Atwood combines the use of literary techniques and form in her novel The Handmaids Tale to effectively display two main thematic concerns – rebellion and the place of an individual. Offreds first evening with the Commander is one in which these two thematic concerns are exceptionally prevalent.
Control, and the need to subjugate individuals is at the heart of dystopian literature and one of the primary effects of constant oppression is the inevitability of rebellion. Gileadean society runs on a strict social hierarchy in which only those at the top are given rights and freedoms such as being able to read and write while others are denied liberties and this inequality will lead to disenfranchisement and resentment. In the first scene with…
The strict hierarchy on which this society is forged is reinforced through the uniforms and colours used to represent different people. The superior Wives are costumed in blue and Handmaids in red – showing constant division and separation and clear delineation of designated roles. Offred demonstrates her understanding of these divisions in her metaphor “We are two legged wombs, that’s all: sacred vessels, ambulatory chalices.” The use of truncated sentences tied together with the collective pronoun, we, and the use of high modality terms such as am and that’s all, allude to the idea of control in Gileadean society and how Offred has been brainwashed to believe that her place in this group of Handmaids and in this society is determined solely on the viability of her ovaries and the fact that she can reproduce is the only thing keeping her in a relatively ‘important’ position in this society. She recognises that she is essentially used for sex; as breeding stock; as a vessel for a baby and nothing else. That is her place in this…
