Offred's Narrative in The Handmaid's Tale

Offred's Narrative in The Handmaid's Tale "Writing is an act of faith; I believe it's also an act of hope, the

hope that things can be better than they are" MargaretAtwood

Offred is an oppressed woman in the patriarchal society of Gilead. She

is telling her story to an unknown reader. We learn about Offred

through her own personal private thoughts. The novel shifts abruptly

from one scene to another and from present time to the past, so that

Offred's present situation and her past are only gradually revealed.

She uses her storytelling as survival tactic, it gives her hope that

maybe someone will listen to it one day. Atwood uses "night" as a

chapter heading several times, this is the time when Offred reminisces

about the past.

"The night is mine."

Offred is not repressed or told what to do at night. She is free

because nobody can control her thoughts.

Offred tries to stay positive throughout the novel by re-creating

people from her past. She believes there still alive and reconstructs

them in her memory. We learn about them as the novel goes on bit by

bit and we hear mostly only the good things about them.

Offred often remembers her best friend, Moira, who is her strength and

her hope throughout the novel.

"Moira was our fantasy. We hugged her to us, she

Was in secret, a giggle; she was lava beneath the crust of daily life.

In

Light Moira, Aunts were less fearsome and more absurd."

Moira is an inspiration to all the Hand...

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...red 200 years later to us, the readers, and we're left to decide

what has happened to her and how her story ended. The historical notes

help us to understand why Offred's narrative was fragmented, because

her story was recorded on tapes which weren't in the right order and

so had to be pieced together. However the notes do not tell us whether

she escaped or not, we don't know if she recorded these while still in

the regime or after she escaped. We are still left with unanswered

questions at the end of the novel and Offred's story remains

incomplete.

Atwood wanted us, as readers, to view our own society and to see the

faults in it. She is trying to emphasis people's complacency and how

we get used to things and can't be bothered to change our situation.

Atwood believes things can be changed to be better than they are.