The Handmaid's Tale 2

“A chair, a table, a lamp. Above, on the white ceiling, a relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, and in the center of it’s blank space, plastered over, like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out.”  (7)

Notice the stark way Atwood describes Offred's room. She uses adjectives like “white” and “blank,” but mostly keeps them to a minimum. This language could symbolize the emptiness Offred feels in her life and the absence of anything intellectually stimulating.