How Is Language Used In The Handmaid's Tale
Ifeanyi Durham
Ms. Milliner
EES21QH.21
10-19-16
In the novel The Handmaids Tale, author Atwood creates a world where access to all forms of language is a privilege. The oppressive society of Gilead strips women of their engagement in forms of language such as, reading, writing and even restricts how they speak. Which, naturally made language a desire by women, because it's degrading to not have freedom of speech. Atwood utilizes literary elements point of view, dialogue and diction, to convey how powerful language is in this world.
The protagonist of this story, Offred is a prime example of how powerful language is. She states how uses language daily by making mental notes throughout the day forming a story. Offred gives insight to her thoughts and mentions “I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come …show more content…
There even songs you are not allowed to sing in Gilead, the reasoning being it would promote to much freedom. One example of a song the main character mentions is amazing grace. Although, in addition to restricition some phrases have been forgotten and . Offred says, “mayday used to be a distress signal, a long time ago…for pilots whose planes had been hit, and ships-was it ships too?...I wish I could look it up” (Atwood 44). This shows how language has the power to change over time in this novel. Two words that were once a meaningful phrase put together reduced to a mere description of day. The government has done so well in having influence on people’s choice of words and how they interpret varying situations. This how Atwood utilizes diction, in her voice of using the phrase mayday to sparatically trigger a definition in offred’s
Ms. Milliner
EES21QH.21
10-19-16
In the novel The Handmaids Tale, author Atwood creates a world where access to all forms of language is a privilege. The oppressive society of Gilead strips women of their engagement in forms of language such as, reading, writing and even restricts how they speak. Which, naturally made language a desire by women, because it's degrading to not have freedom of speech. Atwood utilizes literary elements point of view, dialogue and diction, to convey how powerful language is in this world.
The protagonist of this story, Offred is a prime example of how powerful language is. She states how uses language daily by making mental notes throughout the day forming a story. Offred gives insight to her thoughts and mentions “I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come …show more content…
There even songs you are not allowed to sing in Gilead, the reasoning being it would promote to much freedom. One example of a song the main character mentions is amazing grace. Although, in addition to restricition some phrases have been forgotten and . Offred says, “mayday used to be a distress signal, a long time ago…for pilots whose planes had been hit, and ships-was it ships too?...I wish I could look it up” (Atwood 44). This shows how language has the power to change over time in this novel. Two words that were once a meaningful phrase put together reduced to a mere description of day. The government has done so well in having influence on people’s choice of words and how they interpret varying situations. This how Atwood utilizes diction, in her voice of using the phrase mayday to sparatically trigger a definition in offred’s