''I'm a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, wich is hard and more real than I am and glows red with its transclucent wrapping'' It is a sentence that brings chills to the readers and makes them understand truly what the character feels in her situation. All of this, while reminiscing to her better life in the past. In the chapter, we see just how terrible Gilead is with its rules, for example, Offred had to pretend not to know her friend Moira, a handmaid brought in three weeks after herself, because it would bring too much attention, wich could then lead to suspicion. Also, the moment in wich they had to testify their past. Janine, another handmaid, was the worst victim since she was shamed and embarrassed for her nightmarish past in which she had no control in and was unavoidable. The matter of 'gang raping' is a dangerous action in wich one would have a great deal of pain and effort to avoid since it includes an odd ...
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"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 ...
Dreams and reality can often be difficult to distinguish , but for Offred it is simple seeing as everything about her reality is a nightmare and her only escape is to dream . Through her dreams , the narrator is able to tap into memories from her past even though she realizes that her old life has disappeared and she can never get it back. My interpretation of the chapter leads me to believe that the more the narrator remembers her past, the more it pushes her towards wanting to act against Gilead’s totalitarian regime. In fact , Offred ’s lack of power under the new ...
There are things that can’t be forgotten, things that make people’s happiness. Those things are memories, they lead back to a specific time, place and with someone in particular that will be stored in someone’s brain forever. When feeling sad, thinking back to a vacation in the Bahamas with family or being a group of friends on the city bus going Downtown helps and makes smile. Being able to live those good times and remember them later is the key to happiness. However, in chapter 30 of the Handmaid's Tale, the reader better understands Offred’s unhappiness and inability to escape her psychological entrapment proving Gilead’s manipulative regime. Handmaids are used for reproduction, they aren’t treated like humans, but more like robots. Their feelings and emotions aren’t “important” and don’t matter. They’ve been taken from their families, doesn’t that mean they should at least try and feel happiness? Offred has a yearning compassion for Nick and Luke. She compares the two men, ...
(photo credit: media.mnn ) The ability to change resides in all humans. However, in chapter 27 of The Handmaid’s Tale , the indifferent and even submissive way in which people have accepted the negative changes which have taken place in their lives results in a lack of efforts to improve life for anyone including themselves. Most of the people of Gilead have lost homes and loved ones. Now, instead of fighting to regain what they have lost all they can bring themselves to do is “..look at the Wall”(Attwood 207) where the dead are displayed and think about how “Somehow the Wall is even more foreboding when it’s empty like this”(207). It’s incredible if you think about it: Offred’s first thought upon seeing the vacant Wall isn’t “Ohh I’m glad nobody died here today,” but rather “Nobody’s dead yet so it could still be me.” Add to this the fact that when the Eyes jump out of their van and grab someone off the sidewalk everyone watches but not a single person moves or even says a w...