Chapter 16
This particular chapter primarily focuses on the ceremony of sexual intercourse that takes places between the Commander and Offred the Handmaid. It describes everything that goes on while the ceremony is occurring. It consists of the feelings and emotions of the Commanders wife, Offred and the Commander while being a part of this whole ceremony.
Offred illustrated Commander's wife's emotions. "The rings of her left hand cut into my fingers. It may or may not be revenge." This conveys the Commanders wife selfishness and insensitivity that while using Offred she is still trying her best to show her anger and frustration towards this whole situation. She is expressing it through any way she can and in this case, using her rings to cut into Offred's fingers. Is this humane? No. Having said that, the whole idea of this ceremony is not humane. It is a situation made to use women solely for the purpose of reproduction in the society of Gilead. Offred does not refer to Serena through using her name, she says the possessive pronoun "her" which reflects that she probably does not respect her as much as she should according to the position she is in compared to the Commander's wife. These feelings are obviously expressed in her mind and mind only. She dare not speak out loud as she does not want to be sent to the colonies where all the unwanted people of Gilead end up. Offred feels as if Serena might be taking "revenge" out on her but she is not completely certain as she also adds before that "it may or may not be". Revenge for having sex with her husband. This show her heartlessness as the Handmaid has no choice because she has been confined to this role and also because Offred is BENEFITTING Serena in every way possible.
Offred goes on to describe her feelings towards what is happened. She says, "Below it the Commander is fucking...I do not say making love, because this is not what he's doing." This expresses Offred's emotions towards what is happened to her perfectly. She feels as if she's a victim of this situation. Offred describes the sexual intercourse between her and the Commander in a disrespectful 'dirty' way. Its almost as if this is happened against her will, which emotionally might be the case. Offred got forced to be a Handmaid so her frustrated feelings show through this.\
TO BE CONTINUED.
www some brief analysis of language and use of language terminology, some attempt to engage with the wider issues in the text.
ReplyDeleteebi verging on the descriptive rather than analytical, you need to explore the text more deeply and focus in detail on language features. Why for example does she use the F word, what is its effect on us the reader and why does Offred feel that the word in the most appropriate one. Also consider why the rings are mentioned, what is the significance of rings? How might they re-inforce the emotions of the three participants in this bizarre 'ceremony'. Why indeed is it called a 'ceremony' what are the connotations?
Go further in your analysis...