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