The Handmaid's Tale 16

"He doesn't mind this, I thought. He doesn't mind it at all. Maybe he even likes it. We are not each other's, anymore. Instead, I am his." (182)

Atwood's alternate reality seems harsh and utterly unbelievable, but the thing that is the most unbelievable is the fact that aspects of this society are actually occurring in the world to this day. In places like Afghanistan and Iraq are still threatened just by going outside, and many women are illiterate. This makes it almost impossible to get a job, and to actually live a normal self-sufficient life. This also means that women cannot send their daughters to school for fear of rape or abduction. Domestic abuse is so common in those areas, reinforcing the idea that women are treated as property and can have no possessions.

Works Cited:
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/326354

Image:
http://www.glogster.com/media/2/11/33/9/11330998.jpg

The Handmaid's Tale 15

"'Here,' the Commander says. He slips around my wrist a tag, purple, on an elastic band, like the tags for airport luggage. 'If anyone asks you, say you're an evening rental,' he says." (233)

In this sexual safe-zone of sorts, the Commander tells Offred to pretend she's an "evening rental" - meaning a prostitute. Atwood pulls out all the stops on this bar and hotel, describing it to be everything that Offred never sees in daily life. The shock that hits the reader at this environmental change is reinforced with the realization that prostitutes still exist in an environment that doesn't even seem to be illegal. Prostitution is illegal in today's society where women have the right to do practically whatever they want, but there can be a whole club that isn't even underground or under the radar without even having legal issues?

Image:
http://www.gambling911.com/files/publisher/

The Handmaid's Tale 14

"Then they burn you up with the garbage, like an Unwoman." (216)

Atwood feels it necessary to include the term "unwoman" in this sentence, because it shows just how brutally women punish other women just for refusing to become an object. Despite the fact that it is the laws that essentially makes the women have to be so emotionless and anti-sex, it's the other women that are in support of all of these movements that make it so much worse. They're the ones that enforce the removal of all womanly qualities and unsexualizing. Throughout the book, Atwood makes a point of having very little law enforcement - it's all other women. Women in general have a tendency to feel the need to fix anything that doesn't please them, which makes sense that Atwood would create a society in which women blame men on the extremist society, when it is really the women that are making it that much worse.

Works Cited:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/unwoman

The Handmaid's Tale 13

"I look around me again. The men are not homogeneous, as I first thought." (236)

Offred went into the bar with the Commander expecting all of the men to be white and homogeneous. When she went in, however, she realized that there were many different races, all dressed differently, all mingling. Atwood must have done this to show the reader that despite the fact that it was highly illegal at that time for Offred to be there, sexuality was still prominent more or less in underground societies, and that it wasn't a wrong thing to do. The Commander was taking a huge risk by bringing Offred there, but he was willing to do it because he was aware that you can't just extinguish sexuality in human beings, and that it's completely normal.

Works Cited:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/homogeneous

Image:
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?strucID=699869&imageID=816991

The Handmaid's Tale 12

"Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison. Who led them on? Aunt Helena beams, pleased with us. She did. She did. She did. Why did God allow such a terrible thing to happen? Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson. Teach her a lesson." (72)

This scene in the book was an interestingly relevant one, as victim blaming in rape cases are at an incredibly controversial point right now. People have started putting on things called "Slut Walks", where women and men parade down streets, mainly dressed in very skimpy clothing, protesting the point that just because a woman is dressed a certain way doesn't mean that she deserved to be raped. It began when a police officer was lecturing students on safety, and told them that the way to prevent being raped was to "avoid dressing like sluts" (Stampler, "Slutwalks Sweep the Nation"). However, in this alternate reality that Atwood creates, women have no rights and are essentially objects, and anything bad that happens to them is entirely their own fault. Atwood uses this extreme to emphasize the unfairness of how women are treating other women. Since Janine was raped, she most likely deserved it.

Works Cited:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victim_blaming
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/20/slutwalk-united-states-city_n_851725.html

Image:
http://jmsupercuteinkorea.blogspot.com/2011/07/slut-walk-protest-held-in-seoul.html

The Handmaid's Tale 11

"I used to tease him about being pedantic." (11)

This says a lot about who Luke was, and what his personality was like. Atwood never went into specifics about what Luke was like, but with the use of the word pedantic, readers know that he was intelligent and wasn't afraid to flaunt it. He also didn't seem to intentionally be pedantic, however, because if Offred used to tease him about hit, he obviously didn't enjoy the accusations. Throughout the text we get subtle hints like this from Atwood, but never anything specific. A reader can pick up that that is Atwood's general writing style, as there really are very few specifics about anything in the whole text.

Works Cited:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/pedantic

The Handmaid's Tale 10

"'She hanged herself,' she says. 'After the Salvaging. She saw the van coming for her. It was better.'" (285)

The shock that hits the reader when Ofglen is replaced with a "new" Ofglen is sudden and unexpected. The reader also comes to dislike new Ofglen, as she's much more cautious than Offred is. The reader also begins to feel a sense of panic during some of new Ofglen and Offred's dialogue, as she's being sterile and even scolds Offred at one point. Atwood leads readers to believe that she's gone too far, and has been caught being foolish. This brief line, however, at the end of the chapter, changes everything about the scene. Not only is it a hint to the reader that a similar situation may be headed for Offred, but it also proves just how threatening something like a distinctive van can be.