Engels handmaid's tale

3 important questions on Engels handmaid's tale

Why does Offred say, ‘I feel for the first time, their true power’?

For the first time, Offred genuinely wants to obliterate her identity, and become a vessel, which is what gileadean society wants of handmaids. Until that moment, she had clung to her individuality, and resisted Gilead in her mind. But when she feels terror for herself and those she cares about, she briefly gives in to their ideology. She wished to be everything the gileadean government wants her to be a true believer

Is the last chapter in the book ambiguous? Why or why not?

All indications would seem to point to Nick telling the truth- why deceive Offred when the eyes could imply arrest her? Still, within that last chapter, we can’t know for sure. However, students should also refer to the ‘historical notes’ that follow this chapter. The discovery of tapes would indicate that Offred really was smuggled out by Nick and his associates, although what happened to her next remains unclear, and cannot be learned definitively either by the academics or by the readers

Why do you think the particicution ceremony exists?

Particicution may serve as an outlet for the repressed rage and aggression of Handmaids, who are supposed to be demure and submissive at all times. Particicution also makes the handmaids complicit, in some way, in the systemic violence of Gilead. In either case, it is a tool for enforcing control over the people of Gilead, and a particularly brutal way to execute political prisoners.

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