Book Notes

Setting:

The setting of “The Handmaid’s Tale starts in the Republic of Gilead, a country called which replaced the United States, in the current era. Gilead is a run by an controlling and theocratic government whose focus is to return to "conventional principles" by instituting oppressive methods against women, minorities and political rebels. Due to environmental deprivation, many men and women have become infertile. This then, resulted in certain women being chosen as “handmaids” to conceive children with the country’s most elite Commanders. The setting is very fast paced. Starting in a gymnasium, and the football field; then it changes to her very scarce room she lives in. She goes on walks to town with her partner Ofglen; they pass the cemetery, church or river. Offred then, unexpectedly leaves with the birthmobile to rush to Commander Warrens home for the birth of his child. The scene then changes from a vivid birth scene to a vigorous night prowl of Commander Fred’s parlour. She then is called to the master’s private quarters and enters a scrabble tournament. After being surprised to receive a showgirl’s outfit, Offred is whisked away to Jezebel’s into a setting that, by Gilead’s standards, no longer exists. The “meat market” bar scene, jerks Offred into the past-time games of flirtation, temptation, seduction, and compliance. Things pick up and change; from her lonesome room upstairs, she escapes the extend heat of summer and lurks to the kitchen with Serena Joy and outside to Nick’s quarters. To Offred's remorseful dismay, the secret sessions with the chauffeur draw her into repeated rendezvous’. Like a sample of doom, a ringing bell commands Offred and the rest of the female population to a salvaging; she proceeds to her room in an irrational state with the need to clean her hands of death, intense hunger and crying. Ofglen has escaped arrest by killing herself; overwhelmed by the violation of Gilead's power, Offred is just commencing to calm herself when she come across Serena and the incriminating sequined costume, proof that Offred and the Commander have disobeyed Gilead's controlled mating ceremony. At night, Offred contemplates her choices, ranging from fire and murder to a plea for mercy, to flight to a distressed suicide. In the last rapid scene, Nick and two “Eye” escorts rush her down the stairs, and into the van; which could lead her to freedom or a hook on the Wall.


Major Characters

Offred: This is the narrator and innermost character of the novel. In the Republic of Gilead, Offred is a Handmaid. Handmaids are prolific women forced to produce children for the elite, sterile couples; fertility is infrequent and extremely valued in Gilead. Offred has one year left to have a child before she is determined infertile and sent to the Colonies. Offred has been detached from her family and friends and lives a rigorously subdued lifestyle. Her emotional state exchanges between revolt, acceptance, bitterness, and anguish. However, she keeps faith, eventually escapes and records her story.

Aunt Lydia: The dictatorial head mistress of the Red Center, where the Handmaids are held with rules they must live by. Aunt Lydia is the prime representative for the principles of Gilead in the novel. Parts Aunt Lydia’s speeches up rise all throughout Offred's commentary. Aunt Lydia is callously manipulative under the semblance of goodness and concern.

Moira: Offred's disobedient, bisexual friend that she has known since college, before Gilead was formed. Moira is sent to the Red Center along with Offred. She is a feminist and has a fondness for making vulgar jokes. She escapes the Red Center, but is detained before she can break out of the country and is then sent to work at Jezebel's. Moira symbolizes power and hope for Offred but, when they last convene at Jezebel's, Offred is worried that Moira may have lost her courage.

Serena Joy: The Commander’s wife, sang gospel music on television, and was an anti-feminist advocate before the war and development of Gilead. In Gilead, she is required to take on the submissive role of a housewife. She resents Offred because, her presence is an indication to Serena's failure to make children, which is the purpose of a women's life in Gilead beliefs. She is also envious of the sexual connection Offred must have with her husband, although this feeling is intolerable by law. The subdued relationship between Offred and Serena Joy points toward the failure of the government to construct cookie-cutter women for different female roles.

Ofglen: Offred's shopping partner who is also a Handmaid. Ofglen and Offred are careful to appear perfectly devout to each other when they first meet. Months later, the two become freer to share their uncertainties, views, and desires with each other. Ofglen tells Offred she belongs to a secret, rebellious society and tries to get Offred to get information from the Commander's study. Offred is too afraid to participate and Ofglen hangs herself when government spies discover her anti-government activities.

Commander: Offred's sterile mate and one of the founding fathers of Gilead. The Commander belongs to the proclaiming elite, but appears to grip onto certain parts of life before Gilead. He completes his lawful responsibilities within his household, but does so without conviction. He has a large collection of taboo items from the time before Gilead, and he commences an unconventional relationship with Offred. His views of women are naive and paradoxical.

Minor Characters

Janine: A Handmaid who is predominantly susceptible to emotional manipulation. Janine appears to completely implement to the beliefs of Gilead even though she breaks down psychologically and physically during the process. She is trusted by the Aunts but disliked and sympathized by all the Handmaids.

Rita: Is a servant in the Commander’s home. She is one of the Marthas, who are infertile, but have done nothing to classify themsleves as Unwomenly. She loathes the Handmaids and fears her superiors.

Cora: Another servant in the Commander’s home. She is also a Martha. She empathizes with Offred and hopes Offred will have a child.

Nick: The Commander's chauffer as well as a double agent in the elite, government agency of spies called Eyes. Nick is a member of the underground rebel group called the Maydays. Serena Joy sets up an illegal tryst between Offred and Nick for the purpose of producing a child. Offred and Nick continue to see each other secretly. When Nick believes her to be in danger, he arranges her escape.

Offred's daughter: The child Offred had with her husband, Luke, before Gilead. She was given away to another family when Offred was arrested and forced into service as a Handmaid. Offred is tormented by thoughts of her daughter and communication between them is impossible; Offred feels as though she has been erased.

Luke: Offred's husband. Luke was married when they met and started their relationship; he divorced his wife and married Offred. They try to escape Gilead, but are caught and detained; the two never see each other again and she feels guilty when she begins her relationship with Nick.

Aunt Elizabeth: One of the headmistresses at the Red Center. Aunt Elizabeth was threatened and tied up by Moira, who used her outfit and identification to escape the Red Center.

Professor Pieixoto: The speaker at a seminar described in the epilogue to The Handmaid's Tale. Professor Pieixoto explains his efforts at confirming the tale as a historical document.

Objects/Places

Handmaids' Outfit:
The Handmaids outfit is generally red. The dress is cut discreetly and gloves are often worn with it. A white, winged bonnet escorts the outfit; the bonnet restricts a Handmaid's vision and is frequently worn with a veil.

Pornography:
Offred's mother partakes in an exhibition against pornography. As a child, Offred is not offended by a pornographic picture she sees at the display. Pornography is willingly obtainable in traveling vans and franchised stores in the pre-Gilead United States. The Handmaids are exposed to pornographic films at the Red Center to express the horrors inflicted on women in the pre-Gilead society.

The Wall:
Gilead has distorted a previous university into a reformatory organized by their secret police, the “Eyes” of God. Nonconformists are executed and hung on the outer walls of the university as a forewarning to the people of Gilead of the penalty for profanation.

Winged Eye:
This is a symbol used by the”Eyes” of Gilead. It is materialized upon their black vans, which carry the supremacy of fear in Gilead. The Eyes are always watching for heretical behavior, and callously root out unbelievers in the philosophy of Gilead.

Knife:
Offred repeatedly describes her craving for knives as well as shears. Handmaids are methodically deprived of the access to knives and sharp objects. One of Serena's key occupations is cutting the flowers in her garden. Offred illustrates her as cutting off the plants sexual organs.

Baby Angela:
Janine is the only Handmaid in the novel to become pregnant. All other Handmaids are very jealous of her and at the birthing of baby Angela, various Handmaids are present. They all experience compassionate birth paroxysms. When the baby is born she is immediately taken away from Janine by the Wives and named Angela. We later find out that the baby dies and Janine blames herself for its death because its father was not her Commander.

Flowers:
Offred depicts flowers in detail numerous times in the novel. Red tulips like empty chalices thrust themselves up in Serena's yard only to explode and whither. Often times, Offred describes the modern Handmaid as an empty chalice as well. One evening, Offred sneaks downstairs to steal a daffodil as a means of compensation for her lack of power in almost every vicinity her of life. Later, Offred describes irises as rebellious and sexual, silently persistent. Serena cuts off the sexual organs of the plants to permit the bulbs to store power.

Soul Scrolls:
These are machines that print out and mechanically voice standard prayers. Wives pay to have these prayers printed because it is considered virtuous to do so. The Soul Scrolls remind Offred of Tibetan prayer wheels, although Offred and Ofglen do not believe God hears these prayers.


Conflicts

Patriarchy

Defined as the structuring of society where a male figure has authority and responsibility over an organisation or institution. Patriarchy subsists in more or less all cultures, and the female form, matriarchy, is alleged to only exist as a theoretical social system, as it is not manifested in any civilizations. The Republic of Gilead is formed on the basis of patriarchy. Women are not sanctioned to work in any vocations, have no access to their money, and are deprived of of all rights. They carry out domestic roles, according to certain factors:

Wives: Highest social level obtainable to women. Married to the superior men, and have no domestic responsibilities.

Daughters: Natural or adopted daughters of the wives and commanders; will later become wives, because of their social standing.

Handmaids: Fertile women, whose communal duty is to produce children for the wives. Handmaids are fashioned by brainwashing fertile women who have committed a gender crime.

Aunts: Older women, who train handmaids. Carry out the dirty work for the men of Gilead, in order to avoid being sent to the colonies.

Marthas: Older, infertile women, whose comparatively submissive nature and household skills guarantee them a life of domestic servitude. Econowives: Married to lower class men. They are expected to carry out all female functions such as domestic work, child bearing and companionship.

The men hold roles of authority and overrule the women in every aspect of life. The men of Gilead are categorised into the following:

Commanders: Highest class and entitled to a patriarchal household, consisting of a Wife, Martha and Handmaid.

The Eyes: The Inner intelligence agency that uses thought control and control through fear to maintain order.

Angels: The soldiers who fight to protect and manifest the Republic’s borders.

Guardians: Used for tedious functions; are disabled, old or young men, who can later become Angels.

~All major accountability is given to the males, with females powerless to acquire weapons, or hold any kind of significant authority. “No guns though, even they could not be trusted with guns.”
“When there’s meat they cut it up for me ahead of time, as if I’m lacking manual skills or teeth. I have both, however. That’s why I’m not allowed a knife.”

~Women are lawfully classified as the possessions of men. Handmaids belong to their commanders, as do Marthas.

~Removal of women’s individual names eliminates their independence and character.

~Offred’s affair with Luke, a so called ‘gender crime’ is the ultimate means for her mission to handmaid status. Luke, Offred and the child attempt to flee to Canada, but are captured and separated. The child’s destiny is unidentified for the majority of the novel, however we later learn that Serena Joy has always known of the child’s whereabouts and afterwards shows Offred a picture of her daughter.

~The Republic of Gilead controls its residents through means of trepidation and thought control, having manipulated the citizens to live in fear of what may happen to them, if they execute any crimes. The Wall works to instil fear in those who view it as it is corporal verification of the consequences of ‘resisting the system’ and contradicting the norms in the Republic of Gilead.
“We’re supposed to look: that is what they are there for, hanging on the Wall.”

~The Eyes are the internal intelligence agency in Gilead, that works to maintain law and order through the use of fear. The members of the agency are unknown to ordinary citizens. Offred believes Nick to be an Eye, due to his winking at her, which she deems to be a test of her loyalty to the Republic.
“Then he winks.. He’s taken a risk, but for what?.. Perhaps it was a test, to see what I would do. Perhaps he is an Eye.”

~The apprehension of the unknown is also used to control the citizens, mainly the women, into staying loyal to the Republic. Infertility and various ‘gender crimes’ such as extra-marital affairs can lead to women, especially handmaids, as being dubbed ‘unwomen’ and sent to the colonies. The colonies implement a sense of striking fear on handmaids as well as homosexuals, feminists and political rebels from the time before, who resist the new republic. Although no concrete evidence exist about life inside the colonies, it is evident that unwomen are not capable of social assimilation and are discarded from society, and forced to die a slow death in areas of high pollution, like former radiation sites.

MAJOR CONFLICT

The Republic of Gilead has dominated over women and concentrated Handmaids like Offred into sexual slavery. Offred wants contentment and liberty, and finds herself struggling against the totalitarian restrictions of her society.

LITERARY DEVICES:

~“We would exchange remedies and try to outdo each other in the recital of our physical miseries; gently we would complain, our voices soft and minor key and mournful as pigeons in the eaves troughs.” “His skin is pale and looks unwholesomely tender, like the skin under a scab.” – SIMILE

~ “The camera moves to the sky, where hundreds of balloons rise, trailing their strings: red balloons, with a circle painted on them, a circle with a stem like the stem of an apple, the stem of a cross.” –SYMBOLISM

~ “In the curved hallway mirror, I flit past, a red shape at the edge of my own field of vision, a wraith of red smoke.” “As for us, any real illness, anything lingering, weakening, a loss of flesh or appetite, a fall of hair, a failure of the glands, would be terminal.” – ALLITERATION

~ “I am, I am, I am, still.” “Night falls. Or has fallen. Why is it that night falls, instead of rising, like the dawn?” – REPETITION

~ “My God. Who Art in the Kingdom of Heaven, which is within.” “’Blessed be the fruit,’” she says to me, the accepted greeting among us.” – PARODY

~ “I would not be able to stand it, I know that; Moira was right about me. I'll say anything they like, I'll incriminate anyone. It's true, the first scream, whimper even, and I'll turn to jelly, I'll confess to any crime, I'll end up hanging from a hook on the Wall.” - evoke Winston's submission to Big Brother in George Orwell's 1984. “But the frown isn't personal: it's the red dress she disapproves of, and what it stands for.” Parallel to the shunning of Hester Prynne, who wears the red A in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter. – LITERARY ALLUSION

Major Themes
Power
One of the key themes of “The Handmaid's Tale” is the presence and exploitation of power. On one hand, Gilead is a theocratic autocracy, so power is obligatory entirely from the top. There is no option of appeal, no method of officially shielding oneself from the government, and no hope that an exterior authority will interfere. One of the distinctive characteristics of this kind of power is that it is tremendously visible. Power forced from one route must always be portrayed. Unlike a democratic society, where the people approve of who is governing and have a curiosity in upholding the configuration of society, in Gilead, the government must plaster the streets and homes with guards and guns. The likelihood of surveillance must be stable.

Sexuality
The focus of the Gileadean administration is on the management of sex and sexuality. They eradicate the homosexuals; demolish pornography and sexual clothing; they murder abortionists; forbid divorce and second marriages; and they ritualize bizarre sexual relations that they deem supported by the Bible. It was not very shocking to find out at the end of the novel that the Gileadean establishment ultimately destroyed itself. The Gileadean regime is apparently right to apprehend sexuality, to the point where illegitimate sexual practices undermine the government quickly becomes clear. The Commander divulges that he carried out many affairs with his Handmaids, but that there is a relatively "secret" club where higher-ups ensemble with women exclusively for sexual purposes. These actions demonstrate that the government cannot obliterate prohibited sexual acts merely by threatening petrified punishments.
Gender Conflict
Offred becomes supplementary aware that as a man, Luke is on one side of the new establishment, and she is on another, regardless of the fact that she thinks he loves her. The Commander attempts to clarify to Offred why the new regime is better for men, and fundamentally confesses that in order for it to be better for men, it must be worse for women. In the novel, the idea of whether the gender conflict exists at all is a bit unclear; it doesn’t seem as though there is actually more conflict between men and women than between women and women or men and men. Although there is some dialogue of the relationships between men in “The Handmaid's Tale”, relationships between women are not inevitably greater to those between women and men. Offred come across herself disputing with her mother and Moira about those very things. The different categories of women following the regime alter servely only to widen gaps between women. Some wives literally try to stab Handmaids to death, angry about their very existence, while perfectly aware that they can do nothing about it. Generaly, relationships between men and women are not revealed in an even slightly optimistic way. The only exception would be the relationship between Offred and Nick, but really, the potency of that relationship rests in Nick's capitulation of his own wellbeing in order to be with and help Offred.

QUESTIONS:

~What happened to Luke and their daughter? Is there still hope that their alive?

~Does Offred escape freely or does she eventually get caught again?

~Why does the Commander go against the rules of Gilead and take things further with, not just Offred but many of his Handmaids?

~Does Offred ever see her family and friends again?

~Why do the needs of the society triumph over the rights of the individual?

~How does Gilead construct and use a new terminology to support its totalitarian order?

~Why is reading dangerous and restricted from the characters in the novel?