The Student Room Group
bloody hell i did that one for my exam last year.

i said the theme was onmipresnt cos of images of living things eg flowers to rimd her of life.
also taklk about the particitution - juxtaposition of life and death as she has just had the birth-day. also the 'i could eat a horse'after seeing the violence shows she wana survive even tho they r dying
Reply 2
i felt that the very reading of the book is somewhat a commendable form of survival.

on a more serious note, you could look at survival in a wider picture, i.e. not just Offred. survival of the human race (although many elements of society have actually been unable to "survive").

you could say that this book brings a whole new twist on darwinism - survival of the fittest. this is because, in a sense, the fit and fertile women are the ones who survive (literally staying on top of life), yet their actual livelihood and femininity etc has been removed competely. food for thought.
magiccarpet
bloody hell i did that one for my exam last year.

i said the theme was onmipresnt cos of images of living things eg flowers to rimd her of life.
also taklk about the particitution - juxtaposition of life and death as she has just had the birth-day. also the 'i could eat a horse'after seeing the violence shows she wana survive even tho they r dying

I don't remember that being on the exam! I have brain freeze - I did the question on the historical notes, we'd done loads cos our teacher though it might come up.

I've just had a quick look through my notes and apaprently this is the one theme my teacher didn't do with us. Go figure.

Survival:
Look at the methods she uses to survive and keep herself intact? e.g. never revealing her name to the reader, the silence of her room and it's privacy.
I would probably say the most important elements of her survival are Nick (Mr OT was very keen on the idea of his love giving her a metaphysical freedom and so allowing her physical existence to survive) and I think she is very much sustained by the thought of communicating with the reader - she often remarks "I tell therefore I am" or something similar - it is the idea that even if she cannot speak to us directly, that we are lsitening to her sotry seems to sustain her in some way.

Any help?