Handmaid’s Tale Ch. 25-34: “Soul Scrolls” = Allusion to the Dead Sea Scrolls / J. Fishbein
Chapter 25
1. Notice the flower imagery on p. 153. How are the tulips like teeth?
(Vagina dentata is Latin for toothed vagina. Various cultures have folk tales about women with toothed vaginas, frequently told as cautionary tales warning of the dangers of sex with strange women and to discourage the act of rape. The concept is also of importance in classical Freudian psychoanalysis, where it is held to relate to the unconscious fears associated with castration anxiety. Pablo Picasso paints images of women who have open mouths that look like the vagina dentata.)
2. What might Serena Joy’s snipping of the seedpods represent symbolically? How does the cutting of the seedpods actually help the flower? P. 153
3. Why does Offred covet Serena Joy's shears?
4. The irises are in bloom. What are these flowers compared to metaphorically?
5. How do the blooming flowers make Offred feel? p. 153 – 154 How is the air personified? What does she mean when she says metaphorically that she’s “a melon on a stem, this liquid ripeness?” Why does she drop the pass at the checkpoint? In the old days, she would have dropped a handkerchief. Why does she wish it were winter?
6. How does the Commander view the model in the Vogue magazine? (Simile) p. 156
7. Offred used to take reading women’s magazines for granted. They were dispensable. Now she realizes what the allure of reading those magazines was. What was it? P. 157 top
8. What does Offred mean when she says: “That’s what I was there for, then. The same old thing. It was too banal to be true.” P. 158 (Banal = lacking in originality as to be obvious and boring.Clichéd.)
9. What are the Handmaids’ rooms searched for? P. 159
Ch. 26
10. What shift takes place in the relationship between the Commander and Offred? How is the sexual act no longer merely an act of “fertilization’? What risky action does The Commander engage in during the ceremony? P. 160 – 161
11. Does she feel guilty for enjoying spending time with the Commander?
12. How does Offred now feel toward Serena Joy? P. 161-162 (3 emotions). Explain.
13. Why is Offred happier than before? P. 163
Ch. 27
New Testament Allusions: “Daily Bread” is perhaps the best-known prayer in Christianity. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven.Give us this day our daily bread.And forgive us our trespasses,as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation;but deliver us from evil. [For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,for ever and ever.]Amen. “Loaves and Fishes” refers to a miracle story told in the Gospels (see Mark 6:34-44). 'Bring them here to me,' he said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people" (Matthew 14:18-19). Somewhere, between the time that Jesus received the food and the time that he handed it back to the disciples to feed the people, the meal had multiplied. "They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children" (Matthew 14:20-21).
Religious Allusion: The Soul Scroll machines are most obviously like Tibetan prayer wheels, which are turned to activate the prayers inside them; but they are also reminiscent to the old Catholic practice of paying priests to say prayers for the repose of the dead.
14. What kind of fish is available to eat? Where does it come from? What happened to the sole, haddock, swordfish, scallops, salmon, etc.? p. 164
15. How are Offred and Ofglen each like “a rat in a maze”? p. 165
16. Allusion. What are the “searchlights” and “barbed wire” reminiscent of ? p. 165
17. Why would Offred prefer to see hanging bodies than none at all? P. 166 What simile is used?
18. What shift occurs between Offred and Ofglen? Ofglen has 2 conflicting inward reactions to the shift. What are they p. 168-69? What does Ofglen mean when she says: “You can join us.”
p.166 The Wall Seems to be near Harvard University: “ I can remember where the buildings are, inside the Wall; we used to be able to walk freely there, when it was a university. "I can remember where the buildings are, inside the Wall; we used to be able to walk freely there, when it was a university[....] Most of the buildings are red brick too; some have arched doorways, a Romanesque effect, from the nineteenth century."
19. Why does no one “bathe in it [the sun] anymore?” p. 169
20. When Offred and Ofglen are walking away from the wall what do they witness? What’s Offred’s reaction? What’s your opinion of her reaction? P. 169 -170
FLASHBACK:
Ch. 28
21. p. 172 “I said there was more than one way of living with your head in the sand and that if Moira thought she could create Utopia by shutting herself up in a women-only enclave she was sadly mistaken. Men were not just going to go away, I said. You couldn’t just ignore them.” What’s ironic about this statement? How does Moira view Offred’s relationship with Luke? P.171
Luke’s name: New Testament Allusion: The name Luke the Evangelist (AncientGreek: Λουκᾶς, Loukas) was an Early Christian writer who the Church Fathers such as Jerome and Eusebius said was the author of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. The Roman Catholic Church venerates him as Saint Luke, patron saint of artists, physicians, surgeons, students, butchers; his feast day is 18 October.
22. What does the single word sentence “Is” refer to at the top of page refer to? Is this one-word-sentence effective? Explain. P. 173
23. Pun = play on words. Offred plays on the word “job.” What different meanings does the word have? Notice the biblical allusion to the Book of Job. P. 173 In the book of Job, Satan tests the righteous Job by depriving him of his wealth and causing his children to die. Job's friends--Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar--insist that his suffering is a result of his sins. Job protests, claiming that he is innocent of any wrongdoing. In the end, God speaks through a whirlwind, rebuking the friends for their response to Job's suffering, and rebuking Job by citing his lack of divine credentials. God chastises Job for questioning the ways of God, given that he knows little about how the world works. Job's wealth is then restored, and he is blessed with more children. This, however, is a bare summary of a 42-chapter book that is anything but simple and straightforward. The book of Job seems to reject the traditional Jewish take on suffering--the response proposed by Job's friends--but the ultimate message of the book is a matter of great debate. Reprinted with permission from Jewish People, Jewish Thought, published by Prentice Hall. The main feature of the book of Job is intense suffering.
24. What did Offred do for a living? "Discothèques" nightclubs with recorded rather than live music originated in France. The name was soon abbreviated to "disco." How does Offred play/pun on the concept of the Discothèque/Disco? P. 173
25. Another shift: What signs are there that a coup d'état (sudden overthrow of the government by a small group) has occurred? P. 174-77 (Find at least 4). How do the citizens react to these shifts? What is your opinion of their reaction? If you were in their place, what might you have done? How are the leaders able to take control?
The law prohibiting the ownership of property by women reinstates the law as it stood in the 19th century and earlier. Many of the extreme aspects of Giladean culture have actually existed in the past.
26. How does Moira react to the coup? 178
27. How does Offred react when she loses her job? How does her boss appear when he fires his employers? P. 176 Who was standing outside the office when the boss made the announcement? Bottom p. 179
28. Offred calls her mom tell her what happened. Where do we discover Offred and her mother live? Top of p. 178 We find out Offred’s mom lives in “Boston.”
29. How does Moira react to Offred’s job loss? What is Moira’s plan? P. 179
30. In the passage which begins "Remembering this, I remember also my mother," note how anti-porn and abortion riots are blended together, though her mother must have been against porn and for abortion. Her opponents in the abortion demonstrations must have been her allies in the anti-porn demonstrations. Why did Offred find her mother embarrassing when she was an adolescent? How has her attitude changed now? P. 180-181
31. Another shift: How does the relationship dynamic or balance of power change between Offred and Luke as soon as she loses her job and all rights to access her money? How does she feel about this shift? What simile does she use to describe it? Why isn’t she in the mood to make love? Why does she think Luke is? P. 182
Ch. 29
32. How does Offred feel while the Commander watches her read? P. 184
33. What metaphor does Offred use to describe the interaction between herself and the commander in this chapter? P. 185
34. How do we know Offred suffers from "Pen Is Envy" syndrome? (“Pen is envy” = a pun on Freud's "penis envy," the notion that neurotic women wish they too had a penis.) p.186 Why did Aunt Lydia warn women to stay away from pens?
35. What does the expression “The pen is mightier than the sword” coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton mean? Is the pen mightier than sword? (Sword is also a phallic symbol, fyi).
36. p. 186-187 When Offred discovers the meaning of “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum,” she thinks: “I have not been the first then. To enter his silence, play children’s word games with him.” What happened to the last handmaid? When the Commander says of the previous Handmaid "Serena found out," what does this mean? Why does Offred think to herself, “If your dog dies, get another?” What’s interesting about the word choice in this thought? P.187
37. Artistic Allusion: In the Latin book the commander opens there’s a picture called The Sabine Women. The subject of the Sabine women has been depicted by several artists throughout the centuries. The subject of the painting is actually The Rape of the Sabine Women. Read about this allusion and explain why it is apropos to the women of Gilead.
Today it is common for a husband to carry his new bride across the threshold of their new home the first time they enter it. Few know the origin of this tradition. According to Roman Legend Romulus and Remis built a city. A fight between the brothers left Remis dead and Rome was named after its surviving founder. Rome found itself full of strong brave men but few women to assure its survival. Romulus petitioned the surrounding tribes for rights to intermarry. Despite great effort the Roman requests were all met with stern declination. Romulus decided that if the neighboring towns would not share their women, Rome would take them. The Romans hid their dismay and sent out word that they would hold the grandest festival and greatest games in a celebration, to honor 'Equestrian Neptune'. Excited at the prospect of such a festival and curious to get a glimpse of the new city, the surrounding tribes flocked to Rome.
38. What does Offred discover is the real reason the Commmander wants to spend time with her? P. 188
39. How does Offred figure out that Cora must have been the one to find the previous handmaid?
40. Offred discovers what she has on the Commander. What she “have on him”? p 188
The Handmaid’s Tale Ch. 30-34
Literary Allusion: Night by Elie Wiesel
Many of the sections in the book are called “Night.”
Opening of the section – 2 word sentence – “Night falls.”
Chapter 30 begins:
“Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like the dawn? Yet if you look east, at sunset, you can see night rising, not falling; darkness lifting into the sky, up from the horizon, like a black sun behind cloud cover. Like smoke from an unseen fire, a line of fire just below the horizon, brushfire or a burning city. Maybe night falls because it's heavy, a thick curtain pulled up over the eyes. Wool blanket. I wish I could see in the dark, better than I do.”
Allusions to Night by Elie Wiesel: As I read the paragraph above, I am reminded of Elie Wiesel’s memoir of his Holocaust experiences entitled Night. Night falls at critical moments in his recounting of Holocaust atrocities. The next books in his trilogy are entitled Dawn and Day.
1. What does “night” represent in this book?
2. “The spill of darkness under the willow (191).” “The snuffing out of love” (193). Are these allusions to Shakespeare’s Othello fitting in terms of the incident with Luke and the cat? How are they similar? How are they different?
· Spill of darkness = metaphor
· Literary Allusion: Shakespeare’s Othello
· “willow,” “darkness,” and snuffing out = allusions to Shakespeare’s Othello:
· Right before Othello murders his wife Desdemona , she sings a song about a willow tree.
· She finishes singing in the bath and then Othello enters on a mission to “put out the light” – kill her/snuff out her light/her life/her soul.