The Handmaid's Tale

The character Moira portrayed in the novel was certainly an interesting and thought-provoking one. She represents numerous things at different points throughout the novel. When the handmaids are first being integrated to Gilead at the Center, Moira is the one to not take the horrific treatment lying down. She does not just give in and comply to the demands of the new society being forced upon the women. She lashes out with minor disobediences, but strikes a courageous blow when she attempts to escape. Unfortunately, she does not escape; in the eyes of some she may actually end up in a worse off position-Jezebel's. Moira was successful, though, in challenging the system. She proved there were flaws, though minor, but nevertheless important because it gave hope to the others. In a society where there was nothing but emotions and thoughts to hold onto, hope was essential in keeping the handmaids' lives bearable. Most of the women are weak and give into the new structure of Gilead. They either forget their pasts or believe everyone from their past is gone so it is easier to just submit to the rule of Gilead. Moira is different. She holds tight to the past. She represents what was and what should be. Her strength is something that the other handmaids, especially Offred can draw on.
Sadly, Moira's strength and resistance eventually breaks. Margaret Atwood does not describe the scene, but makes it obvious by Moira's attitude when Offrend finds her at Jezebel's. Offred is overjoyed when she sights Moira, but her meeting with her in the bathroom ends in disappointment. Offred expects to hear Moira ranting about the absurdness and disgustingness of Jezebel's. She is expecting to hear how Moira is part of a revolution to overthrow the powers of Gilead; at the very least Offred thinks she will hear Moira describe her latest attempt to escape. Offred nevers hears any of these things in her conversation with Moira. Instead Offred is taken back by how much compliance Moira now has in her. Moira no longer has a fire burning inside her to fuel her passion for standing up for what is right. She has given in. She tells Offred Jezebel's is not that bad, "The food's not bad and there's drink and drugs, if you want it, and we only work nights" (249). All Offred can do is listen to her empty words in disbelief. Like the reader, Offred can only speculate what happened to Moira. What finally broke her? It would not have been physical pain, she had withstood that many times before. Whatever it was, it struck a deep blow to Moira's determination and turned her into just another of the submissive women. All of this really hits home hard with Offred because she relied on Moira's power to such a great extent. Offred sees the one person she thought would never give in, doing just that. If Moira did not have the strength to do it, how will Offred?


"Now, tell me. You're an intelligent person, I like to hear what you think. What did we overlook?"
"Love", I said.
"Love?" said the Commander. "What kind of love?"
"Falling in love," I said. The Commander looked at me with his candid boy's eyes.
"Oh yes," he said. "I've read the magazines, that's what they were pushing, wasn't it? But look at the stats, my dear. Was it really worth it, falling in love? Arranged marriages have always worked out just as well, if not better. Those years were just an anomaly, historically speaking. Just a fluke. All we've done is return things to Nature's norm." (220)

I think Margaret Atwood is taking a shot at today's society in terms of relationships and what is considered to be love. Everyone thinks you need to fall in love, and that it needs to happen sooner, rather than later. The Commander refers to magazines pushing love, which is so true today. There are little multiple choice quizzes to fill out, which are supposed to tell you everything about your true love other than their name and phone number. Not only magazines, but the internet, also. There are thousands of websites dedicated to finding you your true love. Love is not supposed to be determined by compatibility tests and number of hits to your homepage. It is supposed to be about chemistry, honesty, and genuine feelings of attraction and attachment. These were the aspects of love which Offred was talking about, but which were not able to be comprehended by the Commander. Atwood may also have been attacking the divorce rate in our country, which currently is about 50%. What message does our country send about true love when half of all marriages end in divorce? Stats like these give some credibility to the naive opinions of the Commander. I love passages that authors write that attack current issues or topic, but fit perfectly in the context of the story.


Overall, out of the four books we've read thus far, The Handmaid's Tale has been the most enjoyable. The struggles of the women in the novel are completely opposite from all the advances women have made in real life in the past 50 years. This makes the Gileadean practices hard to imagine. However, the scary thing is that it does not appear to be completely impossible. The take over of the government, the complete reform of society, and the use of religion to support the reasoning behind the society all can be seen in bits and pieces in different societies in our world today. How often is it that radical groups or foreign cultures carry out activities or practices that may repulse us, but we accept it because they claim it is part of their religion. Governments have been taken over since civilizations first populated the Earth. I liked how Atwood could take all these different aspects, put them together, and portray the maybe not so impossible threat of a society like Gilead.