Offred Dreams Of The Freedom example essay topic

We already know a little about Offred and her situation as a handmaid in the home of the Commander and Serena Joy. However, we learn a great deal more about the character of Offred through reading chapters five and six. She and Ofglen go shopping for their respective households, coming across a pregnant handmaid and some Japanese tourists whilst they are out. On their way home, Offred and Ofglen stop at 'the Wall'. The thematic concept of the double is introduced by the first few words of chapter five; Atwood has opened the chapter with the words 'Doubled, I walk the street. ' Ironically, the word 'Doubled' also has more than one meaning in this part of the novel.

On the face of it, Atwood means that Offred and Ofglen are doubles, in the same, red outfits, leading probable identical lives. However, we also share Offred's condition of double vision, where the present shops with their biblical names like 'Lilies of the Field' and 'All Flesh' and the queues for rationed goods and the Econo wives all insistently remind her of how life used to be so different in 'the time before', when she was a free woman. Offred is continually reminiscing about 'the time before' and linking this past with her present. For instance, her surroundings are like the 'beautiful pictures' that were found- and indeed still exist in our society- in magazines about homes and gardens. They are perfect- the lawns are 'tidy', the facades are 'gracious, in good repair'. It is as if The Republic of Gilead- which we now learn is the name of the place- is a place on show, unspoilt, much like a show home in those magazines Atwood mentions (with the appearance of Japanese tourists later in the chapter seeming to confirm that Gilead is on show) Indeed, they are more like the magazines than we care to imagine, as Offred comments, 'There is the same absence of people, the same air of being asleep' and of course, 'there are no children.

' There is an early mention of Luke here, when Offred thinks back, remembering the dreams they shared, dreams of buying a house in the area and raising a family there. They knew it would not happen due to finances, but, as Offred puts it 'it was something to talk about, a game for Sundays. Such freedom now seems almost weightless. ' Things in Gilead are obviously so restrictive she yearns for even the opportunity to dream, now seeing fantasies as a form of freedom, yet at the same time, she seems resigned to the fact that she has no autonomy. When walking along the sidewalk, Offred avoids stepping on the cracks in the cement, 'like a child'. This seems to remind her of happier times, her childhood, a childhood free from repression.

However, she does realise that it was not all good 'before'. It would be easy for Atwood to portray 'the time before' as a perfect time, because the current regime is obviously terrible, but Atwood has given Offred some intelligence, and injected a sense of reality into her tales of her past. Through this, it seems more like our society of today, making the whole story seem even more sinister and believable. Offred focuses on the fact that 'women were not protected then' and there were numerous unwritten rules, rules which every woman who valued her safety, would adhere to, such as not opening your door to a strange man 'even if he says he is the police', an interesting statement implying that nobody was to be trusted. When Offred reminisces, she does so about little things, details that we would not view as being in the least bit significant. She remembers the different types of footwear, the 'shoes for running's he used to wear, and she remembers the fine points, things people in society today would not think twice about, like the 'cushioned soles', 'breathing holes' and 'stars of fluorescent fabric'.

Offred also remembers the 'laundromats', even mentioning what she used to wear to them- 'shorts, jeans, jogging pants'. She also makes a point of telling us that what she put into them were her own. Atwood uses the rule of three to emphasise that Offred having her own clothes, soap and, most importantly, money would now be such a huge freedom, as she now has so little control over her life. Later in the section, Offred is 'mesmerized' by the feet of a female Japanese tourist, wearing open-toe sandals with painted toenails. She remembers when she used to wear nail-varnish, recalling such minute details as the smell of nail-polish and the way it 'wrinkled if you put the second coat on too soon', as well as a list of other things.

Such memories have a sad air about them, as Offred dreams of the freedom she used to have, the freedom to do things we all take for granted in this day and age, things which we also wish she had the freedom to do, the simple things, like wearing jeans and painting her nails, as well as more major things such as having her own money. Offred thinks about 'having such control' over her own life. She wants the control which we all take for granted. Offred has two significant encounters here; one with pregnant handmaid Of warren (formerly Janine, whom Offred recognises from the Rachel and Leah Centre described in Chapter One) sails into the shop, arousing the envy of the other Handmaids, and the other when Offred and Ofglen meet a group of Japanese tourists. The meeting with the Japanese tourists is significant in highlighting the differences between life in Gilead and life in the rest of the world, and of course, the world we live in. The female tourists seem 'undressed' to Offred and her companion, wearing short skirts (by Gilead standards at least, skirts that reach 'just below the knee' are not generally seen as short in our society anymore) which show their stocking-covered legs, their high-heeled shoes are likened to 'instruments of torture' and are alien to the women of Gilead and their hair is described as 'exposed', a word which generally has negative connotations.

Atwood describes the Handmaids as being 'fascinated, but also repelled' by the tourists. Offred realises, with a shock, that their 'westernized' clothes look as exotic to her as her clothes look to them. She comments that it has taken 'so little time' to change their (the Handmaids') minds about things like this. Offred is very aware that she must be careful about what she says and does in situations. For example, she 'knows better' than to allow photographs to be taken, remembering from her days at the Red Centre, that she must be 'impenetrable'. She may not believe what she has been taught, but she realises that she has to be seen to believe it, or face punishment.

Chapter five ends with a question: 'What else can I say?' Offred obviously is not happy, she has no freedom, no control over her own life, but she has to respond positively- 'Yes, we are very happy'- she must act the part that she is playing. In the opening of Chapter Six, Offred states 'We have a choice', so, the Handmaids do have some control? Well, they can decide whether to go the long or short way home, which is not really much of a choice, but under such a repressive regime, it is at least a choice. Though, we see it is even less of a choice when we learn that Offred and Ofglen always take the 'long way around'. The area described here, with 'white, fluffy clouds' in the sky, and the nearby river with 'green banks' and, nearby, former university dormitories with 'fairytale turrets'. It seems like an idyllic setting, no different to the rest of Gilead in fact.

There is a football stadium, where, unsurprisingly, the football games are held. However, as an example of the ordinary versus the extraordinary, the 'Men's Salvagings' are also held in the football stadium. Although we do not find out until later what this term actually means, we can guess that it is not a positive event. The juxtaposition of incongruities here is heightened by the fact that Offred slips it in so naturally, as if it is an everyday event, which it is in Gilead. She is no longer affected by the thought of it because it has become normal. A typical example of the truth in what Aunt Lydia once said, 'This may not seem ordinary to you now, but after a time it will.

It will become ordinary. ' A museum is housed in an old church, showing paintings of 'women in long sombre dresses, their hair covered by white caps, and of upright men, darkly clothed and unsmiling'. These paintings could be of the people of Gilead, but we are told that they are their 'ancestors'; the people of Gilead have been forced to dress like their ancestors, the Pilgrims, and so bringing the past into the living present. Near this church is what the two Handmaids have come to see, 'the Wall'. From the first description, there seems little strange about this red bricked wall, which must once have been 'plain but handsome', but we soon realise that this is no ordinary wall. It is guarded with sentries and there are floodlights alongside it, barbed wire along its bottom and broken glass on top of it.

This is the wall of a prison; 'no one goes through those gates willingly. ' Atwood introduces the bodies hanging on the wall as if it is completely natural, as it is in Gilead, but this is an unexpected shock for the reader, after all the beauty of Gilead which has previously been described. The bodies have 'white bags' on their heads, which is a link to Offred's past. Earlier, in the previous chapter, she talks of how she 'hated to waste' the plastic bags from the supermarket, and how she would 'stuff them under the sink' until there were so many in the cupboard they would fall out upon opening the door, prompting Luke to periodically throw them all out. This is something which many people can relate to, something normal. It is far from the use of the white bags in the next chapter, yet the two are inextricably linked in a sinister way.

It is these bags over the heads of the bodies which 'are the worst' for Offred, even worse than seeing their faces would be. Offred thinks it makes them look like 'dolls' before their faces have been painted, or like scarecrows, which, Offred comments, they are, as they are 'meant to scare'. The heads, she says 'are zeros', there is no life to hold the heads up anymore and it is this which scares Offred. She may be used to death and bodies, but it is still a chilling image. We are told that the hooks on which the bodies are hanging look like 'appliances for the armless' or 'steel question marks, upside-down and sideways'. To the reader, it is strange for Atwood to have commented on the hooks, as it is obviously the bodies which shock and appeal; but we must realise that, for Offred, the salvagings are a part of everyday life, and she has become so immune to them that she now notices the small details of the hooks.

Offred knows that she is supposed to feel 'hatred and scorn' towards the bodies, but she feels neither of these things. She sees the bodies as 'anachronisms' that are reminders of the past. She feels 'blankness' towards them, and in fact, is partly relieved, because none of them is Luke. Offred tells us that 'Luke wasn't a doctor' before correcting herself by saying 'Isn't'. Although she may be resigned to the fact that her love is most probably dead, Offred also has some hope that Luke is still alive, as she so dearly wants him to be.

There is a red 'smile' of blood on one of the bags, where blood has seeped through; this red, Offred likens to the red of the tulips in Serena Joy's garden. She says 'The red is the same but there is no connection'. This is completely true; the two are the same, yet completely, and horrendously different. Likening something as beautiful as a flower with blood from a dead body highlights the sinister feel to the whole regime on Gilead, which Offred obviously feels. Offred though, realises that the tulip and the blood-smile are two completely different and separate things, with neither making 'a comment on the other'. She has to distinguish between them and be very clear in her own mind, because there are so many things in her life which remind her of other things, but are completely different, such as all the things which remind her of her past- 'the time before'- and of Luke and their daughter.

Offred seems to be a very intelligent woman, who, although she disagrees with the regime, behaves in the way in which she was taught at the Red Centre, because she is aware of what would happen to her otherwise. She uses her memories as a form of escapism, a chance to forget the reality of her situation and enter a dream world. Everything seems to remind her of one aspect or another of her past, leading her into reminiscing about 'the time before', yet she is able to distinguish between fantasy and reality, past and present, truth and fiction. Offred's insistence on distinguishing between the significance of the colour red when it is blood and when it is the colour of flowers, along with her continuing belief in the importance of individuals despite the system, are courageous efforts to avoid confusion which win empower her subversive attitude throughout the novel.