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Similes
Key Examples in The Handmaid’s Tale
Chapter 5
Explanation and Analysis—Japanese Visitors:
In Chapter 5, Offred and Ofglen encounter a group of tourists, whom Offred describes as being Japanese, though she is not completely sure about their ethnicity. These tourists are fascinated by Offred and Ofglen, clearly unaccustomed to such religious extremes. This passage presents an ironic inversion of Western/non-Western cultural dynamics.
I stop walking. Ofglen stops beside me and I know she too cannot take her eyes off these women. We are fascinated, but also repelled. They seem undressed. It has taken so little time to change our mind, about things like this. Then I think: I used to dress like that. That was freedom. Westernized, they used to call it.
Related Themes:
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Serena Joy:
In the following excerpt from Chapter 8, Offred describes Serena Joy, the Wife of her household, with no small amount of vitriol, taking care to highlight the irony of the older woman's situation.
Unlock with LitCharts A+She doesn't make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in her home, but it doesn't seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she's been taken at her word.
Related Themes:
Chapter 13
Explanation and Analysis—Aunt Helena:
An important thematic through-line in The Handmaid's Tale is that of betrayal from within: that is, there are certain older, wealthier, whiter, etc., women in Gilead who support an oppressive patriarchal system in an attempt to boost their own relevance and power. There is an inherent situational irony and hypocrisy in this. Female figureheads of this extreme religious movement, including Serena Joy and Aunt Helena, deliberately peddle ideologies that harm women, despite, ironically, being women themselves.
Offred highlights this irony and hypocrisy in the following passage from Chapter 13, wherein she provides the reader some background on Aunt Helena:
Unlock with LitCharts A+Aunt Helena is here, as well as Aunt Lydia, because Testifying is special. Aunt Helena is fat, she once headed a Weight Watchers' franchise operation in Iowa. She's good at Testifying.
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