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The Handmaid’s Tale
by Margaret Atwood
Writer
Selena Ward
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc. All Rights Reserved.
1
Contents
List of SparkNotes.com Titles
Context . . . . . . . . . . . .
Characters . . . . . . . . . .
Summary . . . . . . . . . . .
Chapters 1-3 . . . . . . . . .
Chapters 4-8 . . . . . . . . .
Chapters 9-13 . . . . . . . .
Chapters 14-18 . . . . . . . .
Chapters 19-23 . . . . . . . .
Chapters 24-27 . . . . . . . .
Chapters 28-30 . . . . . . . .
Chapters 31-35 . . . . . . . .
Chapters 36-40 . . . . . . . .
Chapters 41-45 . . . . . . . .
Chapter 46 and Epilogue . .
Chapter 46 and Epilogue . .
Study Questions . . . . . . .
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2
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2
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Characters
3
Context
Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa, Ontario on November 18, 1939. She
got an early start on her writing career, and started publishing poetry in her
teens. She published her first book of poetry in 1961. She has attended the
University of Toronto, Radcliffe College, and Harvard University. Moreover,
she has been employed as a lecturer and professor in numerous universities.
Atwood is a popular and critically acclaimed author of numerous novels,
short fiction, and poetry.
With The Handmaid’s Tale, Atwood took her place within a long tradition
of near-future dystopias. Published in 1986, the novel quickly became a
success; it is now a staple of college and high school reading lists. The
Handmaid’s Tale portrays a grim future when the United States no longer
exists. A highly organized group of right wing religious conservatives succeeds
in setting off a revolution. They create a new society known as Gilead where
women are stripped of all the freedoms that the feminist movement secured
for them. The elite of Gilead force previously independent women to live by
Old Testament values.
The Handmaid’s Tale was published during the Reagan era in the U.S.
and Margaret Thatcher’s era in Britain. The 1980’s brought a backlash
against the feminist movement. The tide had turned in favor of conservative
values, and religious fundamentalism experienced a period of rapid growth
of power and influence. Clearly, the political and social climate of the 1980’s
influenced Atwood’s novel. However, The Handmaid’s Tale need not only
reflect the dangerous potential of 1980’s values. Like Huxley’s Brave New
World and Orwell’s 1984, The Handmaid’s Tale poses difficult philosophical
questions about human relations. Moreover, it illustrates the exchange and
loss of power and questions the limits of personal responsibility for ensuring
freedom for oneself and others.
Characters
The Commander – The Commander is the head of the household where
Offred is stationed as a Handmaid. He establishes an unorthodox relationship
with Offred. She often tries to focus on small details that make him seem
more human and compassionate than he really is. There are numerous clues
to his callous attitude towards women. He is a member of the Gileadean
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Characters
4
elite, and is most likely one of the architects of Gileadean society.
Cora – Cora is a servant in the Commander’s household. She belongs to the
class of Marthas, infertile women who do not qualify for status as Wives or
Unwomen.
Aunt Elizabeth – Aunt Elizabeth is one of the Aunts at the Red Center.
Moira attacks her and steals her costume during her escape from the Red
Center. Elizabeth belongs to the class of women assigned to the task of
indoctrinating the Handmaids into Gileadean ideology. Aunts are permitted
greater freedom of movement than other women. Unlike other women, they
are permitted to read, write, and carry weapons.
Janine – Janine belongs to the class of women known as Handmaids. Handmaids are fertile women forced into surrogate motherhood for elite, barren
couples. She plays the role of the martyr, and many other Handmaids regard
her with a mixture of contempt and pity.
Luke – Luke was Offred’s husband before Gilead came to be. Although he
is loving toward Offred, he is often sexist in his behavior and beliefs.
Aunt Lydia – Aunt Lydia is a sadistic Aunt at the Red Center. Throughout
The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred recalls her callous behavior. Lydia belongs to
the class of women assigned to the task of indoctrinating the Handmaids into
Gileadean ideology. Aunts are permitted greater freedom of movement that
other women. Unlike other women, they are permitted to read, write, and
carry weapons.
Moira – Moira was Offred’s best friend before Gilead. She was a staunch,
bisexual feminist. She is an individual as well as a symbolic representation
of the rebellious, courageous, resourceful heroine and trickster. She escaped
from the Red Center, but the Eyes recaptured her just as she was about to
flee Gilead. She chooses to work as a prostitute at Jezebel’s rather going to
the Colonies. She loses her volition to rebel after she enters Jezebel’s. Her
final fate is unknown.
Nick – Nick is a member of the Eyes of God, the Gileadean secret police.
He is also a subversive rebel. Serena Joy orchestrates a sexual encounter
between Nick and Offred because she thinks her husband is sterile. Nick and
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Summary
5
Offred soon begin a covert sexual affair. Nick orchestrates Offred’s escape
from Gilead.
Offred – Offred is the narrator of The Handmaid’s Tale. She belongs to
the class of women known as Handmaids. Handmaids are fertile women
forced into surrogate motherhood for elite, barren couples. She struggles to
maintain her faith in the face of her rigidly repressed status in Gilead. She
often rebels against her situation in numerous small ways.
Ofglen – Ofglen belongs to the class of women known as Handmaids. Handmaids are fertile women forced into surrogate motherhood for elite, barren
couples. She is Offred’s shopping partner, and she reveals the existence of a
subversive underground resistance against Gileadean philosophy. Her identity as a subversive is discovered. When she sees the black van of the Eyes
of God coming for her, she hangs herself in order to protect her fellow subversives.
Professor Pieixoto – Professor Pieixoto is the guest speaker at the symposium at the end of The Handmaid’s Tale. He and another academic transcribed Offred’s recorded narrative. Through his speech, we learn that sexism
still persists into the twenty-first century.
Rita – Rita is a servant in the Commander’s household. She belongs to the
class of Marthas, infertile women who do not qualify for status as Wives or
Unwomen.
Serena Joy – Serena is the Commander’s Wife. She belongs to the class of
women with the greatest symbolic status in Gilead. Before Gilead, Serena
sang on a Sunday religious television program. She used to give anti-feminist
speeches stating that a woman’s place was in the home. After Gilead, she
is unhappy to be trapped by the institutionalization of the same values she
once supported. She jealously guards her small claims to status, and she is
vengeful and cruel to the Handmaids in her household.
Summary
The epigraphs to The Handmaid’s Tale frame the narrative that follows. The
third epigraph is a Sufi proverb: ”In the desert there is no sign that says,
Thou shalt not eat stones.” The proverb can be interpreted in multiple ways
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Summary
6
in relation to The Handmaid’s Tale; given the novel’s preoccupation with
the structures of power, it suggests that power can be secured by controlling
access to scarce resources. In the desert, stones are not a resource, but water
and food are. Therefore, no law, moral or social, will forbid anyone to eat
stones in the desert. The proverb can also refer to desire: power can be
secured by controlling the routes to satisfy desire.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, fertile women are the scare resource, and the
Commanders design the Republic of Gilead to ensure that they have near exclusive access to fertile women, called Handmaids. Sexual activity is strictly
regulated and monitored in order to control the population. By controlling
the opportunities to satisfy desire, the Commanders ensure that men of low
status will not rebel. The promise of promotion for loyalty to the regime
carries with it the promise of wives. The Commanders also enforce harsh
penalties for unorthodox satisfaction of sexual desire, including homosexuality, masturbation, and pornography. Between the threat of punishment
and rewards for obedience, low-status men work in favor of high-status men.
Marriage is completely arranged. Receiving a wife, even a sterile one, is a
reward for loyalty.
The second epigraph is a quotation from Jonathan Swift’s satire on the
cold-hearted policies of the British towards the starving Irish. He ”proposed”
that the Irish eat their own children in order to solve the hunger problem. In
many ways, The Handmaid’s Tale is a dystopian satire. Like Swift’s satire,
The Handmaid’s Tale mocks the practice of constructing policies to ”better”
society that are actually about securing power and status for the privileged
few. In Atwood’s novel, the privileged few are a small number of powerful
men.
The first epigraph is taken directly from the Old Testament in the Bible.
It refers to the biblical precedents for polygamy. Jacob’s wife, Rachel, was
infertile, so she urged him to have children by her servant, Bilhah. This
epigraph is crucial to the novel because it touches on several major themes.
Bilhah does not have a say in her own reproductive functions. Rachel is a
woman who proposes the use of another woman’s body for her own purposes.
She plans to take Bilhah’s children for herself.
Furthermore, the real power lies not with Rachel, but with Jacob. The
message is that patriarchal regimes often use the divide and conquer method
to secure control over women and to ensure men’s exclusive hold on power.
Rachel measures her worth through childbearing. Obviously, this standard of
a woman’s worth subtends from a patriarchal value system. In order to raise
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Summary
7
her status in a patriarchal society, Rachel oppresses a less powerful woman.
The first and second epigraphs highlight the methods that the elite of
Gilead use to justify taking away the rights of women. Throughout the
novel, the Handmaids are told that the old society was immoral and unstable.
Women suffered harassment, rape, and murder. Single women had extreme
difficulty in supporting their children. Husbands could leave at the drop of
a hat and leave the wife to care for their children alone. The working world
was hostile to women. Women felt that conventional beauty standards were
unattainable, and many were unable to find men to marry. Many women
were abused by husbands and boyfriends.
Women in Gilead are told again and again that the new society has solved
all of these problems. The price of freedom and independence is not much
to pay for the benefits of safety and security. Of course, as the Commander
tells Offred, ”better” never means better for everyone. It means worse for
some. In the name of ”bettering” society overall, a small number of privileged
individuals secures power and status for themselves.
Last of all, the timeless justification for unequal power relations, especially
between men and women, is God. The Republic of Gilead is a monotheocracy.
The elite use religious moral law to justify systematically taking away the
rights of women. They use the story of Rachel, Bilhah, and Jacob as a biblical
precedent to force a small group of fertile women to serve as surrogates for
barren couples in the elite. It serves as justification for the elite’s rigid control
of the avenues to satisfy desire. It also serves as justification for stamping
out every competing ideology, religious or not.
Not all women in Gilead are equally oppressed. The Handmaids are
valorized as precious resources and holy vessels, but in reality they remain
at the bottom of the chain of power. Marthas, Wives, and Aunts enjoy
a greater measure of freedom. The power structure of Gilead divides and
conquers women by assigning them to categories of unequal power. Most
sinister is the troop of Aunts who indoctrinate the Handmaidens. They are
the only women permitted access to reading and writing. They have access to
weapons, and they have greater freedom of movement than even the Wives.
Just as Rachel oppresses Bilhah to have a child, a sign of feminine power and
status determined by men, the Aunts do the same to Handmaidens.
The Handmaid’s Tale is a cautionary tale. It touches on the dangers
of making unquestioned assumptions about gender relations, even within
the feminist movement. It warns against making unitary judgments about
gender and then infusing them with moral and societal imperatives. Even
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 1-3
8
more importantly, it details the methods through which power is abused, and
these methods are not exactly unfamiliar. The most nightmarish aspect to
The Handmaid’s Tale is that Gilead is marked with traces of our own history
and culture.
Chapters 1-3
Summary
Offred and dozens of other Handmaids sleep on army cots in a gymnasium,
covered with army issue blankets. Aunt Sara and Aunt Elizabeth patrol with
electric cattle prods hanging from their leather belts. The Handmaids are
not permitted to speak at night, so they learn to whisper without attracting
attention. The gym is surrounded by a chain link fence topped with barbed
wire. Armed guards, specially chosen by the Angels, patrol the outside. They
are not permitted inside the gym. The Handmaids are permitted to leave
the gym twice a day in pairs to take walks around the football field. The
Angels stand outside the fence. The Handmaids fantasize that they can use
their bodies to make a deal with them.
Offred leaves the gym to live in a house with the Commander and his
Wife. Offred lives in a room full of women’s traditional handicrafts. There is
no glass in the room, not even for the framed pictures. The window does not
open completely, and the window pane is shatterproof. There is nothing in
the room from which to hang a rope, and the door does not shut completely.
Aunt Lydia tells her to consider her circumstances a privilege, not a prison.
Handmaids wear red outfits, including a veil and gloves. Household servants, called Marthas, have to wear green outfits. The Wives wear blue
outfits. Offred often secretly listens to Rita and Cora, the Commander’s
Marthas. She heard Rita state that she would refuse to conform to Offred’s
situation. She would have gone to the Colonies with the Unwomen because
they have a choice. Cora replies that Offred’s work is not difficult. If Cora
had not gotten her tubes tied and she were younger, she would be in the
same situation. Offred wishes she could talk to them, but the Marthas are
not supposed to develop relationships with Handmaids.
Offred learns by eavesdropping on Cora and Rita that one Handmaid
gave birth to a stillborn. A Wife stabbed another Handmaid with a knitting
needle out of jealousy. She also hears yet another Handmaid poisoned one of
the husbands with toilet cleaner. Offred dresses for a shopping trip. She must
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 1-3
9
collect the tokens that serve as currency from Rita. Each token is marked
with an image of what it will purchase: twelve eggs, cheese, and a steak.
Offred was unsuccessful with the first two couples to which she was assigned. One of the Wives drank and secluded herself in the bedroom. She
hoped the Commander’s Wife would be different. On the first day, the new
Wife told her to stay out of her sight as much as possible. Offred recognizes her as Serena Joy, the lead soprano from Growing Souls Gospel Hour,
a Sunday morning religious program that aired when Offred was a child.
She reminds Offred that the Commander is her husband. The Wives fought
for the privilege. Serena knits elaborate scarves and tends her garden religiously. She also smokes cigarettes, a black market item. Offred and her
kind are forbidden coffee, cigarettes, and alcohol.
Commentary
The choice of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the setting of The Handmaid’s
Tale is significant. Massachusetts was a Puritan stronghold during the colonial period of the United States. The Puritans were a persecuted minority in
England, but they did not create a tolerant society in Massachusetts. They
created a theocracy, a government in which the church and the state were one
and the same. Moreover, they did not tolerate other religious belief systems.
Gilead is likewise a theocratic regime that does not tolerate other religious
ideologies.
Offred describes the gym as a palimpsest. A palimpsest is a parchment
that has been erased so that another document can be written on it. Often,
traces of the old document are left behind. A palimpsest is an apt metaphor
for Gilead. Underneath the new regime, there are a number of traces of the
old one. Few of the philosophical concepts that govern Gileadean society are
completely new. It is important to trace instances in which old ideas are used
for new purposes. Atwood wishes to make a point about American culture.
Her book is a cautionary tale: she means it to comment on our values, not
just those of Gilead.
The interactions between women are strictly regimented in the Red Center. Moreover, it is a female-only building. A small number of women, the
Aunts, repress the interactions between the Handmaids. They have weapons
while the Handmaids do not. However, it is important to note that the Aunts
do not have the real power because they cannot be ”trusted with guns.” The
Handmaids fantasize about using their bodies to make a deal with the An-
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 1-3
10
gels; therefore, it is hinted from the beginning that men have greater power
in Gilead. Offred says, ”We still had our bodies.” This indicates that sex
is the only tool of power left to the Handmaids, and even that is strictly
regulated. She implies that using it carries a great risk.
The totalitarian nature of Gilead is also clear from the first chapter. The
women sleep together in a large room, and the Aunts patrol with cattle
prods. The lights are dimmed, but not turned off completely. Systems of
surveillance are extremely important in totalitarian regimes. The Handmaids
are not permitted the luxury of privacy or free interaction with one another
because someone is always watching them. Clearly, the world that Offred
describes is not the United States. ”Aunt” has ceased to mean the sister of
one’s parent. Now, it designates a rank and a position of authority.
Offred’s description of her room offers more clues to the society in which
she lives. All forms of escape, by suicide, or flight have been removed. Moreover, anything that could be used as a weapon is gone. Moreover, she states
that the room is an expression of a ”return to traditional values.” This is
another clue that tells us Gilead is a palimpsest. The society is a very different world from the one we know, but it contains elements from our world.
Women’s handicrafts express the ”traditional values” that Offred mentions.
Therefore, Offred’s description of her room implies that women are the central focus of this ”return.”
Words such as Aunt, Martha, and Wife are specifically gendered words
that mark the status of women. Therefore, regardless of her rank, a woman’s
central feature is her sex. Even a Wife, the highest ranking woman in Gilead,
is defined in relation to a man, her husband. Words such as Commander,
Guardian, and Angel name men’s varying ranks of power, but the words
themselves do not reduce individual men to their sex alone.
The tokens that Rita gives to Offred have no writing, but pictures. This
is the first of many hints that reading and writing are strictly controlled.
Moreover, it hints that there is no free market because the tokens are not a
real currency system. They indicate that everything is rationed, including
food. It also implies a strict, centralized form of government. A few people
control access to valuable resources such as food in order to preserve their
power to define social relations. Advancement within the ranks of power depends not on individual ingenuity, but loyalty to the ideology of the powerful
elite.
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 4-8
11
Chapters 4-8
Summary
Offred notices Nick, a Guardian of the Faith, washing the Commander’s car.
He lives over the garage. He winks at Offred, an offense against decorum,
but she fears that he may be an Eye, a spy assigned to test her. She waits at
the corner for another Handmaid, Ofglen. The Handmaids always travel in
pairs outside. Ofglen says that the war is going well because they defeated
a group of Baptist rebels.
Offred and Ofglen reach a checkpoint with two young Guardians. The
Guardians serve as a routine police force and menial labor force. The young
ones tend to be orthodox, so they are dangerous. They shot a Martha recently
while she was fumbling for her pass. They thought she was carrying a bomb.
Offred heard Rita and Cora talking about it. Rita was angry, but Cora
espoused an orthodox opinion. Offred subtly flirts with one of the Guardians
because she cherishes small infractions against the rules. Masturbation is a
sin, and pornographic magazines and films are now forbidden. The Guardians
can only hope to become Angels because they might be allowed to take a
wife and perhaps even get a Handmaid.
Ofglen and Offred wait in line at the shops. A Handmaid in the late
stages of pregnancy enters the store and raises a flurry of excitement. Offred
recognizes her from the Red Center. She was known as Janine then, and she
was one of Aunt Lydia’s favorites. Offred senses that Janine went shopping
just so she could show off. Offred remembers her husband, Luke, and their
daughter. She remembers earning her own money and wearing what she
wanted. Ofglen and Offred encounter a group of Japanese tourists with
an interpreter. The tourists want to take a photograph, but Offred says no.
Many of the interpreters are Eyes. The tourists ask if they are happy. Ofglen
does not answer, so Offred replies that they are.
On the return trip, Ofglen suggests they pass by the church. On the Wall
outside the church are hooks from which they hang the bodies of executed
criminals as examples to the rest of the Republic of Gilead. The heads
are covered in bags. All six wear a sign with a picture of a fetus around
their necks. In the past, they were doctors who performed abortions before
everything changed. Gilead absolutely forbids such practices because birth
is scarce.
At night, Offred likes to remember her former life. She recalls her college
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Chapters 4-8
12
roommate, Moira. She remembers going to a park with her mother. A
group of women and a few men were burning pornographic magazines. She
remembers waking up, screaming for her daughter. She was taken from her
and given to another family. They showed her a photograph of her child
wearing a white dress and holding the hand of a strange woman. Offred
imagines she is telling her story to someone. She cannot write it down because
writing and reading are forbidden.
Returning from another shopping trip, Ofglen and Offred notice three new
bodies on the Wall. One is a priest and two are Guardians who were caught
having sex with one another, an act of Gender Treachery. Offred urges Ofglen
to continue the trip home. They meet a funeral procession of Econowives,
the wives of poorer men. One is carrying a small black jar. She suffered an
early miscarriage, so they did not know if it was an Unbaby or not. Stillborns
are carried in boxes. The Econowives do not like the Handmaids. At the
corner to the Commander’s home, Ofglen gives the orthodox good-bye, but
she hesitates as if she wants to say more. Nick breaks the rules and asks her
about her walk.
Serena Joy used to be a spokesperson for traditional gender roles after she
stopped singing. She herself never stayed at home because she was always
giving speeches. Someone tried to assassinate her, but killed her secretary
instead. Offred wonders if she is angry that she now has to stay home as she
used to preach. Rita fusses over the quality of the purchases as usual. Offred
notices the Commander standing outside her room. He is not supposed to
be there. He nods at her and retreats.
Commentary
Offred revels the characteristics of Gileadean society little by little. Therefore, it is important to pay close attention to her language. She does not
specifically state that Gilead is a theocratic regime, but she offers numerous
clues. Her outfit is remarkably similar to a nun’s habit. Time is marked
not by clocks, but ringing bells like those in nunneries and monasteries. The
titles of rank for men are also clues: Angels, Guardians of the Faith, Commanders of the Faith, and the Eyes of God. The brand names of automobiles
are likewise influenced by religious symbolism: Behemoth and Chariot. The
stores where Offred and Ofglen shop are defined through biblical symbolism:
Milk and Honey, and All Flesh.
The color-coded ranks of women, and the multiple uniforms for men
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Chapters 4-8
13
demonstrate the rigid ranking of status and power, but it also demonstrates
the extreme visibility of every individual. The Eyes, the Gileadean secret police monitor the behavior of Gileadean citizens. Other citizens are rewarded
for reporting unorthodox behavior. Social relations are strictly regulated.
Individuals associate closely only within their own ranks, and even then, social relations are controlled. The separation of women by ranks allows the
state to divide and conquer women. Rita feels no pity or commiseration for
Offred’s oppressed status, but she identifies with the Martha who was shot
accidentally. She does not recognize that the Handmaid’s oppression and the
death of the Martha arise from a common origin: masculine power.
Reading and writing in Gilead are strictly controlled. The totalitarian
state controls the avenues to all communications and media. Speech too is
strictly regulated, especially with tourists. Gilead wishes to control negative
publicity abroad. Therefore, the state places numerous Eyes as interpreters
in order to monitor communications between citizens and tourists.
The state also controls the definition of ”human.” Those who do not
conform to this definition are Unwomen and Unbabies. There are no Unmen.
Clearly, men have the real power in Gilead. Being an adult male means
being human by default. Moreover, men are not defined though their bodily
functions. Women are valued for their reproductive biology alone. Sterility is
common within the population, so the state controls the valuable resource of
fertile women. Only the elite are given Handmaids in order to have children.
Wives rise in status once they have a child through a Handmaid.
Feminists and conservatives alike bemoaned the dangers women faced in
the old society. Rape, torture, and murder were ever-present dangers. In
Gilead, the state voices an active concern for the safety of women, but the
price for safety and security is their individual freedom. Feminists bemoaned
that women were so often considered as sexual objects. Pornography symbolized this attitude. Gilead justifies forbidding porn because it demeans
women, but the actual goal is to control its citizens more effectively. The
feminists practiced a form of censorship in the name of freedom. By combining the slogans and projects of feminism with organized religion, Gilead
constructs a totalitarian theocracy. Women have been stripped over control over their own sexuality in order to ”protect” them. Organized religion
functions as the moral justification for this practice.
Serena was a vocal opponent of the feminist movement’s opposition to
the traditional values that restrict women. She is now unhappy now that she
herself is trapped within the value system she supported in the old society.
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Chapters 9-13
14
She did not value the freedom to publicly voice her opinion, a gain that
feminism itself secured for her.
Chapters 9-13
Summary
Offred remembers renting hotel rooms and waiting for Luke to meet her when
he was cheating on his first wife. She regrets not appreciating her freedom
to have her own space when she wanted it. She examines her room little by
little. She discovers a Latin phrase freshly scratched into the floor: Don’t let
the bastards grind you down. Offred does not understand Latin. She wants
to believe Moira wrote it. She asks Rita who stayed in her room before her.
Rita asks her to specify which one. Offred describes Moira, and Rita asks if
Offred knew her. Offred lies that she heard about the previous Handmaid.
Rita refuses to tell her anything.
Offred sings songs in her head. Most music is forbidden. Sometimes
she hears Serena humming and listening to a recording of herself from the
times when she was famous. Offred remembers going to underwear parties
with Moira. They used to read stories about women murdered and raped,
but it all seemed so distant from them. From her window, she watches the
Commander get into his car and drive away.
Every month, a Guardian accompanies Offred to a doctor to be tested
for pregnancy and disease. She undresses and covers her face with a sheet,
according to the regulations. The doctor is not supposed to see her face. He is
not even supposed to speak to her unless it is necessary. However, the doctor
offers to ”help her.” Many of the husbands are too old or sterile, and her life
depends on getting pregnant. Offred is shocked because it is illegal to suggest
sterility in any man. There are only ”fruitful” women and ”barren” women.
She declines his offer because the penalty is death, although it requires two
witnesses. She knows the doctor could falsely report her for a health problem
as revenge, and she would be sent to the Colonies with the Unwomen.
Offred must bathe before the Commander has sex with her. The bathroom has no mirror, no razors, and no lock on the door. Cora sits outside
to wait for her. Her own naked body seems strange to her even though she
used to wear bathing suits. She thinks of her daughter and remembers that
a woman tried to kidnap her in the supermarket. They took her child from
her at age five, and it has been three years since then. After the bath, she
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Chapters 9-13
15
eats dinner, although she does not feel hungry. However, there is nowhere to
hide uneaten food. She wraps the pat of butter in a piece of the napkin and
hides it in her shoe.
Three weeks after Offred entered the Red Center, they caught Moira.
They pretended not to know one another because friendships aroused suspicion. They arranged to meet in the restroom to exchange a few words. At the
Center, everyone had to Testify. Janine testified that she was gang-raped at
fourteen. The Aunts ask the group a series of predetermined questions and
the rest of the Handmaids respond in unison with predetermined answers. It
was Janine’s fault. She led them on.
Offred used to define her body according to her needs. It was an instrument of pleasure or of transportation. It was an instrument of her own will.
Now, her body is defined be her uterus alone. She hates facing menstruation
every month because it means failure. She remembers trying to escape with
her daughter. She could not run very fast because her child slowed her down.
Commentary
Offred’s past affair with Luke is ironic in comparison with her current situation. In the past, she rented temporary rooms in hotels and waited for him
to come to her. He was still married to his first wife. We never find out much
about this other woman. In Offred’s memory, she hardly seems to exist. In a
sense, Offred’s sexual activities with a married man contributed to breaking
his first wife’s home. There were no children in Luke’s first marriage. We
never know for sure if the high rate of sterility in the population is the reason
for his childless first marriage, but we do know that he had a child after he
married Offred.
As a Handmaid, Offred lives in temporary rooms, but her stay in them
lasts two years. Serena and the Commander are her third and final chance.
Her sexual contact with the Commander is not the result of secretive meetings; rather, they occur in Serena’s presence and in her home. Offred is the
”other woman,” but she is now supposed to complete the home rather than
break it. If she produces a child, Serena and the Commander will raise it.
Afterwards, she will be sent to another temporary room in another couple’s
home.
The message scratched into the floor of Offred’s closet is a symbolic rebellion against the oppressed status of Handmaids. Because it is a fresh scar on
the wood, Offred knows that the Handmaid before her put it there. Offred
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Chapters 9-13
16
wants the message to be a positive symbol even though she does not understand it. She imagines that the previous Handmaid was Moira, her best
friend. Obviously, Moira represents rebellion for Offred. Throughout The
Handmaid’s Tale, Moira will represent different things for different people.
She is not so much an individual as she is a symbol.
Just as there are no Unmen in Gilead ideology, there are no sterile men.
Therefore, only women are defective in the eyes of Gileadean law. If Offred
fails to produce a child for Serena and the Commander, she will be declared
an Unwoman and sent to the Colonies. She pays the price for his sterility. She
can bargain with her body in the doctor’s office, but the penalty is death if
she is caught. The doctor can fake her tests and declare her unfit for refusing
him. Either way, she is at the mercy of men. Although Gilead declares that
women are safer now, it is untrue. The doctor says he is sympathetic to
her plight, but he enjoys the feeling of power he has over her. He calls her
”honey,” but Offred realizes that it is a ”generic term.” The same patronizing
masculinity exists in Gilead, and now she is completely powerless to resist it.
Offred clearly does not agree with the Gilead philosophy about women,
but there are also clues that this philosophy has infiltrated her thinking.
Aunt Lydia’s voice continually penetrates her consciousness. The mantras of
the Red Center continually appear throughout her narrative. She does not
even like looking at her own body during her bath because her body now
determines her identity completely. Offred was not a feminist in the past,
but her mother was. She was content with Luke even when he deliberately
set out to tease her mother.
Offred is more aware of her body than ever, but only because it belongs
to others. She once felt that her consciousness and her body were one united
thing. Now, her body is a thing she regards with fear. She conceptualizes
her flesh differently. Her body arranges itself around ”a central object” in
the ”shape of a pear.” Offred refers to her uterus. The center of her identity
is neither her heart nor her mind, but specifically gendered organ. She ceases
to conceive of herself as a human being, but a walking reproductive organ.
i
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Chapters 9-13
17
Chapters 14-18
Summary
After bathing and eating, Offred must attend the Ceremony with the rest
of the household. The Commander is always late. Serena sits while Offred
kneels on the floor. Rita, Cora, and Nick stand behind Offred. Nick’s shoe
touches Offred’s. She shifts her foot away, but he reassumes contact. While
they wait, Serena allows them to watch the news. Television stations from
Canada are blocked. Most of the programming is religious. Two rebels from
a Quaker sect were caught smuggling ”national resources” across the border.
Luke and Offred purchased fake passports when they decided to escape
to Canada. They told their daughter they were going on a picnic. They
planned to give her a sleeping pill when they crossed the border, so that she
would not be questioned or give them away. They packed nothing in their
car because they did not want to arouse suspicion.
The Commander arrives and proceeds to unlock an ornate box. He takes
out a Bible and reads to everyone present. Offred wonders what it is like
to be a man like him. He focuses on the passages that emphasize having
large numbers of children. He reads the story of Rachel and Leah. Rachel
was barren, so she urged her husband to have a child by her maid, Bilhah.
At the Red Center, this story was drilled into the Handmaids. They played
recordings of a male voice reciting Bible passages, so the Aunts would not
read in front of the Handmaids. Moira decided to fake an illness. She planned
to escape by bribing one of the men in the ambulance with sex. Unfortunately
she tried it on an Angel, and he reported her. The Aunts tortured her with
electric shocks to her feet. Afterwards, her feet were too swollen to wear
shoes for a week.
In the bedroom, Offred lies between Serena’s legs. Serena is fully clothed.
Offred is fully clothed except for her underwear. The Commander has sex
with her. Afterwards, he leaves the room promptly. Serena orders Offred to
get out of her sight. Once Offred is safely alone in her bedroom, she removes
the butter from her shoe. She uses it as lotion for her skin. Hand lotion is
forbidden to the Handmaids.
Offred cannot sleep, so she decides to steal something. She sneaks downstairs and rummages around for a daffodil. She wants to press it under her
mattress and leave it for the next Handmaid to find. Nick surprises her.
They kiss, and she longs to have sex with him right there in Serena’s sitting
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Chapters 9-13
18
room. They both stop because it is too dangerous. Nick whispers that the
Commander sent him to find her in her room. The Commander wants to see
her in his office tomorrow.
Offred lies in her bed, remembering making love to Luke while her baby
kicked inside her womb. She imagines that he is dead. His body must be
lying in the thickets where they were caught trying to escape. She imagines
that he is kept inside a prison. She imagines that he made it safely across
the border. She hopes that one day a message from Luke will come to her in
some unexpected way. Whatever the situation, she tries to believe that she
is ready for any three of the scenarios.
Commentary
During the Ceremony, Offred has to kneel, while the servants stand and
Serena sits. Every formal interaction in which she is forced to participate
requires that she acknowledge her subordinate status. It is ironic that she is
regarded as a precious national resource while at the same time, she occupies
the position of least power. However, Atwood means for us to think about our
own social values as well as those of Gilead. Before the feminist movement,
women were placed on a moral pedestal. They were the virtuous sex as
opposed to the crude nature of masculinity.
However, women’s activities were likewise strictly controlled. In return for
their status as the virtuous sex, they were expected to conform to a definition
of virtue determined by men. The definition of virtue served men’s interests,
not women’s. Aunt Lydia told the prospective Handmaids that they are ”holy
vessels.” They occupy a position of ”privilege.” They are doing God’s work.
In return for this valorized status, the Handmaids give up all autonomous
control over their identities and bodies.
The connection between the situation of women before feminism and after Gilead becomes clear when Offred notes the paintings of two women in
Serena’s sitting room. Offred must sit stiffly because her posture is important to the Ceremony. The women in the paintings have ”pinched faces,”
”constricted breasts,” and ”stiff mouths and backs.” They are silent with
mouths locked against sound and speech. Their clothing is uncomfortable.
Their situation is remarkably similar to Offred’s.
Despite the controls on her freedom, Offred’s narrative itself is a form of
rebellion. The Gilead elite wants her to be silent and submissive. However,
she engages in extensive irony through word play. When she remarks that the
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 9-13
19
Commander is head of the household, she dissects the meaning of household.
”The house is what he holds. To have and to hold, till death do us part.” She
mocks his status with the language of a wedding ceremony. A ritual phrase
that is supposed to generate feelings of union and happiness becomes sinister
in Offred’s possession. They will be parted if she kills him. If she fails to
have a child, she will be sent to the Colonies to die. The phrase has a double
meaning of aggression and fear. There is nothing of union and happiness in
the phrase as Offred uses it, but rather implications of imprisonment and
possession.
Offred compares ”hold” to the hold of a hollow ship, so she subtly compares the Commander’s home to a hold with no cargo. His domestic life is
therefore painted with metaphors of sterility. Again, Offred’s language has a
double meaning. Her body is also an empty vessel because she is not carrying
a child. Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred uses such word play as a
way to rebel against the messages she receives daily that she is not a human
being, but a thing. Her rebellion with word play is important because the
double meaning of her puns allows her to resist while she ostensibly espouses
belief in the Gileadean ideology. Underneath the standard meaning of her
language, there is a contradicting, ironic meaning.
The completion of the Ceremony completes Offred’s observations. No one
is completely naked. Offred defines the act as ”fucking.” The Commander is
”fucking” the lower half of her body. She cannot call it making love, copulating, or even rape. All these terms imply that two separate free wills are
clashing or coinciding. Now, the only will involved belongs to the Commander. Offred’s description of the Ceremony is supposed to be ironic, horrifying,
and funny at the same time. For all the elaborate ceremonial preparations
and the symbolic positioning of the bodies of Serena and Offred, the act itself
makes everything else seem ridiculous. For all the power accorded men in
Gilead, they seem to take no pleasure in having women readily available to
them. It is as if they have designed these elaborate Ceremonies to add meaning to sex, but have failed miserably. There is no room for human emotion
whether it be love, anger, rage, hatred. These things gave meaning where
there is now no meaning.
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Chapters 19-23
20
Chapters 19-23
Summary
Offred dreams of catching her daughter in a hug. A wave of sorrow overtakes
her because she knows it is a dream. She dreams of waking to her mother
carrying in a tray a food. Offred’s mother had to take time off work when
Offred was sick. At breakfast, Offred contemplates the beauty of a boiled
egg in sunlight. The sounds of sirens interrupt her breakfast. She fears that
a car with a blue flashing light will stop in front of the house. Fortunately,
the light is the red light of a Birthmobile. Janine, now known as Ofwarren,
is giving birth. Offred dresses hurriedly and enters the Birthmobile.
During the ride, Offred wonders if Janine will give birth to a shredder,
also known as an Unbaby. Twenty-five percent of births yield Unbabies.
She recalls Aunt Lydia intoning that the air was poisoned with chemicals.
Women poisoned their bodies with chemicals. In an old classroom, Aunt
Lydia showed them a graph of the birthrate over history. The birthrate
had fallen below the ”rate of replacement.” Aunt Lydia said that women
were selfish sluts because they did not want to breed. Even childbirth itself
involved chemicals and a complicated mechanical apparatus. However, in
Gilead, birth is entirely natural because it is better for the baby.
The Aunts used to show movies to the Handmaids. Some were pornographic, and others depicted images of men mutilating women. One movie
was about Unwomen, but they removed the sound because the Aunts did not
want the Handmaids to hear what they said. Offred sees her mother when
she was much younger marching in a feminist parade. Her mother gave birth
to her in her late thirties. She was a single mother by choice, and she used
to argue with Offred about her decision to marry and raise a family.
All the Handmaids attend the birth, chanting in unison. One Handmaid
whispers to Offred, ”Are you looking for someone?” Offred describes Moira,
but the woman does not know her. She is looking for another woman named
Alma. Offred is ready to tell her about a woman named Alma she knew
at the Red Center, but the Aunt in attendance looks at them suspiciously.
Offred does not have a chance to relay the information. Right before the
child is born, Janine and the Wife sit on the Birthing Stool together. The
Wife sits on a higher seat behind Janine, her legs protruding under Janine’s
arm. The baby is a girl with no visible defects. The Wife lies down in the
bed, and the baby is placed in her arms. Janine will nurse the baby for a
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Chapters 19-23
21
few months, and then she will be transferred. She will never be declared an
Unwoman and be sent to the colonies.
After the birth, Offred remembers Moira’s escape from the Red Center.
Moira caused a toilet to overflow. While Aunt Elizabeth tried to fix it,
Moira jabbed a metal object into her ribs and forced her into the furnace
room. After exchanging clothing with Aunt Elizabeth, Moira boldly walked
out of the center using Aunt Elizabeth’s pass. No one has seen Moira or
heard from her since then.
Offred meets the Commander in his office later that night. She imagines
that Serena is probably still at the Birth Day party. She braces herself for a
forced physical advance. However, the Commander merely asks her to play
a game of Scrabble. She knows he wants something, so she knows that she
has something to exchange. If Serena discovers the forbidden liaison, Offred
will be sent to the Colonies as an Unwoman. If she refuses the Commander,
there could be worse consequences because he has the real power. After two
games, he asks her for a kiss and receives it.
Commentary
Offred never reveals her real name. In some cultures, names have talismanic
value. Even in Western cultures, people infuse names with symbolic power.
They obsess about preserving their good names. They protest at having
their good names dragged through the mud. The implication is that one
individual has power over another through his or her name. Offred avoids
identifying with her changed social status by withholding her real name. She
maintains one small portion of her identity free from interference.
Handmaids are never given individual names. Gilead regards them as
objects, or rather as state property. Giving them individual, unchanging
names would undermine their position as state property. Therefore, every
Handmaid is named through her Commander. ”Of Fred,” ”Of Warren,”
and ”Of Glen” are collapsed into ”Offred,” ”Ofwarren,” and ”Ofglen.” The
Handmaids’ names mark them as the property of the Commanders in whose
homes they are stationed. They take different names when they move to
new households, so that they are never accorded symbolic recognition of
their sovereign individuality.
In the past, Offred had access to knowledge. Women are now forbidden
such access because they are not permitted to read and write. Therefore,
they are stripped of the tools that would give them interpretive power over
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Chapters 19-23
22
their own situations. The Gileadean ruling class wish to symbolize women’s
existence by reserving this interpretive power for themselves. Offred recalls
bits of her education in order to resist the symbolic power of her re-education
in Gileadean ideology. Her previous education permits her to infuse irony
into the orthodox interpretations of symbols.
Gilead criticizes the old, mechanized methods of childbirth. Many feminists complained that the male dominated field of medicine made childbirth
into an unnecessarily unpleasant, unnatural experience. They demanded
birthing stools because the sitting position is less painful than the accepted
methods in hospitals. Gilead has met these demands. They use birthing
stools and eschew the mechanized process of childbirth. However, Gilead
refuses to use painkillers because they ease the pain of childbirth. Gilead
appropriates portions of feminist ideology in order to undermine the goals of
feminism.
Clearly Atwood means to criticize the complacency of many women towards the value of the feminism. However, she also means to criticize the
orthodoxy of some schools of feminist thought. When Offred’s mother wished
to have a child, her feminist friends criticized her as a sellout to patriarchal
values. Therefore, Atwood demonstrates that orthodox thinking within feminism often restricted women’s ability to make free choices.
Offred’s memory of Moira’s escape illustrates that Moira is a symbol as
well as an individual. Offred described Moira as an ”elevator with open
sides.” Moira dared to rebel openly where other women were too afraid to
rebel. She is a heroine that others fear to follow. Moreover, she changes
clothing with Aunt Elizabeth. Her ability to change her identity is a resistance against Gilead’s attempt to define her identity for her. Moreover, her
escape makes the Aunts look ridiculous. Therefore, Moira is also a trickster.
Her open rebellious escape gives meaning to all the little forms of rebellion
that other women enact against Gileadean ideology.
The Commander’s request that Offred play a game of Scrabble with him
should be interpreted symbolically. The game contrasts against Offred’s frequent use of word play as a form of rebellion. The game demonstrates the
real danger of rebellious speech. If Offred were caught, she could be designated Unwoman and sent to the Colonies to die. Therefore, we should not
take her ironic puns lightly. The penalties are too severe. Even Offred’s
small rebellions are significant victories for her.
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 24-27
23
Chapters 24-27
Summary
Offred decides that she has to forget her old name and her past. She has
to live in the present and work within its rules. With the Commander’s
unorthodox behavior, she has a chance to get something from him. Underneath all of Aunt Lydia’s speeches, the real message is that men are ”sex
machines,” so they should be manipulated with sex.
Offred recalls a documentary about the Holocaust. It contained an interview with the former mistress of one of the Nazi guards. She denied knowing
about the death camps and maintained that the guard was not inhuman.
She committed suicide after the interview. Offred’s mother told her what
a mistress is, and she told her about sex from an early age. She also told
Offred that the documentary was not just a story because the war and the
Holocaust actually happened. Offred’s mother admired the mistress for still
caring about her appearance in her old age. Offred finds the events of the
night ironically, terrifyingly funny. Laughter threatens to break through her,
and she struggles to keep it down. In the dark, she fingers the Latin phrase.
Cora finds Offred sleeping on the floor. Thinking that something bad had
happened, she screams and drops the breakfast tray, shattering the dishes.
Offred tells her that the strain of the Birth Day weakened her, so she had
fainted. Cora covers for her and tells Rita that she dropped the tray by
accident. Meanwhile, Offred continues to meet the Commander in his office
at night. If Nick is not wearing his hat, or if he is wearing it askew, the
Commander wants her to come see him. Sometimes she cannot go because
Serena is knitting in the sitting room. Other times, Serena goes out to visit
other Wives. The Wives take turns being ’sick.’ It gives them an excuse to
go out alone. The Commander does not make any further physical advances
to Offred. They play Scrabble, and he allows her to look at an old copy of
Vogue. She asks him for some hand lotion. She cannot keep it in her room,
so she leaves it in his office.
Offred finds the Ceremony troubling now that there is something between
her and the Commander. She no longer sees him as a thing, and he does
not see her that way. They do not feel love for one another, but something
else. He almost touches her face during the Ceremony, and she forbids him to
do it again because she fears Serena’s vengeance. Offred still hates Serena,
but she also feels guilty. She realizes that she is now the Commander’s
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 24-27
24
mistress despite the absence of any covert sexual activity between them.
She remembers Aunt Lydia telling the Handmaids that the population will
eventually reach an acceptable level. Then Handmaids will live forever in
one household. She described a utopian vision of women living in harmony.
Handmaids will become like daughters to the Wives.
Ofglen and Offred continue to visit the Wall. Inside the Wall, there used
to be a university, but now it serves as a prison and interrogation center. She
wonders if Luke is imprisoned behind the Wall. On the return trip, Ofglen
and Offred stop at a store called Soul Scrolls. Inside, humming machines
print prayers. Many of the Wives phone in orders for prayers because it is
considered a sign of piety. After the prayers are printed, the paper is recycled
and used again.
Offred notices Ofglen’s reflection in the glass. She is staring at Offred.
Ofglen whispers, ”Do you believe God listens to these machines?” Taking a
leap of faith, Offred answers, ”No.” Offred learns from Ofglen that there are
a lot of subversive Handmaids. They continue walking home. A dark black
van with the white-winged eye painted on the side stops abruptly. Ofglen
warns Offred not to watch or talk. Two Eyes jump out and grab a man
carrying a briefcase. They drag him into the vehicle and drive away.
Commentary
The former mistress of the Nazi guard denied knowledge of the guard’s activities. She stated that he was not a monster. Offred realizes how easy
it is focus on the little details of a person’s behavior and interpret them as
evidence of humanity. She muses that the mistress may have focused on such
things. As a child, she thought the documentary about the Holocaust was
just a story until her mother told her the events it discussed really happened.
Offred realizes that there is no hard and fast distinction between historical
and fictional narratives. There are numerous instances when Offred remarks
that her own narrative is a reconstruction. Different people can offer different
interpretations of actual events. For example, the guard’s mistress offered a
different reconstruction of history. Her lover was not a monster.
The elite of Gilead reconstruct history as well. They bemoan the dangers
that faced women in the past, but they interpret those dangers as the result
of women’s liberation. The feminist movement interpreted those dangers as
evidence that women were not free enough from patriarchal values. The same
events mean different things depending on who interprets them.
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 24-27
25
Despite the absence of sexual activity with the Commander, Offred has
become his mistress. It should be obvious that her memory of the televised
interview with the Nazi guard’s mistress contrasts with her own situation as
the Commander’s mistress. It is men like the Commander who have designed
Gilead. He is an architect of the regime that denies Offred and other women
a claim to their own sovereign identities. He and members of his class are
responsible for the brutal penalties for infractions against Gileadean theology.
Even as Offred admits that her re-telling of her liaisons with him are
a reconstruction at best, she focuses on the small, endearing details about
him. He has a boyish charm. He gives her hand lotion. He allows her to
read Vogue. He is ”sad” when she does not kiss him like she means it. The
contrast between Offred and the Nazi guard’s mistress raises the question
whether Offred is a reliable narrator. When she re-tells the events of her
meetings with him, she speaks of the temptation to forgive. She is faced
with the same dilemma as the guard’s mistress. She wants to interpret small
details about him as evidence of humanity or compassion. She does not want
to believe that he views her as nothing more than an object or a toy with
which to amuse himself.
Aunt Lydia told the prospective Handmaids that Handmaids eventually
will not have to move from home to home because the population will be
”up to scratch.” Handmaids will be like daughters to the Wives. Women will
be ”united for a common end.” Again, Gilead uses the slogans of feminism
to enact the project of restricting women’s freedoms. The ”common end”
of which Aunt Lydia speaks is a goal defined by men for their own interests. They plan in no way to give up the practice of polygamy even after
the birthrate rises. They plan to institutionalize the practice of keeping a
mistress.
Offred watches Serena convulsively clipping the seed pods from the tulips
in her garden. Offred describes the pods as the ”swelling genitalia of flowers.”
Serena cannot vent her aggression against the men who have robbed her of
her freedom. She vents her frustration against a symbol of feminine sexuality.
She attacks other women, especially the Handmaids, instead of the enemy
they have in common. Offred’s secret meetings with the Commander are a
usurpation of her small bit of power as his Wife. It is not that she has his
attention or his respect, but she is willing to do violence to maintain her
claim to them.
The Commander wants something from Offred that even he cannot define.
She asks him why he wants to play Scrabble with her and not Serena. He
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Chapters 28-30
26
complains that they have nothing in common. His complaint is so banal that
it is a cliche. He ”cheats” on his wife because she does not understand him.
It is too easy an explanation and even Offred realizes this. He would rather
not admit that he has nothing in common with Serena because men like him
have made it impossible for men to have anything in common with women.
They have separated men and women in virtually every activity except sex.
He complains that he finds the Ceremony ”impersonal.” However, he is at
fault for making it that way. Gileadean philosophy has so rigidly repressed
feminine sexuality that even men cannot enjoy it anymore, much less women.
Chapters 28-30
Summary
Moira disapproved of Offred’s affair with Luke because he was married. She
herself was a lesbian, and she preferred the equal balance of power between
women when it came to sex. She and Offred were best friends despite their
differences. Offred sits in her room with a fan and remembers their conversations about politics. She muses that if she were Moira she would know how
to take the fan apart and use the blades as a weapon.
Before the Republic of Gilead took power in full, the president was shot
and Congress was machine gunned. The army took control and suspended
the Constitution. They told everyone to remain calm and everything would
return to normal eventually. Everything was just temporary because of the
emergency situation. Moira warned Offred that something was going to
happen. Slowly, the newspapers were censored and roadblocks appeared.
Everyone had to have an Identipass. The Pornomarts were shut down.
Few people used paper money even before the coup took place. They used
Compucards that accessed their bank accounts directly. One day, Offred
tried to use her card, and her number was declared invalid. She went to
work and phoned her bank and reached a recording stating that the lines
were overloaded. Later that afternoon, her boss appeared, looking disheveled
and distraught. He announced to Offred and her co-workers that he had to
let them go because it was the law. Two men wearing army uniforms and
carrying machine guns oversaw the entire procedure.
When she reached her home, Offred called Moira. She learned that women
could no longer work or hold property. Their bank accounts were transferred
to husbands or the nearest male kin. Luke tried to console her, but Offred
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wondered if he was already patronizing her. He wanted to make love, but the
balance of power had shifted subtly. They no longer belonged to each other.
She belonged to him. Offred notices that Nick’s hat is askew. She wonders
what he gets out of facilitating her forbidden liaisons with the Commander.
The Commander and Offred have become more informal with one another. After a game of Scrabble, he offers her a magazine as usual. Offred
wants to talk instead. She tries to garner information about him, but he gives
her vague answers. She asks him what the Latin phrase in her room means.
She writes it down for him. The Commander translates it and explains that
the phrase is a schoolboy joke. Offred guesses that the former Handmaid
must have learned the phrase from him and scratched it into the floor. She
asks what happened to her. The Commander replies that Serena discovered
the nighttime liaisons, and the Handmaid hung herself. Offred realizes that
the Commander summons her to his office because he wants her life to be
bearable: he feels guilty. She knows that his guilt is a weapon she can use.
The Commander confirms her suspicion, so he asks her what would make her
life better. Offred asks for knowledge about ”what’s going on.”
Later, Offred stares through her window and catches sight of Nick. She
senses the charge of desire in the glance they exchange before she pulls the
curtains closed. She remembers the day she and Luke left their house to flee
Gilead. They did not pack anything because they did not want to look as
if they were leaving permanently. Luke killed their pet cat because they did
not want to leave her to starve. They could not leave her outside because
she would mew outside the door and raise suspicions. Nevertheless, someone reported them because the escape attempt failed. It could have been
a neighbor who wondered where they were going when they drove away in
the morning. It could have even been the man who forged their passports.
Offred wonders if the Eyes sometimes pose as forgers in order to catch people
trying to escape.
Commentary
Offred again conjures Moira as the symbolic rebellious heroine and resourceful trickster. Moira would know how to use take the fan apart and use it as
a weapon. Moira would not give up or give in to the restrictions imposed
by Gilead. Offred also remembers Moira as her friend. Moira’s interpretation of Offred’s affair as ”poaching on another woman’s ground” reveals
a problematic side to feminist thought. Many feminists protested the ten-
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dency of patriarchal values to define women as objects of possession. They
also protested the one-size-fits-all identity that patriarchal values assigned
women. However, Moira defined Luke as an object of possession, and Offred’s mother often stereotyped men as useful only for football, fixing cars,
and donating sperm.
Moira dreamed of a utopian women-only enclave as though that would
solve the inequality of patriarchal power structures. She ascribed to an ideology of exclusion that sounds eerily similar to the separate but equal ideology
that characterized post Civil War race relations. Offred warned Moira that
feminists could not ignore the existence of men or their humanity. Painting
all men with the same brush is no better than doing the same to women.
Furthermore, there is a flourishing women-only culture in Gilead, but women
also have very little power. Therefore, Gilead symbolizes the dystopian potential of such ideologies of exclusion. Moreover, a lot of feminists argued
for the benefits of having a matriarchal power structure. The Aunts symbolize the dystopian potential of this goal. They have power, but they used it
against women.
Atwood is careful to portray the dangers of Offred’s complacency. Offred
did not recognize the subtle imbalances of power between men and women
until she lost the freedoms that feminists won for women. Gilead deprived
women of their economic independence, an extremely important factor in
women’s liberation. Offred simultaneously loses her right to hold a job, hold
property, and have a bank account. After she lost these civil rights, Offred
immediately began to notice the imbalances in her relationship with Luke.
He did not express outrage at the new laws. She stated, ”You don’t know
what it’s like. I feel like somebody cut off my feet.” Luke replied, ”It’s only
a job.” Although he meant to soothe her feelings, he belittled them instead.
He did not recognize the symbolic importance of her job. Moira immediately
realized that the purpose of the new laws was to immobilize women. If they
could not access their money, they could not flee elsewhere. Moreover, Luke
wanted to make love later that night. He noticed that Offred was not in
the mood, but he continued despite her lack of response. He unconsciously
internalized the new legal definition of Offred as his property.
Offred worked in a library. The expulsion of her and her female coworkers from a center of knowledge heralds the arrival of yet another law in
Gilead. After cutting off women’s economic independence, Gilead outlaws
reading and writing by women. The laws effectively immobilized and silenced
women. Gilead uses biblical precedent to justify the exclusion of women from
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knowledge. The Fall, the loss of Eden, was a ”fall from innocence to knowledge.” Moreover, a woman is responsible for the original sin in the Bible.
However, the true goal is not innocence, but institutionalized ignorance for
women. What they do not know will not tempt them because knowledge is
temptation. Women who grow up entirely within the new regime will never
know anything different, so they will be more easily controlled. They will
have no interpretive power over their realities.
The entire population was much too complacent. After the president and
Congress were assassinated, they believed the new reports that Islamic terrorists were responsible. The revolutionaries played upon the racist fears of
Americans to calm their anxieties. People welcomed the Identipasses and
other ”security measures.” While they were thinking about safety and security, their civil rights were being taken from them. Atwood clearly wishes to
point out the dangers of trusting authority too much.
Offred continues to attempt to find evidence of humanity in the Commander. She notes that she does not sense the animosity she used to sense in
men, even Luke. However, the Commander has no reason to feel animosity
towards her because she is almost entirely subject to his manipulation. Animosity implies disagreement. Offred does not have the luxury of disagreeing
freely. The Commander’s cold, heartless side is apparent in his lack of regret or concern for the previous Handmaid’s suicide. A Handmaid is easily
replaced and dispensable. He wants Offred’s life to be bearable because he
wants her to be complacent. Complacent people tend to rebel less than miserable people. He regards Offred as an experiment through which he can
refine Gileadean policies.
Chapters 31-35
Summary
Ofglen and Offred find two new bodies on the Wall during a shopping trip.
One is a Catholic, and another is marked with an incomprehensible ’J.’ If
he was Jewish, he would be marked with a yellow star. In the early days
of Gilead, Jews were accorded special status as ”Sons of Jacob.” They had
the choice of converting or immigrating to Israel. Many of them left. Others
pretended to convert, or refused to convert. These people are hanged when
they are caught. Some people pretended to be Jewish and escaped Gilead
that way.
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 31-35
30
Ofglen tells Offred that subversive Handmaids use ”mayday” as a password. She warns Offred not to use it often because it is dangerous for her to
know the identities of too many other rebels. When Offred reaches the house,
she notes that Nick’s hat is askew. Serena calls Offred over and asks her to
hold the wool while she knits. She asks if there is any sign of pregnancy.
When Offred indicates there is not, Serena suggests that the Commander
may be sterile. After a moment of hesitation, Offred agrees that it is possible. Serena suggests that she try another man. Offred’s time is running out.
Serena suggests that Nick would be the safest possibility. Offred agrees, and
Serena gives her a cigarette as a reward and instructs her to ask Rita for a
match.
Offred decides to eat the cigarette little by little for the nicotine rush and
save the match by hiding it in the mattress. The Commander has taken to
drinking during his nighttime liaisons with Offred. Ofglen has told her that
he is very high in the chain of power. He explains that there was nothing
for men to do with women anymore. That is why they changed everything.
He asks for her opinion regarding the new society, but Offred dodges his
questions.
Ofglen and Offred attend a Prayvaganza with the other women of their
district. The Wives sit in one section with their daughters. The Marthas and
Econowives sit in another. The Handmaids kneel in a section cordoned off
by ropes. This is the most opportune time to gather news. Janine walks in
with a new Wife. Offred reports that her baby was a shredder after all. The
news that she used a doctor to get pregnant passes through the whispering
Handmaids. Offred remembers one of Janine’s strange episodes in the Red
Center. She sat on her bed staring off into space, speaking to an invisible
customer in a restaurant where she worked before Gilead. Moira slapped her
and shook her until she came to her senses.
The women’s Prayvaganzas are usually for the weddings of the Wives’s
daughters. Girls as young as fourteen get married. In a few years, none of
them will remember anything before Gilead. The Commander told Offred
that they may have taken away some freedoms from women, but they have
given them safety and dignity. No woman will be left without a man anymore.
Offred notes that they have left out love. The Commander replies that
arranged marriages work better.
Sometimes the Prayvaganzas are for nuns who convert to the new religion.
When Gilead catches them, they are given the choice between the Colonies
and conversion if they are young. Old ones go to the Colonies by default.
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They become Handmaids if they stay. Aunt Lydia said that the real goal of
Gilead is to create ”camaraderie” between women. After the services, Ofglen
whispers that the subversives know that she sees the Commander in private.
She urges Offred to find out everything she can.
When Luke and Offred reached the border, they gave the guard their
passports. The passport indicated that Luke had never been divorced. Luke
saw the guard pick up the phone, so Luke sped through the barrier. They
got out of the car and tried to run. Later that night, Serena shows Offred a
photograph of her daughter. She is wearing a white dress, and Offred senses
that she is a distant shadow of a memory for her child.
Commentary
Offred regards Serena’s hint that the Commander might be sterile as a shocking heresy. In Gilead, there are no sterile men. Only women ”remain stubbornly closed, damaged, defective.” This attitude is connected with the biblical portrayal of original sin. Eve transgressed the law of God. Therefore,
only woman is guilty. Even in agreeing to try another man is a guilty act.
Offred wishes to save her own life, and her desire to live is a sin.
The Commander justifies Gileadean ideology by complaining that there
was nothing for men to do anymore. Offred caustically remarks that they
could earn money. Then the Commander narrows his definition: There was
nothing for men to do with women anymore. His statement can be read in
two different ways. It could mean that men could not interact with women.
It could also mean that men could not control women as they wanted. Considering the restrictions on women in Gilead, it is likely that the Commander
voices a masculine anxiety towards women who refuse to be manipulated like
objects. They refuse to allow men to do everything they want.
The Commander states that men were bereft of emotion. However, he
himself has complained of the cold war that is his marriage. He complains
of the impersonal sexual intercourse of the Ceremony. The policies of Gilead
have stripped emotion from the relations between men and women. The
Commander does not criticize the tendency to eroticize unequal power relations between men and women. So much of the porn industry eroticizes
control and abuse of the female body.
The Commander’s complaint that men could not feel anymore becomes
ironic when he criticizes the way women were before Gilead. He keeps referring to women as ”they” and ”them” as if all women were a faceless mob.
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”They were always complaining.” Now they are protected. Now, no woman
is left out. Every woman gets a man, so there is no longer a gap between
women who could get a man easily and those who cannot. The irony is that
the Commander displays a callous attitude towards women in general. He
lacks a significant emotional or empathetic response to women. Women are
not people, but ”they.” He forgets to mention that women do not complain
anymore because they cannot complain. Offred refuses to state her opinion
about Gilead because the penalties for disagreement or criticism are too severe. Every woman gets a man because she does not have any choice as to
whether she wants one or not.
One of the slogans of feminism is that biology is not destiny. Feminism
protested the reduction of women to their bodies. They offered a different
definition of what is natural for a woman to be or do. The Commander states
that women now fulfill their biological destinies in peace because Gilead has
returned to ”Nature’s norms.” Of course, those with interpretive power over
the circumstances of other are the ones who define what is ”natural” or
”normal.”
Chapters 36-40
Summary
When Offred meets the Commander again, he is quite drunk. He speaks
playfully with her and gives her a skimpy outfit with feathers around the
thighs. He wants to take her ”out.” She agrees to go and dons the costume,
and puts makeup on her face. She wears one of Serena’s winter blue cloaks
when he escorts her out of the house. Nick is waiting for them in the car.
Nick stops in an alley, and the Commander helps Offred out of the robe.
Meanwhile Offred worries about Nick’s opinion of her. The Commander
opens a door with a key and slips a purple tag around her wrist. He instructs
her to tell anyone who asks that she is an ”evening rental.” Offred imagines
Moira’s commentary on the entire procedure.
The building is an old hotel. Offred remembers that she and Luke met
there once before. In the central courtyard, Offred sees women dressed in
gaudy clothing from the past and important, powerful men. Offred realizes
that the Commander wants her to be quiet and look dumb. She senses that
he likes showing her off and that he is showing off for her. The Commander
explains that ”the club” is officially forbidden, but everyone realizes that vaCopyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
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riety in women is natural for men. Some of the women are former prostitutes.
Others were lawyers, sociologists, and businesswomen before Gilead.
Offred spots Moira, but they pretend not to recognize one another. Moira
gives the old signal to meet her in the washroom. Five minutes later, Offred
makes her way to the washroom. An Aunt standing guard with a cattle prod
tells her she has fifteen minutes. Offred meets Moira inside and explains that
the Commander smuggled her into the club just for tonight.
After Moira escaped from the Red Center, she made her way to center
of Gilead in Aunt Elizabeth’s clothes. She went to the home of a Quaker
couple working in the underground rebellion, and they passed her along the
chain. Just as Moira was leaving the final safehouse to be smuggled across
the border in a boat, they were caught. The Eyes tortured her and showed
her movies of the Colonies. Old women and subversives clean up radioactive
spills and dead bodies from the war. Three years is generally the expected life
span in the Colonies. Moira saw Offred’s mother in one of the films. When
she did not hear from her mother, Luke and Offred went to her apartment.
They found it in disarray, and Luke did not want her to call the police. Offred
wants to believe her mother would have the pizzazz that she used to have,
but she knows that her mother will not find a way to escape the Colonies.
Moira chose to work as a prostitute in the club over working in the
Colonies. Offred is disappointed to hear the fatalism in Moira’s voice. She
wants the old Moira who was spirited and full of rebellion. After she leaves
the club, she never sees Moira again.
The Commander takes her to a hotel room. The room reminds her of her
affair with Luke. In a strange way, it comforts her. She excuses herself to go
to the bathroom. She sits inside the bathroom alone and thinks about Moira
and her mother. The Commander is lying on the bed when she exits. He
seems disappointed that she is not excited about a real sexual encounter. He
looks smaller and older without his clothing, and she tells herself over and
over that she can fake it if she wants.
The Commander takes her back to his house before midnight. Offred is
relieved because the Ceremony is scheduled for tomorrow, and Serena plans
to meet her at midnight. She wants Offred to be ”serviced” by Nick. In the
dark of night, Serena leads her to the entrance to Nick’s apartment. Offred
tells the story twice. The first story is full of passion and desire. The second,
more accurate one, is full of sadness for the old courtship rituals. The sexual
encounter is full of shame now. She wonders if she is betraying Luke even
though he may be dead.
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Chapters 36-40
34
Commentary
The club demonstrates that forbidding something does not make it go away.
Black markets for forbidden items proliferate everywhere. Cigarettes and
perfume are available to Serena. Powerful men can still buy sex. The pleasure
of power, or rather the power of power, is the ability to break the rules
that govern the rest of society. Access to the forbidden is a sign of power.
Moreover, providing access to the forbidden avenues of satisfying desire is a
valuable tool for manipulating others.
Offred does not agree when the Commander compares the club to walking into the past. She knows that the club is a reconstruction of the past
determined by masculine desire. Every woman is dressed as an available
sexual object. The Commander basically tells Offred to be quiet and look
dumb, just like the women who work there. In the club, male chauvinism
determines the reconstruction of the past.
The Commander remarks that women wore so many outfits because they
wanted to trick men into thinking they were several different women. Even
Gilead cannot ”cheat Nature because Nature demands variety for men.” It
is ”part of the procreational strategy.” The Commander refers to Darwin’s
theory of natural selection. One of the effective mating strategies for males is
having several mates. However, none of the women at the club are fertile, so
his argument for the club as a ”procreational strategy” collapses. Darwin’s
theory is often used to justify horrific practices such as the eugenics practiced
in Nazi Germany and other racist policies. The Commander uses it to justify
the second class status of women in Gilead.
Offred remarks that they no longer have one woman with different outfits,
but different women. The Commander does not catch the irony of her statement. She means to say that it really was no different before. Men cheated on
their wives and girlfriends. It is just that in Gilead, having different women
is an institutionalized practice. Moreover, the Commander mentions only
one part of Darwin’s theory. On the other side of the coin, cuckolding is a
procreational strategy for women. It already happens within Gilead. Janine
resorted to a doctor to get pregnant. Offred herself plans to do the same.
Moira informs Offred that a lot of Commanders smuggle their Handmaids
into the club. She compares it to ”screwing on the altar.” Again, it is the
pleasure of having the power to break a sacred rule of conduct. Moira states
that the Commanders like seeing the Handmaids ”all painted up” because it
is another ”power trip.” Offred did not interpret the Commander’s decision
to bring her that way. She wants to believe that he has ”more delicate
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35
motives.” However, she often denies evidence of the Commander’s callous
attitudes towards women by focusing on small details that make him seem
more human to her.
Moira’s fatalistic attitude towards working in the club disturbs Offred.
She wants Moira to be courageous, rebellious, and resourceful because she
herself is not. However, it seems that Moira has finally given into Gilead
because she has reached her level of complacency. In the club, she can smoke,
drink, and engage in lesbian sex. These are adequate compensations for the
objectification of her body and enforced prostitution. Offred wishes she could
re-construct Moira’s reality and tell a story of a final, flashy escape or act
of destruction. Offred experiences a similar letdown when she discovers that
her mother was sent to the Colonies. She wants to believe the rebellious,
feminist woman who raised her will fix things somehow. However, she knows
this is an unrealistic expectation.
In a manner of speaking, Offred suffers from an abandonment by her
mother. Her mother has ceased to symbolize the cockiness and pizzazz that
she used to symbolize. Gilead valorizes motherhood as an ultimate virtue.
Ironically, there are several failures to respect the bond between mother and
child throughout The Handmaid’s Tale. Handmaids are ripped from their
children just months after they are born. Offred’s child was taken from her
and given to another family. Offred’s own mother was taken from her and
sent to the Colonies. The Wives are supposed to be like mothers to the
Handmaids. Offred even wanted Serena to be a mother figure, but Serena is
a symbolic ”bad mother.”
The Commander hoped that a forbidden, unofficial sexual encounter with
Offred would be erotic. He wants her to express a feminine sexuality. However, all of her indoctrination into Gileadean values has stripped all eroticism
from her relationship with him. She has always been an inert object during
sexual intercourse for him. After complaining that there was nothing for
men ”to do with women,” the Commander and his ilk have made eroticism
even more impossible with their repression and control of feminine sexuality.
They have sterilized sex altogether.
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 41-45
36
Chapters 41-45
Summary
Offred continues to see Nick at night without Serena’s knowledge. She is
thankful for each time he opens the door to her. She tells him about Moira
and Ofglen, but she never mentions Luke. She tells him that she thinks she
is pregnant. During their shopping trips, Ofglen pressures Offred to break
into the Commander’s office. She wants Offred to find out what he really
does. Offred feels that she now has a life of sorts with Nick. Ofglen speaks
to her less and less about the subversive Handmaids. Offred feels relieved.
There is a women’s Salvaging, and all the women in the district must
attend. Offred walks past buildings that used to be lecture halls and dormitories. On the lawn in front of the old library, there is a stage like the
one they used to have for Commencement. A Wife and two Handmaids are
sitting on the stage. Aunt Lydia announces that they have decided to discontinue reading the crimes of the convicted because it sparks copycat crimes.
The Handmaids are dismayed because the crimes become legendary as signs
for hope. Usually, Wives are Salvaged for killing a Handmaid and sometimes
adultery. Without further ado, the women are summarily hanged.
After the hanging, Aunt Lydia instructs the Handmaids to form a circle.
A few Wives and daughters stay behind to watch. Two Guardians drag a
third Guardian out to the front. He is disheveled and smells of excrement.
Aunt Lydia announces that he and another Guardian have been convicted
of rape. His partner was shot already, and he has been saved for the Handmaids’ mercy. Aunt Lydia adds that one of the two Handmaids involved was
pregnant. She lost the baby in the attack. Even Offred is furious considering
what Handmaids go through to produce children. Ofglen pushes forward and
viciously kicks the man unconscious.
Afterwards, the Handmaids pull away from the bloody pulp, and Offred
asks Ofglen why she did it. The barbarity disgusts her. Ofglen whispers that
he was part of the underground rebellion. She wanted to put him out of his
misery quickly. Offred sees Janine carrying a bloody clump of hair. Her eyes
are empty. Offred thinks she took the easy way out.
After the Salvaging, Offred goes on a shopping trip. She is eager to see
Ofglen. However, to her horror, the Handmaid who meets her is not Ofglen.
She behaves entirely according to the rules. She is now Ofglen because the
Handmaid takes the name of her Commander. Offred suggests they go to the
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapters 41-45
37
Wall. The three women from the Salvaging are hanging on it. Offred works
in the password ”Mayday” into the conversation. The new Ofglen tells her
to forget such echoes.
Offred is frightened because the new Ofglen is not a subversive, but she
knows about them. She knows Ofglen has been found out, and she herself is
now in danger. Under the torture of the Eyes, Ofglen will not be able to hold
back the names of her partners in crime. Before they part, the new Ofglen
whispers that the old Ofglen hanged herself when she saw the van coming
for her.
Ofglen does not look at Nick polishing the car. It is too dangerous to
exchange glances. Serena calls to Offred. She holds out her winter cloak and
the sequined outfit Offred wore to the club. She tells Offred that she is a
slut like the other Handmaid, and she will end the same way. Nick stops
whistling, but Offred does not look at him. She is calm and composed when
she retreats to her room.
Commentary
Offred sinks dangerously close to complacency once she begins her furtive
encounters with Nick. Offred’s mother once marveled, ”Truly amazing, what
people can get used to, as long as there are a few compensations.” She referred to the ease with which people slip in complacent attitudes towards
their situations. Offred’s situation is horrendously restricted compared to
her former life. Her relationship with Nick allows her to grasp the tiniest
shadow of her former existence. It becomes enough of a compensation that
she is willing to accept the restrictions.
When Ofglen senses Offred’s waning will to rebel, she stops talking about
it. Offred feels a sense of relief because she no longer feels the responsibility
for change weighing on her shoulders. Atwood means to compare Offred’s
current complacency with her former complacency. Like many women, Offred
was content to complacently enjoy the benefits of the freedom that feminists
won for her. She is now content to leave the construction of another feminist
movement to other people.
The Salvaging takes place in Harvard Yard in front of Widener library.
There are numerous hints throughout The Handmaid’s Tale that the buildings of Harvard University serve as the headquarters for numerous Gileadean
government agencies, including the Eyes. The political center of Gilead is
located in Harvard Square.
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Chapters 41-45
38
We noted earlier that the choice of Cambridge, Massachusetts as the
setting for The Handmaid’s Tale is extremely significant. The choice of Harvard University as the location for the governmental headquarters for Gilead
is likewise full of symbolic meaning. Harvard was founded in the seventeenth
century mainly for the purpose of educating the ministry. For over a century,
Harvard was strongly influenced by Puritan values. It became a liberal arts
institution later. Therefore, it is significant that Gilead government agencies
are located in Harvard Square and on the Harvard campus because Gilead is
yet another repressive theocracy.
As a university, Harvard once symbolized the pursuit of knowledge. As
the location for the Salvaging, it comes to symbolized the denial of access to
knowledge. Aunt Lydia makes a point of flaunting her right to read to the
Wives, Marthas, and Handmaids because they are not permitted to read.
Furthermore, she states that the crimes of the accused will no longer be
read aloud in public because other rebels use the information to commit
similar crimes. Harvard University now symbolizes the narrowing avenues
for gaining knowledge and information. It also symbolizes the dissemination
of false information because Aunt Lydia falsely announces that a subversive
political is guilty of raping two Handmaids and killing an unborn child.
Even before Aunt Lydia announces the Guardian’s ”crime,” there is a
”murmur of readiness and anger” among the Handmaids. They are full of
frustration and anger at their repressed existence. Without outlets for these
emotions, Gilead faces the danger of a sudden upheaval. Allowing them to
execute the Guardian channels the Handmaids’ anger at men’s abuse of power
on a single man. They are never allowed to attack men without penalty under
any other circumstances. The practice also discourages men’s collusion with
the rebels because they face the possibility of dying at the hands of those
they were trying to help.
Offred realizes the danger of complacency when she learns of Ofglen’s
suicide. She resolves to conform to Gilead and giver her body over to the
control of others. She feels ”their true power” for the first time. The price
of resistance is not just death. It means having to choose between her own
life and the lives of others. Ofglen committed suicide in order to avoid being
forced to name others in the resistance movement. Offred fears that she will
one day have to choose between Nick, her child, Luke, or Moira if she is
caught breaking the rules.
Of Ofglen’s sacrifice, Offred says, ”She died that I may live.” Her statement echoes the biblical phrase regarding the crucifixion of Christ: ”He died
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Chapter 46 and Epilogue
39
that we may live.” However, she wants to avoid the choice that Ofglen made.
She is still willing to allow others to die while fighting for her freedom. She
chooses to surrender rather than facing the possibility of having to commit
suicide to save herself from naming others under the Eyes’ torture techniques.
Ironically, her decision to conform to Gilead comes too late because Serena
has discovered her secret meetings with the Commander.
Chapter 46 and Epilogue
Summary
Offred waits in her room. She wonders if she could use her hidden match
and start a fire. She could die by smoke inhalation, although the fire would
be quickly subdued. She could hang herself in her room from the hooks in
the closet. She could wait for Serena and kill her when she opens the door
to her room. She hears the van with the Eye painted on its side coming for
her. She regrets not doing something while she had the time.
Nick opens the door. Offred feels a wave of betrayal sweep over her, but he
whispers that she should go with them. He tells her that it is Mayday. Offred
knows that the Eyes probably know all about Mayday, but this is her last
chance. She walks down the stairs to meet the men waiting for her. Serena
demands to know Offred’s crime. She did not call them. The Commander
demands to see a warrant. The men state that they cannot reveal her crime
because it is a security risk. Offred follows them to the van waiting outside.
The Epilogue is a transcript of a symposium held in 2195. The Republic of
Gilead is now a dead republic. Offred’s story been published as a manuscript
titled The Handmaid’s Tale. Her story was found recorded on a set of cassette
tapes locked in a trunk in Bangor, Maine. During the speech, we discover that
the Gileadean period was responsible for the re-drawing of the map of the
world. Professor Pieixoto’s speech touches on the problems of authenticating
the cassette tapes. The first section of each tape contained a few songs from
the pre-Gileadean period, and they were marked with labels used for pop
music cassette tapes from the same period. Therefore, the tapes were meant
to be disguised. The same voice speaks on all the tapes. The tapes were not
numbered, nor were they arranged in any particular order, so the professors
who transcripted the story had to arrange the chronology of the story from
guesswork.
Pieixoto warns his audience against judgment against Gilead because such
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapter 46 and Epilogue
40
judgments are culturally biased. He states that the Gilead regime was under
a good deal of pressure. High-status men were given Handmaids for reproductive purposes. Birth control, environmental pollution, and venereal disease
had caused a high rate of infertility. Research has determined two possible
men as the Commander in Offred’s story. Both were probably instrumental
in building the basic structure of Gilead. One was likely instrumental in
arranging the President’s Day massacre. The records from the Gilead era
are scarce because they were often destroyed after the purges.
Many women were willing to serve as Aunts because they were accorded
a few perks of power. Historically, using women to control other women has
been highly effective. The final fate of Offred is unknown. If she escaped to
England or Canada, it is puzzling that she did not make her story public.
However, she might have wanted to protect others who were left behind.
She may have feared repercussions against Luke if he was still alive, or even
against her daughter. Such practices were used to suppress bad publicity in
foreign countries. The novel ends with the line, ”Are there any questions?”
Commentary
Offred’s story ends with ambiguity. After considering all of her options in her
bedroom, she realizes the futility of them. All of them end with her death or
total submission. None offer the hope of freedom. None of them would be a
voluntary act of faith. Her decision to trust Nick is her last chance to make a
bid for freedom. She does not know whether he is telling her the truth when
he urges her to go with the two men. She has the power to choose to go or
not. Her decision to get into the van is an act of voluntary faith, and it offers
her hope. Faith requires hope, and Gilead is a strangely faithless society for
a theocracy. Offred’s final dilemma hammers this point home.
The last chapter of The Handmaid’s Tale is a parody of stuffy academic
symposiums, sponsored by a university department of Caucasian anthropology. The irony is that anthropology generally involves the study of nonwhite cultures. The names of the speakers imply that Native Americans
have achieved a high level of power and influence near the end of the twentysecond century. Although the balance of power between races may have
altered, there are numerous clues that sexism still persists. Pieixoto tells his
audience that he and his colleague titled Offred’s recorded narrative ”The
Handmaid’s Tale” to honor Chaucer. It is hard not to note that the title
does not honor Offred, but a long dead male author.
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Chapter 46 and Epilogue
41
Pieixoto also cautions his audience against passing judgment on Gileadean ideology. His statement constitutes a refusal to protest the systematic,
institutionalized repression directed at a specific segment of the population.
Would he hesitate to judge Nazi Germany for the Holocaust? Germany was
also under significant pressures during the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. ”A
good deal of pressure” does not justify robbing people of their freedom and
stuffing them in ovens. Taking cultural relativism to the extreme constitutes
a tacit moral acceptance of Gilead’s enslavement of women. Before Gilead,
people refused to note the warnings that history offers. Refusing to morally
condemn the second class status that Gilead assigned to women harbors the
danger of allowing it to happen again should ”a good deal of pressure” arise
once more.
While Pieixoto obsesses about the experiences of powerful Gileadean men,
he pays little attention to the content of Offred’s narrative. He does not
discuss or analyze the wealth of information her narrative offers about the
experiences of women in Gilead. Rather, he regards her narrative as a source
for information about Gileadean men. He even laments the paucity of information that Offred’s narrative offers about the Commander’s identity.
In his disappointment, Pieixoto declares, ”What we would not give, now,
for even twenty pages or so of print-out from Waterford’s private computer!
However, we must be grateful for any crumbs the Goddess of History has
deigned to vouchsafe us.” Twenty pages from a Gileadean male’s private
computer is regarded as a precious treasure. However, thirty tapes of testimony from a member of the most repressed, most silent, section of Gileadean
society are paltry ”crumbs.” Although the institutionalized sexism of Gilead
has come to an end, the subtler elements of sexism remain entrenched in the
unconscious of twenty-second century educated men. The last line of The
Handmaid’s Tale is, ”Are there any questions?” The novel refuses to reveal
the questions, much less their answers. Therefore, the novel is an unfinished story again. Perhaps, the ambiguous ending symbolizes the incomplete
project of establishing equality between men and women.
Chapter 46 and Epilogue
Summary
Offred waits in her room. She wonders if she could use her hidden match
and start a fire. She could die by smoke inhalation, although the fire would
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapter 46 and Epilogue
42
be quickly subdued. She could hang herself in her room from the hooks in
the closet. She could wait for Serena and kill her when she opens the door
to her room. She hears the van with the Eye painted on its side coming for
her. She regrets not doing something while she had the time.
Nick opens the door. Offred feels a wave of betrayal sweep over her, but he
whispers that she should go with them. He tells her that it is Mayday. Offred
knows that the Eyes probably know all about Mayday, but this is her last
chance. She walks down the stairs to meet the men waiting for her. Serena
demands to know Offred’s crime. She did not call them. The Commander
demands to see a warrant. The men state that they cannot reveal her crime
because it is a security risk. Offred follows them to the van waiting outside.
The Epilogue is a transcript of a symposium held in 2195. The Republic of
Gilead is now a dead republic. Offred’s story been published as a manuscript
titled The Handmaid’s Tale. Her story was found recorded on a set of cassette
tapes locked in a trunk in Bangor, Maine. During the speech, we discover that
the Gileadean period was responsible for the re-drawing of the map of the
world. Professor Pieixoto’s speech touches on the problems of authenticating
the cassette tapes. The first section of each tape contained a few songs from
the pre-Gileadean period, and they were marked with labels used for pop
music cassette tapes from the same period. Therefore, the tapes were meant
to be disguised. The same voice speaks on all the tapes. The tapes were not
numbered, nor were they arranged in any particular order, so the professors
who transcripted the story had to arrange the chronology of the story from
guesswork.
Pieixoto warns his audience against judgment against Gilead because such
judgments are culturally biased. He states that the Gilead regime was under
a good deal of pressure. High-status men were given Handmaids for reproductive purposes. Birth control, environmental pollution, and venereal disease
had caused a high rate of infertility. Research has determined two possible
men as the Commander in Offred’s story. Both were probably instrumental
in building the basic structure of Gilead. One was likely instrumental in
arranging the President’s Day massacre. The records from the Gilead era
are scarce because they were often destroyed after the purges.
Many women were willing to serve as Aunts because they were accorded
a few perks of power. Historically, using women to control other women has
been highly effective. The final fate of Offred is unknown. If she escaped to
England or Canada, it is puzzling that she did not make her story public.
However, she might have wanted to protect others who were left behind.
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Chapter 46 and Epilogue
43
She may have feared repercussions against Luke if he was still alive, or even
against her daughter. Such practices were used to suppress bad publicity in
foreign countries. The novel ends with the line, ”Are there any questions?”
Commentary
Offred’s story ends with ambiguity. After considering all of her options in her
bedroom, she realizes the futility of them. All of them end with her death or
total submission. None offer the hope of freedom. None of them would be a
voluntary act of faith. Her decision to trust Nick is her last chance to make a
bid for freedom. She does not know whether he is telling her the truth when
he urges her to go with the two men. She has the power to choose to go or
not. Her decision to get into the van is an act of voluntary faith, and it offers
her hope. Faith requires hope, and Gilead is a strangely faithless society for
a theocracy. Offred’s final dilemma hammers this point home.
The last chapter of The Handmaid’s Tale is a parody of stuffy academic
symposiums, sponsored by a university department of Caucasian anthropology. The irony is that anthropology generally involves the study of nonwhite cultures. The names of the speakers imply that Native Americans
have achieved a high level of power and influence near the end of the twentysecond century. Although the balance of power between races may have
altered, there are numerous clues that sexism still persists. Pieixoto tells his
audience that he and his colleague titled Offred’s recorded narrative ”The
Handmaid’s Tale” to honor Chaucer. It is hard not to note that the title
does not honor Offred, but a long dead male author.
Pieixoto also cautions his audience against passing judgment on Gileadean ideology. His statement constitutes a refusal to protest the systematic,
institutionalized repression directed at a specific segment of the population.
Would he hesitate to judge Nazi Germany for the Holocaust? Germany was
also under significant pressures during the late 1930’s and early 1940’s. ”A
good deal of pressure” does not justify robbing people of their freedom and
stuffing them in ovens. Taking cultural relativism to the extreme constitutes
a tacit moral acceptance of Gilead’s enslavement of women. Before Gilead,
people refused to note the warnings that history offers. Refusing to morally
condemn the second class status that Gilead assigned to women harbors the
danger of allowing it to happen again should ”a good deal of pressure” arise
once more.
While Pieixoto obsesses about the experiences of powerful Gileadean men,
Copyright 1999-2000. iTurf Inc.
Study Questions
44
he pays little attention to the content of Offred’s narrative. He does not
discuss or analyze the wealth of information her narrative offers about the
experiences of women in Gilead. Rather, he regards her narrative as a source
for information about Gileadean men. He even laments the paucity of information that Offred’s narrative offers about the Commander’s identity.
In his disappointment, Pieixoto declares, ”What we would not give, now,
for even twenty pages or so of print-out from Waterford’s private computer!
However, we must be grateful for any crumbs the Goddess of History has
deigned to vouchsafe us.” Twenty pages from a Gileadean male’s private
computer is regarded as a precious treasure. However, thirty tapes of testimony from a member of the most repressed, most silent, section of Gileadean
society are paltry ”crumbs.” Although the institutionalized sexism of Gilead
has come to an end, the subtler elements of sexism remain entrenched in the
unconscious of twenty-second century educated men. The last line of The
Handmaid’s Tale is, ”Are there any questions?” The novel refuses to reveal
the questions, much less their answers. Therefore, the novel is an unfinished story again. Perhaps, the ambiguous ending symbolizes the incomplete
project of establishing equality between men and women.
Study Questions
Why is the choice of Cambridge, Massachusetts for the setting of The Handmaid’s Tale significant?
During the colonial period of the United States, Massachusetts was a Puritan
stronghold. Although the Puritans were a persecuted minority in England,
they did not establish a tolerant society in Massachusetts. They created
a theocracy, a form of government in which the church and the state are
combined. They were extremely intolerant of other religious belief systems.
Gilead is likewise a theocratic regime that does not tolerate other religious
ideologies.
Why is it significant that Harvard University is the headquarters for Gileadean governmental agencies?
Harvard was founded in the seventeenth century mainly for the purpose of
educating the ministry. Harvard was strongly influenced by Puritan ideology
for over a century. Eventually, Harvard ceased to be an expression of Massachusetts’s theocratic beginnings, and it became a liberal arts institution.
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Study Questions
45
Harvard’s status as the headquarters of Gileadean governmental agencies
signals a return to another repressive theocracy. Gilead heralded an age of
institutionalized exclusion of women from education and positions of power.
Equal access and status for female undergraduates have been extremely important for Harvard during the twentieth century. Radcliffe was founded as
a sister school in 1879 so that women could have access to instruction by
Harvard faculty. However, the classes were segregated by sex, and women
students were not even permitted to enter Harvard classrooms until 1943.
Until 1963, women received a Radcliffe diploma, though they took the same
classes as men. Therefore, Harvard practiced a philosophy of separate but
equal regarding female students. In 1975, the Harvard and Radcliffe admissions processes were combined and limits on the number of female undergraduates were abolished. Recognition of the right to equal status and access
was a drawn out process that took almost a hundred years to complete. Historically, Harvard graduates have long been significantly represented in the
ranks of powerful politicians and businessmen. Until the twentieth century,
the vast majority of students hailed from rich, powerful families. Therefore,
Harvard University reproduced and preserved unequal power relations. In
The Handmaid’s Tale, Harvard University once again performs this function
as the center of Gileadean government agencies because Gilead is a regime
of institutionalized unequal power relations. Harvard once symbolized the
pursuit of knowledge. After Gilead, it comes to symbolize the denial of access to knowledge. Aunt Lydia makes a point of flaunting her right to read
to the Wives, Marthas, and Handmaids because they are not permitted to
read. Furthermore, she states that the crimes of the accused will no longer
be read aloud in public because other rebels use the information to commit
similar crimes. Harvard University now symbolizes the narrowing avenues
for gaining knowledge and information. It also symbolizes the dissemination
of false information because Aunt Lydia falsely announces that a subversive
political is guilty of raping two Handmaids and killing an unborn child.
What clues indicate that Gilead is a totalitarian society?
There is no distinction between the public and the private in Gilead. The
government is extremely centralized, and ranks of power are strictly regimented. The state controls all aspects of culture. Courtship and marriage
are arranged by the state. The color-coded ranks of women, and the multiple
uniforms for men demonstrate the rigid ranking of status and power, but it
also demonstrates the extreme visibility of every individual. The Eyes, the
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Study Questions
46
Gileadean secret police, monitor the behavior of Gileadean citizens. Social
relations are strictly regulated. Individuals are strongly discouraged against
forming relationships outside their own rank and status. The Handmaids are
strongly discouraged against even forming relationships with other Handmaids. The state subjects the body of every citizen to strict surveillance and
discipline. Masturbation, pornography, and homosexuality are forbidden because the state wishes to effectively take control of all the possible routes to
satisfy desire. This power is a valuable tool for manipulating others.
How is irony a form of rebellion for Offred? Give an example of Offred’s
rebellious irony.
During her ironic rebellions, Offred often recalls information she learned before Gilead came into existence. She mocked Serena’s adornment of herself
with flowers when she remembers reading that flowers are the genital organs
of plants. Aunt Lydia told the prospective Handmaids that they should feel
valued like pearls. Offred recalls reading somewhere that pearls are really
only ”congealed oyster spit.” Before Gilead, Offred had access to knowledge.
Gilead now denies women access to knowledge. Women cannot read and
write in new the society. Therefore, they are denied tools that would give
them interpretive power over their own realities. The Gileadean ruling males
wish to symbolize women’s existence by reserving this interpretive power for
themselves. Offred recalls bits of her education in order to resist the symbolic power of her re-education in Gileadean ideology. Her previous education
permits her to infuse irony into the orthodox interpretations of symbols.
What is the symbolic value of names? Why are Handmaids never given individual, unchanging names?
Even in Western cultures, people obsess over the symbolic power of names.
They take elaborate care to preserve their ”good names.” They protest at
having their ”good names” dragged through the mud. The implication is
that one individual has power over another through his or her name. Offred
avoids identifying with her changed social status by withholding her real
name throughout her narrative. She maintains one small portion of her identity free from control. Gilead regards Handmaids as objects, or rather as state
property. Giving them individual, unchanging names would undermine their
position as state property. Therefore, every Handmaid is named through
her Commander. ”Of Fred,” ”Of Warren,” and ”Of Glen” are collapsed into
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Study Questions
47
”Offred,” ”Ofwarren,” and ”Ofglen.” The Handmaids’ names mark them as
the property of the Commanders in whose homes they are stationed. They
take different names when they move to new households, so that they are
never accorded symbolic recognition of their sovereign individuality.
How does Jezebel’s symbolize the power of power?
The club is officially forbidden. It demonstrates that forbidding something
does not make it go away because black markets for the forbidden good
arise almost immediately. Powerful men can still buy sex, whereas the vast
majority of men–and almost all women–are severely restricted in their sexual
activities. Therefore, the power of power is the ability to break the rules
that govern the rest of society. Access to the forbidden multiplies power over
others. Providing access to the forbidden avenues of satisfying desire is a
valuable tool for manipulating others.
What purpose is served by allowing the Handmaids to be executioners during
the Salvaging?
Even before Aunt Lydia announces the crime of the accused, there is a ”murmur of readiness and anger” among the Handmaids. They are full of frustration and anger at the repression forced on them by men. These emotions
pose a significant threat of sudden rebellion, so allowing the Handmaids to
execute the accused provides an outlet for them. The Handmaids vent their
anger at the male-dominated power structure that represses them by directing their fury at a single man. They are never allowed to attack men without
penalty under any other circumstances. The practice also discourages men’s
collusion with the rebels because they face the possibility of dying at the
hands of those they were trying to help.
Why is Gilead’s valorization of the institution of motherhood ironic?
Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, there several failures to respect the bond
between mother and child. Handmaids are ripped from their children just
months after they are born. Offred’s child was taken from her and given
to another family. Offred’s own mother was taken from her and sent to the
Colonies. The Wives are supposed to be like mothers to the Handmaids.
Offred even wanted Serena to be a mother figure, but Serena is vengeful and
hostile to Offred, so she is a ”bad mother.”
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