identity Flashcards
unable to identitfy with her reflection:
‘‘like a _______ shadow, a ______ of something, some ________ figure in a red cloak… A sister, ______ in ______’’
'’like a distorted shadow, a parody of something, some fairytale figure in a red cloak… A sister, dipped in blood’’
(imagary of a nun)
“She’s like my own ____ in a mirror from which I am moving away.”
“She’s like my own reflection, in a mirror from which I am moving away.”
➡️ Loss and distortion of identity. Protest genre explores fractured selfhood under totalitarian control.
“Without a word she swivels, as if she’s voice-activated… on top of a ____ box.”
“Without a word she swivels, as if she’s voice-activated, as if she’s on little oiled wheels, as if she’s on top of a music box.”
➡️ Women reduced to mechanical objects. Protest literature critiques the dehumanisation needed to maintain patriarchal power.
“I can remember screaming, it felt like screaming although it may have only been a ____.”
“I can remember screaming, it felt like screaming although it may have only been a whisper.”
➡️ Erasure of authentic emotional response — survival under oppression numbs expression. Protest genre shows muted suffering.
“She looked disgusting: weak, squirmy, blotchy, pink… Even though we knew what was being done to her, we ____ her.”
“She looked disgusting: weak, squirmy, blotchy, pink… Even though we knew what was being done to her, we despised her.”
➡️ Internalised misogyny — protest literature often reveals how victims can perpetuate oppression themselves.
“Crybaby crybaby crybaby. We meant it, which is the ____ part.”
“Crybaby crybaby crybaby. We meant it, which is the bad part.”
➡️ Suppression of empathy among victims — how regimes destroy solidarity.
“My name isn’t _____. I have another name, which nobody uses now because it’s ____.”
“My name isn’t Offred, I have another name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden.”
➡️ Erasure of personal identity is a key theme in political protest writing — shows control over past, memory, and selfhood.
“Serena Joy grips my ____ as if it is she, not I, who’s being ____.”
“Serena Joy grips my hand as if it is she, not I, who’s being fucked.”
➡️ State-sanctioned rape is displaced onto women themselves, exposing how the system fractures solidarity even among the oppressed.
“There is loathing in her voice, as if the touch of my ____ sickens and contaminates her.”
“There is loathing in her voice, as if the touch of my flesh sickens and contaminates her.”
➡️ Internalised disgust. Protest writing shows how oppressive systems pit victims against each other rather than against oppressors.
“The rings of her left hand cut into my fingers. It may or may not be ____.”
“The rings of her left hand cut into my fingers. It may or may not be revenge.”
“As long as we do this, ____ our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will someday get ____, that we will be touched again, in love or ______. We have ____ of our own.”
“As long as we do this, butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will someday get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire. We have ceremonies of our own.”
➡️ Private, ritualistic hope maintains resistance — essential theme in social and political protest literature.
