The Handmaid's Tale Identity Quotes Page 3
Citations follow this format: (Chapter.Paragraph)
| Quote #7 Falling in love. [...] It was the central thing; it was the way you understood yourself; if it never happened to you, not ever, you would be like a mutant, a creature from outer space. Everyone knew that. (35.13) |
While in Gilead it's dangerous to try to remain yourself in any form, in the time before that people believed that "falling in love" was a crucial part of forming one's identity. Now that seems like a luxury that Handmaids living in this new reality can't afford.
| Quote #8 I have been obliterated for her. I am only a shadow now, far back behind the glib shiny surface of this photograph. A shadow of a shadow, as dead mothers become. You can see it in her eyes: I am not there. (35.35) |
The narrator was robbed of her identity as a mother when her child was taken away, but that didn't mean she didn't feel like a mother any more. This is a second theft of her maternal identity, when she realizes her daughter no longer remembers her. This makes her feel like she doesn't even exist.
| Quote #9 I tell him my real name, and feel that therefore I am known. I act like a dunce. I should know better. I make of him an idol, a cardboard cutout. (41.19) |
Here the narrator explicitly connects the power of her "real name" with being known and understood. This calls on the fairy tale trope of a name-giving power, like how Rumpelstiltskin's name is the answer to his riddle. And in fact, admission of the narrator's name to Nick does give him power over her.
