Love theme

Question 1

her source of strength

Answer 1

her general passivity in the face of the oppressive society hides her deep and secret source of strength: her love

Question 2

daydreaming

Answer 2

by daydreaming Offred stays complacent to stop her rebelling outright

Question 3

love allows her to stay sane

Answer 3

her love for her mother, Moira, Luke, her daughter and Nick allow her to stay sane

she lives within her memories and emotions instead of being in the terrible world around her. She idealises Luke and uses him as escapism

“nobody dies from lack of sex. It’s lack of love we die from”

Question 4

an ideal society

Answer 4

is never proposed but the novel looks critically on the modern movements, including the religious right and the feminist left

Question 5

love drives actions

Answer 5

love drives Nick to help her escape

Commander’s desires make him bend the rules for Offred

Question 6

Gilead’s rules

Answer 6

love is the best way to get around Gilead’s rules

allows secret, mental resistance

Question 7

sex

Answer 7

often seems to be at the centre of many utopias/dystopias

one of humanity’s main concerns

Question 8

love could be

Answer 8

considered a subversive force in this novel, as after she begins her affair with Nick, she loses interest in Mayday and a possibility of escape

Question 9

relationships in the novel

Answer 9

are altered and undermined

as noted in the ‘Historical Notes’ “the human heart remains a factor” - love cannot be quenched

Question 10

hunger

Answer 10

Offred has a “hunger to touch” - shows Gilead has been unable to completely subdue her natural feelings

Question 11

like 1984

Answer 11

HMT is a totalitarian regime that undermines trust - however, she tells Nick her “real name” and at the end her says “trust me”