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The handmaid's tale representation
The handmaid's tale narrative technique
The handmaid's tale narrative technique
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To Begin, The Handmaid’s Tale is a very bumpy road to uncertainty. The novel begins by introducing a character known as offred who is shown to be very intellectual. She is held at the Red Center where they re-educate women. This is where Moria is introduced she is a rebel and actually ends up escaping the red center only to be caught. Later on it is revealed that she has become a prostitute rather than to become a handmaid.
Just like Hamlet, Offred was also unable to trust anyone other than her best friend, Moira because of the situation she was placed in. Since Offred was a handmaid nearly all of her human rights were taken away, because of this she was unable to build relationships of trust with other people. She had lost all connections with people she loved, with the exception of Moira. Gilead, a world where all the citizens are obligated to obey those in power, none of the people had any meaningful relationships such as friendship or companionship. As shown by Offred 's statement: "We aren 't supposed to form friendships, loyalties, among one another" (Atwood 353), people were expected to not create new relationships.
Aunt Lydia is a mentor at this establishment and Offred is a Handmaid. It is during one of her lectures on the old and current world that this phrase is mentioned. Aunt Lydia’s statement
Gilead values obedience to their core beliefs and use many tactics to maintain it. The citizens often spy on one another and Eyes are spread throughout the society. Offred’s depression and fear is what controls the way she behaves even around Ofglen, who later on became one of her closest companions. “She may be a real believer, a Handmaid in more than name. I can’t take the risk.
The characters of O-lan and the Woman are very similar in many ways. They both work in the fields tirelessly from morning to night knowing it needs to be done. O-lan may be rough sometimes but she knows what need to be done, like when they were in the city begging she slapped the children for acting happy when they needed to be sad and crying, she made them cry to save them. The Woman throughout the tale is making and doing all the work for her family to provide them with a nice life. O-lan and the woman remain faithful to their husbands, though it is never said in the Virtuous
“The Handmaid’s Tale”, a dystopian fiction novel by Margaret Atwood, was written about two decades ago, however the passing of time does not change the quality of this unique story. The story takes place in a Republic of Gilead, a futuristic United States, in which a Christian theocracy has overthrown the old government and are now forcing everyone to live by their beliefs, word by word. Offred, a young woman who is assigned with the duty of being a handmaid, a person who bears children for their assigned couple, lives with her commander and his wife, Serena, in his mansion. The commander is an elderly man who has a high position in the government and he once a month has to have sexual intercourse with Offred due to the declining birth rates in the Republic of Gilead. Serena is the assigned wife of the commander, although she can’t bear children herself due to her age, she waits for Offred to hopefully become pregnant in order to finally have the child that she has always desired to have.
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.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, Ofglen is a very Mysterious character. Her true intentions are never revealed, and we don’t know much about her. Ofglen is a handmaid that resides in a house near Offred. The two walk together every day to complete their daily tasks, as handmaid’s are not allowed to walk alone. Ofglen is portrayed as being part of a rebel group entitled, “Mayday,” though we never know what the intentions of this group are or if what she says is true.
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.
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).
(Atwood 93) this led to the Commander, his wife, and Offred getting the deed done to try for a baby. These very experiences molded Offred into the person she’d become at the end of the novel emphasizing the effect they had on her. Offred’s life before Gilead was similar to the typical women of 1980s. She had a husband, a child and more importantly a life.
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 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
At the same time, the Historical Notes reveal that other records of those who lived in Gilead also exist (346). Though Offred has never participated in a coordinated regime subversive activity, her story, along with those of other survivors, now form a polyphony of resistance. Storytelling in The Handmaid’s Tale performs various functions: it is Offred’s way of resistance, her survival strategy, her intellectual pastime, and a testimony to the future. By telling herself stories she escapes into memories, shape and change her experience, and substitute the lacking communication. She uses storytelling to preserve herself, to validate her existence, to prove her life matters.
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.
