Vidushi Sabnani

Mrs. Linn
Advanced English II-8
30 November 2019

Sherlock Holmes
Close Read (Chapter 30, pg 191) Commented [1]: Symbolism: Night often represents
Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like the negativity and darkness.

dawn? Yet if you look east, at sunset, you can see night rising, not falling;
darkness lifting into the sky, up from the horizon, like a black sun behind cloud
cover. Like smoke from an unseen fire, a line of fire just below the horizon,
brushfire or a burning city. Maybe night falls because it’s heavy, a thick curtain
pulled up over the eyes. Wool blanket. I wish I could see in the dark, better than I
Commented [2]: These thoughts allude to the fact that
although the evening always turns into night, there are
several perspectives and there is a way to perceive
darkness.
Commented [3]: Simile: Fire represents Fierce. The
horizon looked as if the distant city was on fire which
reveals that the city is worn down.

do. Commented [4]: All of the thoughts and memories are

overwhelming and pressing down on Offred.
Night has fallen, then. I feel it pressing down on me like a stone. No breeze.
Commented [5]: Offred wishes that she could better
I sit by the partly open window, curtains tucked back because there’s no one out understand her circumstances and retrieve more
there, no need for modesty, in my nightgown, long-sleeved even in summer, to knowledge.

keep us from the temptations of our own flesh, to keep us from hugging Commented [6]: Pressing down represents the
oppression of women.
ourselves, bare-armed. Nothing moves in the searchlight moonlight. The scent Commented [7]: The life in Gilead is static and there is
from the garden rises like heat from a body, there must be night-blooming no growth.
flowers, it’s so strong. I can almost see it, red radiation, wavering upwards like Commented [8]: Gilead forbids all human touch and
connection in order to prevent unity and rebellion.
the shimmer above highway tarmac at noon.
Commented [9]: Prevents self-confidence and self-
Down there on the lawn, someone emerges from the spill of darkness love.
under the willow, steps across the light, his long shadow attached sharply to his Commented [10]: Fuels the sense of loneliness and
heels. Is it Nick, or is it someone else, someone of no importance? He stops, looks helplessness.

up at this window, and I can see the white oblong of his face. Nick. We look at Commented [11]: Gilead lacks liveliness and
happiness.
each other. I have no rose to toss, he has no lute. But it’s the same kind of hunger.
Commented [12]: Is love the only thing that can take
Which I can’t indulge. I pull the left-hand curtain so that it falls between her out of her misery?
us, across my face, and after a moment he walks on, into the invisibility around Commented [13]: No men besides Nick are important
to Offred? Not even Luke?
the corner.
Commented [14]: It seems like a Romeo and Juliet
What the Commander said is true. One and one and one and one doesn’t reference. Their love is forbidden.
equal four. Each one remains unique, there is no way of joining them together. Commented [15]: Is she trying to create an obstacle
They cannot be exchanged, one for the other. They cannot replace each other. between her and Nick?

Nick for Luke or Luke for Nick. Should does not apply. You can’t help what you Commented [16]: Offred begins to understand the
importance of individuality
feel, Moira said once, but you can help how you behave.
Commented [17]: Individuality cannot be traded like
Which is all very well. objects. It is an inalienable right.
Context is all; or is it ripeness? One or the other. Commented [18]: Which is stronger, physical
attraction or an understanding of each other?
Commented [19]: Is Offred's bond with Luke stronger
than her bond with Nick?
Commented [20]: Feelings aren't controllable, but they
Mini Analysis #1 can provide the person with courage and bravery to
take action towards authority.
Vidushi Sabnani
Mrs. Linn
Advanced English II-8
30 November 2019

Maybe he’s in the Library. Somewhere in the vaults. The stacks. Commented [21]: It indicates that the library hasn't
The Library is like a temple. There’s a long flight of white steps, leading to the been used for a long time.

rank of doors. Then, inside, another white staircase going up. To either side of it, on the Commented [22]: Simile: The library is compared to a
temple in order to reveal that it is sacred.
wall, there are angels. Also there are men fighting, or about to fight, looking clean and
Commented [23]: Prestigious, many people do not
noble, not dirty and blood-stained and smelly the way they must have looked. Victory is have access to it.
on one side of the inner doorway, leading them on, and Death is on the other. It’s a Commented [24]: White usually represents purity.
mural in honour of some war or other. The men on the side of Death are still alive.
Commented [25]: Metaphor: Through the use of
They’re going to Heaven. Death is a beautiful woman, with wings and one breast almost angels, Atwood is expressing that the library is
bare; or is that Victory? I can’t remember. heavenlike.

They won’t have destroyed that. (Atwood, pg 166) Commented [26]: Offred believes that victory is
achieved through knowledge and literary wisdom.
Commented [27]: Death is a result of ignorance to
Mini Analysis #2 knowledge.
Commented [28]: Reveals that women are forbidden
from gaining knowledge and understanding of the
Time has not stood still. It has washed over me, washed me away, as if I’m world.
nothing more than a woman of sand, left by a careless child too near the water. I have
Commented [29]: Offred believes that Gilead still
been obliterated for her. I am only a shadow now, far back behind the glib shiny surface values knowledge, but it is limited only to men.
of this photograph. A shadow of a shadow, as dead mothers become. You can see it in Commented [30]: Time has been unkind to Offred as
her eyes: I am not there. she continues to live in captivity without her family

But she exists, in her white dress. She grows and lives. Isn’t that a good thing? A Commented [31]: Metaphor: She is laying blame on a
child which is another resentment of her daughter's life
blessing? without her.
Still, I can’t bear it, to have been erased like that. Better she’d brought me Commented [32]: Offred is upset about the loss of her
nothing. (Atwood, pg 228) daughter.
Commented [33]: A shadow often symbolizes
invisibility.
Mini Analysis #3
Commented [34]: Metaphor: Gilead is portrayed as a
happy and flawless republic.
He doesn’t mind this, I thought. He doesn’t mind it at all. Maybe he even likes it. Commented [35]: She believes that her daughter is
We are not each other’s, anymore. Instead, I am his. negatively affected by the lack of Offred's presence.

Unworthy, unjust, untrue. But that is what happened. (Atwood, pg 182)
Character Analysis
Moira embodies the hostility towards female suppression in Gilead. She presented perseverance and
tenacity by escaping The Red Center. Although her determination was broken by the Eyes, she is the
contrast to the rest of the women and chooses to fight for her rights.
Commented [36]: She is questioning the upbringing of
her daughter without her.
Commented [37]: True motherly anguish
Commented [38]: Offred feels that Luke supported her
in a way that emphasized his superiority. She believes
that there was a shift in power and that apparently
Luke, like all men, enjoyed power and dominance in
their relationship. She believes that she was the
property of her husband even before the establishment
of Gilead.
Vidushi Sabnani
Mrs. Linn
Advanced English II-8
30 November 2019

1. Moira had power now, she’d been set loose, she’d set herself loose. She was now a loose
woman...Nevertheless Moira was our fantasy. We hugged her to us, she was with us in secret,
a giggle; she was lava beneath the crust of daily life. In the light of Moira, the Aunts were less
fearsome and more absurd. Their power had a flaw to it. They could be shanghaied in toilets.
The audacity was what we liked. (Atwood, pg 133)

Moira awes Offred and the handmaids by her fearless and courageous personality. “She was
lava” reveals that they think of her as fierce and determined. Whenever Moira is around, the
aunts are more careful and cautious which discloses that she has the power of fear. Although
Moira’s perseverance was radiant, it may have caused the other handmaids to be dependent
and submissive. They may have believed that she would guard and protect them from the
authority.

2. If I were Moira, I’d know how to take it apart, reduce it to its cutting edges. I have no
screwdriver, but if I were Moira I could do it without a screwdriver. I’m not Moira. (Atwood,
pg 171)

Offred desires for the ability to stand up for herself like Moira. Offred is admitting to herself
that she is not Moira was right to fight for her rights. Offred almost looks up to Moira as a
role model because of her courage and bravery. The taking apart and reducing it to its cutting
edges is symbolic of Moira’s ability to take apart a situation and deduce what the correct
action is. Unlike Offred, Moira is more focused on herself and her impact on the world.

3. She was not stunned, the way I was. In some strange way she was gleeful, as if this was what
she’d been expecting for some time and now she’d been proven right. She even looked more
energetic, more determined. (Atwood, pg 178)

When Moira hears that women cannot own property, she feels as though she has a purpose.
Moira was an activist, so she saw an opportunity to make a difference. The difference
between the Handmaids and Moira is Moira decides to fight back and the other handmaids
let the changes happen. Offred clings to the idea that her life will someday be better and she
doesn’t want to be defiant in order to achieve that because she’s afraid of being killed and not
being able to experience a better life. Throughout the book and this section, Moira has
revealed the confidence and perseverance that Offred has been unable to gather.