Albert Camus once said, “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” In this quotation, Camus brings about an important interpretation of how the way of surviving in a world without freedom is to rebel. Once you are completely free your existence is considered an act of rebellion. In Margaret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, freedom is taken away from both men and women but mostly women. The novel reveals that lack of freedom leads to rebellion and breaking rules as shown through the symbol of the match, the use of flashbacks, and the characterization of men. The narrator, Offred, breaks a rule when she keeps a match, something she is not allowed to have. For example, when Serena gave her permission to get a match for her cigarette, instead of lighting the match she thought, “I could keep the match. I can make a small hole, in the mattress, slide it carefully in” (Atwood 209). The fact that she even has a match in the first place goes to show that she was breaking the rules. …show more content…
For example, when the Commander requests to see her, the narrator says, “My presence here is illegal. It’s forbidden for us to be alone with the Commanders... So why does he want to see me, at night, alone” (At wood 136). The Commander told Offred to see him at night which is forbidden. Even though he is a Commander he still does not have any freedom which leads to him breaking the rules as well. Another example is when Offred and Serena are talking and Serena says, “He’s been with us a long time. He’s loyal. I could fix it with him” (Atwood 205). In this quote, she’s talking about Nick and how he runs her “black market” errands. This shows that Nick also broke the rules because he did not have any freedom. In the novel, characterization of men proves the lack of freedom leads to the breaking of
Nick was perfectly sane before he was put through this situation, but between the lies, death, and destruction, it left him with a degraded mental state, and a fleeting grip on
To Nick, the other characters are unethical, but he believes that there is a chance that they could regain their
As the story begins, Nick says, “...I’m inclined to reserve all judgments, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me…” (Fitzgerald 1). Although Nick claims he has been taught to not judge others, he does quite frequently. Nick insults Daisy and Tom,
Eventually Nick stops trying and leaves the decision up to Trent and that’s when he starts to listen and realize. Throughout the book Nick goes through a lot of challenges. There was a good amount I enjoyed, a few I disliked, but I liked it so much because of the
In The Handmaid’s Tale, the effects of suspicion on a society, on handmaid’s, are clearly visible; it can also be seen that the government’s method of control leads to the creation of a dystopia. The Handmaid’s Tale proves that a society built on fear and shaped by suspicion achieves near total control of the population by the ruling class, the government of Gilead in this case. In chapter 42, Aunt Lydia describes how they will no longer announce the crimes that the prisoners have committed at the Salvagings. Once Offred learns this she states, “Now we are left to our own devices, speculation” (Atwood 275). Therefore, through Offered, the reader is able to see how the handmaid 's will now have suspicions of what the prisoners did to get hanged, since they are no longer being told.
However, Nick doesn’t question the situation and even goes on to get as debauched as everyone else at the party. Nick’s “bystander complex” is further cemented when he sneaks out of the party amongst the chaos and spends the rest of it with McKee. Socially, Nick wasn’t in any position that would hinder him from offering to help Myrtle or even to stop Tom from abusing her. He was after all closest to Tom in
This ends up being a good and bad thing for him. The second quote I picked for Nick was also in the beginning of the book. The quote is “In consequence, I’m inclined to reserve all judgements, a habit that has opened up many curious natures to me and also made me the victim of not a few veteran bores…” (1) This quote outlines how Nick is aware that being non-judgemental can be a bad thing for him, and not assuming things about people sometimes causes issues in his life, which leads me on
Over the course of the novel offred goes from an obedient handmaid to a careless, desperate rule breaker. In chapter 11 when a visit to the doctor finds offred faced with a decision to have a baby with the doctor or not she declares, “it is too dangerous… No. I can’t” ( Atwood 61). In this situation, Offred 's decision to not break the rules shows how scared she is of the consequences and how obedient the regime has made her.
In the novel The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Offred has a continuous search for justice for her daughter, in a society in which her idea of justice is starts as one concept and changes to one that she never expected. Margaret Atwood writes Offred as a character who was at once strong-willed, and who would stop at nothing to get what she wanted. Her strength is dimmed at first, when her daughter and husband are first taken from her. Her strength, however comes back in full force when she finds the opportunity to get justice for her daughter. Offred uses the motivation of her daughter to spur a rebellious side of her that disappeared when the new leaders came into power.
In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood demonstrates a quizzical protagonist, Offred, in a dystopian, totalitarian society where fertile women are only a mere vessel for child birth. Every month during Offred’s menstrual cycle her Commander, Fred, and his wife Serena Joy perform detached intercourse while Serena holds Offred’s hands. The handmaids of the Republic of Gilead are not allowed to use their mind for knowledge nor take part in formal society. They are but the vacuous-minded property to their Commanders and their infertile wives. In The Handmaid’s Tale, Offred discloses the day to day moments and her commicalOffred had once lived in a world where she was her own person with a job and a home with a family of her own but now she lives under unfortunate circumstances that disable her from being a true, soulful human.
Rebellion; the action or process of resisting authority, control, or convention. The Handmaid’s Tale written by Margaret Atwood is a novel. The novel takes place in Gilead a dystopian society. Everyone in Gilead has an important role to play within the society, however, it seems as if none of the characters seem content with their role, due to the restrictions they face. In the novel, the lack of freedom leads to rebellion as shown by the characterization, interior dialogue, flashbacks, and foreshadowing.
No one will see you. I'll sit here." Offred has been given a command by Serena Joy to meet Nick late at night which breaks the law. She has to follow Serena’s step by step procedure, however she also needs to listen to the laws that were made by the government. As a lower class citizen she will be severely punished, since her only job is to be a tool for sexual reproduction.
Furthermore, one act of rebellion was when she goes to the Commander’s office and he says, “‘I’d like you to play a game of Scrabble with me’” (Atwood 138). Not only is Offred breaking the rules by being with the Commander, she also
The Handmaid 's Tale is one of Margaret Atwood most famous novels written during the spring of 1984, when the Berlin wall was still standing. Atwood creates a dystopia, which mostly consists of gender gap and oppression. The Handmaid 's Tale effectively portrays the United States as the modern-day totalitarian society of Gilead, which was illustrated as perfect by using the book of Genesis. Although the authors ideas are inherently and completely fictional, several concepts throughout his book have common links to the past and present society which the author herself calls a speculative fiction. The author uses a totalitarian system which includes aspects of Soviet system, to describe, deprivation, repression and terror with the use of
(Atwood, 194). In the end all the methods used to protect women only reinforced the discrimination, and Handmaids are depicted as baby machines. All this class struggle leads to one answer, in this society freedom is all about what you are forced to achieve to serve the nation. Individuals do not settle their objectives, but the government that force them to accomplish them because they are morally correct. Women are expected to do their job, their “uses”, since it is for the wealth of the