ipl-logo

Flashback In The Handmaid's Tale

1277 Words6 Pages

Even the disturbing yet disconnected story of infant-snatching turns out to be foreshadowing for the stealing of her daughter, living safe somewhere in Gilead and all but dead to her mother (Atwood 206). This is the common thread that ties these flashbacks together: they are all pictures of her suffering, and whether they focus on her past life or her present, they are all problems that she continues to face. As she builds her resolve against the tyranny of Gileadean society, Offred’s memories become longer and piece together like a not-so-beautiful puzzle, tying together the past and the present into a new sense of perspective. One particular moment of reminiscence gives way to nearly a whole chapter of flashback, detailing the collapse of the American society and its slow but steady reduction of the rights of its women (Atwood 173-181). These stolen rights -- frozen accounts, mass layoffs from jobs, taking of private property -- drastically change the image of Gilead, at least to the previously oblivious readers, who prior to this retelling likely could not empathize very well with the protagonist. “...What is revealed in [Offred’s] recollection of the pre-Gilead era is far from being exuberant; her memory is as smeared with fear and anxiety as is her present experience” (Nakamura 8). This anxiety is what many people experience in America today, anxiety about the inevitable dystopian decline of their country, when and what and how. Yet these fears hardly stop Offred from performing her little rebellions; rather, they …show more content…

It is neither comedy nor tragedy, beginning and ending with different forms of adversity, and in this sense it is more of a realistic account of life within a dystopian society. The timeline is confusing and out of place, and every experience has the ability to drastically change the individual’s ambitions, in this case for freedom and

Show More
Related

  • Outward Conformity In The Handmaid's Tale

    639 Words  | 3 Pages

    Outward conformity along with inward questioning, that is what the main character, presented in Margaret Artwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, has to undertake in order to survive in a theocratic society. Stepping out of line in any way risks your life, so in a place where freedom of speech and basic human right’s no longer apply, Offered must comply with whatever rules they have in place and pretend to agree with the system, but in the inside, she cannot help but think about her past life, her husband, her daughter, before everything began. Flashbacks are integrated in the novel to not only compare the old society with the new one, but to also demonstrate this fake conformity Offred has to display to others and her internal struggle with giving up on escaping the Republic or just accepting her fate and playing by

    Read More

  • Literary Analysis: The Grapes Of Wrath

    1880 Words  | 8 Pages

    Intercalary Chapter Literary Analysis During the Great Depression, the nation as a whole was stripped of financial security and forced into a survivalist way of living. This changed the ways that people interacted with one another and the overall mentality of society. In the Grapes of Wrath, the Joad family is torn from their land and find themselves with nothing, a common story for migrant farmers of that time, derogatorily called “Okies” by Californians. But this is not the only group that is struggling, the entire county was in a state of panic and bruteness, no matter how “well off” they seemed to be.

    Read More

  • Control In The Handmaids Tale

    971 Words  | 4 Pages

    Offred is suspicious of what the handmaid 's did. She looks at their hands, and a clue is given to her when she sees “black gloves”(Atwood 275). She ponders what they could have possibly done to have warranted such action from the authorities. Her speculation shows how the society of Gilead functions. The government of Gilead wants the handmaids to see that the prisoners are being hanged, as their suspicion is how Gilead gains control of them.

    Read More

  • Racism And Classism In The Handmaid's Tale

    746 Words  | 3 Pages

    What would become of the world, if our current societal flaws, such as sexism, racism, and classism were ingrained and executed at a systematic level? This is exactly what The Handmaid’s Tale set out to explore. The novel, which claims to be speculative fiction, is set in the theocratic Republic of Gilead (formerly the USA), where birth rates are rapidly declining and women have been marginalized by the patriarchal regime, forbidden to read, write or love and valued only if they are able to procreate. They are separated into classes, including Wives, Marthas, Aunts, Unwomen, and Handmaids, distinguishable only by the color of their clothing. The Handmaids are renamed by combining ‘of’ and the name of the Commander that they have been assigned to, stripping them of any individuality.

    Read More

  • Use Of Figurative Language In The Handmaid's Tale

    1108 Words  | 5 Pages

    In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the protagonist, Offred, expresses her wish that her “story [is] different,” that it is “happier,” or at least “more active, less hesitant, less distracted” than it is ultimately portrayed (267). However, as her story is told, these characteristics are evident in the way she talks and acts, especially around those with authority. Hesitant to express her true thoughts and feelings, and distracted by memories from her previous life, Offred attempts to piece together her role in the society that has taken her freedom. The result is a compilation of moments, of memories, both from her present, her past, and even speculation about her future.

    Read More

  • Flannery O Connor's Use Of Setting Analysis

    724 Words  | 3 Pages

    The story takes place at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in America, when desegregation is finally achieved. Flannery O’Connor’s use of setting augments the mood and deepens the context of the story. However, O’Connor’s method is subtle, often relying on connotation and implication to drive her point across. The story achieves its depressing mood mostly through the use of light and darkness in the setting.

    Read More

  • The Religion Influences In The Handmaid's Tale

    1562 Words  | 7 Pages

    From my personal research, the events in the novel were influenced by negative situations that involved the American society prior to the 1980’s. These negative aspects of Gilead’s religious society in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ were drawn from similar issues facing the American public prior to the 1980’ s. These issues were based on religious concepts that were thought to greatly improve the American population's standard of living. The main ideas that influenced the creation of certain events and

    Read More

  • Isolation In The Handmaid's Tale

    957 Words  | 4 Pages

    Atwood clearly emphasizes this point through the inclusion of Offred 's inner thoughts; which in turn, help to illuminate to the reader the process of this deterioration. Atwood also shows how the Republic of Gilead uses totalitarianism tactics, which parallel those used in North Korea, in order to remain in control. In The Handmaid’s tale, a dystopian novel, Margaret Atwood uses imagery and allusion throughout the novel to illustrate how the republic of Gilead uses techniques to deteriorate one 's mind in order to maintain their power. Throughout the dystopian country

    Read More

  • Conflict In The Handmaids Tale

    1436 Words  | 6 Pages

    Conflict can be described as the struggle between two opposing forces, whether the forces being person vs person, person vs self or person vs society. Good examples of conflict can be found in almost any book. Margaret Atwood’s novel, the Handmaid’s Tale is a source of all three types of conflicts. The Handmaid’s Tale is about a society where females are given specific duties and are restricted from reading, writing, talking to others and looking at themselves in mirrors. The protagonist, Offred whom is also the narrator in the novel faces conflicts with herself, with other people, and the society that she lives in.

    Read More

  • Power And Power In The Handmaid's Tale By Margaret Atwood

    1587 Words  | 7 Pages

    One’s power can be abused due to indolence; it ruins the lowest social class. In the handmaid 's tale, the Handmaids are treated poorly, making the person no longer themselves. The reader learns that Offred is being told what to do and has no say for her opinion, since it is against the law to go against the government. According to the handmaid’s tale, "You go out through the door and turn right. There 's another door, it 's open.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Rebellion In The Handmaid's Tale

    711 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rebellion in The Handmaid’s Tale Imagine not being able to do what you used to do because some actions are forbidden in this new society. In the Handmaid's Tale, Gilead is a dystopian society where people are limited to certain actions. Throughout the story, Offred’s actions are rebellious because she has broken so many rules. Atwood demonstrates that restricted expression leads to rebellion by showing the Commanders and Offred’s affair developing throughout time and the actions of both characters.

    Read More

  • The Adaptation Of Gilead's Hulu TV Tale

    263 Words  | 2 Pages

    The Hulu TV series interprets the book in a more modern way, by making the time in which Gilead was created seem not so far off from present day. Contrary, to the TV adaptation the novel takes place in the 70s and 80s. The use of this timeframe would not be as impactful on the audience, because it would have occurred so far back in the past that little knowledge would be remembered by viewers. Furthermore, a lot of the information about the societal norms and daily lifestyles of the people both before and after the creation of Gilead would be different than the current ones in place presently. Subsequently, if the time era present in the novel was used for the adaptation it would have hindered the viewer’s ability to be able to relate to Offred’s

    Read More

  • Symbolism In The Handmaid's Tale

    1410 Words  | 6 Pages

    This is depicted through various sub-parts in the novel. Narrated through the character of Offred, the novel even reflects back on her life and the events that have led to this bizarre

    Read More

  • Theme Of Marxism In The Handmaid's Tale

    2035 Words  | 9 Pages

    Offred initially feels a sense of loss due to her position as a fertile woman since the independence and individuality she once enjoyed has since been stripped from her by the Republic of Gilead. It is only through rebellion that Offred is able to slowly regain her sense of self and reject the role that Gilead forces her into. By rebellion, however, it is often more dangerous for the perpetrators than to the government’s grip on the people. Offred’s societal role as a handmaid in Gilead forces her to first obey, then causes her to question, which finally allows her to realize her

    Read More

  • Handmaid's Tale Identity

    871 Words  | 4 Pages

    The American science fiction and fantasy author Richard Grant once said that “the value of identity of course is that so often with it comes purpose.” In both The Awakening by Kate Chopin and The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the main protagonists search for their identities through the context of their daily lives. In correlation with the preceding quotation, in The Awakening, after a vacation opens her eyes to all that she has been missing in her life, she becomes desperate to find herself outside of the mother-woman while in The Handmaid’s Tale, the narrator must decide which parts of her identity she wants to hold on to and who she is in the trying times of the Gileadean society. The two novels demonstrate the journey of these women

    Read More

More about Flashback In The Handmaid's Tale

Open Document