...IB LA HL Allee Devault Handmaids Tale Imagery Essay December 8, 2011 Imagery and how it relates to characters inner feelings in Margret Atwood’s Handmaids Tale The use of imagery is a staple in every novel; it gives a much needed visual connection with the themes stated in the novel. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood demonstrates the use of imagery to further solidify the reader’s comprehension of the tense relationship between the characters, Serena Joy and Offred. On page 153, Atwood describes a scene in which, Offred is coming back from the market, and comes upon Serena Joy working in her garden. As we know from previous dialogue in the book, Offred and Serena Joy do not have a very good relationship, (i.e. Serena Joy doesn’t speak to Offred unless she absolutely has to). In this scene, Atwood isolates the image of Serena Joy’s garden, using the type of flowers in the garden and their colors to express how the problematic aspects of the society affect the relationship between Serena Joy and Offred. Atwood states that there are many flowers in Serena Joy’s garden, yet the only flower she mentions by name is the Iris. Irises in many of cultures are viewed as symbols of messages from God, faith, hope, and bravery. In the society of Gilead, religion is the basis of existence. The idea that irises in some cultures are viewed as messages of God, the placement of the flower in Serena Joy’s garden represents how the relationship between...
Words: 1057 - Pages: 5
...rest of the novel? In Margaret Atwood’s novel ‘The Handmaids Tale ‘women are objectified and live under an oppressive regime. In this essay I will be exploring Atwood’s presentation of women and women’s purpose in society. In ‘The Handmaids Tale ‘phallic imagery is used to distinguish women’s position in society. “The commander’s wife directs, pointing with her stick.” Serena Joy’s stick can be seen as phallic imagery; throughout the novel phallic imagery is used to represent the hierarchy amongst the women. At the red centre the aunts carried cattle prods and this solidified their superiority. Serena Joy also carries a stick and this can be seen as the transition of power from the aunts to Serena Joy, the aunts previously had control over Offred however now Offred is Serena Joy’s handmaid the power over her has been bestowed upon Serena Joy. Atwood also presents Serena Joy as ‘The commanders wife ‘, by not calling Serena Joy by her name we are able to understand how powerless women are in the Gilead regime as they are not referred to by their own name but by their husbands title. This then suggests that women are nothing without their husbands and their only duty is to be wives. In Simone de Beauvoir’s novel ‘ The second sex ‘ she focuses on the concept of ‘ the other ‘ , this concept refers to the treatment of women as the ‘ other ‘ in relation to men. I believe this concept is very prominent in ‘The Handmaids Tale ‘as women are treated as ‘the other ‘and live in a clearly...
Words: 772 - Pages: 4
...Atwood’s Look into the Future Margaret Atwood used The Handmaid’s Tale to depict the possible future of the United States. Atwood takes current societal, economical, political, environmental and gender-related issues and uses them to create a possible future that is just as oppressive as the country’s past, leaving the reader to contemplate what they can do as a human being to protect this earth, and/or society from becoming a country “established by religious fanatics who have dismantled the republic, liquidated the opposition and replaced out present political system with a quasi-military infrastructure,” (Kendall 149). Atwood brings up such issues as money, a predominantly male government, the environment, and the value of a woman’s body throughout the text in an effort to bring to light some of the typical controversies of present time. “Yet the book just does not tell me what there is in our present mores that I ought to watch out for unless I want the United States of America to become a slave state something like the Republic of Gilead whose outlines are here sketched out,” (McCarthy 150). Atwood makes her warnings clear through the Tale she has written. Atwood uses a common middle class woman, in an effort to sympathize with the majority of women in the United States, also known as Offred, to paint the picture of the futuristic, or dare I say historical, times. “[Offred] is simply a warm, intelligent, ordinary woman who had taken for granted the freedoms she...
Words: 2487 - Pages: 10
...Study Guides and Literature Essays Editing Services College Application Essays Writing Help Q & A Lesson Plans Home : The Handmaid's Tale : Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of V: Nap - VI: Household The Handmaid's Tale Summary and Analysis by Margaret Atwood Buy PDFBuy Paperback V: Nap - VI: Household Summary This section begins with Offred simply sitting alone, waiting. She had not been prepared for all this stillness, all of this boredom. She thinks about experiments they used to do on animals, how they would give them something to distract them. She wishes she had something to distract her. She lies down on the floor and begins to do her exercises, tilting her pelvis back. She remembers how at the training center they had rest time every day from three to four. Now she thinks it was practice for all of the waiting. She remembers how Moira showed up, after she'd been there for about three weeks. They couldn't talk for a few days, but finally during a walk they were able to plan a meeting in the washroom. The first time was during Testifying, which Aunt Helena came for specially. That day, Janine was talking about how she was gang raped when she was fourteen and had to get an abortion, and the other women respond as they have learned to, chanting that it was her fault. Despite the surroundings, Offred was extremely happy to see Moira. Now Offred thinks about her body. She used to see it as an instrument of her will, but now she sees it only as a container...
Words: 2109 - Pages: 9
...‘Dystopian fiction is less about the powerful and more about the powerless’ To what extent is this true in The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984? Dystopian fiction usually revolves over a power struggle between an oppressor and the oppressed, alternatively this can be given the label of powerful and powerless. However, the exposure given to one of these groups is often inclined to be imbalanced. For example, The Giver by Lois Lowry has biased exposure towards the powerless due to the simple fact of the third person limited narrator perspective from Jonas, a member of the aforementioned sector of respective society. This is similar to the 1984 narrator where Winston is never truly aware of what goes on when he wasn’t physically present. But, it could be for this exact reason that in 1984 the dystopian genre inclines towards the powerful, highlighting the hold over the powerless. Contrary to this, The Handmaid's Tale (THT) has blurred lines as to whether the dystopian fiction prevalent in the novels are more or less about the powerful. This is majorly due to conflicting plotlines and enigmatic characters, significant in both of the books. For example, the character of Nick could be characterized for the powerful and powerless. Nick behaves with Offred in a manner which confuses the reader about his loyalties. Ultimately, this essay will aim to prove an option that is a fusion between the two rivals of dystopian fiction offering the complex concept of the powerful powerless. The powerful...
Words: 2380 - Pages: 10
...closely on your chosen area (i.e. essay title) * thinking carefully about how you’ll construct a clear ‘argument’ * selecting the most relevant chapters/poems to help your argument * looking closely within them for the most relevant images/descriptions/techniques * explaining clearly how they fit into your argument * tying your argument together by linking your points and examples – voila! The first two steps have been done for you today! This is the extract that the exam board used for their examples, from E.M. Forster’s Room With a View. It is a description of Lucy’s arrival in Florence, and her first impressions of the hotel she will stay in, the Pension Bertolini. Try to take note of the development that takes place, from the band 1 response up to band 5. “And a cockney, besides!” said Lucy, who had been further saddened by the Signora’s unexpected accent. “It might be London.” She looked at the two rows of English people who were sitting at the table; at the row of white bottles of water and red bottles of wine that ran between the English people; at the portraits of the late Queen and the late Poet Laureate that hung behind the English people, heavily framed; at the notice of the English church (Rev. Cuthbert Eager, M.A. Oxon.), that was the only other decoration of the wall. “Charlotte, don’t you feel that we might be in London?” * What can you tell Lucy’s response? How might this be used in an essay response? What kind of close analysis...
Words: 510 - Pages: 3
...David Miller Professor Johnson 2/22/13 ENGH 201-009 A Handmaids Tale- page 39-40 In this passage, Atwood explains how Offred is sitting in her room (as per usual) and thinking about her former life. Offred explains that she has forgotten a large portion of time, which she believes to be faulted by the government. It is also explained that the authorities had forced her to either take a pill, or have some sort of injection, which acted as a catalyst for her not remembering certain portions of her life. In her state of reminiscing about all these memories, Offred is reminded when the authorities told her that she was unfit to look after her daughter. As this shocked Offred with a numb feeling of failure, Offred also remembers the authorities showing her a picture of her daughter wearing a white dress, holding the hand of a strange woman. As Offred recounts these memories, she imagines that she is telling her story to someone, telling that “someone” things that cannot be written down because writing is forbidden in this authoritarian society. I believe that Atwood uses this passage because she is trying to have us as readers be made aware that Offred is a prisoner of her own memories. In fact, often in this novel, the reader see’s Offred drift off in her room and drown herself in these states of reminiscing about certain memories as well as dreaming about how life could and should be. Offred longs and yearns to tell a story and explains that someone else is hearing the...
Words: 770 - Pages: 4
...Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 i RTNA01 1 13/6/05, 5:28 PM READING THE NOVEL General Editor: Daniel R. Schwarz The aim of this series is to provide practical introductions to reading the novel in both the British and Irish, and the American traditions. Published Reading the Modern British and Irish Novel 1890–1930 Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Daniel R. Schwarz Brian W. Shaffer Forthcoming Reading the Eighteenth-Century Novel Paula R. Backscheider Reading the Nineteenth-Century Novel Harry E. Shaw and Alison Case Reading the American Novel 1780–1865 Shirley Samuels Reading the American Novel 1865–1914 G. R. Thompson Reading the Twentieth-Century American Novel James Phelan ii RTNA01 2 13/6/05, 5:28 PM Reading the Novel in English 1950–2000 Brian W. Shaffer iii RTNA01 3 13/6/05, 5:28 PM © 2006 by Brian W. Shaffer BLACKWELL PUBLISHING 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5020, USA 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton, Victoria 3053, Australia The right of Brian W. Shaffer to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and...
Words: 123617 - Pages: 495
...i FOREWORD ______________________________________________________________________________iii Of the Beginning of Days ____________________________________________________________________ 12 Of Aulë and Yavanna _______________________________________________________________________ 17 Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor____________________________________________ 19 Of Thingol and Melian ______________________________________________________________________ 24 Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië _______________________________________________________ 25 Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor________________________________________________________ 28 Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor ____________________________________________________ 30 Of the Darkening of Valinor__________________________________________________________________ 33 Of the Flight of the Noldor ___________________________________________________________________ 35 Of the Sindar______________________________________________________________________________ 42 Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor __________________________________________________ 45 Of Men __________________________________________________________________________________ 49 Of the Return of the Noldor __________________________________________________________________ 50 Of Beleriand and Its Realms__________________________________________________________________ 56 Of the Noldor in Beleriand...
Words: 156001 - Pages: 625
...I DO NOT OWN THIS FOREWORD ______________________________________________________________________________iii Of the Beginning of Days ____________________________________________________________________ 12 Of Aulë and Yavanna _______________________________________________________________________ 17 Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor____________________________________________ 19 Of Thingol and Melian ______________________________________________________________________ 24 Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië _______________________________________________________ 25 Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor________________________________________________________ 28 Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor ____________________________________________________ 30 Of the Darkening of Valinor__________________________________________________________________ 33 Of the Flight of the Noldor ___________________________________________________________________ 35 Of the Sindar______________________________________________________________________________ 42 Of the Sun and Moon and the Hiding of Valinor __________________________________________________ 45 Of Men __________________________________________________________________________________ 49 Of the Return of the Noldor __________________________________________________________________ 50 Of Beleriand and Its Realms__________________________________________________________________ 56 Of the Noldor in...
Words: 156005 - Pages: 625
...книг выложен группой vk.com/create_your_english The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ivanhoe, by Walter Scott This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Ivanhoe A Romance Author: Walter Scott Release Date: June 25, 2008 [EBook #82] Last Updated: November 6, 2012 Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IVANHOE *** Produced by John P. Roberts, Jr. and David Widger IVANHOE книг выложен группой vk.com/create_your_english A ROMANCE книг выложен группой vk.com/create_your_english By Sir Walter Scott Now fitted the halter, now traversed the cart, And often took leave,—but seemed loath to depart! 1 —Prior. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION TO IVANHOE. DEDICATORY EPISTLE IVANHOE. CHAPTER I CHAPTER II CHAPTER III CHAPTER IV CHAPTER V CHAPTER VI CHAPTER VII CHAPTER VIII CHAPTER IX CHAPTER X CHAPTER XI CHAPTER XII CHAPTER XIII CHAPTER XIV CHAPTER XV CHAPTER XVI CHAPTER XVII CHAPTER XVIII CHAPTER XIX CHAPTER XX CHAPTER XXI CHAPTER XXII CHAPTER XXIII CHAPTER XXIV CHAPTER XXV CHAPTER XXVI CHAPTER XXVII CHAPTER XXVIII CHAPTER XXIX CHAPTER XXX CHAPTER XXXI CHAPTER XXXII. CHAPTER XXXIII CHAPTER XXXIV CHAPTER XXXV CHAPTER XXXVI CHAPTER XXXVII CHAPTER XXXVIII CHAPTER XXXIX CHAPTER XL CHAPTER XLI ...
Words: 198251 - Pages: 794
...University, Electronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Faculty Editor, Hazleton, PA 18202-1291 is a Portable Document File produced as part of an ongoing student publication project to bring classical works of literature, in English, to free and easy access of those wishing to make use of them. Cover Design: Jim Manis Copyright © 2003 - 2012 The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity university. Charlotte Brontë Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë PREFA PREFACE A PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION of Jane Eyre being unnecessary, I gave none: this second edition demands a few words both of acknowledgment and miscellaneous remark. My thanks are due in three quarters. To the Public, for the indulgent ear it has inclined to a plain tale with few pretensions. To the Press, for the fair field its honest suffrage has opened to an obscure aspirant. To my Publishers, for the aid their tact, their energy, their practical sense and frank liberality have afforded an unknown and unrecommended Author. The Press and the Public are but vague personifications for 3 me, and I must thank them in vague terms; but my Publishers are definite: so are certain generous critics who have encouraged me as only...
Words: 189679 - Pages: 759
...UNIT ONE THE GIFT OF THE MAGI By O. Henry I. Introduction O. Henry, whose real name was William Sydney Porter (1867 – 1910), is famous chiefly for his short stories. These stories are usually set amid the poorer working – class life of the cities, the characters being ordinary simple people with their daily living to earn, a life which O.Henry knew well. But the stories are not mere realistic sketches. O. Henry had both the craftsmanship of a writer and the compassion of a man. As a writer he constructs a clever plot with an unforeseen and an unexpected climax suddenly released so that the reader is kept guessing till the last moment what the outcome is to be. As a man he saw the drab surrounding and narrow circumstances which he described, but he lit them with sympathy and humour. Though in most of his stories humour seems to be predominant, yet the sympathy is always there, so the humour is warmed and enriched by its humanity. The story that follows, however, is an example of the reverse process. There are more tears in it than laughter. Yet laughter is implied and one might say that because of it the tears are touched with a more tender compassion. II. Text One dollar and eighty – seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two and a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one’s cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One...
Words: 32518 - Pages: 131
...A618C90F-C2C6-4FD6-BDDB-9D35FE504CB3 First American paperback edition published in 2006 by Enchanted Lion Books, 45 Main Street, Suite 519, Brooklyn, NY 11201 Copyright © 2002 Philip Stokes/Arcturus Publishing Limted 26/27 Bickels Yard, 151-153 Bermondsey Street, London SE1 3HA Glossary © 2003 Enchanted Lion Books All Rights Reserved. The Library of Congress has cataloged an earlier hardcover edtion of this title for which a CIP record is on file. ISBN-13: 978-1-59270-046-2 ISBN-10: 1-59270-046-2 Printed in China Edited by Paul Whittle Cover and book design by Alex Ingr A618C90F-C2C6-4FD6-BDDB-9D35FE504CB3 Philip Stokes A618C90F-C2C6-4FD6-BDDB-9D35FE504CB3 ENCHANTED LION BOOKS New York Contents The Presocratics Thales of Miletus . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Pythagoras of Samos . . . . . 10 Xenophanes of Colophon 12 Heraclitus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 The Scholastics St Anselm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 St Thomas Aquinas . . . . . . . 50 John Duns Scotus . . . . . . . . . 52 William of Occam . . . . . . . . . 54 The Liberals Adam Smith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106 Mary Wollstonecraft . . . . 108 Thomas Paine . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Jeremy Bentham . . . . . . . . . 112 John Stuart Mill . . . . . . . . . . 114 Auguste Comte . . . . . . . . . . . 116 The Eleatics Parmenides of Elea . . . . . . . 16 Zeno of Elea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The Age of Science Nicolaus Copernicus . . . . . . 56 Niccolò Machiavelli...
Words: 73655 - Pages: 295
...1575 ESSAYS by Michel de Montaigne translated by Charles Cotton I. OF CUSTOM, AND THAT WE SHOULD NOT EASILY CHANGE A LAW RECEIVED. HE seems to have had a right and true apprehension of the power of custom, who first invented the story of a countrywoman who, having accustomed herself to play with and carry, a young calf in her arms, and daily continuing to do so as it grew up, obtained this by custom, that, when grown to be a great ox, she was still able to bear it. For, in truth, custom is a violent and treacherous schoolmistress. She, by little and little, slily and unperceived, slips in the foot of her authority, but having by this gentle and humble beginning, with the benefit of time, fixed and established it, she then unmasks a furious and tyrannic countenance, against which we have no more the courage or the power so much as to lift up our eyes. We see her, at every turn, forcing and violating the rules of nature: "Usus efficacissimus rerum omnium magister." I refer to her Plato's cave in his Republic, and the physicians, who so often submit the reasons of their art to her authority; as the story of that king, who by custom brought his stomach to that pass, as to live by poison, and the maid that Albertus reports to have lived upon spiders. In that new world of the Indies, there...
Words: 179434 - Pages: 718
