“Handmaids” are essentially female servants. In the world of Gilead, their only purpose is to be impregnated by Commanders and give them children—they are “two-legged wombs” (chap. 23). While I haven’t finished the book, I think it’s safe to say the central conflict of The Handmaid’s Tale is Offred’s struggle to hold onto her sense of identity outside her status as a handmaid. As she deals with oppression from Gilead and degradation as a person from the Commander and his wife, she desperately tries to see herself as a human above enslavement. For the majority of the novel, Offred appears as a passive character, especially in comparison to the resistance that her friend Moira is a part of. There is a clear issue of slavery and feminism being discussed, but I have the presumption that Offred will remain passive throughout the whole story. Her struggle has a greater focus on holding on to her identity by recounting her memories than being active in resistance against the regime. (Even her name, a great part of her identity, is stripped away from her as she becomes the possession of her Commander, “Fred”. She is “Of Fred” for the entire book.) I see an interesting connection to Homer’s The Odyssey, which makes sense because Margaret Atwood wrote a whole other novel (The Penelopiad) about how Penelope was overlooked in Homer’s epic. In Emily Wilson’s translation (the version we read), the 12 girls who were hanged by Odysseus’ order were called “female slaves”. From the hero’s perspective, many things can be justified—he had returned to Ithaka after 20 years to find the suitors and female slaves in his home after all. Odysseus had instructed the “disloyal slaves” to be killed, but for what? Being used for sex by the suitor, who he already killed? Homer’s The Odyssey doesn’t discuss these servants in any detail above their execution—in fact, they were never even mentioned before—their death was glorified. Of course, these servants aren’t the same as the “handmaids” in Gilead, but the two works both allude to the power imbalance between sexes. This is very explicitly shown through the handmaids/commanders, and Odysseus (with Telemachus)/servants. It is also implicitly shown through Penelope, who is shown to be weeping about her husband for most of the poem. Penelope’s “resistance” against the suitors is to earn time by weaving (ultimately, as a woman in Ancient Greece, she doesn’t have power over them). She believes, for the most part, that Odysseus is dead; yet, she perseveres to hold onto her connection to him, even if it is through giving extending time. However, while her tactics are indeed cunning, even her weaving is a shroud for Laertes, her father in law. Penelope’s life has become about Laertes, Odysseus and Telemachus—the men in her life. In this sense, both Offred and Penelope have lost a part of their identity as individuals, and are only passively fighting to hold onto something—for Offred, her remaining identity, and for Penelope, her connection to Odysseus.
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Also, I found out that Atwood never reveals Offred’s real name in the book. I hoped she would, maybe as a sign of Offred finding a part of her identity. I assumed it was June, the only name in the first chapter that wasn’t mentioned throughout the book. Apparently, the TV series version of The Handmaid’s Tale reveals Offred’s forbidden real name as June. Not that I mind the mystery in the book, but is Atwood really going to end on an even more depressing note of Offred completely losing her identity in this oppressive, totalitarian world? Is there no hope at all?
