While it is important for people to love each other, it may not always bring the best for both people in a relationship. Offred, the main character, lives in Gilead where she is used for her body, and has no control over anything that takes place in the society. She is forced to live with Commander Fred and his wife Serena Joy, and receives the name “Offred” or “Of-Fred”. As she lives in this house with other handmaids, she begins to develop relationships with the Commander and Nick, a guardian who serves for the Commander. In the Handmaid’s Tale, how does live differ between Offred and the following characters: Nick and the Commander? How are their relationships? As the novel develops, the reader sees how Offred starts to develop a sexual relationship with both Nick and the Commander, and while they might be pleasurable and satisfy Offered, they put each other …show more content…
When the eyes come for Offred, Nick brings her into a room and tells her that he is actually part of Mayday. He informs her that the van is here to save her while he does not initially believe her and says “It’s all right. It’s Mayday. Go with them” (305). Nick is initially a rebel for helping Offred escape and getting out of the hands of the Commander. The reader does not find out what happens after this point, but there is now hope that she can meet up with her husband again to return to her previous live before Gilead. In addition, they develop feelings for eachother and she opens up, telling him what life was like prior to Gilead. They believe that they have a baby, and Nick seems saddened that he will not have time to be the father, which illustrates Nick’s love back to her, and proves that he does not want to use her unlike many other men in Gilead. Nick’s relationship with Offred shows strong signs of his compassion due to his help on saving her even if it might not be the safest
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
There are two possible events that can occur with Offred's arrest and readers have the ability to open the book to new possibilities. If Offred is arrested, she will likely be tried for treason and killed. However, if she escapes into freedom, she will have a new lifestyle away from Gilead. She is different from Winston as she only wants to survive and survives because of her memories of her past Conclusion:
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
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.
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 is consistently cautious when it comes to interacting with the Commander. She feels as though she has to present herself in a way that will allow her to gain his trust and utilize it in her favor. Offred says, “The Commander likes it when I distinguish myself, show precocity, like an attentive pet, prick-eared and eager to perform” (Atwood 183). When Offred poses herself in the way that the Commander expects, it shows how his power influences Offred’s actions. The connection of Offred to that of “an attentive pet” also shows how the Gilead Society has taken away her humanity. Without her humanity, Offred loses her sense of self-worth which leaves her vulnerable to the Commander’s power. Along with this constant fear of portraying herself in a manner that would upset the Commander, Offred is also afraid to give away too much information about herself which could potentially end with the Commander ceasing their private meetings together. Offred expresses, “And if I talk to him I’ll say something wrong, give something away. I can feel it coming, a
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
Feminism as we know it began in the mid 1960's as the Women's Liberation Movement. Among its chief tenants is the idea of women's empowerment, the idea that women are capable of doing and should be allowed to do anything men can do. Feminists believe that neither sex is naturally superior. They stand behind the idea that women are inherently just as strong and intelligent as the so-called stronger sex. Many writers have taken up the cause of feminism in their work. One of the most well known writers to deal with feminist themes is Margaret Atwood. Her work is clearly influenced by the movement and many literary critics, as well as Atwood herself, have identified her as a feminist writer. However, one of Atwood's most successful books, The Handmaid's Tale, stands in stark contrast to the ideas of feminism. In fact, the female characters in the novel are portrayed in such a way that they directly conflict with the idea of women's empowerment.
She gives her the password of Gilead’s. She hasn’t used it for days. Also, Serena wants her to visit Nick because she know that the Commander, Fred is infertile. It doesn’t means that Serena is on her side, she’s doing this for herself. After the first night, Nick and Offred meet in his room, Offred continues sneak in his room every night. She stops visiting at the Commander’s place. Ofglen try to help again and give her the key to check the Commander’s office to see what they’re hiding. Offred silently declines her, she feel satisfied with Nick. (Atwood 270) This shows that she’s doing what she likes now. She refuses to break in Commander’s office. She was running out of the time and she decided to decline the opportunity of escaping the Gilead with Ofglen. That’s the symbol of non heroine where she only think about herself, not others.
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 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
In dystopian fiction, forbidden relationships exist because it provides a sense of hope and liberation for the protagonist rebelling against the authoritarian figure in the dystopian society. The novel The Handmaid’s Tale conveys forbidden relationships through the protagonist, Offred, as she desires to maintain and form newer relationships with others particularly Moira her best friend, Nick, the Commander and Luke, her husband. Relationship such as friendship is considered forbidden because it gives Offred resilience to rebel against the regime. Equally the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell presents relationships such as Winston’s sexual connection with Julia, who is a party member, as forbidden because members of the party are
... 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
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;