We see how not all the power in this relationship is with the commander. He might have the social power and be able to decide the fate of Offred but still Offred has something the Commander wants,
“I want you to kiss me,”
Kissing is forbidden between the Handmaids and Commanders. Here the commander shows a weakness to Offred, he is asking for something off Offred and she has the choice to give the commander what he wants or not, so here she is in a position of power.
Because the Commander has revealed he has a weakness, and is also corrupt to Offred he becomes more of a human being and we see how the relationship progresses almost like a normal relationship would. We see the commander giving presents to Offred,
“I have a little present for you’ he said….
It was a woman’s magazine.”
In Offred’s past life a woman’s magazine wouldn’t have been so special but now they are banned in Guliead it shows commitment from the Commander to Offred. But we also see signs of Offred becoming more human when Offred looses her temper,
“Jesus Christ man you should know.”
This anger makes the relationship becomes more normal, the showing of anger shows that the basic feelings are still in Offred and even thought the circumstances she is under might try to oppress these feelings.
The relationship between Offred and Luke is totally different. This is a real loving relationship. Atwood fills the reader in by using flashback where Offred will remember a defining moment in her and Luke’s relationship, in this quote Offred and Luke have just moved into their new apartment.
“I’m in our first apartment, in the bedroom…
maybe there clothes belonging to Luke’s wife.. calling us, accusing us
before the divorce.”
So here in this quote Atwood gives us glimpses of the couples past. We gather there’s been a divorce and that Luke’s first wife wasn’t happy, and this also tells us why Luke isn’t with Offred because he has been married before and this isn’t allowed in Gilead. The commander has the relationship with Offred in his house which gives the power to him but this is different with Offred and Luke. The first time Offred and Luke meet (sexually) is in a hotel room, a neutral location so it shows the two to be seen as equal unlike Offred and the commander. An ironic parallel can be drawn between the commander Luke and Offred. The commander is married and when Luke and Offred first met Luke and his 1st wife were married, and when she is with the commander she remembers her meetings with Luke at the Jezabel’s hotel which shows Atwood’s dark ironic humour.
Offred admires Moira and the relationship between them is one of moral support, Moira is a role model and her defiance to the regime spurs on Offred on and giver her hopes that escape is possible. The dependency Offred has on Moira is shown in this quote,
“I couldn’t stand her not been there for me,”
This is quite a powerful quote. Atwood makes it sound that Offred wouldn’t be able to continue, but Moira eventually escaping will give Offred some hope that it is possible. Moira and Offred’s mother are both feminists, this defiance to oppression will have influenced Offred and this is shown if flashback when we see feminists burning Pornography and Offred joining them. The reader gets a feeling that Offred’s mother is disapproves of the marriage between Offred and Luke, she says,
“A man is just a woman’s strategy for making other women, not that your
father wasn’t a nice guy and all he just wasn’t up to the job of fatherhood…”
this quote shows how Offred’s mother rejects marriage in this quote, and this is said to pass the message onto Offred but it also hints to the reader that Offred and her feminist mother don’t always get along.
Offred is deprived of all the freedoms that her mother fought for, and a certain admiration is built up for her mothers’ courage, and to value her mothers memory as a vital link to lost identity.
“Mother I think…you wanted women’s culture. Well now there is one, it isn’t what you meant, but it exists,”
In this quote we see Offred recognising what her mother fought for and it shows understanding between he and her mother which wasn’t there before. As well as Moira Offred looks to her mother as a role model.
Moira is known as a Martha, so Handmaids and Martha’s shouldn’t really mix so the relationship between the two is based on trust, one could expose the other for breaking the rules about mixing with others to show they are faithful. The Martha’s and handmaids exchange gossip like women do and they try to restore a part of normal life, the two groups (Offred, Moira) support each other,
“we sit and tell each other of our aches and penis, exchange remedies,”
This quote shows that basic interaction which Offred “longs for,”
There are very different examples of relationships shown is the novel, of the different ways the characters interact, and the roles they play in each others lives. Because of the way the book is written we see everything form Offred’s point of view and we see how others comments and actions effect her.
