121 Is it true that Luke is patronising the narrator? Does the narrator come across as paranoid? What makes you think so? […] That night, after I’d lost my job, Luke wanted me to make love. Why didn’t I want to? Desperation alone should have driven me. But I still felt numbed. I could hardly even feel his hands on me. What’s the matter? he said. I don’t know, I said. We still have … he said. But he didn’t go on to say what we still had. It occurred to me that he shouldn’t be saying we, since nothing that I knew of had been taken away from him. We still have each other, I said. It was true. Then why did I sound, even to myself, so indifferent? He kissed me then, as if now I’d said that, things could get back to normal. But something had shifted, some balance. I felt shrunken, so that when he put his arms around me, gathering me up, I was small as a doll. I felt love going forward without me. He doesn’t mind this, I thought. He doesn’t mind it at all. Maybe he even likes it. We are not each other’s, any more. Instead, I am his. 10 I guess you get all my money, I said. And I’m not even dead. I was trying for a joke, but it came out sounding macabre. Hush, he said. He was still kneeling on the floor. You know I’ll always take care of you. I thought, already he’s starting to patronize me. Then I thought, already you’re starting to get paranoid. What do you think about the narrator’s reaction? Is it justified? How can a relationship be affected if one partner of a couple suddenly loses their job, their social status, access to their money? How would you describe the style that Margaret Atwood uses? Can you recognise any metaphors and symbols in the extracts? The Handmaid’s Tale was published in 1985. Discuss how the story is still relevant today. Choose one of these activities to do in class or at home. 1 Decide what happens next and write an additional page to the story. 2 Write a series of entries for either Luke’s or Moira’s diary. 3 The novel is written from the point of view of the narrator; it is her memory through which we are told the events. How could the man in the newsstand or the director of the library tell the story? Write a page about what they remember. 3 4 5 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Ei entum des Verlags öbv
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