the problematics of motherhood in twentieth century women's fiction

Quite ironically, the Commander's wife, who is barren, 1s
constantly associated with gardens / flowers The blossoms
worn by Serena Joy, however, are wlthered, like her
NO use for you, I think at her, my face unmoving,
you can't use them anymore, you're wlthered
They're the genital organs of pllnts (HT 82)
Flowers and plants suggest the conflnlng circumstances of
sex'Jallty and reproduction in Gllead Colour symbolism 1s
employed in the novel -- Offred struggles to keep the Image
of crimson tullps free from the assoclatlon wlth blood The
entlre attlre of the handmaids 1s red In colour "Everything
except the w1ngs around my face IS, red the color of blood,
whlch defines us" (HT 8 ) (emphasis added), blood, of course,
standlng for fertlllty / sexualrty Looklng at herself,
Offred feels llke "a srster, dippedln blood" (HT 91
5.5.3.4. Beloved's youth and exuberance IS described in
terms of planc Images
women drd what strawberry plants dld before they
shot out fhln vlnes, the quallty of the green
changed Then the vine threads came, then the
buds By the t ~me the whlte petals died and the
mlnt-coloured berry poked out, the leaf shlne was
glided t~ght and waxy That's how Beloved looked
- gllded and shining (B 79)
The scars Inflicted on Sethe's back which Amy visuallses as
a chokecherry tree 1s indicative of her fertll~ty and role