#7- Handmaid's Tale

"I look at the one red smile. The red of the smile is the same as the red of the tulips in Serena Joy's garden, towards the base of the flowers where they are beginning to heal. The red is the same but there is no connection. The tulips are not tulips of blood, the red smiles are not flowers, neither thing makes a comment on the other. The tulip is not a reason for disbelief in the hanged man, or vice versa. Each thing is valid and really there. It is through a field of such valid objects that I must pick my way, every day and in every way. I put a lot of effort into making such distinctions. I need to make them. I need to be very clear, in my own mind" (33).

Since the red of the smile is from blood, it represents destruction. The red on the tulips represents healing. Atwood spreads this color red around her world to show that things are not always as they appear. Just because things are the same color, it does not mean that they are related. This is similar to the fact that even though all Handmaids look the same on the outside, they are not the same people. Some are believers and others are not. Since Offred has to make such distinctions very clear in her head, it suggests that the world itself is very obscure. She has to repeat to herself daily that the objects are real or "valid." This gives the reader the feeling of the society: to be caught in the middle of it feels like a surreal dream.

Work Cited:
Photo Credit:
Phukan, Ruban. "Surreal Hallway." Ibibo. 2006. 30 Aug. 2010 <http://photos.ibibo.com/photo/
114724/surreal-dream-hallway-blur-virtual>.