false 2544220 44 male Miami, FL 07/2009 12/2009 4 20 16 true 6710047 read 1 true 5490497 currently-reading 3 true 5490496 to-read http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/3929 http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:18:53 -0800 http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/30 http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:18:40 -0800 http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/19884 http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:17:59 -0800 Federico Garcia Lorca: A Life (Paperback) by Ian Gibson]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75383523 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1245871628s/396086.jpg 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:15:07 -0800 Intellectuals (Paperback) by Paul Bede Johnson]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/73819470 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170449320s/55302.jpg 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Thu, 12 Nov 2009 08:54:36 -0800 The Age of Reason: A Novel (Paperback) by Jean-Paul Sartre]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75383255 http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/71ZH82HRWCL._SL75_.gif 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:46:24 -0700 Break on Through: The Life and Death of Jim Morrison (Paperback) by James Riordan]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75383110 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171880922s/124771.jpg 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Thu, 22 Oct 2009 10:45:05 -0700 El canalla sentimental/ The Sentimental Bastard (Spanish Edition) by Jaime Bayly]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/75132662 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1245815821s/6006395.jpg 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:27:15 -0700 Everyman (Paperback) by Philip Roth]]> http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/74679408 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1186855330s/50695.jpg 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:36:01 -0700 http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/71662614 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1255648830s/38447.jpg 2544220 Carlos Rodriguez http://photo.goodreads.com/users/1253228290p2/2544220.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/2544220-carlos-rodriguez Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:20:45 -0700
With Biblical allusions, and references to WWII, as in "mayday" and the totalitarian regimes of Stalin and Hitler, Atwood creates a masterful piece of a fictional world still connected to the reality.

With its ambiguous ending, the novel lets the mind ponder on what can become of this now familiar narrator. Is death better for her? Or if rescued, will she return to her family? The fact that the ending is hopeful adds to the greatness of the book.

Its only flaw, however, was its introduction of minor characters that we never get to learn about. Ofglen often mentions her daughter's name but she never talks about her. Otherwise, Atwood's use of syntax is a great indicator of the narrator is shifting tones- from hope to desperation, from fear to indifference, from love to passion. She constantly uses flashback about her family and her former life to demonstrate her criticism of Gilead where women are containers valued for only what is inside of them and how fast they can become pregnant.

In order to serve the needs of the new society's elite, Gilead creates a system of titles where women are defined solely by their gender roles as Wives, Handmaids, or Marthas. Stripping them of individual names strips them of their individuality. In a moment of desperation, Ofglen cries out in vain, "I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not; I want to be more than valuable. I repeat my former name; remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me. I want to steal something".

Deprived from her basic rights, Ofglen's frustration and anger is revealed by her use of simple sentences with anaphora to stress her futile but desperate longing for attention.




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