Adam Wheat

P.3
4-2-2015
Synthesis Essay
Timed Write
In the Handmaids Tale, the handmaids serve one purpose. That is to get pregnant and
carry on the country. Offred overthinks meanings of words. She will have a conversation and
she will misspeak and completely overthink it. She does this because she has a lot of time on
her hands. With that time she can she can ponder the usage and meanings of words
In the class system of Gilead the Handmaids are the lowest class. The have their own
separate living quarters. In her small room she finds the latin phrase nolite te bastardes
carborundorum. Obviously she doesnt know latin. But she has the time to think about the
meaning .It pleases me to ponder this message She enjoys thinking about a phrase. When
was the last time you read a billboard and sat down and thought about it for a day or so. That
basically is what Offred does. Offred mind doesn't have time to lose focus. To be honest there is
not that much to be distracted with
Another reason that can be referenced in Cat Thompsons The Power of Language As
you become more comfortable with silence, more comfortable being powerful and more
conscious of your word choices Now obviously the Handmaids have no political power but in
the case of Offred she has power of language. But she also had a relevant job in the past. In
this post-apocalyptic world Offred was a librarian. She was around reading for a living. So when
given the opportunity to play scrabble a game that the person with the highest vocabulary wins,
she excelled. She came up with words like larynx,valance,quince and zygote. Only kids that
read the dictionary can come up with those words.all these words are scientific and In this world
the bible and science do not neccesary walk down the street hand and hand. So her words itself
are revolutionary.Back to the article Ms. Thompson says Whether or not we realize it, we are

constantly using language to evolve our beliefs into concrete reality. By becoming more aware
of of the impact and power of language we can make more conscious insightful choices about
how we express ourselves and how we interpret others With this in mind think of all the time
Offred has in her room to contemplate language. She choices to have power in language
Because of Offreds current condition, she has the power of language at her fingertips.
she became acquainted with this power only after she had all her rights taken away. After this
she had more time to think about the words she uses and how she uses it. After all Aristotle
once said For the things we have to learn before we can do them,we learn by doing them., and
Offred has had a lot of practice