![]() As Atwood does this, she draws the reader into the setting and Offred’s life. ![]() ‘ Presentation of heightened senses and feelings establishes a vivid realistic effect. ![]() An allusion to Tennyson is revealed when Offred describes Serena’s garden in such a way that the reader feels they are in it, ‘Then we had the irises, rising beautiful and cool … black cat’s ear in the sun … the bleeding hearts … it breathes … The willow … s no help with its insinuating whispers. When Offred helps to make the bread dough, her sense of touch is compared with flesh and her hunger to touch another person generates a longing within her, a yearning for freedom and choice, yet Offred’s desire is disallowed in the puritanical ideology of Gilead. Serena joy’s perfume, Lily of the Valley, however triggers off sensations and memories of Mother’s Day. Offred recalls lemon oil, daffodils, nail polish and craves for cigarettes and coffee. Atwood uses a heightened sensibility to bring the book alive by choosing language with connotations of touch, smell and taste. The reader doesn’t know what happened to Offred or how the Gilead society collapsed and so the effect of the post modern narrative forces the reader to ask questions. ![]() As with postmodernist structures, The Handmaid’s Tale has no closure, no definite ending. Atwood is determined that the reader hears Offred’s story, ‘Because I’m telling you this story I will your existence. ![]()
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