In the novel, The Handmaid's Tale, Atwood shows the significance of Offred's role as a rebel by highlighting her transition from powerless to powerful. She makes this transition by investing in specific relationships which build up her societal standing and increase her power. Offred shares information with individuals in order to gain power over them, and in all things she has a specific motive before acting. Offred is seen manipulating people through building seemingly deep relationships, while making some mistakes on the way with the Commander, Serena Joy, and Nick.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, the main character, Offred, who is a handmaid meaning that her duty is to get pregnant having intimate relations with the Commander because the wives are unable to get pregnant. A group of women are categorized into a group where they have duties and are all held under the same group being monitored by Aunts, who train the girls in what their tasks are. One day Offred and her companion, Ofglen, leave to do grocery shopping in Gilead, the setting of the story, and as they arrive at the grocery store they encounter Ofwarren, also known as Janine who is pregnant. Many of the women envy Janine because she is pregnant and as pregnant women in Gilead, they do their best to keep pregnant women safe and from not doing
The Handmaid’s Tale: Women in Parallel Societies Margaret Atwood’s highly insightful and complex novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, takes place in a futuristic society called the Republic of Gilead, established after a revolution has overthrown the U.S government. Because birth rates have become extremely low due to chemical poisoning, pollution and low fertility rates, childbirth has become extremely important and a necessity for all women. They are split into categories based on their fertility status - Wives, Aunts, Econowives, Marthas, Unwomen, and Handmaids. The fertile women are treated as objects whose only purpose in life is giving birth: these are the Handmaids. The Handmaids are assigned to a high status male, usually a Commander, to conceive
The society itself is called Gilead, which is a name derived from the Bible and is known for being a mountainous land valued for its fertility. In light of fertility rates dropping, this world reverts to traditional forms of thought to coerce women like Offred into submission and childbirth. With this focus on the male desire for children and fertility, Atwood portrays the subsequent objectification of Offred to the extent that her worth diminished to only her womb. An adjacent consequence is its harmful effect on Offred's identity as in the wake of this new society Offred was forced to abandon her name from before Gilead. The name Offred represented that she was Fred's handmaid, and she was only to be referred to as such.
Offred is not a victim. Or rather, she is not a guiltless victim. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred is undoubtedly subjected to the worst horrors of a society which strips her of autonomy and forces its ways upon her unflinching but unwilling mind – much like the Commander whom they assign to do the same to her unflinching but unwilling body. However, a victim as she is, Offred is involved in the very system which abuses her. She is a product of her circumstances throughout the course of The Handmaid’s Tale and remains passive in the face of oppression - in that sense, she is complicit in the perpetuation of all that Gilead represents.
She is used by Commander for sex and companionship and had an affair with Nick (higher preganancy chance). Most of her actions are being forced “Which of us is it worse for, her or me?”(151) meant the sex between the narrator and commander is unbearable to the point of watching your husband having sex with another women right infront of you. Her only defiance done totally by herself is “I will use the butter later that night.” (113), everything else including escaping the Gilead, having an affair with Commander, having an affair with Nick and leaving the Commanders house are all stimulated by others. Offred represent those who does not stand against oppresion, being pushed around and used for sex.
In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred goes through many changes within her experience in Gilead. These changes include losing her job, being unable to read and being unable to have anything of value. Offred, alongside with many other women has been deemed as a handmaid. As a handmaid, the fertile women of Gilead are used to produced children for the infertile women and families. A handmaid 's life within this society contained of things such as the Ceremony where Offred would lie on her back, “fully clothed except for the healthy white cotton underdrawers.”
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.
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
Imagine waking up one Christmas morning and walking downstairs with your family, the all the sudden you see a crate with three puppies in it. So you run to the back of the Christmas tree and open the crate, and three puppies swarm you, happily. There was a puppy for my sister, my brother, and me. But one problem was that we live far out in the country, with coyotes wandering around.
Offred is a rebellious individual who makes a habit of breaking the rules just for her own pleasure. Furthermore, the novel takes place in the Republic of Gilead, which is located in the United States and is a totalitarian society. Has multiple rules that restrict the lives of many people in the Republic. The Commander or the highest one in control, is the leader of the Republic. Within the Republic there are Handmaids, Aunts, and many more.
Despite being stripped of her identity and forced into a subservient role as a Handmaid, Offred remains determined to survive and find her daughter. This is evident when Offred says, "I'll say anything they like, I'll incriminate anyone. Just don't send me to the colonies. I'll do anything," (Atwood 72). This willingness to do whatever it takes to survive demonstrates Offred's resilience in the face of Gilead's oppressive conditions.
The novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood is a story about a society set in a future world where women’s rights have been revoked. Many values change with this new regime of controlled women and strict laws. Despite the changes in the world it maintains many conservative, religious beliefs while also containing liberal, feminist beliefs simultaneously. Society in the futuristic world of Gilead is structured heavily off of readings from the Bible and traditional views of gender that have been in place for a long time. An example of the Bible being an important part of society is the idea of the Handmaids came from a passage in the Bible about two women, Rachel and Leah.
Imagine a nation in which its government commands by a religion where women are separated into different titles and must conceive children for their commander. Their rights from before this regime, and anything deemed unholy by the government, are a thing of the past. This situation is the one represent in the Republic of Gilead, where the rules of society and its traditions are not taken lightly if broken. In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood shows that an oppressive government leads to the inevitable neglect and remiss of the rules through Offred’s characterization, irony, and flashbacks. Offred 's character development can show that her actions change .
In The Handmaid’s Tale, the novel critiques gender inequality and autocratic authority. The hierarchical class of men consists of Commanders, Angels, and Guardians. In particular, the Commanders are the highest-ranking social group in Gileadean society. The Commanders are represented as powerful men. They have leadership roles, autocratic governance, and are oppressors controlling the Gilead regime.
