Margaret Atwood use of Language and Narrative Technique...

From the outset of The Handmaids Tale the reader is placed in an unknown world, where the rights and freedom of women have been taken away. We follow the narrative journey of a handmaid, named Offred. Throughout the first 15 Chapters we are provided with information, as narrated by Offred, with glimpses of her past life and her journey to the life she is now facing. These glimpses are not logical in their sequencing or chronological in the narration, therefore creating a feeling of disorientation among readers, a feeling matching that experienced by those living in this society. This also provokes many questions in the reader’s mind along with creating tension and expectation as to the nature of the procreation which we have come to†¦show more content†¦This is the first hint suggesting the state justifies the procedure of procreation with a biblical reference, Genesis 30:1, â€Å"Give me children, or else I die. Then we also have the religious service prior to the Ceremony, with the biblical reference to Genesis 30:1-3 whereby Rachel is unable to have children and therefore commands Jacob to impregnate her maid who will then give them the child. The role of the Handmaid within this society is to bear a child for barren wives but there is no suggestion, in The Bible, of Rachel being present at the time of the conception between Jacob and her maid unlike the grotesque threesome prescribed by the founders of Gilead, known as the Ceremony. The Ceremony - the use of a proper noun used for this act connotes a sense of importance and status, with the meaning of the noun ‘Ceremony’ giving the reader the impression of it being a positive, meaningful and joyous occasion. This in turn along with the information previously provided to the reader within the first 15 chapters greatly ensures we are more shocked when we are provided with a graphic account of what actually happens during â€Å"The Ceremonyâ€Å". There are links in the description of the room by Offred to what is going on with Atwoods use of literary devices, such as the white carpet representing purity and the sprigged curtains and skirted dressing table being a representative ofShow MoreRelatedHow Does Margaret Atwood Establish and Develop a Dystopian Narrative in Her Novel ‚Äà ²the Handmaid‚Äà ´s Tale‚Äà ´?2152 Words   |  9 PagesThroughout Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded state is created through the use of multiple themes and narrative techniques. In a dystopia, we can usually find a society that has become all kinds of wrong, in direct contrast to a utopia, or a perfect society. Like many totalitarian states, the Republic of Gilead starts out as an envisioned utopia by a select few: a remade world