How Does Margaret Atwood Use Flashback In The Handmaid's Tale

Did you ever have the desire to do something, even though it felt wrong? In the fictional novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale”, by Margaret Atwood, the narrator lives in a dystopian world and gives her second thoughts about staying. Knowing that she will not go back to her old life, has her thinking about the decisions she will make. Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” shows that temptation leads to risky actions as shown through the narrator’s flashback, the foreshadow of the black van, and the narrator’s tone. Throughout the book, the narrator has been having flashbacks. These flashbacks were usually related to what she was thinking in the present. For instance, “Nothing was packed up, because we weren’t taking much with us and we couldn’t afford even to give the least appearance of leaving” (Atwood 192). The narrator and her husband, Luke, were planning on leaving Gilead and wanted it to be done secretly. Both were tempted to leave seeing that they would not have their old life back. The narrator’s desire was strong considering a cat’s life was taken, for her to try and leave. Immediately, “Useless as it turned out. I wonder who told them” (Atwood 193). Thereafter, they still managed to get caught and the narrator always questioned …show more content…
The narrator is very cautious when she knows that The Eye are nearby. In this case, “What I feel is relief. It wasn’t me” (Atwood 170). The narrator, being cautious, was having a conversation with Ofglen and saw that a black van had stopped near them. This event has a small connection to what happens to her later. The black van belonged to The Eye, a group everyone was trying to avoid. Later, “”It’s alright. It’s Mayday. Go with them.”” (Atwood 293). This was nearly at the end of her story where she had been tempted to trust Nick to get into the black van. However, no one knows what happened to her, she did it due to her desire and hope to