Throughout “The Handmaid’s Tale” Offred reflects on the pivotal people of her past and is left with many questions about where they are now. In particular, she doesn’t know anything about where her husband Luke is, ever since she’s been taken and made a handmaid. On page 166 Offred says, “But I believe in all of them, all three versions of Luke… whatever the truth is, I will be ready for it.” I resonate with this on a much smaller scale, but it’s still a very present feeling in my life. Whether it’s friends or family, I always find myself thinking about the future, particularly in a stressful and negative way. There are only a certain amount of outcomes that make sense, and I need to prepare myself for them. For example, when my parents don’t pick up the phone I give them about ten to fifteen minutes and then ring again. If they don’t answer the second time then my mind starts to go to the worst. I probably think this way because I watched too much true crime growing up, but now these thoughts are ingrained in my mind, and I just have to sit and wait to see if my worst fears are really coming true. Offred doesn’t have the same luxury I have though, there are no cell phones, and no one else you can call go check on your loved ones. She just has to sit with her thoughts and hope for the best. She considers asking others to keep an eye out on page 124 but eventually says, “… there would be no point asking about Luke. He wouldn’t be where any of these women would be likely to see him.” If I were placed in her situation I don’t think I could deal with the lack of closure, my mind would be constantly running, and asking questions. I’m grateful every day for modern-day technology and how it can keep me in contact with my loved ones, I truly don’t know what I would do without it. Offred has these moments though, when she can truly reflect and think on how her life and the world have changed. On page 37 she says, “But the night is my time out. Where should I go? Somewhere good.” It is at this moment that Offred looks back on the good times she had with her best friend Moira, but it quickly takes a dark turn. She starts thinking about her missing daughter on page 39 and says, “But then what happens, but then what happens? I know I lost time… You’ve killed her…” When reading this, I realized that this happens to me too. The night really is the only time people are truly left with their thoughts, but sometimes that’s just not what I need. When I lie down, I’ll start thinking about something good, like a happy memory, or something I’m excited about in the future, but slowly I’ll start to stress out, it can be over the future and things I have to do, or it can be about something I regret having done that now is haunting me. The worst thing though is when I start freaking out if maybe the door isn’t locked, or I left my key in the door. So of course I have to run downstairs, make sure everything is locked up, and remind myself that it’s all in my head. Then I go back upstairs, now wired with stress, and stare at the ceiling or scroll on my phone until I eventually relax from something my own mind has caused me. Offred’s stressful reflections on her past and her anxiousness about the future are something that I deal with as well. Our situations aren’t similar and we are living in two very different worlds, but I understand the uneasiness that she deals with on an everyday basis. When your mind is running, it’s hard to get it to stop. There is really nothing to feel calm about because everything can change so quickly. Something can happen that can completely change your life, and you will have no inkling of it until it actually happens. That’s why Offred and I both live our lives in stress. We’ve had these things happen to us which cause us to look at the world differently. It’s hard to live in the present and be grateful for what is going on when you are always stressing about the future or reflecting on your past.

Throughout the book The Handmaid’s Tale, we see the author Margaret Atwood emphasize the decay of words when it comes to describing censorship within the tyrannical rule and dystopian setting of the book. This intent shown through Atwood’s writing helps the reader understand how words affect the concept of freedom for an individual or a society as a whole. In the following paragraph, these moments will be decrypted and magnified. We’ll also see later on that this case of censorship is not just special to The Handmaid’s Tale.

During the beginning chapters, the narrator Offred voices this standard of living: “Thinking can hurt your chances, and I intend to last.” (Chp 2, pg 8). This happens as the narrator describes her surroundings, as she refuses to explain why things are laid out the way they are. From this quote alone, it can be inferred that thinking outside the given outline provided by the current society is forbidden. And thus, if the narrator puts any meaning to the things around her, she has failed the spiritual values imposed on her. The things that happen around her are a matter of fact. The people in power allowed it. That’s all that can be thought of it.

Jumping off of that, there are moments where the narrator does think. A thought of the times before. One such example of a thought of the times before is during a specific section of the reading where the narrator reminisces about a love song. After it, she would say the following: “I don’t know if the words are right. I can’t remember. Such songs are not sung anymore in public, especially the ones that use words like free. They are considered too dangerous. They belong to outlawed sects.” (Chp 10, pg 54). Here, it’s important to mention that a song is a body of words. With this understanding, we can simplify this quote as saying that these bodies of words are considered too dangerous. Furthermore, it can also be inferred that these bodies of words (love songs) aren’t dangerous in the sense that they are a threat to human safety, but rather that they are a threat to the religious ideologies, or thinking practices, held by the tyrannical rule in place. To add onto the banning of songs, we can also look into the burning of magazines, an action very similar to a specific country in the past: “They must have poured gasoline, because the flames shot high, and then they began dumping the magazines, from boxes, not too many at a time” (Chp 7, pg 38). And so, all this has nothing to do with preventing human detriment, but all to do with preventing thinking that goes against a belief.

Among all that, Offred, later on, acknowledges that those higher in the hierarchy, in this context, the commander, has the word: “He has something we don’t have, he has the word.” (Chp 15, pg 88). From this quote, the reader may oftentimes be misled into thinking that the word simply means power, but it has a double meaning. Not only does it mean power, but it literally means what it means – word. The commanders, who’s higher in the hierarchy than the narrator, not only have more power, but the ability to think on a larger scale. Not intellectually, rather among the rules that the narrator has to follow, the commander will have less in total, but also have the ability to know beyond the narrator’s current understanding of the setting. Previously mentioned, the narrator refuses to give meaning to her surroundings. In reference to the commander, he’s able to describe the reasonings; meanings. However, he’s not the one who gets to place those meanings, he only gets to describe. This is largely because the author implies that there is a higher power, higher to that of the commander – possibly Angels, Eyes, etc – which I’m unable to fully describe as of now.

Now, why are these scenarios not just special to The Handmaid’s Tale? This is because it has real world connotations. For example the previously mentioned concepts in the historical context of the real world can be found in the following: Nazi Germany[1], the North Korean Government[2], and the Chinese Government[3]. Nazi Germany, as we know, examined the flow of words by controlling the press, whether it be newspapers, radios, or newsreels. Previously I mentioned the burning of magazines, but I never clarified what country took a similar action. It is undoubtedly Nazi Germany. They burned books they consider to be un-German – Jewish authors and non-Jewish authors that conflict with Nazi ideals similar to Gilead. Furthermore, they banned Germans from listening to radio’s foreign to their own. The list goes on for Nazi Germany, so what about the North Korean government and the Chinese government? They are about the same. North Korea is stricter than China, of course, but both oversee the media and dispose of media that go against their beliefs. From personal knowledge, China, instead of Youtube, has other platforms to share only ITS content. So, from these three real-life sources, it’s easy to acknowledge that communication, which relies heavily on words, of multiple perspectives are condemned by the highest group that places the meanings – the governments.

And what do people do when it is condemned, with no possibility for expression? Much like the narrator, they get used to it. They forbiddenly make sense of it: “But a chair, sunlight, flowers: these are not to be dismissed. I am alive, I live, I breathe, I put my hand out, unfolded, into the sunlight. Where I am is not a prison but a privilege, as Aunt Lydia said, who was in love with either/or.” (Chp 2, pg 8). For an individual under these pretenses, they’ll stop thinking and begin to wander as if they are nothing but corpses. And, as humans do, they’ll find a way to justify their sense of living through the words of its controller.

“For survival may be, freedom (words) is (are) unseen (unsaid).” — They say.

Sources:

[1] https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/nazi-propaganda-and-censorship

[2] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-16255126

[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/26/business/china-censored-search-engine.html

In Chapter 5, page 26, Offred and Ofglen are waiting in line at the shops, coming across a pregnant Janine, “A woman who is pregnant doesn’t have to go out, doesn’t have to go shopping… She could stay at her house. And it’s dangerous for her to be out, there must be a Guardian standing outside the door, waiting for her. Now that she’s the carrier of life, she is closer to death and needs special security. Jealousy could get her, it’s happened before. She comes here to display herself. She’s glowing, rosy, she’s enjoying every minute of this.”

This section of the Handmaid’s Tale stuck out to me, due to the fact that being pregnant is a glorified subject within Gilead. Handmaids in Gilead serve one purpose: get pregnant and give birth. If you’re infertile in Gilead, you are marked as an “Unwomen” and will get sent into The Colonies, where they must work to clean up nuclear waste. So when it comes to being pregnant, you have to treat it like you’re walking around glass, a careful but dangerous process. The handmaids in Gilead always live in such fear of becoming infertile or “Unwomen,” due to the fact that they would be basically useless. Their main purpose is to hold and give life, and if they can’t do that, what is the point of them to stay in the systematic society then?

In the epigraph of The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood added a verse from Genesis 30:1-3. In Genesis 30:1, “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.” This verse explains the sheer amount of biblical influence in The Handmaid’s Tale that relates to pregnancy. The main premise of this book is that verse: death and life. Jacob is being used as an object in this verse for Rachel. She craves to bear the life of a child, to fulfill a duty, the main duty of her life.

In my drawing, you can see that I drew what a typical handmaid would look like, but pregnant. I took this handmaid reference from the 2019 cover art for The Handmaid’s Tale, by Noma Bar (1). What I had in mind for this image was to tie in some biblical meaning behind this, by making the woman like the Virgin Mary and angelic-like. A reference I took for the Virgin Mary was a painting called the “Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary” by Jerónimo Ezquerra (2). I didn’t necessarily add much heavy connection between my drawing and this painting due to the different complexities that each piece holds. However, to make my drawing more angelic-like, I added to what most angels or holy people in historical Christian and/or Catholic paintings had. Which were a gold, halo-like orb around their head to represent the light emitting off of them. A reference I took for adding a halo around the handmaid’s head was from a painting by Giotto di Bondone (3), “Crying Angel”.

(1) http://www.casualoptimist.com/blog/2017/12/08/notable-book-covers-of-2017/handmaids-tale-noma-bar/

(2) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jerónimo_Ezquerra_Visitation.jpg

(3) https://www.greatbigcanvas.com/view/passion-the-crucifixion-crying-angel-by-giotto-1304-1306-scrovegni-chapel-padua,2070500/

In The Handmaid’s tale, flowers hold an important role in the telling of the story about women and their offspring. Offred, who is a handmaid, mentions tulips multiple times throughout the book. Tulips represent the handmaids and their fertility, as well as their pain. “The tulips are red, a darker crimson towards the stem, as if they have been cut and are beginning to heal there.” (pg.12) This is the first time Offred mentions tulips and the reader’s introduction to the tulips are these beautiful flowers that are wounded in Serena Joy’s garden. We also make the connection between the handmaid’s red dresses and the red tulips, so for this art piece, the handmaid’s dress is the tulip itself. Tulips are alluring and desired, yet their color signifies blood and wounds. “The tulips along the border are redder than ever, opening, no longer wine cups but chalices; thrusting themselves up, to what end? They are, after all, empty. When they are old they turn themselves inside out, then explode slowly, the petals thrown out like shards.” (pg.45) Tulips in full bloom represent their fertility. It’s the only reason Gilead society values her body. She knows that even though the tulips look beautiful and appealing once fully bloomed, they are going to grow old and be thrown out once they aren’t in bloom anymore. Her body is disposable once she is infertile.

Unlike the handmaids, the Commander’s Wives in Gilead are infertile, yet protected. Dried flowers represent the Commander’s Wives who are infertile. In this art piece, Serena Joy’s blue dress is a dried up flower. Dried flowers are displayed and still valued. “The tastes of Serena Joy are a strange blend: hard lust for quality, soft sentimental cravings. There’s a dried flower arrangement on either end of the mantelpiece, and a vase of real daffodils on the polished marquetry end table beside the sofa.” (pg.80) These dried flowers are held in a vase, signifying that even though they are dried, they are not seen as disposable. We also see how desperate Serena is to be a fresh flower through her scent: Lily of the Valley.

Both women envy each other. Serena Joy envies Offred’s ability to bloom and create life, whereas Offred envies Serena’s ability to keep and take care of her own garden. Offred once had a garden, representing how once she used to be in control of her body and the children she conceived. We can see this through her daughter that lives in her memories. “It smells of me, in former times, when I was a mother.” (pg.47) The garden in the background of this art piece symbolizes freedom and birth. Serena grows a garden outside of her house, but inside, all of her flowers are dried up, symbolizing how in reality, she cannot conceive a child. “The Commander’s Wife looks down at the baby as if it’s a bouquet of flowers: something she’s won, a tribute.” (pg.126) The children that the Handmaids conceive are seen as flower bouquets, furthering the connection of flowers and life. In contrast, Offred has a desire to steal a dried up flower. “I would like to take some small thing, the scrolled ashtray, the little silver pillbox from the mantel perhaps, or a dried flower.” (pg.80) Offred is jealous of Serena Joy’s ability to be infertile yet secure and protected, which is why she flaunts her ability to create life while pitying, as well as shaming Serena in her inner monologue.

Leah and Rachel are two very prominent matriarchal figures in the bible. They are sisters and wives to Jacob, constantly competing for his attention. Jacob had a clear preference for Rachel, but God balanced this favoritism by making Leah fertile, and leaving Rachel barren.

The etymology of the names Rachel, Leah, and Jacob are relevant to their stories. Leah means “cow,” and some translations say that she has “soft eyes,” meaning the eye muscles never strain. “Cow eyes” describe a look of submission, or weakness. Rachel translates to “ewe,” or a baby lamb. I’ve heard women described as cows and baby lambs. Jacob, or Yaakov in Hebrew, has many different translations, but they all have a similar meaning: “deceiver,” or “he who supplants,” and “he who god protects.” Jacob tricked his blind father into thinking he was his twin Esau, and he got everything by being the supplant, the deceiver.

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood paints Gilead as an oppressive regime based heavily on biblical and religious contexts. Leah and Rachel are mentioned multiple times in the story, and there is even a building called the Rachel and Leah center, where the Handmaids learn how to be good women, and be the best version of themselves as Handmaids.

Each Handmaid lives in a house with the Commander, and his Wife, along with a few others. Atwood focuses on one Handmaid, Offred, letting her narrate the story. Offred has complicated relationships with the Commander and his Wife, Serena Joy. The Commander is the only man living in the house, and because of that, he has a lot of power. Serena Joy is his wife but she cannot bear his children for him. Offred must be her “forced surrogate.” Sound familiar? Because of this dynamic, everyone in the house is a little bit jealous of each other. “In this house we all envy each other something” (47). This competition doesn’t result in any progress, and just pits women against each other. This is a direct reference to Rachel and Leah’s story. They are pitted against each other for the attention of the Commander.

Right before the Ceremony, the Commander is reading the bible, perhaps following the pre-ceremonial rituals. “Am I in God’s stead, who hath withheld from thee the fruit of the womb? Behold my maid Bilhah. She shall bear upon my knees, that I may also have children by her.” (88). This isn’t the first time we see this verse (Genesis 30:1-3). It is written on the second page of the book, before the story even begins. The full bible passage describes Rachel being unable to conceive with Jacob, so Leah must do that for her, with her. In the Ceremony, Offred lays in between Serena Joy’s legs while the Commander is having sex with her, a ritual clearly based on the biblical context.

The dynamic in the household is not the only reference to the religious context. Remember the etymology of each of the names? They play a large role in the characterization of each individual. Offred often talks negatively about her body in her narration. “I used to think of my body as an instrument…an implement of my will…There were limits, but my body was nevertheless lithe, single, solid, one with me. I’m a cloud, congealed around a central object, the shape of a pear, which is hard and more real than I am…” (74). She feels like a cow, round and tough, and a subtly theme in her narration. Serena Joy is depicted by Offred as “Serena has begun to cry. I can hear her, behind my back. It isn’t the first time. She always does this, the night of the Ceremony” (90). Serena Joy, on the other hand, is depicted as a helpless woman who is fragile and struggles with pleasing her husband, like a baby lamb.

And don’t worry, the Commander lives up to his namesake as well. Offred’s relationship with the Commander changes when the Commander calls Offred into his room to play Scrabble numerous times, Offred finally feels like she has power over Serena Joy. She feels desired by the Commander for once. The Commander makes her feel special by gifting her a magazine during their second meeting. However, Offred soon discovers his motivations for the gift.

“‘But why show it to me?…”Who else could I show it to? He said, and there it was again, that sadness…‘How about your wife?’ He seemed to think about that. ‘No,’ he said. ‘She wouldn’t understand. Anyways she won’t talk to me much anymore. We don’t seem to have much in common, these days.’ So there it was, out in the open: his wife didn’t understand him. That’s what I was there for then… It was too banal to be true.” (158)

Even when he seems genuine in his acts, he is still using Offred and almost manipulating her, deceiving her like Jacob would.

Atwood draws the connection so strongly between the trios that it is impossible to ignore. And knowing the religious context can help us make predictions about each character, get to know who they really are, and what their motivations are towards each other. Why she chooses this specific story to interpolate can be interpreted in many ways. On the surface, she is pointing out how messed up the stories in the bible are, and makes an argument against using it as law, or as a belief system. On a deeper level she is showing how society manipulates women into comparing themselves with others, into constantly trying to one-up each other, when we should be standing together. Both arguments lead to questioning society and how we treat each other, Atwood uses these multifaceted characters to propel her writing forward.

Sources:

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/leah-bible https://blissandfire.com/Inspirational/jacob-the-supplanter-holder-of-the-heel-bliss-fire-network-weekly-digest-february-9-2010#:~:text=EXPLORATION,means%20HE%20WHOM%20GOD%20PROTECTS. https://www.thebump.com/b/yaakov-baby-name https://www.yeshiva.co/ask/190 https://www.sheknows.com/baby-names/name/yaakov/ https://painintheenglish.com/case/626

Song 1: You Don’t Own Me By Lesley Gore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iyg_tF-mJk

An excerpt of the lyrics:

You don’t own me/ I’m not just one of your many toys/ You don’t own me/ Don’t say I can’t go with other boys

…

You don’t own me/ Don’t try to change me in any way/ You don’t own me/ Don’t tie me down ‘cause I’d never stay/

…

I’m young and I love to be young/ I’m free and I love to be free/ To live my life the way I want/ To say and do whatever I please

This song by Lesley Gore is about a woman who is in a controlling relationship and wants to tell her boyfriend that he doesn’t own her like an object and that he can’t make rules about what she can’t or cannot do. Moira’s sentiment relates to that of the song because she doesn’t allow Gilead’s rules to control her. All the handmaids are treated as sex objects. Moira doesn’t want to be used. Moira has her own will, but unlike the character portrayed in the song, she doesn’t have the ability to do and say whatever she wants, as the government restricts everyone’s actions and speech. The singer is likely able to leave her relationship, but Moira cannot do the same. Instead, Moira ran away.

Song 2: We Belong Together by Mariah Carey

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJ09L3sOOUY

An excerpt of the lyrics:

I couldn’t have fathomed that I would ever/ Be without your love/ Never imagined I’d be/ Sitting here beside myself

I never felt/ The feeling that I’m feeling/ Now that I don’t/ Hear your voice/ Or have your touch and kiss your lips/ ‘Cause I don’t have a choice/ Oh, what I wouldn’t give/ To have you lying by my side/ Right here, ‘cause baby/ I can’t sleep at night/ When you are on my mind/

I only think of you/ And it’s breaking my heart/ I’m trying to keep it together/ But I’m falling apart/

This song, by Mariah Carey, is about longing. The lyrics convey the sadness she feels when she’s not around her ex-lover. They also communicate Offred’s feelings as she longs for Luke. She longs to be touched, to have Luke’s attention, and to be in love. “I wanted to feel Luke lying beside me” (52) “I want to be held and told my name. I want to be valued, in ways that I am not.” (97) Carey expresses the same feelings throughout the song.

Offred also misses her daughter. “I close my eyes, and she’s there with me, suddenly, without warning […]I put my face against the soft hair at the back of her neck and breathe her in, baby powder and child’s washed flesh and shampoo […].” (61) She talks about Luke and her daughter all the time and interrupts her story of Gilead with memories of them. Offred feels melancholy when thinking about her family, which is how Carey feels when she thinks about her ex: “ it’s breaking my heart [..] I’m falling apart.”

Song 3: Chopin’s Funeral March

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZY5DBmgC_A

Chopin wrote this mournful piece in the 1830s when he was in exile, away from his home in Poland. The Polish were revolting against the Russians, so Chopin was fearing for his family and friends’ lives. In one scene of the Handmaid’s Tale, Offred—in a dream—relived the memory of her daughter being taken away. It was a time of sadness and heartbreak. Offred was also fearing for the safety of her daughter. The listener can feel Chopin’s pain and grief when writing this piece, which also conveys Offred’s emotions in the scene. When Offred wakes up from her dream, she wakes up crying, because “of all the dreams this is the worst.”

Song 4: All By Myself by Irving Berlin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBzTzIbwZg0

Lyrics:

All by myself in the mornin’ / All by myself in the night/ I sit alone with a table and a chair/ So unhappy there/ Playin’ solitaire./ All by myself I get lonely/ Watchin’ the clock on the shelf/ I’d love to rest my weary head/ On somebody’s shoulder/ I hate to grow older/ All by myself./

This song is about someone who is by himself, living a single but unhappy life. In the Handmaid’s Tale, the reader can infer that Offred is lonely because she doesn’t have anyone to really talk to and experience life with. She feels down when she’s alone. Sometimes she cries when she remembers the memories of her family because she misses them and wants more freedom. “[N]obody dies from lack of sex. It’s lack of love we die from. There’s nobody here I can love, all the people I could love are dead or elsewhere.” (103) Berlin sings about wanting to rest his head on somebody’s shoulder, but there’s nobody there.

Song 5: A Change is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke

https://youtu.be/wEBlaMOmKV4

It’s been a long/ A long time coming, but I know/ A change gon’ come/ Oh yes, it will/

There been times that I thought/ I couldn’t last for long/ But now, I think I’m able/ To carry on/

“A Change is Gonna Come” is a song that was written in 1964 about hope and that things will eventually change. Cooke is hopeful that our society will become more accepting of African Americans and those who identify as minorities. Offred also has a feeling of hopefulness at one point in the Handmaid’s Tale, when she anticipates a letter from Luke, signifying that he is alive and that help is coming. To Offred, a letter would mean that change is close, that something good could occur. “Any day now there may be a message from him. […] The message will say that I must have patience: sooner or later he will get me out, we will find her, wherever they’ve put her. She’ll remember us and we will be all three of us together. (106) Cooke says that his hope for a better future keeps him alive. “I think I’m able to carry on.” It’s the same with Offred. Her hope to be reunited with her family keeps her going. “It’s this message that keeps me alive.” (106)

In The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood makes endless references to real-life issues, creating scenes in Gilead that represent actual events from our world. One of these issues is the sexual harassment that occurs all too often in the medical world, especially between male doctors and female patients. In chapter 11, Offred went to the doctor for her monthly checkup and was sexually harassed by the doctor. After he’d performed the usual examinations, he got way too close to her, touched her inappropriately, and whispered things like “I could help you” (pg 60), “you want a baby, don’t you” (pg 61), and “it’d only take a minute, honey” (pg 61). When Offred didn’t immediately agree, he tried to convince her further by telling her that “lots of women do it,” adding to the pressure she faced in the moment. She didn’t know which was the safer option: saying yes or saying no.

Although the doctor from this scene may seem outrageous in the amount of risk he took just for a chance to have sex with Offred, it’s based entirely in reality. A report about a case against Robert Hadden, a former Obstetrician/Gynecologist who sexually abused patients for decades, reads, “He exploited the power differential inherent in the doctor-patient relationship.” This kind of dynamic is what makes sexual assault by doctors unique; the perpetrator is not only someone who the victim is supposed to trust, but also someone with power over the victim. In Offred’s case, saying yes to the doctor’s offer of impregnating her would be dangerous if they were caught, and she clearly felt uncomfortable with the idea of having sex with him regardless. If she said no, she worried he could fake her tests, make a false report against her, and she’d be done for anyway. Offred did what many victims of sexual assault are forced to do in order to get out of the situation: act polite and try to refuse as nicely as possible. In her case, it worked, but it doesn’t always turn out that way in real life.

As for the repercussions of their actions, plenty of doctors get away with such crimes for many years, like Robert Hadden, who sexually abused dozens of patients from 1987 to 2012 and is now serving 20 years in prison. However, some predators never get caught. It is likely that the doctor from The Handmaid’s Tale who harassed Offred did not face any punishment following the incident, and likely continued “offering his services” to more female patients. Due to the lack of power that women- nevermind handmaids- had in Gilead, the likelihood of Offred speaking out was next to none, and the chances she’d be heard were even slimmer. Plus, the sheet in the examination room that was meant to restrict doctors and patients from seeing each other’s faces would’ve made it very difficult for patients to even know who’d harassed them. Systems such as the sheet that blocked the doctor’s face and the lack of power that women held in Gilead can be compared to the ways that women are restricted in today’s world. These societal structures, plus genuine fear, are some of the reasons that women often don’t report the sexual harassment they’ve experienced, which allows predators to continue abusing more victims until they’re finally found out.

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 63% of sexual assaults are not reported to police. Lots of victims just shrug it off, thinking it’s not a big deal and they shouldn’t make a fuss. After Offred’s encounter with the doctor, she was scared, but had no intention of bringing attention to the case. “Why am I frightened? I’ve crossed no boundaries, I’ve given no trust, taken no risk, all is safe.” (pg 61) She seemed to be less scared of what could’ve happened in the examination room than she was of the consequences that would come with being caught having sex with the doctor. One cause of this could’ve been The Ceremony, where she had scheduled sex with the Commander in an unromantic, dutiful way in an effort to get pregnant. Maybe Offred was somewhat desensitized to having sex with unfamiliar men who she didn’t love, although she definitely wasn’t fond of it. Following the incident, her greatest worry was not her bodily autonomy, but rather what she’d have to do to avoid death. The great stakes in Gilead created an environment where a woman’s experience of sexual harassment seemed insignificant to her, making it a true dystopia.