#10- Handmaid's Tale

"The first egg is white. I move the eggcup a little, so it's now in the watery sunlight that comes through the window and falls, brightening, waning, brightening again, on the tray. The shell of the egg is smooth but also grained; small pebbles of calcium are defined by the sunlight, like craters on the moon. It's a barren landscape, yet perfect; it's the sort of desert the saints went into, so their minds would not be distracted by profusion. I think that this is what God must look like: an egg. The life of the moon may not be on the surface, but inside" (110).

Atwood describes the egg as looking like the moon. Her use of an egg is important since it symbolizes rebirth which is a prominent issue throughout the novel. Her use of the moon is equally important as it is a symbol of the strength to perform duties. In Gilead, the Handmaids have to endure their duty of repopulating the society. The moon is also the symbol of the goddess Diana who watches over and protects women and childbirth. The fact that the egg is "a barren landscape, yet perfect" suggests that life's beauties lie in the simplest, most natural things, such as the natural human instincts (love, for example). Atwood suggests that God might look like an egg because even though an egg looks so simple, it is the core of all life. By saying that the life of the moon might be on the inside, Atwood is suggesting that things are not always as they appear on the outside. This can be applied to the rest of the novel - there is actually more to life than the restrictive society of Gilead.

Works Cited:
"Moon." House of Names. 2010. Swyrich Corporation. 31 Aug. 2010 <http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp/keyword.moon/qx/symbolism_details.htm>.

"Diana (mythology)." Wikipedia. 27 Aug. 2010. 31 Aug. 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_%28mythology%29>.



Photo Credit:
Ashford, William. "Coca-Cola and Pepsi in Battle Over Bottled Lunar Water." Scrape TV. 17 Nov. 2009. 31 Aug. 2010 <http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Business/pages-3/Coca-Cola-and-Pepsi-in-battle-over-bottled-lunar-water-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html>.