11th October 2010 Classwork

Analyse the following passage using A01 techniques:
"I lie in bed, still trembling. You can wet the rim of a glass and run your finger around the rim and it will make a sound. this is what I feel like; this sound of glass. I feel like the word shatter. I want to be with someone".

The use of simile "I feel like the word shatter" connotes that Offred feels like she is word and that word being shatter. The word shatter connotes broken, smashed and in pieces, moreover the word shattered is associated with glass which is see through and clear. In addition this connotes that Offred feels that she has no privacy because she is answerable to everyone, she is undermined, and she is not trusted. When glass is shattered it is sharp, jagged and it can inflict pain, this signifies that one day Offred will shatter and she will inflict pain on the people of her choice.
Offred is also broken because she has lost her husband Luke and her Daughter, and she has no way of finding them. Within the previous chapter Offred had been saying how much she wants Luke back and how much she misses him.
Moreover in the previous chapter Offred has "fucked" the commander, she refuses to call it sex because she does not enjoy it and she has no choice in the matter, she does it because she has too. She used to enjoy having sex with Luke hence why she links the idea of having sex with the commander and having sex with Luke whom she loves whole heartidly.

Offred states what she is doing and where she is doing it, this gives the reader background information.
"I lie in bed" Offred does not call it her bed, she only states in bed which connotes that she does not think that it is her bed.