One of the most important themes in the novel is power. Gilead is in a dictatorship, so power and manipulation is on the top. It is close to impossible for one to protect themselves from the government and have no hope of help from the outside and that’s is one of the characteristics of power that is the most visible. Power from one direction is always displayed, rather than people getting a consent from the government and maintain how the society should be run. The government in Gilead must cover every street and every individual with guns and guards. The security must be tight and constant, the only place that is free of guards is in their thoughts and heads, this creates a meaningful and big amount of isolation between one another. Atwood …show more content…
Offred’s own pursuit of sexual release brought her to enjoy her sexual encounters with Nick, the commander’s driver, which were organized by Serena joy after she realized the commander was sterile. Offred took the opportunity of sleeping with Nick not only to obey Serena but to indulge in her own pleasure, it provided her with a small hint of meaning in life. Shortly after Offred was sent to live in a Commander’s home, the Commander asked her to privately meet him in his office in the late evenings. Both of them played scrabble, and read magazines during their meetings. Once the Commander took Offred to the Jezebels and they indulged in sexual intercourse, notwithstanding without Offred’s mutual consent. Offred had a minimal amount of time to contemplate and decide an action, yet she grabbed the chance and it greatly affected her life later on. In the ending of the novel after Serena joy finds out about the Commanders secret meetings with Offred, a black van arrives, which in the earlier parts of the book were depicted as government run vehicles that capture people for punishment. Nick comes to Offred to take her to the van, leading her to think Nick was a spy all along, but nick assures her that he is part of the rebels and this van will bring her to safety. Offred was swirling in a thick fog of uncertainty, yet she took the opportunity. The reader is not provided what occurred to Offred, if the van was a spy or part of the mayday, it either catapulted her into the winds of freedom or pushed her down the cliff of agony. Atwood’s portrayal of Offred’s love affair is an excellent exemplar for the interlinkage of time and opportunity, as the more truth behind an individual is revealed, a clear perspective arises for the path
Forming everyday life in different ways. Majority of all power in Gilead has been passed to the men and
Offred is one of the Handmaid’s in the Republic of Gilead. This used to be known as the United States of America but now it is Gilead, a theocratic state. Because of an issue that occurred, women lost all of their money and rights. Handmaid’s were then assigned to higher class couples that were unable to have children, that was the new job for the Handmaid’s. Offred was assigned to the Commander and Serena Joy, his wife. Offred was once married to a man named Luke and they had a baby girl together. When this issue started occurring and Offred lost her rights, her, Luke and their daughter tried to escape to Canada but were caught. Offred has not seen Luke or her daughter since that incident. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, the most unorthodox characters are Offred, Serena Joy, and The Commander.
Offred finds herself believing that she failed as a mother, seeing the photograph of her daughter, Offred realizes that she would be just as good as dead and considers herself as “erased”, this could lead to changes in her character by her thinking it’s futile to keep being suppressed by Gilead’s laws and try to challenge them. In the following chapter Offred is noticed taking a risk by accepting a request from the commander, she finds her life dull and boring even if she does communicate with the commander. In the novel Offred reaches her breaking point, “ I know without being told that what he’s proposing is risky, for him but especially for me; but I want to go anyway. I want anything that breaks the monotony, subverts the perceived respectable order of things” (Atwood 231). Offred decides to go on a date with the commander because she is tired of living an isolated, dull life, and all of this is caused by her believing she doesn’t have anything to live for since she lost connections with everyone in her past.
Throughout the majority of the novel, Offred recounts on her mother’s character, whom she thinks is dead. She was a single mother and a proud feminist. In the first quarter, Offred recounts on a flashback of her mother burning porn magazines, claiming that they are degrading to women. However, towards the end of the novel, Offred learns that she is in fact alive, yet is living in the Colonies. Moira had seen her in a video about women living the Colonies, which is completely contrasted from the beginning, when Offred viewed her mother in a documentary protesting. This shows how Gilead has significantly changed her as a person. Living in the Colonies is just as bad as death because although she is alive she is required to do menial and even dangerous labour like cleaning radioactive waste. Earlier in the book, during Offred’s flashbacks, her mother was always a strong female character. She was always speaking and acting on behalf of women’s rights, yet now she has not fulfilled these expectations. She has been subjugated and indifferent like the rest of the women, not at all optimistic and energetic like she was in her previous life. Her complicity shows the reader how oppressive the society is and how even the toughest characters become
Prior to meeting Nick, Offred abhorred her life as a handmaid. She was depressed and she even mentions thoughts of killing herself. Even though the Commander spends time with her, Offred still did not grew to love him or find comfort in him, as seen during the night the Commander slept with Offred; Even the commander was disappointed by Offred’s lack of enthusiasm. However, ever since Offred slept with Nick, she became enamoured with him. Nick became her source of content and joy; she idolized him. Even though she hated her role as a handmaid, she became used to it if it means she can stay with
Offred being the main character tells us the tales of Gilead as it happens, she experiences Gilead in the flesh, and her accounts to her previous life gives us a stronger understanding of how the prison she lives in has affected
And not to make light or detract in any shape or form, the seriousness of his statements, he has exercised his right to free speech but has made some very controversial statements. Regardless of what he has said, does that give the state, government, or any other entity put in place, the right to take his property away? Many times we get caught up and so angry, we demand immediate action and change that we do not realize we may be infringing upon our own freedoms by taking away someone else’s freedoms. This is exactly the essence of Atwood’s message, she further validates her point through the character of Serena Joy, the commander’s wife who was a well-known television personality whose speeches, as Offred, the main character recalled, "Were about the sanctity of the house, about how women should stay home" (45). Offred found these speeches and Serena 's earnestness frightening (46). One of her most significant reflections about Serena 's promotion of these traditional values is how Serena reacts to the reality of being a Wife in Gilead: "She doesn 't make speeches anymore. She has become speechless. She stays in her home, but it doesn 't seem to agree with her. How furious she must be, now that she 's been taken at her word" (46).
The Commander admitted to Offred that Serena does not understand him and he doesn’t love her at all. As a result, he doesn’t have a choice but seeking for knowledge through the handmaids when they are having affairs because Gilead doesn’t allow the commanders to marry a handmaid. The Commander, however, admits that he had an affair with the girl who used to live in the same room with Offred; “‘She hanged herself, he says; thoughtfully, not sadly. ‘That’s why we had the light fixture removed. In your room.’
Both novels treat humans as items and not as human beings. In HMT, the entire structure of the Gilead society was built around the single goal of reproduction. Gilead is a society facing a crisis of radically dropping birthrates and to solve the problem it forces state control on the means of reproduction. Controlling women's bodies can succeed only by controlling the women themselves. The society's political order requires the overthrow of women. The government strips the women of the right to vote, the right to hold property or jobs and the right to read. The women's ovaries and womb become a `national resource' to the society. Women cease to be treated as individuals and rather as potential mothers. Women internalize the state created attitude even independent women like the narrator of HMT, Offred. At one point lying in a bathtub and looking at her naked form, Offred states;
... is only alive in her dreams, she aches for her and fears that her child will not remember or even she is dead. Atwood writes about motherhood, and the irony lies in the fact that Offred did not have an ideal relationship with her mother even though Gilead’s system was not established, yet Offred who is separated for her daughter shows affection towards her child by constantly thinking and dreaming about her. Even though Offred felt pressured from her mother, she still misses her, ‘I want her back’ and she even reminisces about when she used to visit her and Luke.
Offred’s journey is a prime example of the appalling effects of idly standing by and allowing herself to become a part of the Gilead’s corrupt system. This woman is a Handmaid which was recently placed within a new
This is the way Atwood gets across her feelings about the future world that Offred lives in. She forms a close relationship with the reader and the character, and then shows the reader Offred’s feelings about different aspects of the world. This is not to say that everyone reading the book will get the exact same thing from it.
Offred can not escape the fact that, in spite of the treatment from Serena Joy and the commander, that they both will have, if not already, an impact on her life. Not to mention Nick also. Nick gave her the comfort and the security that she wanted, and in the end nothing done to her by the commander or his wife mattered to her. Living in the Republic of Gilead will always be a memory that she will probably try to forget. & nbsp;
When Offred answers that she is not yet pregnant, Serena Joy mentions that the Commander might be sterile. This moves the plot further. By telling Offred this, Serena has taken a large risk. Offred can report her to an Eye or tell the Commander. She shows Offred that she is willing to trust her, which makes Offred more willing to listen to her proposal. When Offred agrees, she is taking a large risk as well, and her agreement also furthers the plot. Then, Serena Joy suggests that Offred “should try it another way” and then offers the idea of the arrangement, which is her purpose in this scene. Offred considers the idea and says, “Not with a doctor”, signaling that she is taking the idea seriously. This moves the plot further because then Serena Joy sees that Offred is willing but she wants to negotiate the details of the arrangement. Next, Serena Joy offers the idea of having the arrangement with Nick. This is important because it leads to Offred’s affair with him later in the story. Offred finally agrees and this begins her arrangement, and later affair, with Nick. In appreciation of Offred’s cooperation,
Though Offred is developed as a character through her opinions on female sexuality, she is further characterized by her individuality and willingness to defy her social expectations as a female, assigned to her by her government. In Atwood’s work, the narrative is told by an intelligent individual named Offred who is oppressed by Gilead’s female expectations but is not afraid to defy these assigned roles despite not being a traditional heroine (Nakamura). Even as Offred’s previous identity is stripped away from her, she retains small pieces of her womenhood and individuality through defiant actions such as manipulating men with her feminity from swaying her hips slighty in their line of sight to making direct eye contact with certain men, which she is forbidden from. On the other hand, a major act of rebellion from