Passage 170 · 1985
"The Handmaid's Tale"
Main effectThrough inverted copulative tautology, interrupted attribution, relative what-you're-used-to definition, demonstrative this-horror, modal may-not-seem acknowledgment, vague after-a-time, and double future will/will-become inevitability, Atwood creates syntax of totalitarian normalization—grammar showing how authority redefines ordinary through circular logic and temporal inevitability, making horror mundane through linguistic assertion.
Device index
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Tropes
Saying same thing twice.
Mild expression for harsh reality.
Schemes
Repetition at beginning.
Syntax
"Ordinary...is what you are used to"—complement-copula-subject inversion with relative clause. Syntax foregrounds term being defined.
"said Aunt Lydia"—inverted reporting verb. Syntax interrupts definition with speaker attribution.
"what you are used to"—interrogative relative defining ordinary. Syntax makes accustomization the essence.
"This"—demonstrative pronoun for totalitarian system. Syntax gestures at unnamed horror.
"may not seem ordinary"—epistemic modal with negative. Syntax acknowledges current perception.
"after a time"—temporal phrase without specifics. Syntax refuses to specify duration of adaptation.
"it will"—future modal expressing prediction. Syntax asserts inevitability.
"It will become ordinary"—future copula completing normalization. Syntax makes adaptation into transformation.
Close reading
1Close Reading
Inverted Copula
"Ordinary...is what you are used to"—complement-copula-subject inversion with relative clause. Syntax foregrounds term being defined.
Reporting Verb
"said Aunt Lydia"—inverted reporting verb. Syntax interrupts definition with speaker attribution.
Relative Clause Definition
"what you are used to"—interrogative relative defining ordinary. Syntax makes accustomization the essence.
Deictic Reference
"This"—demonstrative pronoun for totalitarian system. Syntax gestures at unnamed horror.
Modal Negation
"may not seem ordinary"—epistemic modal with negative. Syntax acknowledges current perception.
Temporal Vagueness
"after a time"—temporal phrase without specifics. Syntax refuses to specify duration of adaptation.
Future Certainty
"it will"—future modal expressing prediction. Syntax asserts inevitability.
Future Copulative
"It will become ordinary"—future copula completing normalization. Syntax makes adaptation into transformation.
Stylistic Effect
Through inverted copulative tautology, interrupted attribution, relative what-you're-used-to definition, demonstrative this-horror, modal may-not-seem acknowledgment, vague after-a-time, and double future will/will-become inevitability, Atwood creates syntax of totalitarian normalization—grammar showing how authority redefines ordinary through circular logic and temporal inevitability, making horror mundane through linguistic assertion.