This is an interesting extract, and is quite fun to deconstruct, because the author brings across a large variety of different opinions throughout the piece, sometimes even contadictory ones. Throughout the piece, of which the theme is Love, she talks about it from a variety of points of views. She speaks about it from the the point of view of a woman, and also she tries to interperet Love from the male point of view. The theme of this piece is easily summed up as the way that Love twists Truth. To start off the interpretation, Offrred, the speaker, talks about how men made light of Love, in this case the Commander. The speaker is hurt that he believes that Love is a triviality, or whim. She talks about how it is central to a beings existence.
The most interesting piece to deconstruct is the last couple of paragraphs. In this extract, Offred talks about how hard Love is to find, and when the man she tried to love was difficult to, (which I belive is an allusion to her feelings for the Commander), the more Love exists. She talks about how this love is hard to remember, and when it is remembered it brings pain. I belive that this is an allusion to her lost husband, Luke and the daughter that is never named. Another allusion to the theme is when Offred speaks about how she sees a man who is darker and has a more cavernous face at night, when he is asleep than during the day. It is as if the love that she, or the other women she is talking about, has perverted the man, so that all she thinks about the man is the love she has for him, which she doesn't see when he is asleep, because his personality isn't there. This also leads onto the final quote of the extract, 'What if he doesn't love me?'. This one quote puts a lot of emphasis on the theme, and also the message that Offred is talking about in this extract. Offred mentions how the more difficult it is to love the man, the easier it is to belive in Love. If you don't know if a man loves you, it must be difficult to love him, and therefore, the belief in Love is heightened. This approach to Love, and the relationship it has with difficulty relates hand-in-hand to Hope, which is another imporant part of both this extract and the story itself.
Hey James,
ReplyDeleteYou have some insight which I didn't initial pick up on, so good on you. Do you think that the diction is important in the deconstruction of this excerpt because I thought it was. The diction highlights how Offred believes Gilead to be inhumane, for she describes those without love as mutants as well as describing love as a trait which makes one human hence the society of Gilead, which suppresses love, is inhumane. It would be interesting to read your insight on the matter.
Also what kind of tone do you think is present here? (I forgot to add this in my inital comment). I thought it was elegaic, as she recalled her memories with a bit of sadness and regret. As you said, this tone could be influenced by the fact she has to recall the memories of Luke and her daughter, so maybe if you can incorporate tone in your commentary, you would have a more cohesive argument.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you are saying here, and I also observed that love was a manipulative emotion. However, there were some parts from the excerpt that seemed to be left out, such as the line about Love equaling God. I was wondering what you thought that meant, as I wasn't too sure myself about the meaning of that line.
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