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chapter 25, rules and society


In a world shaped around specific strict rules. The rules either break you or you break them.  In handmaid's tale where women are strongly prejudiced, many are deeply concerned about their well being knowing that one false move could be fatal. thorough many chapters we see are narrator Offred enduring this oppressive regime by knowing when it's time to break the rules and when to stay clear. We witness this fine act of rule breaking on multiple occasions when Offred visits the commander. Offred’s fear of getting sent to the colonies ultimately pushed her so seek further solutions. Her continued apprehension of not being able to produce a baby motivates her to be creative. Her visites are made when Nick signals her either by polishing a car or even wearing his hat incorrectly. During Her visit in chapter 25 the commander gives her a magazine titled the Vogue, a magasin she desperately wants to read. All these secret meeting give Offred a sense on personhood making her life more bearable, and for the commander, these meetings bring him a sense of joy due to his official relationship with Serena being a little stale. “My tongue felt thick with the effort of spelling. It was like using a language id once known but had nearly forgotten, a language having to do with customs that had long before passed out of the world” (193) As displayed Offred being a handmaid's isn't even allowed to read, and to be playing a game of scrabble with the commander rises many questions and concerns of the commanders intentions. Not even the commander himself knew where he was going with all of this. “It was a magazine, a women's magazine it looked like from the picture, a model on glossy paper, hair blown, neck scarfed, mouth lipstick” “(194) “thigh i remembered now. What was in them was promise. They dealt in transformations; they suggest and endless series of possibilities,extending like the reflections in tow mirrors set facing one another, stretching on…”(195) endless series of possibilities, as the meetings go on, Offred gains access to many for forbidden items such as reading materials and much more. Once the Offred gains confidence in the commander she asks for things such as lotions while all of this is severely breaking the rules she is caring for herself. Additionally, she has a sense that her future may hold more then one path. That the commander if offering a slight sense of freedom to her even tho he participated in the creation of the gilead’s rules he still understands the importance of having freedom. To wrap things up the growing bond between the commander and Offred differ from the picture of Serena, who is all alone in the garden hacking away at seed pods, while her dryness is revealed by her visits with the other wives, just as the dryness of Offred's life in relived by the  secret visites with the commander. From what i can take of this book both the relationships between the commander's wife and the commander, and Offred and the commanders have both found ways to spice things up not letting the rules break, them but rather find ways to work around them even if the consequences and risks are high.


Keep in mind i just finished reading 25 chapters all at once prior to posting this, false informations or misinterpreted segments of the novel or even mis assumptions, and lack of development are my bad, sorry

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