Milani 1

Monika M. Milani

English 1A

Prof. Russell

16 November 2019

Take Home Exam #3

1. Firstly, the format of the book is almost like a live recount of someone’s life. One can

easily slip into the mind of Lila through this format which is a unique find. We can see the

effects of a person’s environmental upbringing and how it affects how they think and act in

conventional settings. “She still liked to eat a carrot right out of the ground, but she knew that

wasn’t what people did, so she was careful about it.” (Robinson 16).

Lila is unique just as any other human would be, except she has very specific circumstances

that can seem alien to others. Within these experiences she has are feelings that most people can

relate to, like questioning oneself and their own thoughts. She is no stranger to hardships—they

were so prevalent in her life that having these hardships back to back seemed normal to her.

Once she becomes pregnant with her son she really begins to think about what is best for her and

her son. She begins to think outwardly rather than within herself. The specific events of her life

are unique and can seem very far away from another’s exact experience, but beginning to think

about what is best for an incoming child is nothing far away from another person’s experience.

2. Lila and Reverend Ames fall in love from their mutual understanding of loneliness. Lila

sees the Reverend as a person underneath it all. Usually he is the reverend first and foremost. She

didn’t outright communicate her honest thoughts about everything, but her questions and actions
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were honest. She shows care and compassion for his past through her actions such as taking care

of his first wife’s grave. Because of this, he fell for her. Lila regularly questioned why the

Reverend would stick around for her, but the fact that he did with so much patience was a big

factor in her falling in love with him. She likes how he cares for others, his gentleness, and how

he is a good-hearted man.

3. Lila, Doll, and Reverend Ames are all heroic in their own ways. Reverend Ames exhibits

exceptionally heroic traits. Firstly, he has the courage to love after losing his first wife and child.

He has dedicated his life to his religion, but moreso serving the people of Gilead and being a

beacon of light to guide them out of their darkness whenever possible. He treats everybody that

he encounters with kindness

4. As most adult influences are to children, Doll affected Lila’s life in both negative and

positive ways. Positively, Doll gave Lila time to trust her. She didn’t force anything on her and

she was aware of how her abusive home could affect her development. She took her out of that

abusive environment and while they didn’t have much, she gave Lila more love than she

would’ve experienced in her original home. Additionally, Lila learned how to live on very little

and could be independent by herself through the economic crash.

The negative aspects of Doll’s care include Lila’s lack of education. Lila enjoyed school

but Doll didn’t understand what it was really for. There were a lot of things that Lila

unfortunately did not get access to as a child. She does not fully understand societal norms even

after years of being immersed in it and had severe trust issues not from Doll, but from what Doll

taught her. Doll didn’t have much materially to give. There were simply lots of things that Lila

didn’t learn because Doll didn’t know how to teach it or who to trust.
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5. Doll’s shawl symbolizes Doll’s protection. The ultimate fragility of that protection is

demonstrated by Doane burning the shawl after Doll leaves Lila in Doane’s care indefinitely.

After that experience, Lila begins to learn how to be without Doll.

6. Lila’s revelation is that we can’t actually count everything we do and don’t have. Eternity

is in everything we are even after physical death. She could simply keep thinking about the

specifics of every aspect of her life but it is much better to just let it be and live in the now.

“Things happen the way they do, Why was a foolish question,” (259).

She also thinks about how everything matters to the world in some way. One shouldn’t

throw something away just because it reminds them of a negative feeling because they could turn

it into something better. “…she could explain to herself why she mean to keep [Doll’s knife].

There was no way to abandon guilt, no decent way to disown it… No, better, grace had to fall

over them,” (260). Additionally, she knows that morality is not black and white. “It couldn’t be

fair to punish people for trying to get by, people who were good by their own lights, when it took

all the courage they had to be good.” (259)