colonies.
‘I hunger to touch something, other The handmaids want desired touch, something that is not 2
than cloth or wood’ painful. Need for a connection that is authentic and not forced
‘I hunger to commit the act of touch’ upon.
Quotes:
Quote Context Chapter/pg
‘it’s something for them to order and The Wives tend to the garden. It sets the wives up in various 3;9
maintain and care for’ ways. They have nothing else to do, they are bored. The
purpose of the wives is to care for something else, because
they don’t have children at this point, they don’t have anything
else to care for. A garden needs attention and effort- It shows
their status in comparison to the rest of women in society, they
are able to produce a beautiful garden
‘What does she envy me?’ Offred -> SJ 3;10
reproach- she’s needed but not wanted. There is no love
between the commander’s wife and handmaids. The wife is
not kind or friendly to the handmaids, she knows she needs
, them but that’s it
‘yours is a position of honour’ How handmaids are viewed in society- valuable 3;10
‘it was best not to speak unless they Interaction between the wife and Offred. Even between them, 3;11
asked you’ there is a power struggle. Although both women are
disempowered, at different points they each feel powerful and
powerless. The commander’s wives don’t have names in the
beginning
‘she then was a woman who might Offred sees in the commander’s wife, the possibility of 3;12
break the rules’ rebellion, defiance. This gives her a sense of hope. Is there
going to be an underground rebellion?
‘this is like a business transaction’ The interaction between SJ and Offred shows that there will be 3;13
no relationship, only a business transaction. It is not about
building a relationship
‘or had been, once’ Offred realizes who SJ is. 3;14
She was once a celebrity. What was worse?
Offred lost a lot when Gilead happened, but Serena lost a lot
too (she also lost her title as a celebrity) she lost herself in
every way.
"There's always a black market, there's Offred recognizes that exchanges and transactions are a 3
always something that can be fundamental part of human interactions; she is always alert for
exchanged." something she can exchange, even though she has no
possessions of her own.
Quotes:
Quote Context Chapter/pg
‘the notion is absurd’ Offred explains how the handmaids are only allowed out in 4;17
twos. She knows it is absurd, independence of thought
‘they thought she was a man in disguise’ A woman was fumbling in her robe looking for her pass, and 4;18
‘there have been such incidents’ the guardians thought she was a man in disguise, so they shot
her. Incident shows there’s a resistance.
No value of life, men or woman, if you’re seen as a threat, you
are out. No risks. So insignificance that they killed a woman
‘a small defiance of rule’ Offred makes eye-contact with one of the guards. 4;19
The women are completely trapped, they are totally surveyed,
they’re restricted. Offred is so deprived of thought, She is
yearning for purpose.
Interaction between Offred and guardian gives her a sense of
power. He turns away- she is making him uncomfortable –
sense of power.
‘none of this is the fault of these two They were born into a system that wasn’t of their choosing. 4;20
men, they’re too young’ Many of those working in this regime weren’t given a choice,
they were forced.
‘to peel off my red shroud and show Permit him past her white wings- caress her, see her face. 4;20
myself to him’ What she is imagining now, is her rebelling, her using her
femininity to get him in trouble, she wants to catch him out.
She is getting some pleasure out of her taunting the guard, she
is in control, she is in power
, ‘then I find I’m not ashamed ‘ Offred taunts the guard. 4;21
‘I enjoy the power’
There have been so many critiques about Offred in the novel
how she doesn’t do anything to change her situation, how she
is so pathetic and doesn’t try to change her situation, but what
was she supposed to do? Is the questioning and wanting to
rebel active? Is she a passive participant in this? If there is
nowhere to go to escape
She is proud, she likes the feeling of being in control +
overpowering them. The power isn’t overt, it’s a covert power,
the power of temptation. It is a passive kind of power, which in
some way is more powerful than a gun in your face. She wants
them to get in trouble, she wants men to feel completely
powerless. There is a vengeance.
Quotes:
Quote Context Chapter/pg
‘Gilead is within you’ Gilead is a system, not a life. it is something you take on, but 5;22
not live. It appears to be something, aesthetic and all, but it is
not functional. Proper life cannot happen in Gilead. That was
the perception, the hope, that Gilead was supposed to be this
picture-perfect society but in reality, it wasn’t.
‘absence of people’ Homey magazines, there are never people in the pics, only 5;22
‘there are no children’ ever the furniture etc
She thinks back to looking at those kinds of magazines, and the
commander and her situation looks exactly like those
magazines, there are no children
Everything looks picture perfect, but there is no society with
actual life in it
From her life pre-Gilead where there was life, where she felt
alive, where there were children, there is a contrasts
It doesn’t feel real
‘women were not protected then’ she’s reflecting about the past. In the present, in this Gilead 5;23
society/regime, it shows just how brainwashed she is, because
she thinks women are protected now. But the women are so
unprotected in Gilead. It’s a different type of protection.
Women are now treated as assets, they are like being locked in
a safe, but they are safe. Back then, women had a greater
freedom and therefore a greater risk to their safety, but now
they have no freedom and less of a risk. There was a fear
before Gilead, women were vulnerable, but it is a different
type of fear.
‘there is more than one kind of The former is the freedom to make one's own choices, while 5;23/24
freedom’ the latter is the freedom from dangers such as crime and
‘freedom to and freedom from’ violence. Aunt Lydia notes that the previous society had been
dying "of too much choice." The implication is that some
"freedom to" must be sacrificed to achieve the improved state
‘a society dying… of too much choice’ of "freedom from." Offred may not have the choice to buy
oranges, but she need not worry about being attacked by a
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