It is narrated by the protagonist, Offred who is a handmaid forced into sexual servitude. Facing a plunging birth rate, the fundamentalist regime treats women as property of the state. Handmaids are the few of the remaining fertile women and their sole purpose is to help the government into re-populating their society, where a lot of people are left sterile. The Handmaid’s Tale deals with the theme of women in subjugation to misogyny in a patriarchal society, primarily. It shows the struggle that women have to go through in that society, as a Handmaid or as not being able to be one.
Offred struggles between her attraction to Nick and remaining faithful to Luke. In the end of the novel, Offred ends up giving in to her attraction to Nick, however she does not feel that she has betrayed Luke in any way. Both gentlemen fulfill needs of Offed at different times of her life. Luke only exists in her past life, and most of Offred’s memories with him are fading away as she struggles to remember certain details of her past. Offred thinks, “The fact is that I no longer want to leave, escape, cross the border to freedom.
Margaret Atwood’s book, The Handmaid’s Tale, published in 1985, is a dystopian story about a handmaid named Offred. The story is about how the government is overthrown by a religious group, and how they divide the citizens up and strip them of their freedom and rights. They then give them each a role to play in Gilead, and if they don’t cooperate they have devastating path in front of them. Throughout this book there is an apparent theme of power and privilege at play. One of the ways that Atwood portrays this theme is by representing social groups and how they affect society as a whole.
The truth in The Handmaid’s Tale is that the new way of life is the best way. No more danger, no more risks. It is now a more ordered society that each person has a role to play. If only everyone believed it, Offred is not only aware that the seamless society has some rips in the stitches, but also questions it. She allows tiny slips of memories from her past, and the past culture.
The Commander and Offred’s relationship is non-existent at first, but then it develops over time. They start initiating a secret affair in his office which is forbidden against both of them. They are not allowed to be near each other because it’s
The ironic part about the two characters, The Commander and Aunt Lydia, is their actions, despite their roles in the regime. When Offred and The Commander have one of their first secret meetings, she is surprised that he owns magazines because she “thought such magazines were all but destroyed” and it was where “you would least expect to find such a thing” (Atwood 156). The irony in this is the fact that even The Commander, a person with one of the highest titles in the regime, neglects the rules with no sense of regret. It is also implied in the novel that he had taken another mistress before Offred which shows that his involvement in Offred's story is not the first instance in which he broke the rules. Not only that, but it is told that he is a part of an illegal prostitution organization which is so obviously against the regimes beliefs that if he were caught, he would be hung or worse.
Both men and women have become oppressed for the sake of the country. Offred is a handmaid given the task to procreate with a Commander. She is one of many of the women who are basically imprisoned into labels and must abide by many limiting laws. She is given multiple options to break the rules by people who, even though they are blessed, also try to break the rules. The lowest and most burdened class to the highest and blessed class break the rules of this new regime.
Both men and women have become oppressed for the sake of the country. Offred is a handmaid given the task to procreate with a Commander. She is one of many of the women who are basically imprisoned into labels and must abide by many limiting laws. She is given multiple options to break the rules by people who, even though they are blessed, also try to break the rules. The lowest and most burdened class to the highest and blessed class break the rules of this new regime.
Upon their first meeting, Offred states that she thought ‘he might be toying, some cat-and-mouse routine, but now [she] thinks that his motives and desires weren’t obvious even to him’. Here, the Commander is portrayed as manipulative, as he is not only ‘toying’
This contrasts from the rather mechanic and automated voice Offred has when she becomes a Handmaid, replying with contrived phrases such as “praise be” to other Handmaids. Thus, Atwood’s choice of making Moira’s tone of voice tenacious and even sarcastic, leads to the notion of Moira being an important symbol for rebellion amongst Handmaids. Moira is characterised by Offred in Chapter 22 as a “loose woman.” Offered contemplates what Moira would do after her attempted escape of the Red Centre: “At any moment there might be a shattering explosion, the glass of the windows would fall inwards, the doors would swing open…Moira had the power