Nick provides a sense of reality and reminds Offred of what it was to be like when she was in love with Luke. Luke who was also once forbidden much like the Commander and Nick are now is, Luke is replaced by Nick, In Offred’s mind Nick symbolises Luke, her past love as he was also forbidden, he was already married, at the beginning of their relationship it was an act of adultery. They met in hotel room’s much like the meeting of Nick in his room. Married man or not, she loved and lusted after Luke, just as Offred is doing now. Nick is a special reminder of the past; she warms to Nick as he allows Offred to experience a sense of reality and freedom when with him as he very resembles Luke.
When night approaches, Offred is gazing out of her window, she happens to see Nick. She remembers their encounter in the dark sitting room, she feels the same sexual excitement and sense of frustration when a look of romantic longing is exchanged between them. ‘I can see the white oblong of his face. Nick. We look at each other. I have no rose to toss, he has no lute. But it’s the same kind of hunger. Which I cant indulge’ Offred describes Nick as a temptation that she can’t possess. Her mind then flicks back from Nick to Luke and her daughter are beginning to seem like fading ghosts. To Offred Nick symbolises the past as happiness and pleasure but also brings back memories of her daughter that don’t exist or have a place in the Gileadean society.
Offred experiences humiliating ceremonies with the commander, she meets with the commander, however the commander gains a secret attraction to Offred. It is he who asks her to visit him ‘after hours’ in his study, for he is a lonely man who desires friendship and intimacy with his Handmaid and not the serviceable monthly sex for which she had been allocated to him. In his chamber, what he has to offer is not ‘kinky sex’ but scrabble games and an appearance of ‘normal life’ with conversation and books and magazines, all of which he knows are forbidden to Handmaids. The ceremonies with the commander are useless, as Offred isn’t conceiving, Serena Joy is desperate for Offred to conceive and will go to any lengths to ensure that Offred has the chance to be pregnant even if it means going against the strict Gileadean rules. As there is no other resort left for Serena Joy she asks for the forbidden, Serena Joy orders Offred to go to bed with Nick. Although Offred knows that she is being used, this time by the Commander’s Wife, Offred’s encounter with Nick is entirely different and her account of their first lovemaking is curiously quiet about what really happened. Offred tires to maintain her integrity in the face of uncertainty and desire. Offred describes Serena Joy escorting her out of the house to meet with Nick. ‘She’s here at midnight, as she said she’d be’. Serena Joy leads the way, Offred observes Serena Joy and her evident determination for the baby, her left hand clamps the banister, in pains maybe but holding on, steadying her. I think: she’s biting her lip, she’s suffering. She wants it all right, that baby’. When Offred is released to go and meet Nick she feels a huge sense of control and freedom, Nick is therefore associated with the importance of normality for Offred, ‘I open the kitchen door, step out, wait a moment for vision. It’s so long since I’ve been outside, alone, at night. Offred describes where Nick lives as a ‘bachelor studio’.
At the beginning of the meeting Offred describes the affair in a very cold manner an ‘assignment’ something that has to be completed quickly without feeling or emotion, it also conveys her sheer frustration and anger, she is tired of the process of humiliation.
Offred makes her fantasy love making with Nick, its very sensual romantic and lustful however reality comes through to her, ‘ I made that up’ she then goes on to associate love making as a very dirty dignifying thing for her, ‘he knows why I’m here. To get knocked up, to get in trouble, up the pole, those were all names for it once. Offred portrays her uncomfortable environment, ‘he says nothing, just looks at me, unsmiling. It would be better, more friendly, if he touch me. I feel stupid and ugly.’ Offred doesn’t feel comfortable with why she is here, she would like to think that she has immense for Nick she doesn’t want to degrade herself or make him think any less of her, ‘why doesn’t he say something? Maybe he thinks I’ve been slutting around, at Jezebels, with the commander or more.
As time passes with Nick, they bond and make conversation, they talk of the past life ‘We’re quoting from late movies, from the time before that: this sort of talk dates back to an era well before our own, this allows Offred to recall the past and remember her mum, ‘I’m sad now, the way we’re talking is infinitely sad’ Offred now begins to cry. Nick comes to comfort her, ‘at last he moves forward, puts his arms around me, strokes my back, holds me that way, for comfort. Nick allows Offred to convey her inner deep feelings, which no one has done. At the end of the love making Offred feels regrets and humiliation, ‘I would like to be without shame. I would like to be shameless. I would like to be ignorant’.
On the day that Serena Joy reveals that she knows about the secret meetings with the commander, she calls Offred a ‘slut’ she can hear Nick behind her, ‘Nick has stopped whistling’. She needs him, she wants to be comforted ‘I want to turn, run to him, throw my arms around him’. She wants his help but soon realises there is nothing that he can do.
Offred goes back to her room, she thinks of all the many way of escaping but does nothing. As she is standing in her room she can hear noises outside ‘ I hear a black van. I hear it before I see it,’ Offred begins to think defensively she knows the van has come for her, Offred hears the siren of the van, ‘I expect a stranger’ but its Nick, he leads the group of eyes. Offred fears that Nick has betrayed her and she is immediately on the defensive, ready to accuse him, however, he whispers ‘It’s all right. Its Mayday,’ more significantly he calls her by her real name. This secret, which Offred has told him during their lovemaking, would seem to be a coded message of reassurance to Offred. She then is escorted out of the house like a criminal ‘ One in front, one behind, they escort me down the stairs’, Offred is unsure of if she is going to prison or freedom. Offred looks back at the kitchen, ‘Cora has begun to cry. I was her hope, I’ve failed her, she feels a sense of guilt, but she allows herself to be helped into the van, ‘and so I step up, into the darkness within; or else the light’.
The commander is a powerful figure in the Gileadean world, he is a high-ranking government official, he is head of the household to which Offred is assigned. When the Commander asks to meet with him she can’t refuse because she is unaware of the consequences she has no choice. Although Offred does receive luxuries, magazines, books a normal conversation she is emotionless in contrast to when she meets Nick, she feels sexual tension and emotion towards him.
Being with the Commander she is revealed to privileges that other Handmaids would not experience, in way Offred uses the Commander to allow herself to be exposed to such luxuries which allows her to feel superior however being with Nick gives her memories of what it was like to be with Luke, the man she loved in the past. Like Nick Luke was once forbidden, he was another mans husband. He becomes a companion and a lover, he allows Offred feel special, wanted, excepted, he lifts her into reality and normality by listening to her stories and precious memories from the past about her mother and daughter.
Nick gave Offred his love, which she longed for, she needed to be reassured and was in need of someone who she could trust, which her gave to her. She needed these signs of reassurance to prevent her from going insane and hypnotised by the Gileadean regime.
Offred wanted to be held and touched like Luke once did, so small but valuable for Offred as she was being held and touched for all the wrong reasons, but with Nick she feels special, exceptional, like a woman should feel, Nick gave her the gift of feeling as if she was needed for Nick, to love her.
Nick listens to Offred’s recital of the past history and her emotional outpourings.
Nick is an extremely significant character as he acts as an escape out of the Gileadean world. He provides freedom for Offred, which is a rarity in Gilead it’s a luxury that most Handmaids will never be able to experience. On the day of the escape he calls her by her real name reassuring and comforting her to ensure that she is in safe and trusting hands he repeats ‘trust me’, Nick saying these words gave a sense of comfort and relief.
In this Novel Nick plays an important role for Offred, he leads her to freedom and prevents her from going insane in the world of Gilead.
He leads her to a place where she cannot be humiliated and degraded. Nick became to understand her harsh position and realised what a strong, courageous and brave person she was. Nick gave her dignity back and made her a free woman.