Analysis Of The Handmaid's Tale Reading Log

In the novel The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood the story is narrated by Offred. She is a Handmaid in the new society of Gilead in a story that takes place in the future. By having Offred narrate the story the readers of the story get to see the important memories of Offred’s old life, including the many different relationships that she had. One of the relationships that she reminisces of is the one between her and her best friend Moira. Early on in the novel, Offred remembers a night that she was with Moira. She was busy finishing a paper and Moira wanted to go out. We also learn that Moira wrote a paper on date rape. That memory of her best friend, Moira, shows how

Throughout the first 15 Chapters we are provided with information, as narrated by Offred, with glimpses of her past life and her journey to the life she is now facing. These glimpses are not logical in their sequencing or chronological in the narration, therefore creating a feeling of disorientation among readers, a feeling matching that experienced by those living in this society. This also provokes many questions in the reader’s mind along with creating tension and expectation as to the nature of the procreation which we have come to

A genuine identity and individuality is not possible in an oppressive environment especially when one’s daily life, actions, and thoughts are dictated by domineering societal expectations. Oppressive environments such as regimes controlled by a dictatorship and that run off a totalitarian government system strip an individual of their civil rights as a human being in order to gain ultimate control over its citizens. A government such as the Republic of Gilead in Margaret Atwood’s work, The Handmaid’s Tale, controls their citizen’s lives to the extent to where they must learn to suppress their emotions and feelings. In the Republic of

His and all of the commanders maltreatment of women presents itself throughout Offred's story. Offred’s commander however, begins an unusual relationship with her, by seeing her outside of his home and creating moments of intimacy, which is highly unusual between a Handmaid and those she serves. After several attempts to conceive with Offred, those surrounding the Commander begin to suspect that he is actually sterile, which could be a potentially embarrassing discovery if anyone outside the household found out. At that point, Serena Joy, fearing the consequences of her husband being sterile, encourages Offred to have an affair with Nick and attempt to become

First person point of view is active in every aspect of the essay, as Wolff writes from his very own experience and incorporates his and opinions as the issue he works to inform the readers on apply to him. Having the

The Handmaid's Tale, a film based on Margaret Atwood’s book depicts a dystopia, where pollution and radiation have rendered innumerable women sterile, and the birthrates of North America have plummeted to dangerously low levels. To make matters worse, the nation’s plummeting birth rates are blamed on its women. The United States, now renamed the Republic of Gilead, retains power the use of piousness, purges, and violence. A Puritan theocracy, the Republic of Gilead, with its religious trappings and rigid class, gender, and racial castes is built around the singular desire to control reproduction. Despite this, the republic is inhabited by characters who would not seem out of place in today's society. They plant flowers in the yard, live in suburban houses, drink whiskey in the den and follow a far off a war on the television. The film leaves the conditions of the war and the society vague, but this is not a political tale, like Fahrenheit 451, but rather a feminist one. As such, the film, isolates, exaggerates and dramatizes the systems in which women are the 'handmaidens' of today's society in general and men in particular.

In the novel Atwood writes how Offred the main character transitions from her life before to a Handmaid. Offred wasn’t her real name but the name that was given to her when the Gilead society formed. Prior to the Gilead forming Offred lived with her husband and

The Handmaid’s Tale is about Offered as she shares her thoughts and experiences in a journal-like form and provides some advice. Offred is a lower class female who has been taken from her husband and daughter at 5 years old to be a handmaid for the red commander at the red center. The point of this center is to reproduce with the Commander

This dystopian tale is told by Offred who is a handmaid to her commander. She is just there to buy groceries, play scrabble and get pregnant.

Offred’s newfound occupation constricts her, making her a slave to her commander. While observing women tourists, she notes on their clothes, “I used to dress like that. That was freedom” (28). During the pre-Gilead times, she was able to dress however she wanted, not batting an eye. There was once

Offred is very limited in where she can go because of position in her society and the Eye. But she still has a choice to obey or disobey. Offred is very aware of the consequences of disobedience, so she does what she’s told. She obeys her Commander because to disobeying would be far too dangerous for her. However, it almost seems as if she’s accepted her fate and chooses to remain in her situation. As the novel goes on Offred is presented with more power. Her Commander wants to start an intimate forbidden relationship with her, treating her like a full-blown mistress and allowing her to do things that she would be reprimanded for, like playing scrabble, when the role of Handmaid is supposed to be centered around procreation and nothing else.

“On first days we are permitted front doors, but after that we're supposed to use the back. Things haven't settled down, it's too soon, everyone is unsure about our exact status. After awhile it will be either all front doors or back… Yours is a position of honor” (Atwood 18).

“I feel thankful to her. She has died that I may live. I will mourn later” (Atwood 286). Many sacrifices and hard decisions are made by unorthodox people to keep what they believe in alive. There would be no rebellions and no change without these nonconforming people. Offred, the main character and a Handmaiden, would have faced eminent death in her strictly orthodox world had it not been for the rebelliousness of those who died before her wanting change. The Republic of Gilead, previously known as the United States, is a theocracy. Environmental events and population decline prompt changes. A caste system is created, and each caste performs specific duties. They are punished if the laws are not followed. The Eyes are at the top of the caste system; they make sure the laws are obeyed. Next are the Commanders and their Wives. The Handmaiden’s main task is to produce a child with their Commander. In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, some unorthodox characters challenge the theocracy such as Offred, Ofglen, and Nick.

Freewill and determinism have been a controversial philosophical problem for thousands of years, it is taken into question on whether human beings have an ability to control over their decisions in life or being constrained by the pre-deterministic future, beyond their understanding. The problem began in Ancient Greek and still rumble among modern philosophers and psychologists, but surprisingly, a writer - Margaret Atwood has successfully described if not answer the issue of independence and passivity in The Handmaid’s Tale. A dystopian novel set in the post-apocalyptic America now so-called Republic of Gilead, a totalitarian government. With the critically low reproduction rates due to biological warfare, the Handmaids are allocated to

Offred, not her real name but the name given to her by her occupation, is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. The Republic of Gilead is a