Doll Imagery Objectification The Handmaid’s Tale

Dolls “They used to have dolls, for little girls, that would talk if you pulled a string at the back; I thought I was sounding like that, voice of a monotone, voice of a doll” “It makes the men like dolls on which the faces have not yet been painted; like scarecrows” “Janine groans again, her head bent over so all we can see is her hair. Crouching like that, she’s like a doll, an old one that’s been pillaged and discarded, in some corner, akimbo” “I felt shrunken, so that when he put his arms around me, gathering me up, I was small as a doll2 (her relationship with Nick)

Atwood’s Intention Why do you feel Atwood repeatedly uses ‘Doll Imagery’? Consider objectification/female body/ Atwood’s reimagined world of Gilead and how women now function/degradation of the female body and the nature of identity

Comparison – HT and FG (IDENTITY) What are similarities/differences in the way that Atwood and Duffy develop ‘Doll Imagery’ in their texts? Consider purpose/method/effect – connect to the theme of identity