Summary The story opens with Offred, the narrator, describing the gymnasium the women sleep. The matrons patrol with electric cattle prods to control the women so they can only whisper in the dark. The women get exercise twice a day by walking around what used to be a football field. It is surrounded by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. Outside the fence are armed guards, referred to as Angels. All the men keep their backs to the women. Some of the women wish the guards would turn around so they could ask them to help them escape. The women exchanged their names at night. That was the past, now Offred lives in a house. She has her own room. There are curtains on the one window, a pillow, and afr braided rug. The room is spartan without pictures or a mirror. The shatterproof window doesn’t open wide enough to crawl through. The door doesn’t lock. Offred is a handmaid. She dresses completely in red with white wings framing her face. The household servants are called Martha’s and wear green. The Wives wear blue. None of the servants are allowed to have a conversation with the Handmaids, so Offred is very lonely. She wishes she could talk to them about the jealousy the Wives feel, and how many times the Handmaids are hurt, sometimes killed. Offred leaves for the grocery store. She will use a currency that is marked with what they will buy. Twelve eggs, Cheese, etc. As Offred is leaving, she looks for the Commander’s Wife. She tends her garden and knits scarves for the Angels on the front lines, ast all the wives do. Offred remembers when she first arrived. The Wife smoked cigarettes while she told her to remember her place and stay out of her sight. Always remember the Commander is her husband. Offred recognizes the Wife. She was a famous singer on a gospel show when Offred was a little girl. Her name was Serena Joy. Offred walks past Nick, the chauffeur. When he winks at her, she worries if he is an ‘Eye’. Those are spies that are assigned to houses to find infractions. At the corner, Offred waits for Ofglen, another Handmaid. Handmaid’s always traveled in pairs. Their conversation is stilted, avoiding topics that are forbidden. Ofglen tells her about the war that is going well. The army defeated a group of Baptist rebels. Offred gives the expected response, “Praise be”. The Handmaid’s come to a checkpoint supervised by a Guard. The Guards are men who act as the policemen. They are not in the army because they are either too young, too old, or not fit for some other reason. The older Guards are easier to deal with than the excitable younger ones. Young Guardians hope to become Angels someday so they can have families and a Handmaid of their own. At this point, the word Handmaid is starting to be used and the name of the new society is given, “The Republic of Gilead”. Offred thinks about the days before Gilead, women were not as “protected”. They were frightened to open their doors. The matron, Aunt Lydia, who trained her told her that freedom came in more than one type. In the town, the shops all have names such as All Flesh, for the butchers and there areth Milk and Honey. Offred sees another Handmaid. She is called Ofwarren now, but she used to be named Janine. Offred figures the woman is there to show off. Offred then remembers her husband Luke and their daughter. Before Gilead, her life was different. As the Handmaids leave, they confront some Japanese tourists that wantaft to take pictures of them. Offred says no. The tourists ask if they are happy, and Offred says yes. The Handmaids are amazed at the dresses of the tourists. Their legs are uncovered, they wear high heels and their nails are painted. The Handmaids then walk past a church that is used as a museum and the Wall across from it. Dead bodies hang from the Wall with bags over their heads. The signs hanging from the corpses say they were doctors who used to perform abortions before Gilead was formed. Offred is glad to know that Luke was never a doctor so he can’t be one of the men. After Offred goes to bed, she is free to dream about her life before Gilead. She doesn’t have many memories left after the drugs they gave her. But she can remember her college roommate, she also remembers walking in the park with her mother and she remembers seeing the book burnings. She has vague memories of waking up screaming and begging to see her daughter. She remembers the picture they showed her of her daughter in a white dress with another woman. Offred was not considered fit to raise her child, so she was given to someone better. At the corner of the house, Ofglen says goodbye with “Under His Eye”. Nick asks her about her walk, but Offred knows that they aren’t allowed to talk, so she ignores him. She remembers that Serena Joy used to use her fame to insist that women stay at home. Offred wonders if Serena is angry because what she wanted came true and she is now confined to her home. That night, Offred remembers her past, again. She sees herself waiting in a motel room for Luke. He was sneaking away from his first wife. She also remembers her first night in the room. She found a message scratched into the floor of the closet, Nolite te bastardes carborundorum (Do not let the bastards grind you down.) It was left by a previous Handmaid. As the days progress, Offred will sing songs in her head, since music is not allowed. Sometimes Serena will hum and listen to recordings of herself when she was a famous gospel singer. As the days become warmer, Offred is looking forward to changing to her lighter dress. She remembers the Matrons telling her how dangerous the world used to be for women. But, the few memories Offred still has aren’t that dangerous. She sits by her window a lot, leaning against a pillow with the word, FAITH embroidered on it. That is the only word she is allowed to read. Every month Offred is taken to the doctor by a Guardian. She is checked for pregnancy and disease. Usually, the doctor doesn’t talk to her and can’t see her face because of a sheet. But, this time, he talks to her and then offers to help her. He thinks the Commander, like most men his age, is sterile. He offers to have sex with her and get her pregnant. Offred thanks him but turns him down gently. She knows the doctor could give a false report and she would be an Unwoman. On Offred’s bath day, Cora, a Martha, must wait outside the bathroom for her. She becomes impatient, and while Offred dries off she notices the tattoo that Gilead put on all the Handmaids. Afterward, she has dinner in her room. The food is bland, Handmaids cannot have coffee, alcohol, nicotine, sugar, etc. Although she is not allowed to save any food, Offred wraps a pat of butter in a napkin and puts it in her shoe. After dinner, the whole household attends the Ceremony. The Commander is always late. Serena sits while Offred kneels on the floor. Rita, Cora, and Nick stand behind her. Nick touches her foot with his. When she moves her foot, he moves his as well. They all watch the news while they wait for the Commander. When the Commander arrives, he reads from the Bible. The rest of the Ceremony involves the Commander and his wife. They make Offred lay between the Wife’s legs with her head resting on her pelvis. The two women hold hands. Both women are fully clothed except for Offred, whose underwear is off. The Commander has sex with Offred. Afterward, he leaves and the Wife sends Offred away, even though she is supposed to lay still for ten minutes for a better chance at impregnation. When Offred is safely in her room, she uses the butter she hid in her shoe on her skin to lubricate, since beauty products are forbidden. Nick finds her and they kiss, but pull apart quickly for their own safety. He tells her the Commander sent him to find her because he wants to see her in his office the next day. The next morning she hears a siren during breakfast. It is a Birthmobile. It is there to pick up Offred so she can attend the birth of Ofwarren’s baby. Along the way, Offred remembers the teachings of the Aunts about the importance of childbirth. The birthrate has fallen so much that women who choose not to have children are called lazy sluts. At the house, another bus shows up that is carrying the Wives. Offred thinks the women sit around talking about how much they hate the slutty Handmaids. The Wife of Warren sits in a sitting room waiting like she is giving birth. Ofwarren is in the master bedroom giving birth. Just before the actual birth, Ofwarren and the Wife sit on the birthing stool together with the Wife sitting above. When the baby girl is born with no defects, everyone is cheering. Then the Wife climbs into the bed and holds the baby for the Wives to view. They push the Handmaids away. Ofwarren will nurse the new baby for a few months, then she will be transferred to another Commander. Since she has given birth, she will never be termed an Unwoman and sent to the colonies. That evening Offred goes to the Commander’s office as ordered. She thinks he wants to punish her, but what he wants is for her to play Scrabble with him. Her seeing him alone and playing a reading game are both against the rules. Before she leaves he asks her for a kiss and wants her to kiss him like she means it. As the Spring moves into Summer, she and the Commander meet often, but they just play Scrabble. He signals her when he wants to meet her by having Nick wear his hat askew. Sometimes she can’t go because Serena is knitting in the sitting room. The Wives take turns being sick, so they visit each other. Although Wives are allowed to be sick, Handmaids and Martha’s must never be sick because the sick and old are sent to the Colonies. She never sees an old woman. The friendship of the Commander and Offred develops with their meetings which make the obligatory sex even more uncomfortable. She and Ofglen become better friends, too. One day they go by a print shop. The Wives have prayers printed and then the paper is recycled. Ofglen asks Offred if she thinks God listens to the printer. Offred answers no. This makes Ofglen believe she can trust Offred and tells her about the group she is a member of that is subversive. She has a fright when a black van stops near them, but it grabs a man with a briefcase instead. That night Offred’s memories come back. She remembers the fall of the United States and the creation of the Gilead. The President was shot and Congress was gunned down. The army declared a state of emergency. Muslims were blamed falsely for executing almost all the government officials. Next, the Constitution was laid aside. The American public was in shock, they stayed home and watched television. Newspapers were censored, roadblocks were set up for checking Identipasses. Paper money was replaced with Compucards that took money directly from bank accounts. One day, Offred’s Compucard wouldn’t work. Then while she was at her job at the library, her boss came in and was forced to fire all the female employees. They had ten minutes to leave and was led out by an armed guard. Women could not legally hold property or a job. Their bank accounts were transferred to the closest male relative. When she looks outside and sees Nick’s hat askew, she wonders what he gets out of the arrangement. She begins to realize that the Commander is trying to make her life easier. She also realizes she can use his guilt to her advantage. When he asks her what he can to make her life better, she asks for knowledge about what is going on. That night when she tries to pray, she thinks about suicide. Ofglen tells Offred that the subversives use “mayday” as a password, but not to use it too often. If she is caught, she will be tortured. When Offred gets back to the house, she sees Nick’s hat askew. But, Serena stops her to help with the wool for her knitting. Serena tells her she thinks the Commander may be sterile. When Offred hesitantly agrees, Serena suggests that another man may be necessary and suggests Nick. She tells Offred that if she will have sex with Nick she will show her a picture of her daughter. The Commander has begun to drink during their visits. He tells her they thought Gilead would be a good idea. At a Prayvaganza, which is a wedding for the daughter of a Wife, and only attended by women, Ofglen tells Offred that the subversives know she meets with the Commander privately and wants her to get information for them. That night Serena shows her a picture of her daughter. She is a happy little girl who seems to have forgotten about her mother. Then she meets with the Commander who is drunk. He makes her dress in a skimpy outfit and takes her out. She hides on the floor of the car and Nick drives them. They enter a club where the Commander tells her to say to anybody who she sees that she is an “evening rental”. It is the same hotel where she used to meet Luke. There are other women that are dressed like heran. Some of the women were prostitutes from before Gilead and some were once lawyers, sociologists, and businesswomen who didn’t want to become Handmaids. Then Offred sees her college roommate, Moira. She is wearing a Playboy bunny costume. She gives Offred the signal to meet in the bathroom. Moira tells her story of what happened after she escaped. She was taken by some Quakers to an underground female railroad. But she was caught, taken by the Guards who tortured her. They showed her films of the Colonies, where the old women go. They clean up radioactive spills and dead bodies. They die in about a year. Moira tells her that she saw Offred’s mother in one of the movies. They told her the only other option was to work at the club as a prostitute. Moira’s spirit is broken. When Offred leaves, she never sees Moira again. The Commander takes her to a hotel room. He is upset that she is not more excited about having real sex with him. So she fakes it. When she gets home, Serena takes her to Nick’s room. They make love, but afterward, she feels like she cheated on Luke. She continues to meet with Nick. He doesn’t talk much, but she tells him everything, including her real name. She also tells him about Ofglen who wants her to break into the Commander’s office. The subversives want to know what his responsibilities are. Soon she tells Nick she thinks she is pregnant. The women of Gilead are called into what used to be the stage area where commencements used to be held. They are there to view a Salvaging. This is the execution of women. They decided to quit announcing the crimes that led to hanging because it causes copycats. Two Handmaids and a Wife are hung. There are only three reasons a Wife would be hung. Killing a Handmaid, adultery or attempting to escape. All of the Handmaids are forced to touch the ropes to show their consent in the Salvaging. Afterward, a Guardian is dragged to the front. The matron says that he is accused of raping a pregnant Handmaid and causing her to lose the baby. The Handmaids form a circle and beat him to death. The first to attack is Ofglen who kicks him in the head hard a few times. When Offred asks her why she did that, Ofglen tells her he was actually a subversive and they lied about his crime. She wanted to put him out of his misery quickly. The next day Offred is met by a new Ofglen. She tells her that the old Ofglen hung herself when she saw the black van coming for her. When Offred arrives home, Serena is furious. She shows her the dress that Offred had worn on the night the Commander took her out and tells her she is a slut like the other Handmaid. Nick, who hears this, stops whistling. Offred goes to her room. That night Offred waits for her death. She thinks of ways to kill herself and wonders if Serena will just kill her. She hears the black van pull in. Nick opens her door and she thinks he betrayed her. But, he tells her to go with them that they are part of Mayday and have come to rescue her. At the door, Serena wants to know what her crimes are, and the Commander wants to see a warrant. This tells Offred that Serena did not turn her in. They tell the Commander they don’t need a warrant, she is accused of a violation of state secrets. Serena curses her as she enters the van. Characters Analysis Offred Offred is the narrator of the story. Before Gilead, she was a librarian with a husband and a little girl. After she is captured, her daughter is given to another woman to raise and she becomes a Handmaid. A Handmaid is kept for her uterus. She is given to a Commander and takes on his name. She is of Fred, who is her Commander. Although she remembers her name, she leaves it out of her story. Throughout the story, she tells the story of how Gilead started and what it was like through memories and her experiences during the story. She is a regular young woman, who lives in fear and follows the rules trying to not stand out so she can live another day. But, she also thinks often about suicide. Offred is desperately unhappy. She has no friends in the household. Her only friend is another Handmaid, and they have restrictions on their friendships. Offred may have been pregnant with Nick’s child when she escapes. The Commander The Commander was in the group that designed Gilead. He grows fond of Offred and likes their dates. Even though it is against the laws, the Commander takes her to an illegal club, and spends time with her alone in a hotel room. He also has her come to his office often to play Scrabble and talk about his problems. She becomes his Mistress, which could get her sent to the Colonies or hung. Serena Joy Serena Joy was in the days before Gilead a gospel singer who preached anti-feminism. She pushed the ideas of woman as a lesser being and the importance of wives who stay at home and let their husbands control their lives. But, now that her life was like that, she is desperately unhappy. She is the most influential woman in Gilead but feels less than her underlings, like the Handmaids, because she doesn’t have a child. Even though she needs the Handmaids to get a child, she is jealous of them and treats every Handmaid that goes through her home cruelly. Her desperation for a child makes her send Offred to the chauffeur for pregnancy. Nick Nick is a Guardian who is assigned as a chauffeur and gardener for the Commander. He flirts with Offred, even though it could bring them both torture. They have an affair in secret since it is illegal. Nick arranges Offred’s escape. He is either a member of the Eye’s, which is the secret police of Gilead, or he is a member of Mayday, a subversive group trying to overthrow the government. He may have been a member of both. A double agent. There is no evidence he ever met Offred again. Nor does the narrator say what happened to him. Opinion on The Handmaid’s Tale The Handmaid’s Tale is a very interesting book about utopias and dystopias. The book is very detailed and clearly shows what happens when people manage to create the ultimate “utopia”: it transforms into a dystopia. In this book, the government announced a new plan to fight the low birthrates. However, as soon as the plan was put into reality, people began to suffer from the disadvantages rather than enjoying the advantages. The book clearly takes some inspiration from the time when Berlin was still divided into East-Berlin and West-Berlin. In the past, the government had built a wall between East and West-Berlin. This wall is similar to “the Wall” in The Handmaid’s Tale. My overall opinion of the book is very positive. The book’s plot is very original and was definitely a daring publication for that time. Also, Margaret Atwood managed to make none of the chapters boring, every single page was worth reading.
