Night (Unit 1)

In the first chapter of The Handmaid's Tale, we see Offred; one of the Handmaids, share her view of the surroundings in the training center where the role of a Handmais is trained into the system of the woman. The training center appears to be in an old school building as she describes the sleeping courters as a room that "had once been the gymnasium" (pg 13; line 1). She describes the set up of the room as an army camp. The beds are set up in rows and there is enough space in-between so that the future Handmaids cannot talk to each other as talking has become a right they do not have. In just a couple of pages into the novel, we are presented with a clear contrast between past and present; joy and depression. The joy and life which used to take place in the gymnasium is now replaced with the quiet and sullen faces of these Handmaids. I believe there is a metaphore of how the school building represents the woman. Offred describes the equipment and fun which used to be apart of the gymnasium, this can be intepret as the woman who are still there but all which shape who they once were, has vanished.

There are a few dominant imageries, which are all dark and depressing. You can see a clear feeling of intrappment and being captured, it almost seems like a prison. There is an image of slavery and following orders. The clear image of structure and obedience is presented with the different roles of the Angles, Guards and the way they place the girls etc.