Handmaid's tale extra credit planning

Taking away someone’s hope could crush their soul, no matter how strong they appear previously. In The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, the main character Offred is trapped in a dystopian society Gilead, where women are assigned roles as “handmaids” and used as reproductive tools. Offred, being the handmaid for her commander “Fred,” changes her emotions between hopeful and desperate. The Character development of Offred can be briefly broken down into 3 stages- emotionless, hopeful, and desperate.

At the story's beginning, when Offred has just settled in the commander’s house, she demonstrates her adaption to Gilead, emotionlessly describing the surroundings with a lifeless tone. Offred describes, “A chair, a table, a lamp. Above, on the white ceiling, a relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, and in the center of it a blank space, plastered over, like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out (Atwood).” Her description merely contains objects, without any adjectives or colors, depicting a lifeless, black-and-white world trapping her soul. Just like her description of the place “a face where the eye has been taken out,” her personality at this point was lacing emotions, with that part of her soul been taken out.

Offred regains her emotions, especially hope and motivation, as she discovers and becomes a part of the rebellion. When Ofglen informs her of the rebellion and their passcode, Offred narrates, “‘Mayday,’ I repeat. I remember that day…Afterwards though they seem improbable, childish even, like something you’d do for fun; like a girls’ club, like secrets at school (Atwood).” Offred enjoys being a part of the rebellion, stating it is “fun” to keep such a secret. The existence of rebellion gave her hope to escape from Gilead, changing her attitude to endure the pain and express strong emotions to her surroundings.

As Offred discovers her friend Moira, who escaped from Gilead, was caught, her hopes of escaping are lost as well, leaving a desperate emotion for her to experience. Throughout the story, Offred often describes her memories of Moira, imagining her being free. Hence Moira became a symbol of freedom and rebellion, a future that Offred admires and looks forward to. When she discovers Moira’s failure and sees her in a party club, she expresses, “I’d like her to end with something daring and spectacular, some outrage, something that would befit her. But as far as I know that didn’t happen (Atwood).” Moira’s downfall, along with Gilead possibly discovering the rebellion, crushed Offred’s hope and belief in freedom. After that, all she has left is a desperate feeling even worse than what she started with.

Offred’s character development has 3 stages- emotionless, hopeful, and desperate. Starting from emotionless, she slowly gains faith as she joins the rebellion. However, all her hopes collapse as rebellion is discovered and Moira stops rebelling. The story shows how great hope can be given and taken easily in a dystopian society, demonstrating the toughness- and at the same time- how fragile humans may be.