Bad dream Quote by Margaret Atwood
““Nothing changes instantaneously: in a gradually heating bathtub, you'd be boiled to death before you knew it. There were stories in the newspapers, of course, corpses in ditches or the woods, bludgeoned to death or mutilated, interfered with, as they used to say, but they were about other women, and the men who did such things were other men. None of them were the men we knew. The newspaper stories were like dreams to us, bad dreams dreamt by others. How awful, we would say, and they were, but they were awful without being believable. There were too melodramatic, they had a dimension that was not the dimension of our lives. We were the people who were not in the papers. We lived in the blank white spaces at the edges of print. It gave us more freedom.””
About This Quote
Source Novel: The Handmaid’s Tale, 1985
Gradual, unnoticed change can be more lethal than sudden events, and personal narratives often feel detached from sensational news.
In simple terms: Slow change can be deadly; media feels distant.
Key Takeaway
Stay aware of subtle shifts in life.
Themes
awareness
media
reality
identity
freedom
Mood
reflective
somber
thoughtful
Type
analytical
philosophical
When to use this quote
- personal relationships
- political activism
- media consumption
- mental health
- social change
Key Concepts
psychology
social critique
existentialism
Questions to Reflect On
- How do you recognize slow dangers in your life?
- What role does media play in shaping your sense of reality?
A Different Perspective
The metaphor may oversimplify complex social dynamics.
