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The Handmaid's Tale By Margret Atwood

609 Words3 Pages

The novel The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margret Atwood, tells a fictional story of the future of the United States called Gilead. Gilead is a new era for all humans where only rich men have power. The women during this new era are taken by the rich men and are called Handmaids. The Handmaids do all the work in the house including having children with their Commander. Offred who became a Handmaid has been through some hard times since she was taken from her family and moved to a big mansion where she is being used. The heartbreaking situations that Offred and the other Handmaids make it difficult for all of them to live. The other Handmaids that are associated with the house all help each other to try to have faith in what will come. The agency between …show more content…

Offred who is a Handmaid works within the mansion and does all kinds of work for the Commander. While she and the other Handmaids get pushed around to do everything, Offred still has a sense of her own things while living in a new house. When Offred moves to her new home during the tough times, she still has “my room, then. There has to be some space, finally that I claim as mine, even in this time” (50). Offred has agency and no agency over what's hers, but she still appreciates anything and will have her own room even if it's not her choice. Serena Joy who is the Commander’s wife is strict with all of the Handmaids living in the mansion. For Serena Joy, life is not the best for her, but she gets her own choice and her own things. “The garden is the domain of the Commander’s Wife. Looking out through my shatterproof window I’ve often seen her in it, her knees on a cushion, a light blue veil thrown over her wide gardening hat, a basket at her side with shears in it and pieces of string for tying the flowers into place” (12). Serena Joy has a lot of agency and many things to call her own, but the garden is very sentimental to her and is the one thing that will always be her

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