Balance of power in the Handmaid’s Tale almost always happens against the law to counteract the strict social hierarchy, while imbalance of power almost always indicates a dependence of someone lower on the social ladder on someone higher. People of different social levels aren’t supposed to interact, or they're supposed to have the least amount of interaction possible to keep Gilead going. However, some characters break this hierarchy by interacting, thus breaking the law. At one point in the book, Offred and Ofwarren realize they have found an ally in each other. They find out because Ofwarren said something that is considered treason, and Offred went along with it. Handmaids aren’t supposed to even look each other in the eye, let alone have …show more content…
Cora finds Offred sleeping in the closet; she thinks Offred has committed suicide and in her fright drops the breakfast tray full of food. Because there would’ve been too much explaining to do had Cora gotten another full tray of food, they decide to lie- Cora says Offred had a full breakfast, and Offred doesn’t admit Cora dropped the tray of food. “It was a link between us” (Atwood 152). In lying, Cora and Offred find common ground, which puts them on a relatively equal power level and brings them closer together. Having an ally in a world where handmaids are supposed to be alone offers a sense of security for both people involved, and allows an outlet for people who repeatedly commit suicide for lack of affection. When people interact in the Handmaid’s Tale, it’s not always for balance of power- sometimes interactions are due or lead to a higher imbalance of power than there was before. Offred explains what it was like when they made the shift from United States to Gilead. After Offred’s bank account is invalidated and she is fired from her job, all of her previous money was transferred to her husband’s account; he now has the power to control if and when she can use money, and decide what she can use it
In The Handmaid 's Tale by Margaret Atwood, readers are introduced to Offred, who is a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. As this novel is
The Handmaid’s tale is a story in which throughout the text, the readers witness the events that occurred in Offred’s life in the past or the present. However, for this reason, there is uncertainty that the narrator is telling the truth. “If it 's a story I 'm telling, then I have control over the ending...But if it 's a story, even in my head, I must be telling it to someone. You don 't tell a story only to yourself. There 's always someone else. Even when there is no one.” (Atwood 39-40) This quotation is significant because the readers know that the irony of her telling that this is a story is evident that she has control because the reader is limited to the knowledge of the narrator. Overall, The Handmaid’s tale focuses on many topics, but the main idea of the story is that the actions of what society does, foreshadows their future. When there is no one to lean on after the physically present superior model is gone, people will learn to turn to and have faith in an unseen
“Atwood looks explicitly at the thesis that we are our own enemies,” (Feuer). What Feuer is trying to explain is that the women in the Gilead society feed into the treatment of feminism and do nothing to stop it. This goes hand and hand with Offred's problem with her relationships. Offred sets her relationships for failure when she begins a relationship in a sticky situation. As a handmaid, she is not allowed to see Nick or have any relationship for that matter. Because of the riskiness, the relationship was doomed from the start just as the one with Luke. As soon as Offred got comfortable with Nick and they were intimate, Offred began analyzing so many things and questioning everything, but she gave into herself as she is her own enemy. She was incapable of standing up to her temptations and therefore Offred did not learn to become a better person. Aside from Nick, Offred also had a forbidden relationship with the Commander. Offered was still a Handmaid that abided by the rules before she went to her secret meetings with the Commander. Offred “...constructs her own subjectivity through language as a mode of survival…”
They have to come round in their own time.” Montag simply is willing to listen to before everybody else is; he goes a step further than Clarisse by seeking answers to his questions. In the Handmaid’s Tale however, Offred, though certainly more rebellious than her counterparts therefore in this sense a nonconformist, is not necessarily a rebellious character. Inside her lies an internal struggle against the totalitarian regime, which she quietly defies through small acts such as reading or glancing at Nick when she shouldn’t. Offred, is not fully indoctrinated by Gilead’s regime, unlike the character of Janine, who she refers to as “one of Aunt Lydia 's pets,” the use of the word ‘pet’ indicating her bitterness towards the system.
Before the war handmaids had their own lives, families, and jobs but that’s all gone now; They have all been separated from their families and assigned to A Commander and his wife to have their child. Handmaids did not choose this life but it was forced upon them. The society which Offred is forced to live in shaped her in many ways. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood uses cultural and geographical surroundings to shape Offred's psychological and moral traits as she tries to survive the society that she is forced to live, in hopes that she can rebel and make
Offred, among other women depicted in this novel, tries to overcome this dominion. In her own way, she attempts to do this by ensuring the Commander’s expectations of her behavior which could result in her freedom. Thus, there is a present power struggle between the Commander and Offred throughout The Handmaid’s
Yet in order to keep safe you must be aware of the consequences that follow. Working together gives you strength and knowledge but you must be able to trust and rely on others. "Her fault, her fault, her fault, we chant in unison,”(88).The Handmaid's chant this at Jenine as she was describing herself getting raped, instead of working together to survive they turned on her breaking their trust. As any survival goes you must be aware of your surroundings and see outside of what's being presented right in front of you. “They only show us victories, never defeats. Who wants bad news?”(102). Gilead is very focused on showing all their victories and hides all the bad in order to persuade the public using propaganda. In order to survive you must see the bigger picture and not just what's in front of you. Offred realizes that she is always being watched and has to be aware of her surroundings or she could get caught. “There was always that possibility Nick, the private eye.”(366). Eyes in the handmaid's tale are people who belong the the government and act like spies gaining information. Offred describes that nick is one of them and that she too has fallen for his disguise. Having awareness and knowledge won't always guarantee survival and people will always do things that could decrease their chances of survival, but you must be aware of what's happening around you and be aware of the
To deal with the desolation that he feels, he illegally seeks out to meet with Offred, his handmaid. They make “ an arrangement. It’s not the first such arrangement in history, though the shape it’s taken is not the usual one”(Attwood 154). The Commander puts their lives immediately in danger after the first time he asks Offred to join him in his room. She is not the first handmaid that the Commander has outreached to, and she soon realizes why his previous handmaid hung herself. He justifies his illegal desires with an excuse that he simply wants Offred’s life more bearable to her. She realizes that “the Commander exists in a different realm altogether (a realm of duty, obligation; a realm in which love does not exist)” and does not realize how miserable Offred really is (Miner 154). He does not offer her love in return for everything that she has lost, but he does allow her small physical freedoms like reading and lotion. The things that Offred wants, seem ridiculous to the Commander which “wasn’t the first time he gave evidence of being truly ignorant of the real conditions” that handmaids live under (Attwood 159). What he does not want to admit is that he needs Offred’s company as much as she needs his. The Commander uses Offred as someone to relax
In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, social turmoil after a staged terrorist attack has led to a totalitarian Christian regime. In this dystopian future, the roles of men and women are much different than in today’s society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, women are unequal because they have no choice about their bodies, their dress, or their relationships.
The Handmaid’s Tale shows acts of rebellion throughout, but when we as an audience first see a sort of rebellion push through the strict control of Gileadean society is when the Commander and Offred have their first evening together. Offred’s metaphor “If I press my eye to it, this weakness of his, I may be able to see myself clear.” is a foreshadowing of the idea that maybe through these evenings with the Commander she may be able to ease her way out of Gileadean society. “It’s like a small crack in the wall, before now impenetrable.” Use of simile in her language gives the audience a glimpse into the hope she feels, that maybe she may be able to escape, maybe she has another chance at a normal life. Offred’s first time seeing the Commander’s
People need some sort of control in their lives, whether that be through big or little things. In The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, the republic of Gilead had clear positions that enabled more power for some compared to others, the most powerful being the commander and the least being the handmaid’s. Men were the ones controlling all of Gilead and they had the power to make the rules. There were different ways in which men ruled over women a few of them being taking away their names, using the wall as a threat and controlling what they wear.
In Some societies extreme religious laws and rules is followed as a solution to problems. Allowing religious fundamentalists to run a regime can lead to injustice, for certain people in the regime. In the Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaids tale such things like these take place where freedom is revoked and nightmares are reality for the women of Gilead. The novel presents as a totalitarian society where there is a governing system in which a ruling command holds all power and controls everything in the society. The regime takes it laws very strict because these laws are said to be of god and by disobeying the government the people are disobeying God. The narrator reminds us that there are freedom but
Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, the author Margaret Atwood gives the reader an understanding of what life would be like in a theocratic society that controls women’s lives. The narrator, Offred gives the reader her perspective on the many injustices she faces as a handmaid. Offred is a woman who lived before this society was established and when she undergoes the transition to her new status she has a hard time coping with the new laws she must follow. There are many laws in this government that degrade women and give men the authority of each household. All women are placed in each household for a reason and if they do not follow their duties they are sent away or killed. Atwood bases the irrational laws in the Gilead republic on the many
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
Offred is one of the main characters in The Handmaid's Tale. She was the faithful wife of Luke, mother of an eleven month old child and a working woman, before she entered the Republic of Gilead. She was given the name "Offred", when she entered Gilead. This was to make it known that she was a handmaid. Offred becomes psychologically programmed in Gilead as a handmaid, and the mistress of the commander who is in power of all things. She was used for her ovaries to reproduce a child, because they are living in an age where birth rates are declining. Offred was ordered by Serena Joy, the handmaid's barren wife who develops some jealousy and envy towards her to become the lover of Nick. Nick is the family chauffeur, and Offred becomes deeply in love with him. At the end of all the confusion, mixed emotions, jealousy, envy and chaos towards her, she escapes the Republic of Gilead. Offred is given treatment and advantages by the commander that none of the there handmaids are given. During the times the commander and Offred were seeing each other secretly, he began to develop some feelings for her that he tried to hide. Somewhere along the times when Offred and the commander began having secret meetings with each other, Offred too began to develop some feelings for the commander. Offred is also a special handmaid, because she has actually experienced love, the satisfaction of having a child years before. She knows what it is to feel loved, to be in love and to have someone love you. That is all when she has knowledge, a job, a family and money of her own. That is when her life was complete. Because all of that has been taken away from...