Hello World,
In my last blog entry I started discussing the colour red in The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, as well as the lack of freedom and the suppressing and male-dominated world the main character, Offred, finds herself in.
The next symbol that red serves as is that of the past. Before the major transition, the world seemed to be like the one we now live in. Offred often dreams of the past, of Luke, and of her daughter. Regarding red. In the early chapters of the novel, Offred and Ofglen go on a shopping excursion and at one moment walk by some people, hung dead, with white bags over their heads, and displayed as examples of some sort of treason. One of the dead men's blood "has seeped through the white cloth, where the mouth must have been. It makes another mouth, a small red one, like the mouths painted with thick paintbrushes by kindergarten children." This graphic quote really stood out to me because they were hung for treason, most likely committing something that was acceptable in the past, or revolting against unwanted change. In my opinion, the red smile represents the past, and the happiness consisted of.
In fact, in the page across it, Offred says that "the red of the smile is the same as the red of the tulips in Serena Joy's garden" (43). This is interesting because it undoubtedly symbolises the change of society and how current authority is bittersweet. The tulips and the garden symbolise the power and opportunity that the Commander's wife has however, since the red is the past, the "oh-so perfect present" is in fact a snake underneath the innocent flower (Macbeth).
Red also seems to be a symbol of the main aim, the function, even the goal of women or as the back cover puts it: "The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one option: to breed". Due to a decrease in population, extreme measures have been taken in order to provide an optimal (most importantly safe) world in order to facilitate childbirth. Women participate in a routine "Ceremony" which "goes on as usual", involving the Commander attempting to impregnate a Handmaid (104-105). This graphic scene demonstrates the importance of childbirth, encoded within the Handmaid's beliefs. She believes that getting pregnant is "a way out, a salvation"(71) and her period, a sign that she indeed hasn't conceived yet, is extremely undesirable: "Each month i watch for blood, fearfully, for when it comes, it means failure." (83).
Overall, so far, red has symbolised constraint, the past world Offred used to live in, and the purpose of women in this new society: to procreate.
I now conclude my sequence upon discussing the colour and what it symbolises.
In my last blog entry I started discussing the colour red in The Handmaid's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, as well as the lack of freedom and the suppressing and male-dominated world the main character, Offred, finds herself in.
The next symbol that red serves as is that of the past. Before the major transition, the world seemed to be like the one we now live in. Offred often dreams of the past, of Luke, and of her daughter. Regarding red. In the early chapters of the novel, Offred and Ofglen go on a shopping excursion and at one moment walk by some people, hung dead, with white bags over their heads, and displayed as examples of some sort of treason. One of the dead men's blood "has seeped through the white cloth, where the mouth must have been. It makes another mouth, a small red one, like the mouths painted with thick paintbrushes by kindergarten children." This graphic quote really stood out to me because they were hung for treason, most likely committing something that was acceptable in the past, or revolting against unwanted change. In my opinion, the red smile represents the past, and the happiness consisted of.
In fact, in the page across it, Offred says that "the red of the smile is the same as the red of the tulips in Serena Joy's garden" (43). This is interesting because it undoubtedly symbolises the change of society and how current authority is bittersweet. The tulips and the garden symbolise the power and opportunity that the Commander's wife has however, since the red is the past, the "oh-so perfect present" is in fact a snake underneath the innocent flower (Macbeth).
Red also seems to be a symbol of the main aim, the function, even the goal of women or as the back cover puts it: "The Republic of Gilead offers Offred only one option: to breed". Due to a decrease in population, extreme measures have been taken in order to provide an optimal (most importantly safe) world in order to facilitate childbirth. Women participate in a routine "Ceremony" which "goes on as usual", involving the Commander attempting to impregnate a Handmaid (104-105). This graphic scene demonstrates the importance of childbirth, encoded within the Handmaid's beliefs. She believes that getting pregnant is "a way out, a salvation"(71) and her period, a sign that she indeed hasn't conceived yet, is extremely undesirable: "Each month i watch for blood, fearfully, for when it comes, it means failure." (83).
Overall, so far, red has symbolised constraint, the past world Offred used to live in, and the purpose of women in this new society: to procreate.
I now conclude my sequence upon discussing the colour and what it symbolises.
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