In many ways the ideas in this dystopian novel are more important than the characters - with the exception of Offred and Moira. The other characters tend to function as members of groups or as representatives of certain ideological positions.
CHARACTERISATION In many ways the ideas in this dystopian novel are more important than the characters - with the exception of Offred and Moira. The other characters tend to function as members of groups or as representatives of certain ideological positions. However, as Offred insists, every individual is significant, whatever Gilead decrees, and her narrative weaves in particularities: she continually writes in other voices in sections of dialogue, in embedded stories and in remembered episodes. It is a feature of Atwood's realism, even within a fabricated futuristic world, that she pays dose attention not only to location but to people and relationships. OFFRED Offred, the main protagonist and narrator, is trapped in Gilead as a Handmaid, one of the 'two-legged wombs' valued only for her potential as a surrogate mother. Denied all her individual rights, she is known only by the patronymic Of-Fred, derived from the name of her current Commander. Most of the time she is isolated and afraid. Virtually imprisoned in the domestic spaces of the home, she is allowed out only with a shopping partner and for Handmaids' official excursions like Prayvaganzas and Salvagings. At the age of thirty-three and potentially still fertile, she is a victim of Gileadean sexist ideology which equates 'male' with power and sexual potency, and 'female' with reproduction and submission to the
How does Atwood present Offred's situation and character to us in 'The Handmaid's Tale'?
How does Atwood present Offred's situation and character to us? 'The Handmaid's Tale is a futuristic novel about what could happen if we returned to our original bible-based values. In my opinion it is essentially a fable about fundamentalist Christian America. Offred is the main character in 'The Handmaid's Tale' by Margaret Atwood. It is written in first person narrative with Offred been the narrator. It is written with assumed knowledge of the reader, so it reads like it is Offred's diary. In the first chapter of the book this use of the first person and the use of assumed knowledge makes the reader intrigued and want to read on. This is always essential in an opening chapter. The first chapter is short, so as not to give much away to the reader. The opening paragraph uses a narrative flashback, which is a commonly used literary device in the novel. This flashback makes Offred seem older than she is as she is reminiscing of the old times and this is a common thing for an older person to do. She also sounds as though she wishes it was the old times again with the basketball games and the dances. At this stage the reader does not know why she is sleeping in an old gymnasium and there are no longer any basketball games or dances. The reader will be intrigued to why she is there. In the first chapter there are only very subtle clues to why she is there and I think this is
Explore the significance of the Historical Notes in light of the rest of the novel.
Explore the significance of the Historical Notes in light of the rest of the novel. The historical notes are an important part of the novel, they create an insight into Offred's story objectively and the way in which it came about. We observe Offreds story outside Gilead with another time shift into the future. The historical notes provide the background information of Gilead which Offred did not explain and give some understanding on the enigma's created within Offreds story. Most importantly the Historical Notes enable us to get a different perspective on the characters and Gilead. The most significant interest in the Historical Notes is the way in which Offred managed to tell her story to us. We learn from Professor Piexoto that Offred recorded her story on tapes. The dive into the future is made aware by the fact that Professor Piexoto had to get a technician to 'reconstruct a machine capable of playing tapes', we understand that this is well into the future AD2195 to be exact and makes us question whether Gilead is meant to take place some time now within our time in the beginning of the 21st Century. The truth that Offred recorded her story on tapes suggests that Nick did help Offred to escape Gilead. This is when we see that Nick was a good character and makes us feel good that he was a male within a society run by men who helped the women. We also assume that he
The Handmaid's Tale - study of the character Offred.
"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action." The standard definition of happiness is that it is a condition of great joy and contentment. Aristotle once said that happiness depends on ourselves. Although we do not all face the same problems, going through tribulation is a part of being human. These tribulations are what ultimately result in our unhappiness. For each problem there is a solution, and for that solution to be met, action must be taken. In the novel The Handmaid's Tale, each character struggled with tribulation and adversity, coping with these troubles by either taking action, or being passive. Happiness does depend on ourselves, since it depends on the actions we take. By examining the situations and tribulations of Moria, Offred, and Offred's mother, one can recognize that Offred's inaction leads her directly to the path of unhappiness, while Moria takes action and fails to achieve happiness, whereas Offred's actions brought her happiness. In Atwood's novel, the character of Offred is the protagonist who's inaction leads to unhappiness. In the newly formed society of Gilead, the state has taken control of reproduction to combat low birth rates. Due to Offred's fertility, against her will she is classified as a handmaid, with her sole duty being to give birth for elite couples. Her discontent with being a handmaid
Is Offred a Rebel?
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.
The Handmaid's Tale - review
The Handmaid's Tale plunges immediately into an exotic, unexplained world, using unfamiliar terms like 'Handmaid,' 'Angel,' and 'Commander' that only come to make sense as the story progresses. Offred gradually delivers information about her past and the world in which she lives, often narrating through flashbacks. She narrates these flashbacks in the past tense, which distinguishes them from the main body of the story, which she tells in the present tense. The first scene, in the gymnasium, is a flashback, as are Offred's memories of the Marthas' gossip and her first meeting with the Commander's Wife. Although at this point we do not know what the gymnasium signifies, or why the narrator and other women lived there, we do gather some information from the brief first chapter. The women in the gymnasium live under the constant surveillance of the Angels and the Aunts, and they cannot interact with one another. They seem to inhabit a kind of prison. Offred likens the gym to a palimpsest, a parchment either erased and written on again or layered with multiple writings. In the gym palimpsest, Offred sees multiple layers of history: high school girls going to basketball games and dances wearing miniskirts, then pants, then green hair. Likening the gym to a palimpsest also suggests that the society Offred now inhabits has been superimposed on a previous society, and traces of the
What is the importance of Nick in Margaret Atwood's 'Handmaid's tale'? Consider the ways in which the writer presents this character.
What is the importance of Nick in Margaret Atwood's 'Handmaid's tale'? Consider the ways in which the writer presents this character. Nick is a very complex character. The author presents us with an uncertain character that we're not entirely sure about. Firstly Nick is a male and males in this society are very different from normal society. Males in Offred's life; the Commander, Luke, Nick is all so different from each other. But Nick is probably the most mysterious since we know exactly where we are, as the reader and Offred stand with the other two. Nick on the other hand is an enigma, a man with secret intentions, questionable loyalty and uncertain motives, even Offred's character isn't sure of him showing a lot of suspicion in the end of the novel when he was taking her away. Nick to me is very important to the whole story, he is the mystery factor of the novel, the Cigarette-Smoking-Man (X-files) of the plot, the one who knows things others don't, which I think every story through history has. From the very beginning Nick is introduced in a very intriguing manner. Unlike other people in the society, he appears confident, happy and even jaunty. He had his hat on in a jaunty angle, cleaning a car like he was caressing a lover, whistling, indulging in the forbidden pleasure of a cigarette and even made eyecontact and winked at Offred which is very highly forbidden.
How does Atwood portray the Commander to us in the novel ‘ The Handmaid’s Tale’.
How does Atwood portray the Commander to us in the novel ' The Handmaid's Tale' In Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel about a society under threat, the Commander is the head of a household in the Republic of Gilead. He is an older man who is married but has no children. Children are very important in Gilead and the lack of them is the main reason the existing regime has occurred. The ruling regime are there to encourage the population to increase the birth rate, in the face of a population that chose to either not produce children or embrace a homosexual approach to life. We learn a lot about the Commander over time and are given an insight into his thoughts and views through his illegal relationship with Offred, the handmaid in his house. However, there are many factors about him that we cannot answer, such as his role in the community. We assume his name is Fred, but he is always referred to as 'The Commander'. This is a military term, although what he commands is a mystery to the reader. We are also unsure whether he loves or loathes women, due to his diverse relationships with the women in his household. At the beginning of Chapter 15 we see the Commander as an obnoxious man. He doesn't wait for permission to enter 'Serena's Territory' but steps forward into the room anyway. This rude action is seen to be a deliberate attempt to show his importance. In her description
Discuss the variety of narrative techniques used in 'The Handmaid's Tale.'
Discuss the variety of narrative techniques used in 'The Handmaid's Tale.' 'The Handmaid's Tale' has come a long way from the chronological Bildungsroman like David Copperfield or Great Expectations. Offred's complex narrative signals the post modern contempory nature of Margaret Atwood's storytelling technique. The main aim of the post-modernists was to get away from the chronological novel to 'stream of consciencenss', which represents the complex ways that the memory works. Offred is continually drawing our attention to her storytelling process, 'I would like to believe this is a story I'm telling...there will be an ending, to the story and real life will come after it.' Atwood also uses different tenses in her narrative technique, for she sometimes uses present tense for stories that were written in the past and past tense to talk about experiences in the Red Centre and the time before. The technique of constantly drawing attention to the way fiction is created is called Metanarrative Technique. The emphasis throughout is on process and reconstruction, where 'truth' is only a matter of the teller's perspective, by showing how stories, truth, even history can be revised, for example, Offred thinks about killing the commander when he asks to kiss her, but she didn't really. She added this in when she was making the tapes: 'In fact I don't think about anything of the kind;