“OF” AS A LINGUISTIC INSTRUMENT OF POSSESSION, ERASURE, AND RESISTANCE IN MARGARET ELEANOR ATWOOD’S THE HANDMAID’S TALE

Abstract

In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, language transcends mere description to become prescriptive, ideological, and coercively regulatory. Among the most unsettling linguistic elements is the preposition “of,” which is evident in the names of Handmaids (e.g., Offred, Ofglen, Ofwarren). This article explores how “of” operates as a syntactic indicator of possession, a mechanism for identity erasure, and a locus of symbolic resistance. Utilizing feminist and psychoanalytic theory, the study elucidates how Atwood employs grammar as a weapon to unveil the mechanisms of patriarchal control and the tenuous power of memory and naming.