Normality In The Handmaid's Tale

One of the many prevailing themes in literature is that power is gained and can be manipulated when restraints are placed on natural desires of the individual. This passage is significant because it is an example of this theme, for it shows how power and manipulation have completely changed and restricted the people, especially women, of Gilead. Due to this, the passage reveals the shared anger that the Handmaids possess, and the cruelty that has been brought upon the society. The use of similes, diction, syntax, and illustrate the impact that this event had on Offred, for she feels such anger towards the unknown man and the crime he has supposedly committed. These literary and rhetorical devices additionally serve to make this event seem as

This is exemplified when Offred hears Aunt Lydia say, “Ordinary is what you are used to. This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary” (Atwood 33). The repetition of ordinary is used to reinforce how harsh realities (e.g. public execution) are perceived and justified as normal by the citizens of Gilead; however, in Offred’s previous life, she would have been repulsed to see a public hanging of an innocent person. With Aunt Lydia’s presence and words casting a shadow in Offred’s mind, she begins to have a sense of normalcy about life in Gilead. The Aunt Lydia’s words are so powerful and influential that Offred begins to transform her way of thinking, which mirrors the lack of individuality that she displays. Not only can Offred not think for herself, but her vision is also controlled by Gilead. For instance, Offred and other handmaids must wear white wings, which are a headdress to restrict their vision. This is shown when Atwood writes, “There remains a mirror, on the hall wall. If I turn my head so that the white wings framing my face direct my vision towards it…[I see] myself in it like a distorted shadow” (9). The white wings are symbolic of her not being able to see reality and only what Gilead wants her to see; therefore, her vision is restricted and so are her thoughts. Furthermore, her vision is not

Gilead, the isolated city in which Offred lives, is described as a shelter from the war. However, the wall that protects the citizens from the outside world is decorated with corpses that are hung on display. The wall confines the citizens from any outside interactions whatsoever. At one point, Offred says that she wishes there were “no boundaries; as if [they] were free to shape and reshape forever the ever—expanding perimeters of our lives. I was like that too.” In the past, Offred remembers how everyone yearned for expansion, learning new things and going new places. She tries not to stay on the topic, but there is a longing tone that infers that Offred does in fact miss her old life. All of the freedom she used to have. All of the power that she took for granted. All of the women that Offred interacts with in Gilead are shy in a secretive way. In another instance, when Offred sees the tourists who didn’t dress

In Gilead, all Handmaids are made to wear the same red uniform, white veil, use the same designated language- “Blessed by the fruit”- and go to work in pairs, shedding them of their own identity and alienating them. Giving the Handmaids no real alone time other than to sleep, they must even bathe with someone watching over them, and thus taking away their unique distinctiveness. Therefore when Offred finds herself alone and naked, she is subconsciously disconnected from the uniformed Handmaid role that she plays daily, and is reminded that she, herself, is an individual with her own body and convictions. This illustrates the fact

The death of these supposed criminals does not strike any emotional response in Offred. She has grown accustom to the gruesome scene of the decaying criminals. The cruelty that was around her caused a loss of her humanity making her numb to the terrible scenes around her.

They are reduced to their fertility, treated as nothing more than a set of ovaries and a womb. In one of the novel’s key scenes, Offred lies in the bath and reflects that, before Gilead, she considered her body an instrument of her desires; now, she is just a mound of flesh surrounding a womb that must be filled in order to make her useful. Gilead seeks to deprive women of their individuality in order to make them docile carriers of the next generation.

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

Fear and intimidation are tools the Puritanical government uses to discourage members of society from going against the system. Within the monotonous town of Gilead, a wall displays the corpses of all those who have gone against and tempted the laws of society. Some are doctors who are willing to help a woman end or prevent her pregnancy. Others are doctors who were caught trying to help Handmaids to save their lives. The corpses are deterrents to all who consider defying this barbaric system. The governments futile desperate attempts to control the human heart, are proven through two different occasions. Unable to resist falling in love with Offred, the Commander does not see her the way the system would like. He recognizes her worth within

Offred's memories are a way for her to escape a society riddled with hopelessness. The authoritarian society of Gilead prevents her from

The manipulation of power seen in Gilead constraints the control of the people and renders their potential. During Offred’s time in the Commander’s household, she is ordered to make secret visits in the Commander’s study room, where he allows her to read books and play scrabble. Offred uses this time to gain the freedoms that were once taken away from her, knowing that the Commander and her can be convicted in performing in this forbidden act. Moreso, the Commander allows Offred to write, having this freedom of the pen, even in the privacy of the study room, gives Offred power over the regime.

As Offred’s relationship with the commander develops we see and emergence of the idea that even in a powerless regime women can exploit their sexual power and we become familiar with the idea of ‘fallen women’. Offred is in her room and filled with nostalgia for the outmoded habit of falling in love; ‘Falling in love, I said. Falling into it’ which is then mirrored; ‘Falling in love, we said; I fell for him’. The underlying biblical reference to ‘The Fall’ when Adam ate the apple from the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden is very prominent. We are forced to consider the idea of the fall from innocence, which is presented as a paradox in this dystopian world as the women are not, by the terms of the bible, innocent. However it is also a reflection of the Gilead society because biblically ‘The Fall’ was Eve’s betrayal of Adam and the women who have been deemed “fallen” were unable to become pregnant – the ultimate betrayal of this society. The whole idea of “falling” is hugely passive and gives the impression of a very powerless action. For women in present day society I believe it would be the ultimate torment to be catapulted back in societal thinking where woman were far less than equal as it has previously been. The repetition of biblical references strongly draws in

The Narrator Offred is a Handmaid in Gilead, a totalitarian and theocratic state. Due to very low reproduction rates, Handmaids are assigned to different elite couples to bear children for them , because they have trouble conceiving. Offred is assigned to the Commander and his wife Serena Joy, she was once a gospel singer and advocate. The name Offred was assigned to the narrator, all handmaid names begin with “of” followed by the Commander’s name. Each month during ovulation Offred must have sex with the Commander while his wife sits behind her holding her hands. Offred has no freedom and is completely restriced, she has to wear a uniform, she is only allow to leave the house to go shopping or to go to prescribed events, she is not allowed to shut the doors to her room completely and her every move is watched.

It’s the choice that terrifies [her]. A way out, a salvation,” (Atwood, 76). Offred is aware of the extreme consequences regarding this decision and is living in fear, but she is also aware that it is her chance to be “free.” This being said, in Offred’s mind are engraved thoughts of salvation by rebelling against the regime. As the novel progresses, Offred’s will, to not give up and her hope in escaping Gilead, overpowers her fear in the consequences of going against the Gileadean regime.

Two handmaids and a wife are hung, and a man convicted of rape is beaten to death. Ofglen beats the man’s face is first thing with her feet, Offred refraining from kicking the already dead man asks why Ofglen did so and she explains he was a part of her underground group and she wanted to put him out of his misery as quickly as possible. Ofglen is replaced the next day, Offred slips the code “mayday” into a conversation and the new Ofglen is aware of the underground group and suggests that Offred forget the “echoes of the past” and pay attention to the present. Later new Ofglen explains that the original Ofglen hung herself when she saw the van of the “eye” coming to her house; she figured it was better than letting them take her alive. In that moment Offred decides she’d change and live by the rules to avoid death.

However Gilead’s dystopia is effective in neutralising Offred, who begins to relish in sponsored activities such as the Prayervaganza, rejects the Mayday Rebellion, and whose previously recalcitrant narrative voice surrenders that she has “made a life” for herself in Gilead, (349) saying ‘I will do anything … I’ll obliterate myself…I want to keep on living… I resign my body…to the use of others.’ (368) Offred is converted into the state’s tool, monopolized by psychosocial indoctrination; her contemplations diverge from her behaviours, instead of choosing the path of resistance, she ‘falls back on her romanticism.’ (Peter G.Stillman, 1994)