Explore the Narrative Techniques Used by Atwood to Portray...

The narrative style and structure of ‘The Handmaids Tale is something very unique to the novel. Atwood has used a complex structure of four different time scales; the most prominent is the first person present tense, where she is a member of the Gilead community and living in the Commanders house: Nothing takes place in bed but sleep; or no sleep. I try not to think too much. Like other things, thought must be rationedÂ…I intend to last. This narrative allows experiences to be filtered through Offreds mind, and for the reader to empathise with her trials as she attempts to find confidence within herself and with her new found rebellion. In this way, we get to know her inner-most thoughts (This is what I feel like: this sound of†¦show more content†¦All three time scales often subtly shift from one to another: Are they old enough to remember anything of the time before, playing baseball, in jeans and sneakers, riding their bicycles?Â…Start them soon is the policy, theres not a moment to be lost Ââ€" still theyll remember. In this phrase, theres the shift form the Pre-Gileadean memory to the motto used in the Red Centre, then back to the present. Offred often questions the situation or memory she finds herself in. This appeals to the reader, as it seems as though Offred is conversing with us, asking our opinion. The reader establishes that the three different time scales used in Offreds story are vital in understanding how and why she is where she is now. Pieces of the story fit like a jigsaw the more you read, and appears in a fragmented form because it has been pieced together by Pieixoto. The fourth time scale is the Post-Gileadean narrative used in the Historical Notes, a transcript of a lecture given by Cambridge scholar Professor Pieixoto. Here we find out that Offreds story was in fact recorded on a set of unordered cassette tapes found in Maine. This is a reconstruction. A phrase repeated by Offred in her story, an underlying theme strengthened by the fact that the reader, for the first time in the Historical Notes, learns that the tale they have been reading is itself a reconstruction. We only need to read a few paragraphs of Pieixotos