THE HANDMAID'S TALE by Margaret Atwood (chapters 17 - 21)

Chapter seventeen is so different to chapter sixteen, that it almost takes you aback when Offred returns to her room as if nothing has happened.

The way that Offred uses the butter is yet again something that is completely alien to us; something else that was once strange, but has now become the norm for our narrator, however even though it is completely alien to us, it still shows us how Offred and the other Handmaids are still, to some extent able to think for themselves. They use butter as a substitute moisturiser; 'A trick I learned at the Rachel and Leah school'. Rachel and Leah being the two women from the Bible who have supposedly inspired this society of surrogacy. This clearly displays the fact that Offred isn't the only one who is doing things that she shouldn't be doing.

At the top of page one hundred and eight, she mentions that she's alone in her single bed. This isn't the first time that she has nodded to the fact that she has a single bed, she does this also at the start of chapter twenty three. This could be Offred revealing to us one of the things that she is struggling most to adjust to. If for years she has been sharing a double bed with Luke as we are lead to believe, then it would be very difficult to get used to sleeping alone in a single bed. This could reflect the loneliness that Offred feels, and it also alludes to the notion that romance is never an option in Gilead.

'The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow' is a line from The Night Before Christmas, which is a happy poem about Christmas and the excitement that it is to bring, not only does this contradict the atmosphere of Offred's entire life, but it could also act as a metaphor for what is to come, when she is summoned to meet the commander and it seems as if all her Christmases have come at once; reading, books, magazines, unrestricted speech...

I find it quite strange that all of a sudden, Offred declares her undying craving to steal something, which catches you off guard a little bit. It seems like a bit of an anachronism, you get this long heart felt cry about how she longs to have Luke and to be held and feel something other than oppression, then all of a sudden 'I want to steal something'

However this impulse that she gets unknowingly leads her to Nick who allows her to feel for a short moment how she longed to feel with Luke. It allows us to see that Offred still does have the ability to feel what she thought she had lost forever. Romance is never an option in Gilead however in that slight moment, it appears that although it may not be an option, it does still exist. This is also backed up on page one hundred and twenty three, (chapter nineteen) when she tells us about the initials and dates carved into the desk, in an attempt to create something permanent to show that those concerned would be in love forever. However there were none of these from after nineteen eighty, which gives an indication as to when Gilead first came to be about.

I think the simile of the crystal glass sound that Offred uses to describe herself is really effective, because it allows her to show just for delicate and fragile she is feeling. Something beautiful, yet fragile.

The rest of this chapter; I think, is really interesting because, Offred talks about what she believes about what happen to her beloved Luke after they were separated. This in itself is not unusually, people often talk through what they believe as if they are trying to reinforce it in their own minds, to help the to believe it more, however what IS unusual about this is that Offred talks through three or four different possibilities as to what has happen to Luke and each one is very different to the one before. I find it interesting how she tries to tell us that she believes all three of these. You can believe someone is dead, a prisoner and free all at the same time. It just isn't possible for someone to be all of these things at once.

Towards the end of chapter eighteen, we also start to see something else rather interesting begin to happen. 'In Hope. why did they put that above a dead person? Was it the corpse hoping, or someone still alive? Does Luke hope?'
Firstly, this quote tells us that out of the three possibilities she talked us through in the chapter, the one where Luke is dead is the one she believes the least because she can still talk about Luke as if he is still alive and they are just separated.
Secondly, the reasons that In Hope is put across gravestones is because the people who buried them are hoping that they will go to heaven. So the fact that Offred is wondering what there is to hope about suggests that she has lost any faith that she had before Gilead. The one thing that is supposed to be built around religion is the very thing that has caused her lose her religion.

Atwood has named part eight Birth Day as apposed to Birthday. This is an effective play on words. In Gilead, a birth day is not a celebration of someones birthday but the day that a child is born, and all the handmaids gather to share in the birth and the Commanders wives gather together to celebrate the birth of the commanders wife's child.

I really like the metaphor that Atwood has used for describing Gilead. The cushion that used to be part of a set of three FAITH, HOPE and CHARITY. 'HOPE and CHARITY, where have they been stowed?' out of these three hope and charity have been taken away. Just as there is no hope in Gilead and certainly no charity. This leaves only faith. After all Gilead is built on faith and religion, so if you choose not to accept faith, what else is there left?

The scene with Offred thinking about the chair is also very effective because it raises so many things that have a relevance to Gilead and/or Offred:

• leader of a meeting - chairman - COMMANDER
• mode of execution - electric chair - PEOPLE HAVE BEEN EXECUTED IN GILEAD
• first syllable in charity - ONE THING MISSING FROM GILEAD
• french word for flesh - HANDMAIDS ARE NEED FOR THEIR BODIES - THEIR FLESH

To Offred they are unconnected but to us the reader they are most definitely connected. It also indicates that Offred could well have once been a fairly well educated woman before she became and handmaid.

 While Offred is in the Birthmobile, she tells us a small amount about what the inside looks like, however I get the impression; from the benches and the fact she has to get in the back door, that the Birthmobile is nothing more than a pimped up prison van, used to transport the Handmaids in large numbers. this reflects the idea that Offred is a prisoner in this society and this world.

Chapter twenty is interesting as it really does lay out in front of you, the views of this new world. I think of all the neologisms that Atwood has used throughout the novel so far, the term Unwoman, that we find here is by far the most interesting. Initially I thought it just meant women who were infertile and unable to carry out their purpose in life, however as Aunt Lydia continues on, it becomes clear that it actually encompasses all women who are 'wasting their time'. This points most directly women who have sex with other women, i.e lesbians.

However Aunt Lydia says 'We would have to condone some of their ideas, even today. Only some, mind you'. This shows us that this community of Gilead would agree with some of the things the Unwomen fought for and said, which tells us that these were Lesbian Feminists.

I'm going to move onto chapter twenty one fairly swiftly because I feel that this is a very important chapter in this section of the book.

The colour symbolism in this chapter is really incredible, for the first time we see a handmaid not dressed in red, Janine/Ofwarren who has gone into labour, has been permitted to give birth wearing white. This could symbolize that she is no longer just a handmaid, but she has completed that task that has been set, she has not only gotten pregnant, but she has carried it to full term and is giving birth to it. She has completed her purpose.

The fact that all the handmaids are there and also all the commanders' wives are there, works well to symbolize the idea that they are all one body; one flesh. This is further backed up when Offred describes the labour pains that she and the other Handmaids begin to feel in sympathy with Janine.

I have really enjoyed reading this section of the book and I do believe that the book continues to get better.