https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321 The people doing the discussing: Enrico Addy, Braxton Cash, Abigail Collins, Anna Claypoole en-us 2021-03-02 17:58:49 UTC 2023-03-21 13:37:55 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet.net/icons/png/1f337.png 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1272518617 Imagery in The Handmaid's Tale (Comment observations of imagery as you see them throughout the novel. Reference page numbers, as well)]]> 2021-03-05 05:27:54 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1272518617 1963017116 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1274124489 3. I think the part in Ch2 where the main character is getting dressed shows her place in society specifically: "red shoes, flat-heeled to save the spine and not for dancing... everything except the wings around my face is red: the color of blood, which defines us. The skirt is ankle-length... the white wings too are prescribed issue; they are to keep us from seeing, but also from being seen."]]> 2021-03-05 15:37:32 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1274124489 1964484044 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1275647643 It is true that from the first few chapters of the novel the lines to get crossed and things become very confusing. Albeit, understandably, when depicting a dystopian future you are trying to explain a world outside the normal, so of course that will come with a level of difficulty. Although, from what I can gather the world seems to be heavily involved in a polarizing war where different countries have adopted different customs and regulations due to their extreme separation. In this “world” or country people have been subjected to a class system where a select few are the affluent and more free, while others are lower on the food chain and have to sleep in something reminiscent of barracks. To add to this fact, it seems as though women have been set into a somewhat different set of classes or rules. In that, they must wear face coverings, their speech is restricted, and they must in some respects unless they are allowed the opportunity to marry be a servant of some sort. Therefore, from what I can gather, this dystopian world is reminiscent of a situation in which people would be reduced to their role, follow strict guidelines, and become subservient to the powerful few.]]> 2021-03-05 21:24:06 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1275647643 bradcoltrane2 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1279643859 It's a good idea to keep track of things like imagery as you go... a caveat from IB, though, is that "imagery" is a term that's widely used and poorly understood. Not that you should avoid it, but I suggest you always add an adjective before imagery (ie, violent imagery, colorful imagery, natural, mechanistic, etc...)]]> 2021-03-08 00:02:00 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1279643859 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1282452699 2. the connotations definitely show how people are being dehumanized and focused only on their roles. the handmaids are used just for their fertility, as that is what brings them value. while i don't know a lot about the other roles, i can tell they are definitely going to be treated as a mere object by society, with their humanity neglected. through the connotation, it's evident that some roles are more valuable than others, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out!]]> 2021-03-08 14:59:27 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1282452699 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284694277 2021-03-08 22:06:50 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284694277 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284696192 2021-03-08 22:07:33 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284696192 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284700412 2021-03-08 22:09:11 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284700412 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284704212 2021-03-08 22:10:41 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284704212 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284705969 2021-03-08 22:11:23 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284705969 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284711947 I can't remember the specific page number, but I feel that colors play an interesting role in this novel. Specifically, I'm intrigued as to how red is portrayed. For the handmaids, it is the color they wear-- and they are very chaste individuals. However, when they talk about the tourists, their red lipstick is described as something promiscuous. ]]> 2021-03-08 22:13:28 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1284711947 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285188341 2021-03-09 01:24:27 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285188341 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285190615 "I wait, washed,
brushed, fed, like a prize
pig." (Atwood 78).]]> 2021-03-09 01:25:12 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285190615 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285205493 2021-03-09 01:29:45 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285205493 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285207991 The deep contrast between past and present narrator demonstrate that she lived through the time when things changed. Knowledgeable of both worlds, she is often ashamed of her past: "Did I really wear bathing suits, at the beach? I did, without thought, among men, without caring that my legs, my arms, my thighs and back were on display, could be seen. Shameful, immodest" (Atwood 72). Despite the shame she holds for her past, I believe the past narrator was much happier because she was free and not objectified. The present narrator is isolated and confined to her role as a mere body, which destroys her from within. ]]> 2021-03-09 01:30:31 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285207991 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285230901 The instance in which Janine was blamed for a gang rape that happened when she was fourteen was particularly jarring (Atwood 81). It's insane how all women are conditioned to blame the victim, including Janine herself. Though, considering this novel was written in 1985, I wonder if Atwood had a special intention to include victim-blaming. This was before the rise of the #MeToo movement and other forms of awareness for survivors, so maybe the author was trying to take a stand on the current culture surrounding sexual assault. ]]> 2021-03-09 01:38:02 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285230901 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285244789 2021-03-09 01:42:26 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1285244789 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1295045215 2021-03-10 20:21:00 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1295045215 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1295096175 This passage means 'Don't let the bastards grind you down.' The person who wrote this likely felt the same way as the narrator... trapped in a life she did not want yet desperately searching for hope. Interestingly, the narrator uses it as a prayer, not knowing what it meant. Atwood's use of irony here both demonstrates how 'in the dark' women were and gives the narrator a loaded rallying call to get herself through the days ahead. ]]> 2021-03-10 20:34:22 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1295096175 1964484044 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1304861758 What is in a name? the main character references her old name a lot when she talks about Luke and her now non-existent life. When speaking about her original name she takes much time and gives much weight to her name; therefore, in this story, as well as in general what is the significance of a name if it is nothing more than simply a word?]]> 2021-03-13 04:43:28 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1304861758 1964484044 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1304863929 In the beginnings of chapter 17 after the very odd scene where she, is for a lack of better words, stripped of her humanity, and treated as a sex object or a means to an end rather than a being we are provided with an interesting peer into what she as a woman wants, with reference to the significance of a name: "I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable. I repeat my former name, remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me" (Atwood 97). A name offers a certain individuality, in that, in society we classify things to give them importance and significance in language. Yet, through such classification, especially for names, identity is built that encompasses everything from how you are seen by others to how you see yourself. Thus, it can be extrapolated that she feels as though she had no identity, and she effectively feels hollow, like a shell of the person she used to be because she is no longer known by her name]]> 2021-03-13 04:45:53 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1304863929 1964484044 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1304872194 Throughout the story the observer finds themselves having to wrestle with keeping track of timelines and what character belongs to which. Such as, in the middle of the main body of text when the Commander and familial unit is praying Atwood jots off to another time, in anecdotal form, and then comes back where the anecdote left off as if time kept flowing. All of which is happening in the main characters head. Therefore, it could either be a metaphorical reference to the true chaos found in their seemingly ordered time or the fact that she can now only 'live' and be free to move from place to place, memory to memory, in her mind because she lives in a world where she has been reduced to a vessel or tool devoid of such abilities of freedom.]]> 2021-03-13 04:56:04 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1304872194 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1308220583 Good point! The significance of names reminds me of Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Though a name feels like a mere form of identification, it really demonstrates that we are our own people. The fact that Maya's name was derived from a possessive pronoun shows that she was just an object to the people around her. The narrator getting a new name, being forced to dress like all the other handmaids, and being confined to her role as an object shows how she was unable to be her own person, as well. ]]> 2021-03-14 22:29:29 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1308220583 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1308225388 A cool tidbit: Atwood subtly reveals the narrator's name by planting a clue within the first chapter! The last line reads, "In this way, we exchanged names from bed to bed: Alma. Janine. Dolores. Moira. June." (4). 

I don't want to spoil anything, but 4 of these girls are referred to by name throughout the novel as the narrator interacts with them. The one she does not interact with is her! ]]> 2021-03-14 22:33:27 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1308225388 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1308229999 2021-03-14 22:37:18 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1308229999 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1308231696 2021-03-14 22:38:50 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1308231696 1963181844 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1310907118 Although you make a really good point here, I think that it is not exactly right to state that Offred's character is hollow, as a big character trait often repeated in her own prose is the hidden nature of her thoughts. Things she owns are hidden, such as the "pat of butter in [her] right shoe" (Atwood 84-5), and her desires are hidden, as stated through her rejection of possessive pronouns in the beginning: "The door of my room - not my room, I refuse to say my - is not locked" (Atwood 8). All of this is to say that while your extrapolation may be fair based off of the societal context of a name, it contradicts the hidden nature of Offred's thoughts and actions.]]> 2021-03-15 14:24:55 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1310907118 1964484044 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1382317652 2021-04-05 07:10:17 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1382317652 1964484044 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1382328460 An example of such a coping mechanism is what she has to do for herself concerning the unknown condition of her post-separation in their new totalitarian world. She cycles through three large possibilities, for which she wholly believes in all three simultaneously: Luke could be alive, he could be in jail, or he could be dead. The coping agent of this otherwise stressful seeming juggle of beliefs is that it keeps his memory of him alive in her, and thus she is able to keep the memory of who she used to be when she was with him alive as well. The reason she would want to do this is that it was a time in which she enjoyed many more freedoms than she has access to now, as well as having an identity to call her own. Therefore, by keeping a significant piece of her past such as her significant other alive in such an interesting way in her mind she is able to secure the remnants of past identity and freedom that she no longer possesses. ]]> 2021-04-05 07:17:08 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1382328460 1964484044 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1382345270 2021-04-05 07:27:42 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1382345270 1964484044 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1382364656 Through her many visits with the Commander, Offred begins to question why he is doing what he is doing, allowing her these freedoms that were previously so forbidden to her. As she began to dissect this idea she began to realize that in a way gave him some sort of validation as a patriarch, to help, what he seems to have seen, as a helpless woman, in addition to the opportunity of affording himself an inkling of intimacy that might not have been available to him through Joy, at the detrimental possible expense of our protagonist. As these realizations are made he begins to be described as more cruel, ugly, and worn-down looking than what was previously perceived of him.
Comparatively, as she becomes more familiar with Serena Joy and is able to observe her in all her aspects, as a Wife in the company of other Wives, as the woman of the house, as a desiring woman without child, etc. As this goes on the observer gets these very different scenes with Serena showing acceptance, tolerance, and true decency in relation to Offred as has never been seen before when she was depicted as a spiteful, demanding, overbearing woman in the early chapters. Such scenes are those such as the the occurrence in the lawn between her and our protagonist where she talked with her sincerely, allowed her to speak, and even, if I am not mistaken, offered her a picture of her daughter. Although this transaction has its own hidden motives, the single fact that it occurred in this manner is enough to exhibit some type of change in her overall disposition.  
Albeit, I have not yet explored the full possible significance of these occurrences, but, I am fully open to input.]]> 2021-04-05 07:39:13 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1382364656 1963008852 https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1384462430 I think another coping mechanism Offred uses is distraction. She will try not to think about what happened to Luke or her daughter, when it may be better for herself to acknowledge that it's likely that they died. ]]> 2021-04-05 19:18:08 UTC https://padlet.com/1963017116/thtdis321/wish/1384462430