Offred’s technique of revealing the patriarchal male discourse is by describing Gilead using the language and “truth” of the new regime. The issue at hand here is whether this “truth” is portrayed from a solely critical standpoint. I would argue that Offred is aware of a different “truth” but presents it in a way that creates a hesitancy of whether she has been “affected” by the Gilead “truth”. In other words, it is unclear whether Gilead 's discourse has led her to view its values as somewhat acceptable. An example of this is when she is at the doctor’s to test her fertility since her function as a Handmaid is merely to conceive a child. The doctor offers to impregnate her himself as her commander might be sterile.This is forbidden but the risk of getting caught is minimal. Despite this she hesitates: [‘I could help you’, he says. Whispers. ‘What?’ I say...’ I could help you. I’ve helped others’ ... ’the door is locked. No one will come in. They’ll never know it isn’t his.’ … ‘Most of the old guys can’t make it any more… or they’re sterile.’ I almost gasp: he said a forbidden word. Sterile. ‘It’s too dangerous,’ I say. ‘No I can’t.’ The penalty is death. I put on my clothes again behind the screen. My hands are shaking. Why am I frightened? I’ve crossed no boundaries, I’ve given no trust, taken no risk, all is safe. It’s the choice that terrifies me. A way out, a salvation. (70-71)] It is not likely that fear alone would affect Offred since if she does not get pregnant in
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
From very early on in the book, the significance of gender roles is set out in order to allow the reader to comprehend the idea of the castes in this patriarchal society. The transition between the “time before” and what Offred describes as “now”, is essential in order to realize the changes that occurred. After the “Sons of Jacob” start the revolution, people’s rights are put in limbo as the constitution is suspended. Women’s rights become almost non-existent, and the division begins. Since her attempted escape, Offred is brought back into Gilead and do her duty as a fertile woman, and become a handmaid. She is very limited in what she can do, and in order to not be sent away to the
In many ways, Offred and everyone like her are why Gilead exists. They didn’t resist Gilead’s rise, didn’t band together, and looked out for themselves and their loved ones above the great good. Atwood is telling use that regimes do not rise in back rooms or on the battlefield. They rise when the average person doesn’t stand up and selflessly fight
Offred is aware that Gilead is manipulating them by selecting certain lines and perhaps even making it up. Manipulation is another tool that is used by the government to take away power from women by encouraging them that they will be rewarded in their after life.
If the whole story is just a memory, many of the “facts” are again adjusted to fit the narrator’s ex-post perspective. The Handmaid even offers three versions of the story of her and Nick having sex for the first time – here, Atwood again addresses the stereotypical expectations of romantic love and depicts three possible realities which play on Offred’s wishful thinking”2. Offred’s unreliability as narrator is furthered due to the that the fact that the tapes have been ordered by somebody else , but also because she is telling the story after it has happed. Hindsight surely must have shaped her opinions in some form. As well as exploring natural conflict within the human mind, as the novel progresses it becomes clearer that Offred does not always reflect the typical aspects of what is deemed as a normal mentality. As Offred’s perceptions of reality seem to merge more and more with her imagination we are made aware that isolated under the regime of Gilead, sanity is at least something Offred has to now fight for. "Sanity is a valuable possession; I save it, so I will have enough when the time comes." Insanity has always had in place amongst the control of totalitarian regimes ‘following the fall of the Soviet Union, it was often reported that some opposition activists and journalists were detained in Russian psychiatric institutions to intimidate and isolate them from
Your fingertips followed the movement of your hand as they brushed over the wood grain, barely making contact as each one dragged against the oak. Occasionally, your path was interrupted by pools of spilt alcohol, fluid spawning ripples with every beat of unidentified music. The vocals could have been French, Spanish or Enochian. You didn’t know, nor did you care. Alternative rock. Classical. Rap. Whatever the label, it was all just a distant murmur of voices and instruments. But the smell, you certainly noticed. The stench of summer sex and CK eternity, oh, hell, yes. In all honesty, the only reason you chose the company of intoxicated minds over the depths of bed blankets was the promise of some form of gain. From a free drink to the occasional pickpocketing, you would take anything considering your situation. Maybe things would be different if you didn’t call a different motel room every night ‘home’ and dinner meant whatever you could swap for what little cash you owned.
Imagine not being able to go out, all you do is just stay inside doing nothing, and when you are able to go out they send you to do errands. Offred is a handmaid for a new society that took over a part of the United States. Her world consist of having sexual intercourse or a ‘Ceremony’ with a specific male once a month in order to reproduce and give birth. She also isn't able to communicate with others. In the novel if handmaid’s get pregnant they aren’t allowed to keep the child, they eventually give it to the Wife, the partner of the Commander, who then cares for it and acts as if it’s one of her own.
Gilead is ruled by a theocracy; a government in which God is its supreme ruler. Through the eyes of its central character, Offred, a handmaid, we are given a glimpse of a world where men and women are plagued by infertility, men have become the superior sex and handmaids, concubines used for childbearing,
Like many christians’ attitude towards Christ’s crucifixion, Offred believes Ofglen died to benefit everyone in jeopardy (due to involvement with the Eyes). Because of this, Offred now wants to live an honest, lawful life even though she knows how inhuman Gilead’s rules are towards women.
However, it isn’t until a few chapters in that it becomes clear Offred is not at all happy with where she stands with herself and in her role in Gilead. Offred recounts something Aunt Lydia told her once as she is walking along the streets, “’In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it,’” (24).
In the Republic of Gilead, women are deprived of their individuality, only valued for childbearing; Offred is only allowed to have sex with the Commander to make children for the government. With children as rare commodities, the Offred and many other women are separated from their families and must live in repressive, communal societies as a Handmaid. If she fails to reproduce,
Offred chooses to be a Handmaid rather than result to the unknown. Gilead is totalitarian and made Offred leave her husband and daughter to be a Handmaid.
Women in Gilead are just seen as reproductive machines, like as they were commonly used in the Bible. Aunt Lydia brainwashes the handmaid's by stating: “This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will. It will become ordinary” (31). However, Offred knows that her life will never be ordinary. She admits to the reader that her once free life is lost.
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
Throughout the course of human history, societies worldwide tend to follow a specific pattern of male domination in politics, economics, and culture. From the earliest city-states of Mesopotamia to the massive empires of China and Rome, women were forced to take a limited role in society. This systematic oppression of women is indicative of a patriarchal society, in which “women have been subordinate to men in the family and in society generally” (Ways of the World 59). Though these civilizations share the characteristic of male supremacy, each had different practices governing interactions between the genders. Each society had a unique idea of exactly what rights women were afforded and how the patriarchy was enforced. The Mesopotamian, Chinese, and Greek civilizations were undeniably patriarchal, but how the dominance of men was expressed varied between each society.