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Handmaid's Tale Chapter 1 Summary

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The story begins with Offred, a handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. After a revolution, the area changed into a religious-strict society where men reign powerful and the women have been stripped of all rights or reduced to mere property in the eyes of the Commanders. When Offred is in the gymnasium, she dreams of being free again. They are watched by two “aunts”, both armed with cattle prods. They are allowed to go out for walls only twice a day and only in pairs of two. On the other side of the fence on the football field where she has here walks, there are Angels, men who fight in the wars. She believes that the women can use their bodies as a means of escaping. Offred explains what a handmaid is, which is a young, fertile woman, who is breed to have children for the rich and wealthy of Gilead. …show more content…

Serena used to be a gospel singer and a women's activist before the formation of Gilead. Now she is old and is the Commander's wife. She is bitter and cruel towards the handmaids in her home, but Offred understands why. In chapters 2 and 3 the reader is introduced to the Martha’s which are the caretakers. The two that Offred knows, Rita and Cora, are also gossipers and that’s how Offred finds things out about other people. Rita gives tokens(their form of currency) to Offred and her and Ofglen, another handmaid go shopping. Ofglen is her spy as she is to Ofglen. Offred passes through the gate into the town and teases the guardians while she does it. In the town the signs have no words, for women are not allowed to read. When Offred and Ofglen are done shopping they stop by the wall, which is where bodies of executed political heretics are hanged and shown to the public. They were all doctors, killed for performing abortions which is now forbidden in

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The author also uses rhetorical questions such as “Why tempt her to friendship?” to emphasize the lack of even the possibility of a meaningful connection between Offred and the Marthas. This use of figurative language highlights the inescapable suffering and isolation that Offred encounters while interacting with others, and achieves a hollow, detached tone. In factual recollections of the events occurring, diction and syntax are also crucial in the construction of this isolated, resigned tone While describing exchanges between herself and the rest of the household, Offred uses short, precise sentences, void of intricate words or complex structure.

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The resurfacing images appearing whenever they have the desire of being an “Unwoman” is the result of having to follow the regime’s bitter orders. In addition, an extreme guideline is given to the Handmaids which restricts their freedom of speech with each other. The women are dictated to not speak to one another which forms a frightening perspective in their eyes of what could be the regime’s true goal for them. Since the maids are all roommates, Offred reflects on the

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As the Commanders spouse, Serena Joy is the most intense female nearness in the day by day life in Gilead. Offred can watch her in her social part as one of the Wives yet in addition nearby other people in her own home and she shows up as something beyond an individual from a class of progressive system. Not at all like alternate Wives she is alluded to by her own name, yet she is elderly and childless and in this way should consent to having a handmaid in her own particular home as she can't deliver youngsters herself. She plainly disdains Offred as an indication of her powerlessness to have youngsters and as an infringement of the holiness of marriage. Ironicly we learn she was already a ultra-preservationist voice on local approaches and

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There were limits but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me. Now the flesh arranges itself differently. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am and glows red within its translucent wrapping.” (Atwood 91). This makes the reader believe that Offred has given into the social injustice at Gilead being the oppression of women.

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The symbol of the tulips contributes to my thesis by describing Serena’s flowers as sex organs, but they will be in vain since Serena Joy negligent about their fruits. The tulips are parallel to the handmaids because they are both are fertile and covered in red. As can be seen in Chapter 6, Offred claims, “The red of the tulips in Serena Joy’s garden, towards the base of the flowers where they are beginning to heal. Each thing is valid and really there” (Atwood 40). In other words, Offred is saying red tulips are most strongly associated with true love, while tulips to Serena Joy represents false love.

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”But it’s too late to think about that now, already their feet are on the dusty-rose carpeting of the stairs” (Atwood, 293). Offred debates many ways that she could escape or kill herself, but in the end she realizes that she doesn’t want to die, and that she wants to continue on. Strength is shown repeatedly throughout The Handmaid’s Tale. Offred is pushed and forced to do things that she would never do, and through it all she is able to come out strong, and in the end, hopefully survive all she has been

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So, generally speaking, the people of Gilead are so passive about the way that they are treated because this is the only way for them to continue to survive. Offreds passivity is something that is touched on several times throughout the novel, but she does not just learn this skill on her own, but is taught by a woman named Aunt Lydia. “Aunt Lydia said it was best not to speak unless they asked you a direct question. Try to think of it from their point of view she said, her hands clasped and wrung together, her nervous pleading smile.

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746 Words | 3 Pages

The protagonist of The Handmaid’s Tale is referred to as Offred (of Fred). Through the manipulation of literary devices such as juxtaposition, allusion, and descriptive diction, Margaret Atwood voices her concerns about our future, and reveals just how quickly and completely our present could transform. As chapter 33 begins, the Handmaids are off to the Women’s Prayvaganza (a portmanteau of pray and extravaganza). The event, juxtaposed to the ‘fun festival’ it resembles, is really a mass wedding with girls as young as fourteen married off to Angels (troops).

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This phrase resonates with Offred because in her past life women were free and now the culture is no longer the way it was but has reformed to be under the power of men and it’s kinda hopeful for offred because her mother is right there is a culture not at all what any women would want but their gender has some power. Offred and her good friend Ofglen both are part of the underground system to free themselves. When Ofglen saw the truck coming for her she made the decision to commit suicide. “ She is a flag on a hilltop, showing what can still be done: we too can be saved.” (Atwood 287)

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It seems the older Wives are seeking to hang onto their attractiveness and fertility by decorating themselves with flowers and tending gardens. Serena Joy seems to enjoy mutilating the flowers ; flowers being the symbol for the Handmaids. This shows her hatred for the Handmaids . What the Handmaid’s never get to experience is freedom as they are supposed to blindly follow the rules set for them. In the text, the Eyes of God are Gilead’s secret police.

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It has taken so little time to change our minds, about things like this. Then I think: I used to dress like that. That was freedom” (Atwood 28). This shows that while Gilead has changed, more modern societies exist in the greater world. The thoughts that Offred has regarding her previous life shows just how far she has come to accepting her role in

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971 Words | 4 Pages

Offred is suspicious of what the handmaid 's did. She looks at their hands, and a clue is given to her when she sees “black gloves”(Atwood 275). She ponders what they could have possibly done to have warranted such action from the authorities. Her speculation shows how the society of Gilead functions. The government of Gilead wants the handmaids to see that the prisoners are being hanged, as their suspicion is how Gilead gains control of them.

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Offred initially feels a sense of loss due to her position as a fertile woman since the independence and individuality she once enjoyed has since been stripped from her by the Republic of Gilead. It is only through rebellion that Offred is able to slowly regain her sense of self and reject the role that Gilead forces her into. By rebellion, however, it is often more dangerous for the perpetrators than to the government’s grip on the people. Offred’s societal role as a handmaid in Gilead forces her to first obey, then causes her to question, which finally allows her to realize her

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1107 Words | 5 Pages

She questions whether the man is an agent of the Eyes, here to catch her saying something bad about the current government. She can “feel their bright black eyes, the way they lean a little forward to catch our answers” (Bronte 29). Offred feels pressure by the gaze of the tourists. She cannot tell who she can trust and decides to lie, answering the interpreter's question by stating that yes, the handmaidens are very happy in Gilead. Obviously Offred has been affected by the constant surveillance, she lies in order to protect herself against the consequences that the other handmaiden’s have endured.

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1141 Words | 5 Pages

In this frightening society, women are not allowed to speak freely, therefore, the handmaids learn how to lip-read, and to whisper at one another while they are at the Red Center (where handmaids are trained for their mission), as their only way to communicate with another person, and to maintain even a minimum of human contact in a society that has amputated their ability to feel as a normal human being. Even though this is pure fiction, sadly some common threads between Gilead and our society can be found. For instance, in some South Asian countries, women’s rights are non-existent, they are treated

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