The Handmaid's Tale By Margret Atwood

Memories are things that everyone has and they are constantly replacing one another as life goes on. The book, The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margret Atwood, is about a futuristic way that people live their lives. The protagonist of this book, Offred, is one of the many handmaids in the society of Gilead and she is forced to be a handmaids and has to deal with the problems that being a handmaid lead to. One of the main problems she faces is trying to keep the memories she created before she became a handmaid. These memories of the way she used to be are very important to her. Offred’s memories of her loved ones are what keep her going in her current situation, but they are slowly diminishing and the Gileadean society tries to get rid of these memories …show more content…
Offred is faced with the difficulty of not being able to remember what Luke looks like. She is talking about how she is going to try and memorize Nick’s body so she will not forget about him in the future, like she has done with Luke. She says, “I ought to have done that with Luke, paid more attention, to the details, the moles and scars, the singular creases; I didn’t and he’s fading. Day by day, night by night he recedes” (269). This quote shows the significance of Offred no longer being able to remember exactly what her husband looks like. This is what the society of Gilead wants to happen to women who become handmaids. The society wants to keep it this way so she will let go of what she used to be and will become willing to be a handmaid. They think that once she can remember the old ways she can rebel against the way she is forced to live life and get the older way of life back. The society does what the theorist Theo Finigan talks about in his essay when he talks about the destruction of memory. He says, “In both Oceania and Gilead, this rationalized, controlled temporary is supplemented, and indeed buttressed, by the state’s attempt to manipulate – and in some instances, erase – the traces of memory” (Finigan 437). This quote is significant because it talks about how the society of Gilead is able to change, and even erase some thoughts from people’s minds. The people who can change other people’s minds have power over them, and then therefore they are able to control what they remember and what they will do in the future. The aunts, the commander, and commander’s wife all have to power to change Offred’s memories and they use this power to try and keep her willing to be a handmaid in the future. They go about this by taking Offred from her loved ones and making her a handmaid. They also make her