The narrator focusses on what the gym had been for the entire first paragraph. She also talks about the people that would have been inside the gym, and points out their clothing.
By speaking about this for the longest paragraph in the chapter, this shows us immediately that there is an emphasis on the past.

The Identity of the Narrator

The narrator is unnamed, however we can infer that the narrator is female.
For example, there is an emphasis on what the women in the pictures are wearing and little mention of the men who would have been inside the gym. The emphasis on women and their clothing choices shows us the narrator may be comparing herself to these women and perhaps feeling jealous of their freedom of expression.
She later talks about the 'hands that were on us there and then, in the small of the back.'
This would be an unusual thing for men to have someone put their hands on the small of their backs, so this description suggests a female narrator talking of her past sexual experiences with men.

	Created by Summer Pearce over 8 years ago

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, for the Imagined Worlds section of the English Language and Literature A-Level Exam

Chapters One and Two with First Impressions of the Novel