The Handmaid's Tale One

"Every month there is a moon, gigantic, round, heavy, an omen. It transits, pauses, continues on and passes out of sight, and I see despair coming towards me like famine. To feel that empty, again, again. I listen to my heart, wave upon wave, salty and red, continuing on and on, marking time." (pg. 74)

With so many books out there these days about vampires and werewolves, one may automatically associate a sentence that uses "the moon" and "monthly" to be relating to the topic. Written in 1865, The Book Of Werewolves describes that lycanthropy becomes tangible at the full moon. In Atwood's book, The Handmaid's Tale, Offred could be perceived as Little Red Riding-Hood in her crimson frock during the Ceremony, a monthly ritual where The Commander becomes almost beast-like in his ways. The ritual has prophetic significance and is treated almost as an omen; if the Handmaids feel empty, again, again, and do not become pregnant, they are liable to get shipped off to the colonies. Perhaps this relation suggests how fragile the Handmaid's are, and how liable they are to be taken advantage of.

Baring-Gould, Sabine, The Book Of Were-wolves, Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1865