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The Handmaid's Tale Analysis Essay

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Q.U.E.S.T Literary Analysis of The Handmaid’s Tale In Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, a dystopian society emerges. The USA has been overrun and reformed into the Republic of Gilead. Offred, the narrator and main character is in a category of women known as Handmaids; women who wear red and are valued only for their ovaries. The story follows Offred as she’s in service to her third Commander, and continues until her “arrest”. During this time Offred embarks on many a Q.U.E.S.T, realizing a bit more on each one: just how broken the new government system is, who can be trusted, what people want from her. Near the beginning of the book readers are introduced to Ofglen, Offred’s traveling partner for the market that’s been assigned to her. Offred’s feelings towards Ofglen were very clear and overall neutral: “she is my spy and I am …show more content…

“I want to steal something...In the hall the night-light’s on...I walk, one foot set carefully down, then the other, without creaking...this is entirely illegal...I reach the sitting room, door’s ajar, slip in, leave the door a little open...What should I take? something that will not be missed...I find the daffodils...I hear the step, quiet as mine, the creaking of the same floor board...then a whisper: ‘Don’t scream. It’s all right.’ As if I’d scream...He steps towards me. Nick...’He told me to,’ Nick says. ‘He wants to see you. In his office.’ (Atwood 120-123). The quester, Offred, sneaks at night to the sitting room. She’s aiming to steal some, a flower she decides, only to be intruded on; a big problem. It turns out to be Nick, one of the Guardians who works for Offred’s current Commander. He informs her that the commander wishes to see her, the true nature of her quest that

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