Moira on the other hand is a typically strong and rebellious character, she is Offred’s good friend and does everything she can to escape being controlled because in her opinion anything is better than living under someone else’s power. Moira’s extremity leads her to commit very serious crimes without a second thought. She is a character with a certain element of sleaziness mixed with admirable qualities.
The commander is a character who is relatively unknown through much of the novel. In the first few introductions he is portrayed as strict, silent and unemotional, it is only after he invites Offred to in secret to play scrabble when the reader realizes he is someone much different. Expecting the commander to have summoned Offred simply for sexual purposes creates a bit of a shock when he reveals he just wants to make her life better, even bearable. However the image of his character is changed once again when the reader sees how he acts when he takes Offred to Jezeble’s.
Nick is another character who remains unknown until later in the novel. He is described by Offred as an object of desire, however he remains loyal and trusting to the commander, working fro him to notify Offred when the commander wants to see her. Its is only when the commanders wife arranges for him to try to impregnate Offred that we see he is passionate and also wants something deeper. At the end of the novel his good intentions are confirmed when he sets up for Mayday to come and rescue Offred.
The commander’s wife is a character who represents much of the old world, she is described as an old singer and someone who still lives the luxuries of the past days. She smokes and watches a lot of T.V. two events, which do not occur often in the novel. She tool craves a deeper relationship with her husband, and a baby so that her life may be complete. The commander’s wife is a critical character in the book because she allows for many events in the book to occur. She creates opportunity for Offred and Nick to develop a relationship, for Offreds unhappiness, and her attempted escape. Several of which affect the structure pf the novel.
When mentioning the structure one must remember that this novel is written a little less conventionally. The writer does keep to a timeline that is for the most part easy to follow, however they way Margaret Atwood writes appeals not only to the readers senses but to their emotions as well.
For example one excerpt that sets the structure for the novel is the whole of the third chapter, it illustrates the way Atwood is able to smoothly transition backwards a few days or many years. The chapter starts out with a complete description of the commander’s wife’s garden, using literary devices to make the scene come alive. The tulips are spilled out colour, how the earth smelled and so on. Offred then goes on to remember her own garden from many years ago and then within a few paragraphs switches back to the present and again to the past, five weeks ago when she first arrived where she is presently. The author manages to do all this in a smooth and uncomplicated way so that the readers who have already been thrust into a very strange and mysterious setting are able to keep up with what is going on. In several other places within the chapter Atwood is able to switch between different periods in time seamlessly.
Another striking excerpt is from the end of chapter five where Offred and Ofglen go out for their routine shopping trip and run into a group of tourists from Japan. The description of the women tourists is stunning and outrageous as explained by Offred, they are shocking and somewhat offensive to her. However when I go back and read the Description and take it out of context it simply describes what a conservative woman might wear to work in out society today. Also the statement “ It has taken so little time to change our minds, about things like this.” gives a hit as to what has happened to the characters in the novel and why they act so differently to what we are used to. The most remarkable part of this except is when the interpreter asks Offred and Ofglen if they would permit the tourists to take their picture. It may seem like an ordinary line but the effect it had on me, as a reader was instantaneous and extreme. It conjured up the image of a reporter or foreigner asking a veiled woman if they would permit their picture being taken, only to be turned down by a stare of powerfull eyes behind a totally concealing black cover. This made me realize that this novel wasn’t depicting something from outside our world, but on the other hand trying to portray things that have been happening around us everyday for centuries.
