I just wanted to do some revisions on a few of the highlights and key points about the quotes I have written about in my journals.
Chapters 1-4:
"I enjoy the power; power of a dog bone, passive, but there."
The handmaid says this after she walks past the "angels" and teases them when she describes how the guardians must long for them (women/the handmaids) since they don't have the power of being promoted yet. This line, as well as the action in which she was teasing them shows that she is aware of her lack of power in important things of the real world. In her situation, she is only serving one purpose in the world; to bare children. She has no choice in what she has to to do since she is one of the only fertile women left. She feels basically powerless, so she takes pride in the samll things she feels like she can have power over, or as so in this case.
Chapters 5-8:
"Ofglen says nothing. There is a silence. But sometimes it's a dangerous not to speak." "Yes, we are very happy," I murmur. I have to say, something. What else can I say?"
This is from the scene where the Japenese tourists are being escorted by an eye. Thinking that the handmaids must not be happy, they ask. Since the handmaids knew that the tourists were being escorted by an eye, they didn't want to say the truth by answering the tourists that they were miserable, or else they would get into serious trouble. They realized also, though, that keeping silent might also lead to them getting into trouble. So, the handmaids decide to lie to them and tell them that they are very happy.
This is extremely sad because the handmaids basically have no choice in what they do/say in order to stay safe; it's as if words are put in their mouths for them. the handmaids have no power. Rebellion is practically not an option.
Chapters 9-12:
"We thought we had such problems. How were we to know we were happy?"
This quote is in the midst of Offred explaining how, in her past life with her husband, the things that they thought were bad at the time, really couldn't even be considered "bad" considering the life and situation they are currently in. They couldn't really really realize how happy they actually were back then until being put in a miserable life style like they are now, well at least Offred, anyway, since we don't actually know her husbands life situation at the moment. I'm just assuming that they are both very unhappy and miserable since they are having to live without each other basically for the rest of their lives (as far as I can assume).
This is one of the main places in the novel so far that I really feel like Offred is explaining her egret for not living her past life to the fullest and not being more appreciative of how happy she was and what a good life she had.
Chapters 13-16:
"Which of us is it worse for, her or me?"
Though this quote may seem unsignificant or just an after thought, I find it essential. Obviously, the quote is suggesting that "the ceremony" is not pleasurable for neither Serena nor Joy.
Offred refers to his actions as "fucking" instead of "making love" or "having sex". This makes it clear that she is miserable. She goes on to say things like, "I wish he would hurry up," and "What's going on in this room, under Serena Joy's silvery canopy, is not exciting," to emphasixe how much she hates it (especially by repeating the word "fuck" and "fucking".
However, this is also seen as uncomfortable for Serena Joy as well. "Serena Joy grips my hands as if it is she, not I, who's being fucked, as if she finds it either pleasurable or painful." Imagine having to be there during the whole process! It's like having to sit and watch your husband or wife have sex with someone else, even if it's not from romantic desires. I couldn't imagine.
Chapters 17-20:
"I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable."
In this quote, Offred is specifically wanting to define/emphasize the difference between the words "valued" and "valuable". Valuable is used in a way that is extrinsic; it represents the value that something has for someone else or to accomplish a task, which in this case, is Offred's ability to give birth. Value, on the other hand, has a more intrensic meaning, representing the value of something for merely just being what it is.
Offred is saying that she wants to be valued, not be valuable. The word valuable, in Offred's case, basically means being a human resource. This comparison demonstrates how Offred is longing for someone to value/ love her as a person and for who she is. "I repeat my former name, remind myself of what I could do, how others saw me." Even as Offred has said before, she is really only valued for "what is inside of her." Not her as an actual being.
