How does Atwood’s way of structuring the Handmaid’s tale affect your interpretation of the novel?

Atwood’s way of structuring the novel changes the readers’ interpretation throughout the whole novel. She does this by using symbolic references, e.g. the language she uses in the novel express what the characters represent and what they feel.

The Handmaid’s wear Red; this colour signifies fertility, which in this case is the blood of the menstrual cycle, which shows that they have the ability to carry children. Red can also express sexual appeal and that is partly why the Handmaid’s are there. Despite all that, red can also be associated with sexual sin, which is called ‘Adultery’, this is what they are doing. This is ironic because the novel is based on biblical terms and yet what they are doing is sinful. Although the wives know, what is going on, it is still seen as a sin. On the other hand, although the red symbolizes fertility it also symbolizes violence. When Offred goes to the wall and sees the red blood on the white cloth, she names it the ‘red of the smile’. That shows the dark side of the colour red, it also shows how it will always be associated with Offred, and the Handmaid is whether it is good thing or a bad thing.

Whilst playing ‘scrabble’ with the commander we find that, Offred is powerful yet she makes herself powerless by letting the commander win some of the games.

She expresses her views and whatever feelings she has towards this regime in the words she spells. Scrabble may be a harmless game, but in real life, the forces that can control language can also control society. Although Offred is not controlling society, she is still sending out hints on how society should be controlled. The words Atwood uses in the novel for the game, may seem quite random however they are not because each of the words relat...

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...words shows the emotion and feeling towards Offred. This is relevant to the question because the way Atwood has structured the novel makes the reader feel sympathetic towards Offred. This is because it is coming from a woman’s point of view. The Historical notes however come from a man’s perspective which is not at all sympathetic towards to Offred and somehow changes the meaning of the novel to make it look like it is in fact Offred’s fault and she got what was coming to her. The Historical notes put Offred down and are not sympathetic towards her at all, this is because the man feels that the story is made up and it did not happen.

This novel is a narrative novel, which means it is written from the Author’s point of view. The novel and all the opinions came from Margaret Atwood and this shows what her feelings towards it were and how she felt about this regime.