Margaret Atwood uses a female antihero to expose readers to Gilead’s oppression of women.
“But who can remember pain, once it’s over? All that remains of it is a shadow, not in the mind even, in the flesh. Pain marks you, but too deep to see. Out of sight, out of mind.” The Handmaids Tale, a dystopian novel written in 1985 by Margret Atwood, details the life of a handmaid by the name of Offred. Atwood weaves many obstacles into the novel which shape and mould the characters as the story progresses. We, as the reader, can see how these events affect the main character Offred through her thoughts, actions and her intelligent nature and reveal to us the oppressive nature of Gilead. The three main events that inspired a change in Offred’s character and exposed Gilead’s oppression of women are the trip to Jezebels, enforced by the Commander, the arranged meeting with Nick in order to conceive and the impact of losing her daughter.
The Handmaids Tales actual storyline takes place over quite a short period of time. Atwood skillfully weaves certain scenarios into the story that test Offred’s willingness to overcome these events. One such event that developed Offred’s story was her trip to Jezebels with the Commander, and this occurrence can be seen as the climax of their time together. In the book, Jezebel’s is a strip/sex club where women who do not qualify to be a Handmaid go and references Jezebel, an ‘evil’ Queen of Israel, from the Hebrew Bible, symbolising sexually enhanced, vicious women. These women work for the Republic of Gilead, most sharing the opinion that working as a prostitute is a better lifestyle than that of the Handmaids or being sent to the colonies. In being prostitutes, the women also gain a sort of superiority over the men who come to Jezebel’s, as they pose a threat to men through the way in which they can enhance their sexuality. It is for this reason that the Commander dresses Offred up and brings her to Jezebels, for his own enjoyment in seeing his ‘plaything’ becoming a real person with real emotions. His disappointment when she does not share the excitement he feels about a genuine sexual encounter makes the fantasy of conspiracy fade. “Fake it, I scream at myself inside my head. You must remember how.” This degree of power that Offred now holds over the Commander engages the reader and entices them to read further as it exposes the oppression that she has been forced to endure. Atwood references the notion that a patriarchal society often divides women into two categories: the virgin and the whore. The women whose bodies hold sexual significance are the Handmaids, and their sexual lives are heavily restricted. They represent the virgins. The workers at Jezebel’s represent the whores, as they claim no ownership to their own bodies, forced to use them for the enjoyment and pleasure of the Commanders and other prominent males in the Gilead times. Women in Gilead are severely oppressed and are only used to fulfil men’s desires. While this degree of oppression that is shown in the novel seems extreme, every event that Atwood has written is inspired by real-world events and real oppression that women have endured. This reflects on our current society, and while we have progressed majorly, causal sexism and oppression of women is still a daily occurrence.
Offred’s constant exposure to conspiracy and rule-breaking leads her to test the limits on how far she can go. This freedom also aids in her losing sight of how corrupt Gilead really is, because for her, she would rather be content with the bare minimum over the possibility of freedom. Towards the end of the book, Serena Joy suggests that perhaps Nick would be a more suitable option for Offred to conceive over the Commander, as she too recognises that he may be sterile. “’I was thinking of Nick,’ she (Serena Joy) says. . . ‘What about the Commander?’. . . ‘We just won’t tell him, will we?’” Ultimately, this proposition was likely intended to benefit only Serena, as her need to care for a child becomes quite obvious as the book progresses, however, Offred finds solace in having a relationship with Nick. This luxury of human connection leads Offred to become reckless and unconcerned about how she is being treated. “The fact is that I no longer want to leave, escape, cross the border to freedom. I want to be here, with Nick, where I can get at him.” It is clear throughout the novel that when one is so severely oppressed, they will grasp at what little freedom they can find and even give up on the idea of escape as not to lose what they have already got. Offred’s meetings with the Commander evolve into meetings with Nick, and while Offred may perceive these experiences to be freeing for her, the underlying truth is that this is yet another layer of oppression and is dehumanising her. Offred is blinded by the option of freedom when there never really was any in the first place. She is never considered to have her own needs as Nick never shows any affection during their meetings and Serena is only using her to gain a child for herself. Gilead’s oppression of women is very clear in this part of the text as Offred is experiencing oppression to the point of not even recognising it herself.
Throughout the novel, Offred’s daughter is constantly occupying her mind. Taken from her when she was five years old after a failed escape attempt pre-Gilead days, Offred’s daughter is never named nor explained but holds a lot of significance in her life. The novel flicks back in time through Offred’s thoughts, to show the reader the events that ended in her daughter being taken away or possibly killed, as neither option is ever confirmed. That is until Offred is approached by Serena Joy about her conspiracy with Nick, a picture of her daughter as bribery so that Serena may have a child to care for. “Something chokes in my throat. The bitch, not to tell me, bring me news, any news at all. Not even to let on” Serena is manipulating Offred’s emotions to ultimately get what she wants whilst giving Offred the bare minimum and contact with her past life. This severe restriction is Serena’s way of maintaining status as a woman in Gilead. When an environment is so oppressive, the oppressed group will often grasp onto any degree of power they can find, seen in the restrictive nature of the Aunt’s, and Serena Joy’s coldness towards the Handmaids. This act of women oppressing women exposes to the reader that there is no freedom for the Handmaid’s in Gilead, they are being oppressed in nearly every sense of the word: sexually, verbally, visually, and follow very strict routines. Despite being so confined and monitored, Offred’s thoughts are still free, being the main way we follow her story. This freedom of thought leads to a lot of reflection on her past life, especially on her daughter. “Do I exist for her? They must have told her I was dead.” Offred admits to an acceptance of her death, however, this may only be because she thought it easier to cope with the fact that her child is no longer living rather than growing up in the corrupted world of Gilead. It is in our nature to feel a certain degree of responsibility towards those who take care of us or to those we take care of. Because we as humans have these experiences, Offred’s relationship with her daughter allows the reader to reflect on their own personal experiences in order to empathise with the character. Atwood evokes tension and thought by using the one person Offred is truly devoted to, and the manipulation of Offred’s feelings by Serena Joy, and this further proves to the readers Gilead’s oppression of women.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margret Atwood exposes the readers to an almost unthinkable amount of female oppression and through this, we are able to see how the main character Offred responds and overcomes it. Atwoods purpose in describing these events is to highlight how women do not have equality in our modern society and even though we will continue to fight for it, there will always be some form of oppression upon us. Despite Offred’s situation being quite an extreme circumstance, there are elements that we can relate to through our own real-world experiences. The coronavirus pandemic that has recently spread across the globe has forced almost everyone into a lockdown state for anywhere between two-six months. We can sympathise with Offred’s feeling of being trapped and having one’s rights stripped away within a matter of days by a higher power, as that is exactly what we have had to experience. Overall this similarity gives us a deeper connection to the Handmaid and gives us an understanding of her oppression that we might not have reached without firsthand experience.