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, when she sees Nick in the Garden. “They cannot replace each other, Nick for Luke or Luke for Nick. Should does not apply”(240). She goes on to describe the sexual tension between her and Nick but comes back to her senses. She only wants love, but it cannot be obtained because of Gilead’s psychological manipulation. Gilead’s regime is guarded and looked after, Offred is never truly alone. She is always being supervised, she is a “prized possession” which leads to her wanting to escape. Her and Luke were unhappy “(...) We were both feeling miserable. How were we to know we were happy, even then?” (240). So they made a plan to escape with their daughter. “The night before we left the house, that last time. I was walking through the rooms. Nothing was packed up, because we weren’t taking much with us(...)” (240). But, they got caught before they could even leave. The barrier didn’t allow them to leave, it proves Gilead’s manipulation of also being physical. Lastly, Offred’s memory is lost and abused by the regime. She tries to remember her family and loved ones but is unable to “(...) But they fade, thought I stretch out my arms towards them they slip away from me, ghost at day break. Back to where ever they are. Stay with me, I want to say but they won’t. It’s my fault I am forgetting too much”(242). She prays instead, to get her mind off of her blurred thoughts. Offred’s past is lost because Gilead took over her thoughts with the abuse of power.
In summary, Gilead’s control and psychological manipulation destroyed Offred’s chance for a happy life. She isn't certain about her feelings of love, her memories of the past and is trapped and miserable. Offred is stuck in a “inescapable prison”, mentally and physically.
I admire how you relate happiness to memories, even when some of them are bad, they remind you of the old days. I related to your introduction a lot, and i was able to understand where you were coming from at the start, but i have to admit it took a turn near the middle where you talk of gileads personnal desires with nick and luke. but all in all, good blog.
RépondreSupprimerI absolutely loved how in depth you went to describe why Offred feels the way she feels and why she’s slowly going mad. But at the same time I feel like there are still a few reasons that could be added to why she feels trapped.
RépondreSupprimerFirstly, in the novel she mentions a couple of times that she feels like she’s been drugged when she goes to the Red Center during the afternoons. This show, us, the reader, that Offred has even less freedom than we thought she even had in the first place. Instead of resting and getting lost into her thoughts, she is forced to fall asleep in order to rest and she cannot do anything to change that.
In addition, the fact that we only know about Offred’s suffering through her inner dialog really shows the reader how little freedom that the handmaids have. The handmaid’s suffering isn’t talked about anywhere else in the novel than Offred’s internal dialogIn a way the handmaids are being censored by their own government. It’s by doing this that we see how much Gilead manipulates its population and how cruel their ideology is.
Gilead is fully aware of its population’s suffering but will do nothing about it because in the end they get what they want, healthy babies. Happiness and sanity amongst the people is not necessary, in the end all they want is successful reproduction.
Woah, I love the link you made between the memories and happiness. Precisely, it really puts emphasis on how even though some of Offred’s memories are negative ones, she would rather think about the past than live in the present. In fact, even in the times where her and Luke were scared and planning an escape, Offred realizes they still had each other and their daughter, and thus, still had a certain degree of happiness. Indeed, they had people to love, to care for and received love in return. Indeed, I think the examples you provided clearly show how Gilead’s society restricts Offred’s ability to love and her freedom to search for it, thus stripping happiness away from their citizens. Great post!
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