Offred

• ' It didn't happen that way either. ' 'Or maybe i'm remembering it wrong. '' I made that up. '


  • unreliable narrator
  • withholds information over the reader to obtain power
  • paradoxical - admitting, increases credibility of her narrative
• ' What I need is perspective. The illusion of depth... Otherwise you live in the moment, which is not where I want to be. '


  • Offred uses the past as a form of escapism from reality
• ' I feel my hands clench. It is too much, this violation . The baby too, after what we go through. '
• ' I wish this story were different ... I wish it showed me in a better light, if not happier, than at least more active, less hesitant. '


  • ashamed of her passivity, believes herself to be a coward (wishes she was more like Moira)
  • Unlike her mother, Offred didn't attend rallies/fight for feminism
  • allegorical message - don't be a bystander and allow bad things to happen/bad people to gain control
• ' My self is a thing i must now compose ... what i must present is a made thing, not something born. '


  • her compliance is an act
  • being a handmaid not natural/something you're born to do
  • performance, stage directions - 'head slightly bowed,' script - 'praise be' 'blessed be the fruit'