ipl-logo

The Handmaid's Tale Quotes

276 Words2 Pages

Cat Power’s “The Greatest” encompasses many of the themes of powerlessness in The Handmaid’s Tale. If we imagine the song coming from the point of view of Offred, or any handmaid, the song becomes a reflection on Gilead and its effects on the handmaid’s psyche. Offred reflects often on the past and in these reflections the beginning traces of Gilead, warning signs, are present. For example, a woman attempts to steal Offred’s daughter claiming that “the lord told her too” (find actual quote) (Atwood 72). Despite these warning signs Gilead still came as a surprise to Offred, a shock like the “rush of a flood”. Due to this she became hopeless, which is reflected in the line “stars at night turned deep to dust”. The second verse of the song touches

Show More
Related

  • The Handmaid's & Quote Analysis

    170 Words  | 1 Pages

    The princess directed her lover to the lady because of the sincere love that she had toward him. “....and she loved him with an ardor that had enough of barbarism in it to make it exceedingly warm and strong.”  Due to the intense emotion that she had for him, the princess would not wanted to see her lover suffered. “From the moment that the decree had gone forth that her lover should decide his fate in the king's arena, she had thought of nothing, night or day, but this great event and the various subjects connected with it.” We see in this quote that when the lover had been put to jail she couldn’t stop thinking about him.

    Read More

  • The Handmaid's Tale Feminist Analysis

    649 Words  | 3 Pages

    The novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a story about a society set in a future world where women’s rights have been revoked. Many values change with this new regime of controlled women and strict laws. Despite the changes in the world it maintains many conservative, religious beliefs while also containing liberal, feminist beliefs simultaneously. Society in the futuristic world of Gilead is structured heavily off of readings from the Bible and traditional views of gender that have been in place for a long time. An example of the Bible being an important part of society is the idea of the Handmaids came from a passage in the Bible about two women, Rachel and Leah.

    Read More

  • Overreaching Ambition In The Handmaid's Tale

    531 Words  | 3 Pages

    The question provided in the prompt asks how the tale explores the wives “overreaching ambition”- if you could even call it ambition! The Oxford dictionary defines ambition as a strong desire to achieve something, typically requiring lots of determination and hard work. In the tale, the wife becomes the Pope by doing no more than telling her husband to go make her wishes happen. Rather than discussing her overreaching ambition, I will interpret her unquenchable, terrible, greed. Right off the bat, the tale is very dreary and melancholic: “Once upon a time there were a fisherman and his wife who lived together in a filthy shack near the sea”.

    Read More

  • Examples Of Allusions In The Handmaid's Tale

    413 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the novel “The Handmaid’s Tale” by Margaret Atwood, Gilead -the republic in which Offred resides- is a theocracy-a government in which there is no separation between church and state. Religious terminology and references are incorporated into everyday life; everything from the titles of civilians, to the names of the shops they frequent, to the automobiles they drive. This uses of biblical phraseology to describe all things in their society, provides an ever-constant insinuation that those who reign are acting with “God’s” warrant. However like in most theocracies, words get warped and taken out of context and used as justification for vile deeds and characteristics; especially those of the Old Testament. In the novel, many of the biblical quotes have been misrepresented.

    Read More

  • Handmaid's Tale Quotes

    474 Words  | 2 Pages

    The novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood has a great deal of quotes with strong meanings behind them. The quotes in the novel force you think because they apply to how people live their lives in our own society. One quote that I thought applied to some of my own personal experiences was from chapter 30, and it said “ You can’t help what you feel, Moira once said, but you can help how you behave” (192). In this quote the narrator contemplated her feelings toward Nick. She believes that she may like him, but doesn’t think it would be honorable to replace Luke, her husband from before.

    Read More

  • Motifs In The Handmaid's Tale

    1107 Words  | 5 Pages

    Further in the novel, we see Offred’s moral traits become even more compromised by her surroundings. When a black van with an eye painted on it drives by her, Offred’s fears that “there must have been microphones, they’ve heard us after all” (Bronte 169). Living in Gilead has taught her to fear her opinions of the society; those before her who rebelled all ended dead. When the police drag a man to the car and brutalize him, Offred’s first feeling is relief and says “What I feel is relief. It wasn’t me.”

    Read More

  • Examples Of Misogyny In The Handmaid's Tale

    783 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dystopian literature is used to convey somewhat realistic versions of our society that we can connect to. Dystopias are usually futuristic and are used to convey a warning for us to avoid certain scenarios that could affect our future. In Margaret Atwood's, The Handmaid’s Tale she chose to convey exaggerated but real life examples of Misogyny, her novel acts as a social commentary on several issues, and addresses how Patriarchy is used to restrict/control women socially, politically, and economically through the use of labels, the lack of money/ job opportunities, and through dehumanization. In The Handmaid’s Tale labels/names are used as a means of control.

    Read More

  • Freedom In The Handmaids Tale

    934 Words  | 4 Pages

    Information is power only when it is unequally divided between individuals. This is only one of many human rights violated by the regime of Gilead. They closed down every university and prohibited women from reading, nor were they allowed to speak freely. The Handmaids also weren't able to watch the news, tough the news in itself, wasn’t guaranteed to give knowledge since it was unknown how corrupted they were. Some scenes, or even all of them, were played by actors and weren’t currently in existence.

    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

  • Dehumanization In The Handmaid's Tale

    783 Words  | 4 Pages

    “No woman can call herself free who does not control her own body”. When Margaret Sanger spoke these words, she was expressing her belief on a woman’s right to have an abortion. This quote, however, speaks to the fact that women are oppressed on more than just abortions. In the novel, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Atwood portrays the dehumanization of sexuality through both the characters and events within the novel, therefore proving that women will always be considered less than men will. Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario in 1939.

    Read More

  • 1984 And The Handmaid's Tale Essay

    1239 Words  | 5 Pages

    In ‘1984’ and ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, the destruction of the individual is due to a combination of the destruction of independence, language and totalitarian monopolistic control. Complete collectivism, despite separate political beliefs, is presented throughout dictatorial societal jurisdiction as being the predominant way to maintain eternal power. The regimes seek to control individuals and therefore engage in continuing reconnaissance or surveillance of the populace. The mind is the most individual source of power to any person and totalitarianism aims to create complete orthodoxy by controlling and manipulating the mind. Both Orwell in ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’ and Atwood in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ are examples of how dystopian literature presents

    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

  • Imagery In The Handmaid's Tale

    836 Words  | 4 Pages

    In face of severe situation, people often feel relief when they think of happier, simpler times in order to alleviate the severity. In the fiction novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, written by Margaret Atwood, a theocracy government controls every aspect of life in order to produce the best result of its plans. At the beginning of chapter 12, Offred takes a required, but luxurious bath because she can take off the burdensome wings and veils. While she bathes, Offred remembers her daughter from the past and a time with her family. Atwood compares Offred’s past and present through imagery, tone, similes, and symbolism combined with parallel structure to highlight the vulnerability of women to their surroundings.

    Read More

  • Rebellion In The Handmaid's Tale

    801 Words  | 4 Pages

    There are two ways people will react to when their freedom is taken away. They will either accept it or rebel against it, which is what a lot of the female characters in Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale accomplished. Shown through Offred’s repetition of certain events, Moira’s tone of being a fighter, and Serena Joy’s desperation, the reader can see that lack of freedom leads to rebellion. Offred, the novel’s narrator, now lives in a world where women are powerless. She has had her freedom taken away, and at times follows the rules, but ends up rebelling in many powerful ways.

    Read More

  • The Importance Of Freedom In The Handmaid's Tale

    731 Words  | 3 Pages

    Albert Camus once said, “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” In this quotation, Camus brings about an important interpretation of how the way of surviving in a world without freedom is to rebel. Once you are completely free your existence is considered an act of rebellion. In Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, freedom is taken away from both men and women but mostly women. The novel reveals that lack of freedom leads to rebellion and breaking rules as shown through the symbol of the match, the use of flashbacks, and the characterization of men.

    Read More

More about The Handmaid's Tale Quotes

Open Document