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The handmaid's tale offered character analysis
Offred struggle in the handmaid's tale
Offred struggle in the handmaid's tale
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Recommended: The handmaid's tale offered character analysis
Rebelling The Handmaid 's Tale, by Margaret Atwood, was my favorite story we read all semester. The main character in the story, Offred, has one job to do and that is to have a baby with her commander. Offred has a friend named Moira that escaped from Republic of Gilead, so why is this story about Offred? Margaret wanted the story to be about Offred, because she will be able to get out and be free. Moira gets out, but she ends up in Jezebels. Jezebels is a place like a brotherly, I do not see this as her being free. “There is more than one kind of freedom, said Aunt Lydia. Freedom to and freedom from. In the days of anarchy, it was freedom to. Now you are being given freedom from. Don’t underrate it.” (Atwood, pg. 24). This quote in the book is the most important one. Aunt Lydia makes a very good point on how there is different kinds of freedom. Offred is a great example to why that is; she does her own thing to make it show that she is free. Her definition of freedom is different from others, but she also brings in her rebelling as well. Offred does small acts in the story that show she is a strong character right at the start. Most books have …show more content…
In the book Offred is walking around the halls when everyone is suppose to be sleeping. Offred thinks to herself "I want to steal something" (Atwood, pg. 97) while lying in bed. When she is out looking for something to take, Nick comes up behind her and says "He wants to see you. In his office" (Atwood, pg. 99). This is another important section in the story, because Margaret is showing that Offred is trying to rebel again. Not by just wanting to steal something, but also by walking around the hallway by herself. Margret also brings Nick into the picture because Nick and Offred are not suppose to ever talk with one another or even be alone with each
Offred has not portrayed any heroic characteristics in The Handmaid’s Tale, through her actions of weakness, fear, and self-centredness. This novel by Margaret Atwood discusses about the group take over the government and control the Gilead’s society. In this society, all women has no power to become the leader, commander like men do. Offred is one of them, she has to be a handmaid for Serena and the Commander, Fred. Offred wants to get out of this society, that way she has to do something about it. There wasn’t any performances from her changing the society.
Offred from The Handmaid's Tale uses different tactics to cope with her situation. She is trapped within a distopian society comprised of a community riddled by despair. Though she is not physically tortured, the overwhelming and ridiculously powerful government mentally enslaves her. Offred lives in a horrific society, which prevents her from being freed. Essentially, the government enslaves her because she is a female and she is fertile. Offred memories about the way life used to be with her husband, Luke, her daughter, and her best friend Moira provides her with temporary relief from her binding situation. Also, Offred befriends the Commander's aide, Nick. Offred longs to be with her husband and she feels that she can find his love by being with Nick. She risks her life several times just to be with Nick. Feeling loved by Nick gives her a window of hope in her otherwise miserable life.
There are two possible events that can occur with Offred's arrest and readers have the ability to open the book to new possibilities. If Offred is arrested, she will likely be tried for treason and killed. However, if she escapes into freedom, she will have a new lifestyle away from Gilead. She is different from Winston as she only wants to survive and survives because of her memories of her past Conclusion:
...entioned forms of Offred’s power were not physical power. She also has the most physical power as she is the person who carries the baby and gets pregnant. Then later in the novel after Serena suggests about seeing Nick. Offred is given a cigarette and then a match and with that match Offred could burn the house down killing the Commander and Serena and then trying to escape. She could burn herself so that she no longer has to live or suffer the indignity of being continually raped by this society.
Offred is consistently cautious when it comes to interacting with the Commander. She feels as though she has to present herself in a way that will allow her to gain his trust and utilize it in her favor. Offred says, “The Commander likes it when I distinguish myself, show precocity, like an attentive pet, prick-eared and eager to perform” (Atwood 183). When Offred poses herself in the way that the Commander expects, it shows how his power influences Offred’s actions. The connection of Offred to that of “an attentive pet” also shows how the Gilead Society has taken away her humanity. Without her humanity, Offred loses her sense of self-worth which leaves her vulnerable to the Commander’s power. Along with this constant fear of portraying herself in a manner that would upset the Commander, Offred is also afraid to give away too much information about herself which could potentially end with the Commander ceasing their private meetings together. Offred expresses, “And if I talk to him I’ll say something wrong, give something away. I can feel it coming, a
In any society, laws and restrictions are placed upon the individuals living in it. These regulations can not only be a determinant of how one acts, but also how one perceives themselves. One issue that is undoubtedly going to happen to an individual is unfairness concerning one of society’s laws. Even if one is innocent of actions, regulations can cause an individual to feel as if that law is creating injustice. Does an individual have a right to oppose and rebel against perceived unfairness? Or shall one simply accept the unfairness thrust upon them? In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, we meet a woman named Offred, who is a handmaid. She describes how her society is not always a positive influence towards the people living it. In connection to Offred’s opinion, in Plato’s Critio, Socrates argues that an individual needs to accept these regulations placed upon oneself. Both Socrates and Offred gives great reasoning behind their argument, but the connection found between both stories is that an individual needs to accept the terms given to them. To right against unfair regulations creates a huge controversy and can even cause injuries to a group or an individual. Society’s laws are not always positive influence however one needs to adapt life to make it more bearable. Laws are not always going to be fair and even if these laws interfere with individual needs, a person needs to corporate and find different alterations in order to survive.
Before the war handmaids had their own lives, families, and jobs but that’s all gone now; They have all been separated from their families and assigned to A Commander and his wife to have their child. Handmaids did not choose this life but it was forced upon them. The society which Offred is forced to live in shaped her in many ways. In The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood uses cultural and geographical surroundings to shape Offred's psychological and moral traits as she tries to survive the society that she is forced to live, in hopes that she can rebel and make
Offred had been though many mixed feelings throughout this entire book. She has been able to feel, experience and thinks thoughts that she had not ever imagined that she would have. Offred can not escape the fact that in spite of the treatment from Serena Joy and the commander, that they both will have if not already have an impact on her life. Not to mention Nick also. Nick gave her the comfort and the security that she wanted, and at the end nothing done to her by the commander or his wife mattered to her. Living in the Republic of Gilead will always be a memory that she will probably try to forget.
...t create a feeling of disorientation towards the reader. Atwood does this to enable us to understand just how disjointed life is in Gilead. Offred continuously involves the reader, she directly addresses us and anticipates our response and even feels she has to justify some of her actions, she is a self-conscious narrator. Atwood is also preparing us for the revelation in the Historical notes that Offred is recounting her story into a tape recorder. The story is open ended; we are not told what exactly happened to Offred, Atwood does this in order to have more of an impact on the reader.
In The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood, Offred was taken from her husband and child, brainwashed, and then forced into a new house where her sole purpose is to be a walking uterus. In a Brave New World by Aldus Huxley, people are made in a laboratory, no one cares about family, and everyone is high on soma. These two books are both different, but are also very similar. The main thing they have in common is that they are a dystopian society, the government controls everyone, and nobody has the freedom to do/live the way they want. However, why is it that so many authors write books like this? Where the world is controlled by terrible dictatorships, only the people higher up benefit, and the normal every day citizen is screwed? I believe that
There is supposed to be nothing entertaining about us, no room is to be permitted
This is the way Atwood gets across her feelings about the future world that Offred lives in. She forms a close relationship with the reader and the character, and then shows the reader Offred’s feelings about different aspects of the world. This is not to say that everyone reading the book will get the exact same thing from it.
Similarly to Montag, reading provides Offred with a sense of rebellion and acts as a way to fight against conformity, as women are not allowed to read. The Latin phrase which is carved into her closet symbolises inner resistance to Gilead, allowing her to feel as though she can communicate with the woman who engraved the message; even more so does it make Offred rebellious, when the meaning of the phrase is revealed to be “Don’t
Offred’s journey is a prime example of the appalling effects of idly standing by and allowing herself to become a part of the Gilead’s corrupt system. This woman is a Handmaid which was recently placed within a new
... is only alive in her dreams, she aches for her and fears that her child will not remember or even she is dead. Atwood writes about motherhood, and the irony lies in the fact that Offred did not have an ideal relationship with her mother even though Gilead’s system was not established, yet Offred who is separated for her daughter shows affection towards her child by constantly thinking and dreaming about her. Even though Offred felt pressured from her mother, she still misses her, ‘I want her back’ and she even reminisces about when she used to visit her and Luke.