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Margaret Atwood Use Of Symbols In The Handmaid's

1199 Words5 Pages

The symbolism movement was one of an artistic movement much like that of the aesthetic movement, which some critics have commented of the similarity. The movement began to really be seen in literacy such as Poetry, prose and other literary arts by the end of the XIX century. Symbolism is a tool utilised by writers, to make a scene memorable while implying implicit warnings and mirror real life issues. “Writers and poets have employed symbolism and archetypes as writing tools since the earliest records of literature.” Showing the importance of them in order to convey meaning and messages in a text. In the same way Atwood uses colour in everyday life of Gilead demonstrates that this society has restraint on the population. Each person is required …show more content…

No one in Gilead is ultimately free, each person is tied down and oppressed. The commander’s wives wear blue which has connotations of sadness clearly demonstrated through their situations “My Husband. I want to make that perfectly clear. Till death do us part. It’s final” Serena Joy is clearly threatened by the intrusion of the Handmaid’s, the use of short sentences to put her point across is used to show how Serena feels, she wants not emotions or long attachments with the Handmaid and consequently uses short sentences to provide a disjointed, emotionless speech. While also telling the Handmaid that she is far from welcome in her house and life. Here Atwood is expanding on existing connotations of colours. In contrast blue is also a royal colour which connotations of riches and wealth which aids the point that the commander’s wives want to seem better than the Handmaid’s and want them to know that, David Lodge states “it [literacy] tries to be original and tends towards rich plurality, even ambiguity, of meaning” . This criticism fits with the Handmaid’s tale because the tale requires the reader to highly infer meanings as Atwood leaves lots of ambiguity. Especially seen in her colour symbolism with the colours of Gilead. The clothing is a way to control those citizens who live in Gilead and show a destruction of their

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