Analyse du chapitre 23 de the handmaid's tale
Publié le 17/01/2023
Extrait du document
«
What is striking is the repeated use of similes.
A simile is a figure of speech which consists
in comparing two unlikely things using like or as or as if.
A metaphor does the same without
the words as or like.
Studying those similes, we notice that they reveal deep themes and literary motifs that
characterise The Handmaid’s Tale.
First, “as if” + PRETERIT introduces propositions that are not real.
The narrator, Offred
compares herself “as if I’m a kitten in a window”.
It’s both association of thoughts and picking
a different object for lack of adequate words to describe really.
We can see that the purpose
of the simile is to displace.
ANd indeed Offred says how difficult it is to tell a story, how
impossible it is to tell the truth.
“All of that is a reconstruction”.
It means that similes are
imperfect to describe, to explain, but they are the best she can do.
Secondly, by using similes Offred shows also some distance with the reality when is giving
an account of.
As in other places in the novel, we know that Offred has some sort of dark
humour, here, the similes are sometimes also funny or ironic.
The brutal crime she imagines
committing against the Commander....
»
Liens utiles
- Chapitre 11. Axe 1. Comment définir et mesurer la mobilité sociale ?
- Analyse Texte 1 Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne, Olympe de Gouges ( 1791)
- Analyse linéaire Cyrano de Bergerac - La scène du balcon
- The Buddha of suburbia
- Analyse linéaire : le dernier feu Les vrilles de la vigne