Offred had freedom from any of the abuse of women or so called abuse of women. Yet this was not enough for Offred, Offred recalls a time when she went shopping and Nick tries to talk to her. She remembers what one of the Aunts said to explain his actions. “All flesh is weak. All flesh is grass…They can’t help it she said, God made them that way but He did not make you that way, He made you different, it is up to you to set the boundaries.”(45) Offred knows that God didn’t make her any different from the men. She too had needs that needed to be fulfilled. Offred at many times remembers her past life of her husband Luke, daughter, and her best friend Moira, and thinks of how she regrets not taking her life then more seriously. All that Offred wants now is for her life to return to normal like it was before the society of Gilead was made. She wanted to be free from all these freedoms from and have more freedoms to. This was the opposite thinking of the Republic of Gilead.
To suffice her needs she starts doing little things like hiding a pat of butter form dinner in her shoe. “As long as we do this, butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe we will some day get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire. We have ceremonies of our own. Private ones.”(97) The butter that Offred has gives her the power to feel a sense of prettiness again. She gains the freedom to care for herself.
After small rebellious acts gain her a little freedom she goes to a higher extent. She makes relationships with certain people to gain power. “To want is to have a weakness. It’s this weakness, whatever it is that entices me.”(136) These rebellious acts begin to gain her freedoms to ironically, such as her relationship with the Commander. In her relationship wit the commander; Offred gains such things as real hand lotion, the freedom to read magazines, also to know what is going on in the outside world. “Now it’s forbidden, for us. Now it’s dangerous…Now it’s desirable”(138) Offred is not the only one gaining from this relationship. The Commander is also he is getting from her what he can not get from his wife.
Breaking one of Gilead’s rules gave Offred the freedom to break another one. “Having broken the main taboo, why should I hesitate over another one, something minor? Or another, or another; who could tell where it might stop? Behind this door, taboo dissolved.”(157) So easily Offred goes on reading many magazines and books such as Vogue, Esquire, Reader’s Digest, Ms., and Hard Times by Charles Dickens. Another power that Offred attains is the power of words. She is given the chance to hold a pen. Since the handmaids were banned from writing or reading Offred takes advantage of the little freedom she gets. “The pen between my fingers is sensuous, alive almost, I can feel its power, the power of the words it contains.” (186)
Another relationship that Offred forms is with Nick. Offred has always been some what attracted to Nick, but now when she forms a relationship with Serena Joy she is given the opportunity to show her feeling to Nick therefore making a relationship with Nick. Her relationship with Serena Joy brings about more then Nick, Serena Joy shows her a picture of her daughter and also a cigarette, more importantly the match that gives her ideas about an escape, “I could burn the house down...An escape quick and narrow.”(209)
In Offerd’s relationship with Nick, she gains the freedom to “make love”. Now Offred is using Nick as the Commander is using her. Although Offred cannot fullfil her lust for love with the Commander, she can fulfill it with Nick. She goes to him almost every night, not just to get pregnant anymore but for the comfort of love. In Nick Offred has gained trust in him; she has told him all of her secrets dealing with the past and what is happening now. Yet Nick never really seems to share things with her. He just always has an open door for her. In the end Nick seems to bring Offred the most freedom by telling her that the van that is coming is a one coming to save her giving her true freedom out of Gilead. “It’s all right. It’s Mayday. Go with them.”(293) By riding Offred of the fetters of Gilead Nick gives the ability to find Luke or establish new relationships, which would allow Offred to feel love.
Every caste in the Gilead has it’s own group of rebellious people and share of rebellious doings. Such as the wives, they purposely get sick every week so that they would have reasons to gather together and gossip and eat little deserts like pies. It is like they have some sort of a schedule. The Marthas also have in cooperation with the wives. That explains how Serena Joy could get a picture of Offred’s daughter. “It must have been a Martha who go t it for her. There is a network of the Marthas, then, with something in it for them.”(228) Though the Marthas really had no rules against Marthas talking among themselves about nonsense gossip.
The Commanders even have their own organization that is forbidden. ““Well, that’s what we call it among ourselves. The club.” “I thought this sort of thing was strictly forbidden,” I say. “Well officially,” he says. “But everyone’s human after all.””(237) This so-called “club” is Jezebel’s a type of strip club that the Commander takes Offred to, to show off. This gave Offred the freedom to use make up and dress up in other clothes other then her red dress. It gave her a sense of power to look so freely. “there’s an enticement in this thing, it carries with it the childish allure of dressing up, and it would be so flaunting such a sneer at the Aunts, so sinful so free. Freedom, like everything else, is relative.”(231). This scene at Jezebel’s also gives Offred the chance to see, by surprise, Moira, whom she gets a lot of information about the past from.
The Handmaid’s also have a rebellious group. Which Offred finds out by her relationship with Ofglen. Her relationship with Ofglen enables her the freedom to have a friend, an actual friend that understands her. Also the freedom to trade knowledge of the outside world with other’s knowledge of the outside world. Offred's friendship with Ofglen make Offred more comfortable and makes her day go by easier because she has someone that she can talk to and relate to her.
To all these rebellious acts there are of course consequences. Consequences such as being scolded, beaten, tortured, being exiled as an unwomen sent to live in the colonies, even death. The only way to avoid death in these extreme cases is never to get caught. Knowing who to trust and what they have to lose and what Offred herself has to lose. The thought of Offred having power is also dangerous, “But such a feeling would be an illusion, and too risky.”(81) Her gloating, her power she has gained around can make her look suspicious. The Guardians have been known to shoot people that just look suspicious. Everyone was susceptible to being caught and turned in.
Offred had trust in the Commander because he is not supposed to have “relationships” with the handmaids. And the Commander had trust in Offred because they would take his word over hers. This was the same situation with the Commander and Nick, plus Nick was given compensation for his work. For Serena joy and Offred, there really was not any danger for Serena Joy, because she trusted Nick. So why did Offred trust her? Because Offred saw a chance and saw what Serena Joy would gain from it and what Offred herself would gain from it. Offred and Ofglen have trust in each other because they have the same beliefs and it would be vital to both of them if one of them told. Offred had trust in Nick because he never refused to let her in at night. But if one of these stepping-stones clashed the whole crew would be taken down.
Such as why Ofglen did not reveal many other names of the other handmaids in their “Mayday” group. Offred also saw how much trust she had in Ofglen when she found out that Ofglen had hung herself when she found out that a van was coming for her. She could have hanged herself for reasons of freeing herself from being tortured and interrogated to giving out names of other rebellious handmaids.
In the end, the Offred seemed to escape the society of Gilead. Slowly but surely she at least was free in her mind if not physically. How ironic that Gilead began by people rebelling against the world to be freedom from the society and freedom to walk peacefully, but now people of Gilead are rebelling to achieve freedom from the Gilead life and the freedom to walk freely and peacefully.
