Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale Classroom Blog

"That way i could keep the match. I could make a small hole, in the mattress, slide it carefully in. such a thin thing would never be noticed. There it would be, at night, under me while i'm in bed. sleeping on it. I could burn the house down. such a fine thought, it makes me shiver." Reading this made me reflect, if a slave can find a way to hold power, its no longer a dream, its just a challenge.  In life we constantly search for power, our education id power, so were told. We never truly understand what were searching for until we've found it, and what we find at the end of the line, is power. An example of this would be a power we have all known, youth. Youth is a strong tool since many people take pity on them. On another topic, The power seen in this chapter is unique, we finally see offred learning of her abilities from the position she holds in the household. Power means not only dominance of strength, it is most known for control. "Sometimes, after the...

500  (Photo credit: https://bit.ly/2POEQqp) Every society can thrive in freedom and happiness if they pay the price. However, in chapter 42 of The Handmaid's Tale , we can clearly see that the characters choose submission and oppression. Sadly, Gilead’s population decides to act like pawns and serve the leaders instead of taking action. Gilead’s population knows that “They tell you only the day before”(Atwood 340) the “salvagings” or other cruel activities. It’s very interesting that people don’t prepare in advance for what is to come. Maybe they are afraid? After all, an Eye could catch them in the act and repercussions could take place. When Offred arrived at the “Salvaging”, she looked up and remarked  “These buildings belong to the Eyes now”(Atwood 340), implying that she is aware of the Eyes potential headquarters, unsurprisingly no plans of attack were even thought of. Offred claims to be against Gilead’s new ideology yet does nothing to inconv...

    Our world is one filled with mysteries. Indeed, no one knows how life on earth came to be, nor do the brightest scientists have an accepted theory of why we dream, what is consciousness or even what makes us human. In fact, despite the multiple technological advancements of the last centuries we constantly praise, humanity is still relatively ignorant about the world in which we’ve lived since beginning of mankind. A similar kind of oblivion can be seen throughout the novel and especially in the final chapters of Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale . Effectively, these chapters (44-46) clearly depict to what extent Offred’s existence relies on fragmented and corrupted parts of reality. To begin, while readers often like to think the narrator of a story is reliable, in this particular work, we constantly need to remind ourselves that Offred is, in fact, unaware of the majority of events happening around her. As a matter of fact, just as the “wings” of t...

S omeone’s dignity and freedom is closely linked to the way a society is run. Many examples of this are present in chapter 39 of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaids Tale . The story comes down to an extremist government that takes over everyone's lives imposing it's radical rules upon whom it governs. The women are particularly targeted in this novel where the role of handmaids is depicted as an instrument for reproduction in a society that is facing a fear of extinction and giving up its destiny over to some religious principle. One of the most distinct roles for women in this novel is handmaid and it is described as a servant of the regime while being used to conceive and carry a baby for infertile couples. These women a stripped of what used to be basic human rights and are made slaves of their respective Commanders. They cannot express any kind of thought or emotion, making them feel as if they were not even people. This is especially true for Offred, who throughout he...

In a world where life as most know it has been erased and redone completely, changing every single person's values by inflicting strict laws and positions in society, violence seems to play a very important part in changing the mindsets of each and everyone of the characters. Some may be more affected than others, but it's effects can be quite surprising.           Chapter 43 of Atwood’s Handmaid’s Tale is in my opinion the most graphic yet. I n this chapter we see as per usual bodies hung up on the wall as punishment as well as to show the consequences on breaking the law. This is used to not only scare the public, but to brainwash them into sticking to their rules. As Aunt Lydia directs the Handmaids to circle around, a clearly abused man is dragged in the middle, accused as a rapist. The Handmaids are told that it is time for a Particicution , a kind of ceremony which Handmaids are free to beat the man to d...

Power is what one makes of it. It is relative, and can be used and manipulated to the heart's content. Let's say you have been given a knife. What would you do with it? Some might think things like cut vegetables, mince herbs, carve wood, while others' first thought would be murder. Holding a knife gives you power, and you can manipulate that power to achieve your end goal. In chapter 36 of Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale , it is shown that Commander Fred is in this particular situation. He holds power over Offred, Nick and Serena in more ways than one, and in this chapter in particular, I believe it is more clearly shown than ever. Take for example when the commander gives her the feathered suit. He did something similar, with the magazines, many chapters back. Commander Fred has power in society, and uses it to acquire things that are normally illegal, then to smuggle his handmaids out - which is very illegal and demonstrates just how much he manipulates power to ...