Self Destruction Bringing upon unwanted situations on oneself is not very uncommon. From buying that new purse instead of paying the bills becoming in debt to thinking it was going to be alright to leave a child in vehicle for five minutes on a hot day. The Handmaid’s Tale also contains many situations of character’s actions resulting in undesirable circumstances. Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale proves “The greatest griefs are those we cause ourselves.” (Sophocles) through the character’s wrong decisions ending poorly. This is seen through Serena Joy’s solitude, Offred’s oppression and the Commander’s lustfulness. Many individuals imprison themselves in solitude for the protection from others or themselves. This is exactly the case …show more content…
Oppression is the best word to describe Offred's living condition. Being the lowest in a social hierarchy is exactly what it means to be a Handmaid, such as Offred. But, before Offred was a Handmaid she had a normal life; a husband, a child and a job. All of this was taken away from her and she was left with little to no rights that she once had. Her thoughts about he past now consume her. “I want Luke here so badly. I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways I am not; I want to be more valuable.I want to repeat my former name, remind myself of what I once could do, how others saw me. I want to steal something.” (Atwood 111) Offred’s deprivation of her former life creates desires that would not result in her favour, such as stealing. Throughout the duration of The Handmaid’s Tale Offred finds herself with the desire to steal whether it be a knife or a match. These thoughts soon turn into actions and Offred now has to deal with risks that come with them. Even with the fear of others discovering what she has stolen Offred must also fear what she herself discovers. “I take [the photograph] from her, turn it around so I can see it right-side-up...is this what she’s like, my treasure... I am obliterated for her...A shadow of a shadow, as dead mothers become...Better she’d brought me nothing.” (Atwood 264) When Offred is brought a photo of her daughter instead of being filled with joy she is …show more content…
It is also distinguished in The Handmaid’s Tale through the Commander’s actions. The Commander is a married man yet it is known that he is not very faithful to his wife. It may be due to her conservative character but he too does not put effort into his marriage. Instead of rebuilding his relationship with his wife he decides to build a relationship with Offred, his handmaid, instead. “I go to him and place my lips, closed, against his...He draws away, looks down at me. There’s that smile again, the sheepish one such a candour. “Not like that,” he says. “As if you mean it.” (Atwood 162) This relationship between the Commander and Offred is one sided. While Offred just wanted to have a bit of freedom from her usual routine such as playing scrabble and being able to use lotion instead of butter the Commander wanted more. The Commander becomes infatuated and creates a false sense of love for himself that will end tragically. “ “Tonight I have a little surprize for you,” he says. He laughs it’s more like a snicker...He goes to his desk, fumbles with his drawer. Then comes towards me, one hand behind his back. “Guess,” he says. “Animal, vegetable or mineral?” I say. “Oh animal,” he says… “Definitely animal”...It’s a garment...and for a woman.” (Atwood 266) The garment the Commander give to Offred to wear is obviously used to sexualize woman. This is exactly the Commander’s intent. Offred wears
The women are divided into functions and are identified by the colour of their dress. In chapter 5, Offred is walking down the streets of Gilead, reminiscing about the days she used to walk down the street wearing what she wanted to wear before she got taken away, and also thought about simple things such as how she was able to freely walk to the laundromat to wash her own clothes with her own soap. She informs the reader of her analysis of the different types of women in the Republic of Gilead: “There are other women with baskets, some in red, some in the dull green of the Martha's, some in the striped dresses, red and blue and green and cheap and skimp, that mark the women of the poorer men. Econowives, they're called. These women are not divided into functions. They have to do everything; if they can.” (Atwood, 5.5) The Handmaid’s— the bearer of children— wear red, the Martha’s, who are the housekeepers wear green, and the wives wear blue. Econ Wives are the only women who aren’t defined by the colour of their dress because they must do every function. Atwood is showing that the individuality and identities of these women have been completely taken away and are labelled by the clothing they are forced to
Thesis: In The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood characterizes Handmaids, as women with expectations to obey the society’s hierarchy, as reproducers, symbolizing how inferior the Handmaid class is to others within Gilead; the class marginalization of Handmaids reveals the use of hierarchical control exerted to eliminate societal flaws among citizens.
Offred is a handmaid, in the novel The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood, who no longer desired to rebel against the government of Gilead after they separated her from her family. When Offred was taken away from her family the Government of Gilead placed her in an institution known as the Red Center where they trained her along with other women unwillingly to be handmaids. The handmaid’s task was to repopulate the society because of the dramatic decrease in population form lack of childbirth. Handmaids are women who are put into the homes of the commanders who were unable to have kids with their own wives. The Handmaids had very little freedom and were not allowed to do simple tasks by themselves or without supervision like taking baths or going to the store. There was an uprising against the government of Gilead and many people who lived in this society including some handmaids looked for a way to escape to get their freedom back which was taken away from them and to reunited with their families which they lost contact with. Offred was one of the handmaids who was against the government of Gilead before she was put in the Red Center, but she joined the uprising after she became a
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
In the excerpt on pages 134 and 135 of A Handmaids Tale, Margaret Atwood uses repetition and form-follows-content to express both her distress and hope toward her current situation, as well as highlighting the everlasting power struggle that exists in the world.
The ability to create life is an amazing thing but being forced to have children for strangers is not so amazing. Offred is a handmaid, handmaid's have children for government officials, such as Commander Waterford. Offred used to be married to Luke and together they had a daughter but then everything changed; Offred was separated from her family and assigned to a family as their handmaid. 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 change.
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
Alienation is a key motif that is presented throughout Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale. Alienation can be defined as the state of feeling “estranged or separated” from the rest of society. In The Handmaid’s Tale, multiple characters have been alienated from various aspects of their lives as a result of the Republic of Gilead and the enforcement of its rigorous new rules; particularly Handmaid’s. A prime example of the alienation faced by the Handmaid’s is following the birth of their children. Janine, also known as Ofwarren, is alienated when she is forced to turn their children over to the commander’s wife and “placed ceremoniously” in her arm arms. The word “ceremoniously” is significant as it alludes to the wife being rewarded for her ‘hardwork’; this further alienates Janine as she is both unable to bring up her child and is not celebrated for her achievement, one which every Handmaid aspires to. Through language, such as “unwomen” Gilead is able to deprive individuals of their humanity that further reinforce the social expectations and duties that women are obligated to perform. Handmaids are also alienated through the clothes that are enforced on them; the “white wings …... keep [them] from seeing, but also from being seen”. Thus, their clothing of “red cloak” and “white wing” is a physical barrier which isolates them from the outside world; consequently isolating handmaid’s such as Offred. The alienation of the Handmaids can be interpreted as a way of Gilead forcing Handmaid’s to conform to the roles and keep them from rebelling. The handmaids are further alienated by the fact they are unable to communicate with each other openly in public for fear that the other might report them as a traitor if they did not accept the new society. Therefore, Handmaid’s such as Offred become isolated from society; whereby they may find themselves
Another way the women in The Handmaid’s Tale are unequal to men is in dress. In modern society it is normal to think of clothing as a way to express our personality and individuality. What you wear helps others know who you are. In the novel, the main character Offred grew up in a westernized world –freedoms like self expression and speech- but it was taken away from her when she became a handmaid.
Offred from The Handmaid's Tale uses different tactics to cope with her situation. She is trapped within a distopian society comprised of a community riddled by despair. Though she is not physically tortured, the overwhelming and ridiculously powerful government mentally enslaves her. Offred lives in a horrific society, which prevents her from being freed. Essentially, the government enslaves her because she is a female and she is fertile. Offred memories about the way life used to be with her husband, Luke, her daughter, and her best friend Moira provides her with temporary relief from her binding situation. Also, Offred befriends the Commander's aide, Nick. Offred longs to be with her husband and she feels that she can find his love by being with Nick. She risks her life several times just to be with Nick. Feeling loved by Nick gives her a window of hope in her otherwise miserable life.
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 to own their 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.
The Handmaid’s Tale is narrated by and follows the life of the handmaiden Offred—the most oppressed class, yet most important. Because the book is set up in Offred’s narration, it gives readers a sense of sympathy for her misfortunes but also empathy for her, and other women’s, social status(s). Having a rank of importance, power, and simply being a man in a society that tyrannizes women, the Commander is perceived as a bad guy of sorts. Despite being a founder of Gilead, he is also a prisoner. He is trapped in a prison he was responsible for building; his sorrow and desperation for companionship make him a prisoner to Gilead’s restrictions. Referring to the illegal magazines, Atwood writes, “‘Who else could I show it to?’ he said, and there it was again, that sadness” (158). His response to Offred wondering why he would show the magazine to her conveys a sadness that Offred clearly notes in her narration. A sadness that takes root in his longing for an intellectual connection. This question implies that the Commander and his wife do not have the intimate relationship he desperately craves. It may also allude to his lack of
However, as Margaret Atwood warns in her novel The Handmaid’s Tale our reality is a dangerous one in which our complacency can result in the loss of every single one of these freedoms. Offred’s journey gives us a glimpse into what lies ahead for this country if we don’t take action. Her rights have been stolen from her and her family is taken away from her all as she is pushed into the role of a sex slave for the Gilead. Such a grisly depiction of the future is closer to the truth than what meets the eye. The inability to take a stand against this adversity is what is allowing it to begin with. Collectively, we must not stop the fight for actual justice for the oppressed of this country until we see them come to fruition. Inaction now will result in our own
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...
As The Handmaid’s Tale is considered an allegory of the social injustice women face against traditional expectations of their role in society, the symbolism of the Handmaids and other women as a whole for repressed feminine liberty and sexuality allows Atwood to connect her work to the theme between gender and expectations in her society. As Handmaids in the Republic of Gilead, females are stripped of their previous identity and are defined as a tool of reproduction for the men who is assigned them. At its core, these females are forced against their will to be mere tools, experiencing unwanted sex at least once a month, which Gilead names “The Ceremony”, hiding its true nature as a form of rape. Offred