Female Connection
“FOR MARY WEBSTER - Mary Webster - one of Atwood's Puritan ancestors. She was hanged as a witch in Connecticut in 1683, but survived the hanging and was
AND PERRY MILLER” allowed to go free. - Like Offred, she was a woman who successfully flouted state law
- Perry Miller - Atwood's director of American Studies at Harvard University. He pioneered the academic study of American literature and his
two books; 'The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century (1939) and 'The New England Mind: From Colony to Providence' (1953),
sealed his reputation as an authority on Puritan history. Atwood set her novel not in her native country, Canada, but in and around Harvard
Uni in Cambridge and Boston, Massachusetts
“WE SLEPT IN what had - "We" - Collective identity - unity as a group - indistinguishable from one another - shared suffering
once been the gymnasium.” - "Slept" - Past tense - highlights a sense of loss - Idealised conceptions of the past - memory of imagined fantasy?
- "Gymnasium" - Her own personal interpretation - fondly, vividly remembers this time - recalling her previous freedom - almost tangible.
Sense of fantasy - fun and games of the past are gone. Unable to let go of its former identity.
- Dislocated opening - emphasises the confusion and fear that characterises any totalitarian state (Gilead)
- "Gymnasium" - could potentially be Harvard University
“Alma. Janine. Dolores. - Individual identities - Recurring their past lives
Moira. June.” - Connection beyond just handmaid's - connection between individual women - Sense of friendship and mutual understanding of one another
- "June" - Protagonists Name - Can't keep their names - psychological repression - Gilead's motivation to destroy / diminish identities. - The
people are viewed by their role, not as autonomous individuals - Society encourages a lack of personal identity / freedom - more control.
- Atwood shows us that despite the strict and depersonalising living conditions they suffer, the women are still described as having the mental
freedom to reminisce about the past and yearn for a different future.
““All right,” I say. I don’t - "I don't smile'' - ambiguous, distant friendship / acknowledgement. Reluctant to establish tangible relationships in the present, afraid they will
smile. Why tempt her to tarnish those of the past or solidify this as her reality.
friendship?” - "Tempt" - allusion to the Bible - original sin - deeper human connection (connected through sin - all women were punished)
“The truth is that she is my - Female companionship - unity through experience and the hope for survival.
spy, as I am hers.”
“DOUBLED, I WALK the - Outwardly, the Handmaid's appear to be the embodiment of submissiveness and companionship. However, as she reflects, this is in
street.” appearance only, for the Handmaid's are a parody of femininity, acting out a masquerade that hides Gilead's oppression of women.
- Introduction to the motif of doubles (Offred's predecessor, Commander's Wife - shares the Commander's sexual attentions, Ofwarren - dark
double, who represents what Offred might become if she allowed herself to be indoctrinated by Gilead
- Unites women, they are all oppressed by the same patriarchal regime.
“I feel a tremor in the woman - Rhetorical question - disgusted / ashamed of the way she acts.
beside me. Is she crying? In - "Crying"- sign of empathy, remorse, weakness, vulnerability - but also a sign of power and strength
what way could it make her - Public vs Private - appearance / reality / delusion
look good?” - Women are viewed as each others rivals
- Gone so long without connection - unable to distinguish between reality of human emotions and artificial preferences.
- Offred questions the intentions behind the act of "crying" - perhaps because Offred's actions are calculated and intentional - she is self-
aware.
““Alma,” she says. “What’s - Attempt to connect
your real name?” - Assertion of female identity
, - Power of the female community
“We grip each other’s hands, - Emphasising the connection of the Handmaids
we are no longer single.”
“She scrambles onto the - Hostility towards the wives
Birthing Stool, sits on the - The celebrations are undermined by female rivalries; the system generates envy and hostility between women - similar to how Ofwarren's
seat behind and above pregnancy in Chapter 5 stirred both excitement and jealousy - Such reactions keep Gilead's women divided and therefore powerless.
Janine, so that Janine is
framed by her: her skinny
legs come down on either
side, like the arms of an
eccentric chair.”
“The story passed among us - Female camaraderie and community
that night, in the semi-
darkness, under our breath,
from bed to bed.”
, Sex and Sexuality
“we still had our - Using their bodies as leverage to escape and get to freedom
bodies. That was our - Express their sexual desire that has been suppressed
fantasy.” - "Our" - sense of community established by shared experience - connection
“Waste not want not. I - Rhetorical question - asking why she can't confront personal rebellion through her thoughts. - Sexually conditioned - removed personal sexual
am not being wasted. desire - only sexual relations granted are for the purpose of producing children.
Why do I want?” - Indoctrinated values
- "Waste not want not" - Idiom used - WW1 - rationing and recycling - using her fertility - recycling the 'useful' part - women and their fertility are the
commodities.
“Nothing takes place - "Bed" - usually synonymous with sex - Self aware that she has supressed / repressed her sexual and personal desires.
in the bed but sleep;” - Conformation to Gilead's ideals
“Then he - Gilead represses desire and connection
winks.””Perhaps it was - Trivial acts of sexual expression from a modern audience's perspective are acts of rebellion.
a test, to see what I - Repetition of "perhaps" - fear, doubt and caution
would do. Perhaps he - "Eye" - spy, connotations of watching and surveillance - Link to "1984" - "Big Brother is watching"
is an Eye”
“Their youth is - Intimacy / Warmth / Affection
touching,” - Juxtaposes the semantic field of conflict.
- Sex - clinical - lack of intimacy / desire
- Desire is present but repressed
- Selfhood - Repressing self / Self aware / Rebellious independent thought
“What if I were to peel - Suggests a desire to expose herself for who she really is.
off my red shroud and - "Peel" - suggests a painful, slow process / shedding the layer of her clothes which represent her prescribed role and the ideals of Gilead.
show myself to him, to - Desire to rebel against the oppressive ideals.
them, by the uncertain - Permitting herself to defy her own rules of survival - fueled by a need for intimacy and desire.
light of the lanterns?” - Wants control of her own life - Voyeuristic tendencies reveal how Offred is not an active participant in her own life.
- Craving human connection fuelled by desire - contrast the ritualistic sex with the Commander.
“must think about - Desperate for sexual touch - feeling of intimacy
sometimes,” - Forbidden yet craves it - does its prohibited nature make the act of disobeying the law more exhilarating and passionate?
- Reduces integrity of intimacy - brainwashing / indoctrination.
- Is she attracted to him or the desire he effectuates and the act of disobeying the law?
- Acknowledgement of the universal nature of the human condition - How everyone has dreams, fears, fantasies and curiosity.
- Her desire is to emphasise and scrutinise how Gilead are unable to remove her humanity despite enforcing the 'Madonna Whore Paradigm'
“They wear lipstick, - Scandalous and vandalous
red, outlining the - Actions of delinquents
damp cavities of their - Red lipstick often had connotations of promiscuity and desire - suggestive of the sexual repression enforced in Gilead and lack of expression.
mouths, like scrawls - Provocative dressing
on a washroom wall, - The mental and emotional torture that Gilead enforces
of the time before.” - Sexual and physical expression is restricted
