Character Analysis: The Handmaid's Tale

The Handmaid’s Tale: How does Offred become more of a risk-taker? What people or situations make her change?

Life is like an open box, you can either choose to stay in or reach farther beyond the box. What if life itself has enclosed you of all your hope? A classic Margaret Atwood book, The Handmaid’s Tale takes place in a society which faces gender discrimination, and categorizes individuals into specific roles. Offred, a disciplined handmaid attempts to maneuver across a society full of light and dark, known as Gilead. The people of Gileadian society have discovered ways to receive higher perks, and the keys to escaping this society. Nevertheless, Offred has changed her ways to blend amongst this darkened society. Offred socially interacts

Consequently, Offred is willing to have sexual affairs with the commander, thus she has a feeling of having higher power against Serena Joy (186); “Also: I now had power over her, of a kind, although she didn’t know it. And I enjoyed that.” In this case, Offred has an advantage, because sexual contact with the commander would provide her with perks such as hand lotions and magazines. Offred becomes more of a risk taker in this scenario, because as she eventually asks the Commander what “Nolite te bastardes carborondorum,” (214) which means: “[…] ‘Don’t let the bastards grind you down’” (216). The courage of Offred is also expanded because, when the commander attempts to touch Offred (186), she states that she can be sent to the Colonies. To illustrate Offred states within her mind “Fake it, I scream at myself inside my head” (295). Hence, Offred was able to meet Moira through the commander’s aid and decided to pretend that she had pleasure during their sexual meeting. Thus, this implies that Offred has the ability of being sneaky and brave enough to have a relationship with commander, even though the ceremony between them was not an indication of love. Nevertheless, this indicates more attributes of Offred’s change into becoming a risk taker, as she does this to have an upper hand within the house, and not willingly. Therefore, the choices which she makes through affairs generally lift her status within the ‘ladder’ of her household. Moreover, Offred holds on the thoughts of her daughter and strives to find the location of her. For instance, in order to see her daughter, she took on the chance of having sexual contact with Nick. For example, Serena joy states “’Of her,’ […]” (237). Thus without Serena Joy’s consent, Offred as attempted to climb the ‘ladder’ of the household which can bring multiple problems of its