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Sexual Confusion



Sexual Confusion


Sexual freedom is what gives us life, but what if I told you that the ability to express sexual freedom would suddenly disappear. How does that affect you? Would we end up losing an important human value? Is it possible that this would lead us to confusion and self-hatred? Well, in chapter 17 of The Handmaid’s Tale, I noticed how Offred’s furious quest for sexual freedom and the desire to be “touched”, caused her to fall back into the regime’s hands.

Earlier in the book, Offred had a relationship with a guy named Luke, he seemed interested in Offred and never really obeyed the rules of avoiding eye contact or even talking towards a woman, thus grabbing her attention. In chapter 17, Offred hasn't seen Luke in a while and of course was missing him and even said it here; “I want Luke here so badly.” (Atwood 120). However, Offred’s uncontrollable sexual intensity has put her back into the depths of the regime. “He [Nick] puts his hands on my arm, pulls me against him, his mouth on mine [...] Luke, you’d know, you’d understand. It’s you here, in another body[...] Bullshit” (Atwood 122). Before all of this, Offred was caught red handed by Nick, in which they were both making illegal actions and were both caught by Luke. Taking into consideration that Offred has cheated on him gave him the opportunity to “pull the alarm” if you would say, putting her in great trouble. In addition, Offred said “I want to be valued, in ways that I am not[...] (Atwood), which was said for Luke, but since Offred cheated on Luke, this doesn't seem to be possible anymore. Moving on, at the beginning of this chapter, Offred stole a dying daffodil down the staircase, picking off a dried up petal and placing it under a mattress for another woman to find. But what’s interesting about this is that Offred said, “In the wood at midnight, a magic flower” (Atwood), which I think symbolisticly it means that she would pick a dying flower, and would define her presumable fall of expressing sexual freedom.

To conclude, Offred dreamed off sexual freedom but did not understand true sexual relationships or how they even worked. Being blinded by her influence of being “touched”, caused her to loss exactly what she wanted.

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