Handmaid's Tale - Character Analysis 2

In the beginning of the story, Offred explicitly stated that she “intended to last,” meaning that she had no desire to die by her own hand or otherwise.  The events of the story have taken their tolls on her, and by the final scene, she is resigned to life or death and is completely indifferent regarding her fate as well as those around her.  The removal of love from her life and the realization about how little she actually had in this society completely removed Offred’s desire to survive.

Offred’s love is presented clearly in four distinct characters within the story, and each are eventually separated from her.  Offred is first separated from her mother, signifying society’s separation from the perverse and free.  This separation – as it technically took place long before the events of the red center – establishes Offred as we see her at the beginning of the novel.  She has distanced herself from perverse emotion – indeed, emotion of any kind – and relinquished her freedom.  She “steels herself,” as her mother had told her to.  It is ironic and fitting that her mother was the one who told her to be strong, as she becomes strong enough to handle the new society as a result of her distance from her mother’s behavior.

Offred is then faced with the separation from her daughter.  She is initially separated from Luke and her daughter simultaneously, but her second symbolic separation is relatively more important in Offred’s development in the latter portion of the book.  (This is not to say that the initial separation is unimportant, however.  Most of Offred’s apathy and suicidal considerations stem from this event, as well as her separation from life in general.  That said, this is a somewhat ambiguous development and it isn’t presented clearly; the second separation represents a more definitive and identifiable change in Offred’s personality.)  When shown a picture of her daughter as she currently looks, Offred is shocked by how much she’s grown and how little she can now connect to her maternal feelings.  Having little ability to connect with what she knows of her daughter, Offred assumes that her daughter is unable to remember her, entirely.  Now removed from her daughter, whom had been her source of hope for most of the story, Offred loses a good amount of her emotional conviction.

Thirdly, when Offred encounters and separates from Moira in Jezebel’s, she loses her ability to relate with others as well as her entire ability to trudge on through this new life.  Moira had always been Offred’s rebellious and feisty feminist counterpart; witnessing her in her current situation – a playboy bunny in a secret brothel – destroyed Offred’s ability to fight for her own convictions.  She is appalled that her friend, whom she thought would never back down when her rights and freedoms were endangered, now resigns herself to be objectified wholly for men’s enjoyment before being thrown out like trash.  Moira’s suggestion that Offred joins her shows Offred how broken Moira has truly become, and it disintegrates her will to fight against her own self objectification; she allows the commander to have sex with her that evening, telling herself that she’ll “fake it.”

Finally, Offred’s emotional separation with Luke during her series of encounters with Nick completely removes the love that she once knew in life, allowing her to become resigned to her possible death.  This is heavily evidenced in her tone when discussing the consequences of her actions.  She dismisses them as distinct but irrelevant possibilities, even though many of them may result in death.  While Offred once became fearful that another might break the rules, she no longer cares if she herself is killed for what she has done.  The guilt she feels on the first night with Nick is the final death-knell for Offred.  His love was the final thing protecting her from the darkness of this world, and once it leaves she loses all will to go on.  She expresses total unconcern for her future in the final sentence: “And so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light.”  While any number of possible interpretations of her meaning here may be valid, they all show the same change in her character; any possible future she may face is equally acceptable and the distinction is arbitrary.

Offred’s obstinate will to survive in the beginning of the book is replaced in the end with a total apathy for her own fate.  Her love for her family was all that kept her alive, even after they had all been completely separated, and once she lost them, she lost herself as well.

Handmaid's Tale - Essential Questions 2

Essential Questions

1)    In her first encounter with Nick, Offred tells the story in two ways, highlighting her own fallibility in retelling certain events.  Why is she unable to present an objective account of her encounter?  Where else might her credibility be questioned?

Offred is unable to present these events objectively due to her internal conflict; She cares for both Nick and Luke.  She wants to feel love again, but her love for Luke is the only thing keeping her motivated.  Her inability to describe the events here show that she becoming less and less able to follow the rules of this new world.  As such, her credibility should be questioned whenever she discusses her old family.

2)    In the beginning of chapter 41, Offred expresses her wish that the story contained different material.  What can we infer about her own opinions of the events of the book by this material?  What does this material suggest about the book’s tone and themes?

This too shows Offred's persistence.  She is determined to tell her story, and her desire for a different story to tell represents the theme of reluctant persistence.

3)    When Offred uses the code ‘Mayday’ to entice the new Ofglen to reveal herself as a rebel, Ofglen’s response suggests that she is aware of the rebellion and distinctly separate from it.  What does Offred’s reaction reveal about her progression in the story, compared to similar reactions in the past?

Offred certainly doesn't react the way that she would have in the beginning of the story.  Initially, she would have been terrified for her life, but she faces her fate with grim acceptance and apathy, as she no longer cares much for living.

Handmaid's Tale - Passage Analysis 4

“I take it… a knife.” Pg. 228

Throughout the book, Offred has constantly refered to love – or, rather, the absence of it.  She expresses that the commander “fucks” her, as she denies to apply the word love to his actions.  She refuses to apply the word in other areas as well; she consistently refers to God – occasionally even in second person narrative – but never presumes that there is any love present within the concept of a deity.  Here, she even mentions the phrase ‘god is love’ and implies that love is fleeting when it happens to exist at all.  (Understanding this, however, requires intuition regarding her application of god throughout the story; she tells Ofglen that she doesn’t believe in the idea, giving the evidence for this particular interpretation regarding love.) 

In the passage at hand, she becomes internally distraught over the idea that her daughter no longer remembers her, furthering her idea that love is fleeing.  She clearly still loves her daughter, however, and this fact allows for the discovery of a crucial piece of information regarding her views on death.  Offred spent the preceding passages highlighting the struggles met to find love, and even explicitly mentioned the idea that a person could love a person who does not reciprocate.  When she begins contemplating the idea that her daughter does not remember her, she uses language such as ‘shadow,’ ‘obliterated’ and even ‘dead’ before briefly revisiting the fact that the handmaid’s are carefully watched to ensure that they cannot kill themselves.  In fact, Offred tends to mention her inability to be truly obliterated whenever she remembers her lack of love in this world.  All of these things point to the central theme of the story; those who are deprived of love and human contact are driven to contemplate the value of such a life.

Handmaid's Tale - Passage Analysis 3

“That night… lose you.” Pg. 182

Offred’s flashbacks to her life before the current timeline – chronologically inconsistent though they may be – gradually reveal more about how the society became what it is.  This flashback has revealed some of the most important information thus far: the assassination of the government’s leaders, the suspension of the constitution, the laying-off of female workers, and closing of females’ accounts.  All of these things show the slow progression of the world in which Offred lived into one in which the people were governed by religion and martial law.  The specific passage selected is extremely important, because it shows the first moments in which Offred became isolated from those around her.

Luke wants to make love to her in this passage, but Offred is unable to due to her internal conflict resulting from the events of that day.  She expresses that she doesn’t know what is bothering her, but her language here (as well as in previous passages) reveal the cause of her distress.  Previously, she felt that she had been paranoid to view his intent to protect her as paternalistic and, likely, somewhat demeaning.  Here, she expresses how small she feels, likening herself to an inanimate “doll” for Luke to do with what he wishes; she even states that she sounds and feels indifferent when she tells Luke that they “still have each other.”  For the first time, she views the possession as one-sided, evidenced by her doll comparison and the language she uses in describing Luke’s metaphorical behavior.

Handmaid's Tale - Passage Analysis 2

Pg. 137: “’Close the door…’” – “…reconstruction, too.”

The interactions between the Commander and Offred in this scene show just how striking the difference is between the old world and the new world.  The language used by Offred when she describes the situation gives the scene a sense of familiarity and comfort.  However, as a result of the juxtaposition between the actions of these people and the world in which they live, the tone is one of uncanny anxiety.

This uncanny feeling begins as soon as the Commander speaks.  His use of such casual language in this world immediately forces Offred to think in terms of what was, causing internal tension both in Offred and in the reader.  This is made obvious by the language and diction that is used in various places in this scene, such as: “…was a phrase my mother uses.  Used,” “I think I should have a hat on,” “Sheepish was the word,” etc. All of these uses of language are more like the diction the speaker would have used in the old world.

Offred’s first inner monologue perfectly describes the tone set in place in this scene: “It’s an old form of greeting.  I haven’t heard it for a long time, for years.  Under the circumstances it seems out of place, comical even, a flip backward in time, a stunt.  I can think of nothing appropriate to say in return.”  This immediately establishes the tone of the following scene, as well as what will take place.  Offred is temporarily thrust back into the past, and the language shows this perfectly.