Atwood uses many attention-getting instances of figurative language and imagery throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, particularly in the last several chapters. For example, in Chapter 42, the guards in dark helmets look “like beetles,” and a rope “winds like a snake” through various rows of cushions, “bending like a very old, very slow river viewed from the air.” 

 

Go back through the novel and make a list of ten examples of figurative language that particularly stands out to you. Concentrate on simile, metaphor, and imagery. Then make one example of each type, using a comparison that is unusual and designed to grab the reader’s attention.