Is Offred a Rebel?

University Degree Linguistics, Classics and related subjects

Is Offred a Rebel?

‘Rebel’ is a term, which is highly weighed down with emotion. In society today we perceive a rebel to be a figure opposing a much stronger majority. We distinguish the rebel to be a character who fights for his/her own ideals. We see a person that will do anything almost being ruthless to destroy the boundaries set up against him/her by the stronger mass. We witness the rebel as an individual who deliberately defines a battlefield and two fighting fronts. The rebel is constantly is resisting. The only way he/she can defend his morals and values are to strike the greater that condemns his/her values and morals. Unfortunately today there are many misconceptions and preconceptions relating to the essence of a true rebel. Society tends to comprehend the rebel to be figure fighting on the front lines, spilling blood for his cause. Especially the media has delivered this image of a rebel. We must acknowledge the fact there are other forms of rebels and rebellions. It is not fair to say that the form of rebel that is described above is not valid, but still we must make a suitable distinction. We must not always consider the rebel to be an individual like ‘William Wallace’ who fought for his country’s independence by using violence as his primary weapon. In the course of history we have witnessed another category of rebels. Characters such as Mahatma Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King and Emmeline Pankhurst all gave birth to another form of rebel, the rebel that fought for his values passively. They did not confront the enemy with the sword but with words.

The novel ‘The Handmaids Tale’ by Margaret Atwood tells the story of a near future oppressive society governed by an elite group; men. This society ‘The Republic of Gilead’ rules by force and oppression and severely suppresses individual freedom. As one can see from the name, this society’s absolute moral backbone is formed by Christian fundamentalism.

Radiation and chemicals have contaminated the physical world in which this society dwells. As a result the fertility rate has drastically reduced the fertility rate. The government has introduced handmaids, who are young fertile females whose job is to act as surrogate mothers. They basically are ‘wombs on two legs’. If they fail to conceive three times, they guaranteed death by working at the colonies. The reader follows the life of a handmaid called Offred. We witness how Offred distances herself from the system day to day.

Our protagonist Offred is a character, which we can easily categorise. It is hard to perceive Offred as a rebel. However if Offred is at all to be labelled a rebel she must belong to the class of rebels that act passively. During the novel there are only a small number of occasions where Offred acts actively. There is great contrast set up by Atwood to emphasise Offred’s inert behaviour. Atwood presents to us the character called Moira. Moira is Offred’s best friend. I feel that I recognise Moira to be the active rebel. Moira is the one who goes on demonstrations. Moira is the one who from the first step into the red centre wants to leave it. Moira cannot see any boundaries. She is the one who escapes the red centre. She is character that does not respect authority. Moira is a character that we automatically categorise as our rebel figure. Offred does not have this form of rebel simmering in her from the beginning. Offred is not a freedom fighter. Offred does not have Moira’s strength. She needs Moira’s strength to reinforce her individuality. Without Moira she may cease to be. This dependence is not a trait of a rebel. A true rebel never depends on anyone else apart from himself or herself. We see this with Moira. She does not rely on any one else to escape. She creates the plan and executes it herself.

‘I don’t want her to be like me. Give in, go along, save her skin…I want gallantry from her, swashbuckling heroism. Something I lack.’

This quote proves the contrast between Moira’s active rebel figure and Offred’s passiveness. Offred states herself that she has none of these true rebel qualities. This quote states that Offred needs somebody else to fight her battles for her. Offred feels that she is a coward, which is anything but a rebel.

From Offred’s actions and dialogues with characters in the novel and with herself we can observe that Offred stands on very ...

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‘I don’t want her to be like me. Give in, go along, save her skin…I want gallantry from her, swashbuckling heroism. Something I lack.’

From Offred’s actions and dialogues with characters in the novel and with herself we can observe that Offred stands on very a precarious threshold point. Offred on many occasions falls back to the system that imprisons her. She begins to embrace the false sense of security, which is donated to her by the totalitarian system. An example of this is when Offred measures her self worth by the viability of her ovaries. There are many occasions when one feels that Offred accepts the system that enslaves her. One can see this from the following quote:

‘The commander is fucking. What he is fucking is the lower part of my body. I don’t say making love because that’s not what he’s doing. Copulating too would be inaccurate because it would imply two people, when there is one. Nor does rape cover it. Nothing was going on here that I haven’t signed up for.’

This statement is very dangerous on the terms of Offred being a rebel. It shows how Offred has convinced herself that this deploring act (rape) is not so bad. It again shows how she begins to embrace the system and justify the violations that are being committed against her. By categorising the ceremony as a ‘choice’ she is shifting the blame from her oppressors to herself and so the blatant crime becomes a mere ritual. This in turn shows signs of a developing victim mentality where she accepts defeat and associates the regimes will with her own. The danger lies in her complacency because if she accepts this role as being her choice she eliminates any need to be a rebel.

One can argue that Offred’s unwillingness to resist the system is due to fear. She is always worried about the ‘eyes’ following her. However I feel that there is more than that. I feel that Offred needs a partner to fight with. Offred needs to have other people around her. One can notice this from her memories from the past. Offred always remembers her time with other people. When Ofglen confronts her with the resistance group ‘Mayday’ Offred is overwhelmed, by the fact that she is not alone. I also feel that Offred’s unwillingness to fight is due to accepting her dictated role in society. She clouds her perception of freedom and so her desire to rebel is diminished.

During the novel Offred has an affair with the commander. This act cannot be considered as rebellious because she does what the commander asks her to do. The commander symbolises the evil of Gilead. When Offred mixes with the commander she indirectly changes fronts. She too becomes Gilead. A true rebel would never perform such an act.

Offred also claims the need to do things but never does them. An excellent example of this is at the end of the book:

‘I could scream now, cling to the banister, relinquish dignity. I could stop them at least for a moment.’

Offred always wishes to do something but she never does. This is not the characteristic of a true and active rebel. A true rebel does what she wants to.

After Ofglen’s suicide Offred feels happy that it is not she that is dead. Offred is grateful that Ofglen dies for the ‘Mayday’ purely because it is not she. I feel that this behaviour is not the behaviour of a true rebel.

It is legitimate to say that Offred lacks the qualities of a true active rebel. There are only a few occasions where she becomes active. I feel that the scene that reflects this aspect of Offred’s character most effectively is when Offred asks the new the Ofglen about ‘Mayday’. It is at this point Offred lets go of all her fears. I feel that intrepidness is a vital quality of a rebel’s character. Offred’s active rebellion also shows its forms when Offred steals the flower. In this fundamentalist Christian society stealing is a great sin. Stealing in general is always forbidden. By stealing Offred destroys another barrier that keeps her imprisoned. This again is emphasised by her illegal relationship with Nick.

I feel that it is not Offred’s active part of her rebellion that captures my interest I feel that Offred’s passive rebellion is a revolt that requires much emotion and strength. ‘Gilead’ has attempted to eradicate any semblance of the ‘corrupt’ past. However they have failed to see that they cannot destroy the memories of the human heart. It is easy to deprive someone of something that they have never had, however it is almost impossible to erase something people have experienced, like freedom. Offred keeps the past alive in her head. It is just this past life that ‘Gilead’ wants to erase. Offred is rebelling against the system by keeping this past alive within her.

‘You’ll have to forgive me, I’m a refugee from the past, and like other refugees, I go over to the customs and habits of being I’ve left or been forced to leave behind me’

At the beginning of the book Offred states that she wants to survive. In Gilead, the regime’s goal is to make the female inanimate. They want to make the women objects. Objects are inanimate. Offred on the other wants survive. This however is a quality of something animate. Offred in this way refuses to be labelled as an object; this I feel is another face of her passive rebellion. I also feel that the term ‘survival’ indicates that Offred has a cause, a will to survive. All rebels have a cause.

I feel that Offred’s core inner drive is love. Love is what Offred is searching for. Love is what keeps Offred waiting for another sunrise. Love is something that is forbidden in Gilead, yet she still believes in it. There is also an interesting statement made by Offred about love.

‘Nobody dies from lack of sex. It’s lack of love we die from.’

This statement shows how important love is for Offred. For Offred love is as important as the air we breathe. I feel this quote is very significant as it shows that Offred has actually taken sides. She has taken a very extreme position. She believes in it with all her heart. She believes in the very thing Gilead condemns. In Gilead Offred is deprived of love. In the statement above Offred states that when one is deprived of love one will die. Despite all the denial of love Offred has encountered Offred has lived. I feel that Offred uses the word ‘die’ as a symbol of her inner metaphysical world being destroyed. In the book however despite the lack of love Offred has not yet died. I feel that this insinuates that Offred has being constantly fighting a battle against Gilead to live.

For Offred the very act of telling a story becomes a rebellion against the society she is trapped in. Gilead seeks to silence women, but Offred speaks out, even if it is an imaginary reader or to Luck or even God. Gilead denies women the control over their own lives, but Offred’s creation of a story gives her as she puts it ‘control over the ending’. Most important, Offred’s creation of a narrative gives her hope for the future, a sense that ‘here will be an ending and real life will come after it.’ She can hope that someone will hear her story. One can see this from the following quote:

‘I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it. Those who can believe that such stories are only stories that have a better chance. If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending. Then there will be an ending, to the story, and real life will come after it. I can pick up where I left off.’

Offred lives her life by ignoring. Many people would feel that this way of acting, in this way is cowardice. I feel that it is the contrary. I feel that the mistake is made by misunderstanding the meaning of ‘ignoring’ and ‘ignorance’. To ignore something is a process that requires a lot of hard work and perseverance. One always has to understand why one is ignoring a matter. For Offred ignoring is the only way she can survive. Her ‘obedience’ is the key to her rebellion. Without Offred ignoring her rebellion would have come to a very early end.

During Offred’s relationship we see that Offred gains a sense of power. Offred also has a sense of power when she describes having a secret. This sense of power is created by the fact that Offred has something no one else has. The significance of power is that all rebels seek power to overpower the enemy. This is exactly what Offred is doing. After some point one feels that the commander belongs to Offred. In a society where possession for the handmaids is abolished Offred feels a great sense of victory and power for owning something. I also feel that Offred’s relationship with commander is medium in which Offred regains much of her self-consciousness as she discovers that there is a crack in the walls of the fortress Gilead has built.

All rebels believe in a brighter future. Offred too believes in a brighter future. It is this aspiration that keeps her stamina. A good example of this attribute of Offred’s character is when she uses the butter as a moisturiser. Offred is not worried about her wrinkles. The pure reason is that she needs to that there will be a brighter future to stay unwrinkled for.

A rebel is a character of great strength. A rebel never shows fear. A rebel always faces the consequences she has to face. I feel that Offred shows great strength at the end of the book. When the ‘Angels’ come to collect Offred she leaves the house with great dignity and honour. She maybe feeling torn up on the inside but she does not expose it. It is also remarkable how she does not fear the moment after evaluating the situation.

The historical notes offer us proof that Offred’s struggles do pay off even if she never got to see the brighter day. Her tapes proved, that by maintaining her own identity she was able to move on and tell her story. Even if she never got to witness the fall of Gilead she proved that they couldn’t make her fall. They could not eliminate Offred. They failed to shut her mouth. Offred spoke out against them in the loudest voice possible. Offred’s cassettes did more than just speak her voice. I feel that the true reason why Offred did not assign her name is because she wanted to speak universally. Offred wanted to speak in the name of all handmaids.

In studying Offred’s rebellion we can see that she suffered an internal conflict. Offred’s plight is always human as well as ideological. She wanted to rebel but at the same time she was scared of loosing herself in the process. Offred had to win the conflict within her before she could start the external battle. Offred won this conflict and decided that her humanity was the risk for a great cause, love.

‘As long as women consent to be unjustly governed, they will be; but directly women say: "We withhold our consent," we will not be governed any longer as long as government is unjust.’

Emmeline Pankhurst (1858- 1928)