How does Atwood use language devices including tenses to
give us clues regarding as it is now and was before?
Atwood uses tenses in the handmaid’s tale to intrigue the readers
into understanding the characters feelings and history. The use of the tenses;
past and present in the opening chapters of the book suggest that the writer
wants the readers to understand the history and feelings of the personae before
they carry on reading the book, he really wants the speaker to feel and experience
the history of the personae so that they will not just read the book but also
enjoy the book whilst reading it.
Atwood uses fashion to portray the change in society, “I
knew from pictures, later in miniskirts, then pants, then in one earring, spiky
green streaked hair”. This quote suggests how society had changed over the
years, the fashion had become more and more daring and women were also becoming
more daring then at once everything changed and it stopped altogether. The quote
ended mid-sentence leaving suspense for the reader and when reading on they
will realise the suspense. This quote also portrays the pain and hurt of the
personae, she remembers the past and how women used to be able to express
themselves through clothes but now they’ve stopped even that. They’ve taken
away the rights of women to wear what they desire which shows a sense of
desperation.
Similar to this is the use of a country’s name: “old ones
that still said us” this quote reminds us of how the US is known to be very
powerful and it has a strong hold over many other countries but the use of old
against US also shows that the US has also gone out of power and no one can
change things anymore only the people that rule Gilead.
Lastly the speaker mentions the relationships between the
men and women in the past which was fairly open then, men and women were allowed
to date and it was seen as a normal thing, however as the novel proceeds we
find out the case is different in the future. Relationships between men and women in the
future is seen as a taboo subject apart from the commanders and their wives,
and the forced relationships between the handmaids and the commanders. In the
following chapters of the book we read about the desperation of having a
relationship.
All of the above statements lead to one conclusion which is
that the use of all these statements is a form of foreshadowing, to get the
reader to understand how much things have changed, the drastic changes and how
this has affected the main character. The use of womens fashion, the
relationships between men and women, the power of the US, all of these vanish
in the following chapters of the book so it’s a foreshadowing technique of the
writer( Atwood) to use tenses to portray society and how much its changed and
the effects of the changes.
Zahra Choudhry
