The handmaid's tale and Margaret Atwood

Correction:

 Inner exploration in The Handmaid’s Tale

CHAPTER 2: WHAT GILEAD TAUGHT US

1. a. Before: an instrument, of pleasure, a means of transportation, an implement, lithe, single, solid, one with me
Now: Treacherous ground, the earth, sloughed-off matter, swellings and diminishing of tissue, the drooling of the flesh, failure, am a cloud, congealed around a central object, empty

b. Now, her body has become a dangerous ground to be sounded to check the future while it used to be an element of happiness, independence and pleasure. She has lost her body in a way since it has become something to be feared rather than something to be enjoyed.
c. Every month, the period / blood is synonymous with failure as it means she’s failed to get pregnant though she’s supposed to bear a child for her master. This makes her not only miserable but also frightened as she fears being deported for being unable to give him a child.

d. Her body is now used to “fulfil the expectations of others” and no longer is “one with me”, which sheds light on her loss of control over her own body.

Her womb is compared to a “swamp, fenland” then to a pear and finally to the sky. These 3 metaphors not only render the matter and shape of her womb, but they also refer to common belief associated with this part of her body. Furthermore, they bring a poetic touch which is a means to «elevate» her and show how sacred this place is. This also is a means to not shock the readers with too realistic depictions.

2. Pear: Child + virgin
Moon: woman’s cycle (+ influence of the moon on tides / periods)
Wave: tidal movement of the sea reminiscent of the tidal cycle of women’s period

Sky: infinity and God’s place, sacred
=> Chosen on purpose as they all refer to the cycle, womb + the narrator’s mission

Women and their bodies

The narrator explicitly associates her womb and menstrual cycle with the moon, and even tides: “I listen to my heart, wave upon wave, salty and red, continuing on and on”. She experiences changeability in her body: “swell, sparkle, burst and shrivel”. She has been reduced to the traditional role of a woman: to have babies.

3. Check your understanding

a. The narrator’s purpose is to.... get pregnant and bear a child.
b. Her menstruation means... failure to achieve her goal and a bleak future.
c. Her body no longer is... an instrument of pleasure.
d. In this passage, her womb is turned into a landscape where... the sky, the moon and the waves symbolise the monthly cycle and perpetual renewal / eternity.

a. In the woods, with dead branches and rocks scattered on the floor, it must be in autumn, a cold day. Emptiness and loneliness pervade the place.
b. The sense of smell, sight and hearing are mostly appealed to. It helps us get into the narrator’s shoes and experience what she has been through.

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