Atwood likes to break to the past very quickly, with no transition. and she likes to break back to the present also with no transition. We have talked about this in class and it was demonstrated multiple times during this reading. She does it when she is thinking about Moira, then again when she is thinking about Luke. Atwood has done these sort of quick breaks throughout the novel, often throwing us, and making us reconfigure what is going on in the story. I think the theme that the repetition of this technique helps create is the anxiety and random thought that is faced by Offred, and what looks like the other Handmaid’s as well, as we learn during this reading that there is a rebel group that Offglen is in. I think this makes the reader see the quickness of the takeover, because in Offred head, it is still happening and she flips back into her old life, through thought, everyday. The theme could be confusion, or anger, all of which is displayed by Offred’s dissatisfaction with the happenings of her present life. As a human she is not able to let go of the past, and dull her mind. This flipping back and fort points to an awake-ness that is attempted to be hidden and snuffed out by the government running Gilead. This points to unrest, and creates in the reader a kind of urgency, as Offred’s recounting of her old life becomes more and more frequent. Things about the memories also are probably focused on purposefully agitating the reader, like not ever hearing Offred’s real name, or her daughters name. For the first time I think in this reading, she was called “daughter” instead of just “she”. Atwood is using cues to show the reader that were are in the rising action, to keep the reader interested, and possible annoyed that we are seeing more action faster.