Response to “The Handmaid's Tale” PART1

   “The Handmaid’s Tale” is really a long story and is hard to read, because the words the author uses contain many adjectives and some of them is difficult for me. From my point of view, the first four parts of this book are a little bit depressing. The parts I read only introduce the handmaid’s life and the background. To be honest, I am not fully understood what’s the main point of those parts.

  

   The second part “shopping” impresses me most, because they are curious when they go outside. Maybe the reason why they have such reaction is because their status is low. The book describes a detail when they see the Japanese tourists, the narrator stares at them and feels that they enjoy a lot of freedom. She says that these people wear open-toed sandals and she remembers the smell of the nail polish. As we all know that it is hard to memorize the smell of a nail polish, thus I think the handmaid exaggerates her feeling in order to emphasize those Japanese impress her a lot. As for them, however, do not have much freedom. They say it is to late to turn their head back and their faces have been seen. 

   

   As far as I am concerned, guardian is a very important character in this book. This occupation is not limited to only one person but a large group of people. Maybe power is another name for guardian. Every time when those guys appear, some powerful people or serious moment will come to narrator’s mind. For instance, also in part II, it writes that a guardian is washing a car, which means the Commander must be in that house. The feeling of the handmaid will become depressive once the guardians appear. They are afraid of those people because guardians represent the rules the handmaids have to obey. If they betray them, their result may become the same as those hanged man.