The Handmaid's Tale Chapters 1 - 4

Offred recalls the initial days of her training at the “Red Centre.” All of the women slept in army cots that were set up in what had once been a high school gymnasium. The Aunts patrolled among them as the women slept, they used their electrical cattle prods to ensure silence and discourage socialization. Outside the center, Angels stood on guard with guns, they represented a fantasy for the women inside the center, who wished so desperately for their freedom. The trainees were allowed outdoors in a fenced football field twice a day for exercise. They learned to communicate amongst themselves despite the vigilant Aunts of the Red Centre

Offred takes in the sparsely furnished room that she occupies in the Commander’s house, she does not think of it as her room. She notes that the room has been shorn of all means of suicide since the regime of Gilead is not afraid of escape but only death. She notes that the chandelier has been removed and its hook in the ceiling has been paltered over. She exits her room and makes her way to the kitchen, where she collects tokens from Martha, a household servant, and instructions about what rations she needs to buy. Offred has overheard the Martha talking about her and knows that the Martha thinks Handmaids are despicable. The other servant, Cora, seems more empathetic.

Offred leaves the kitchen and exits the house into the garden, the Wife’s domain. Serena Joy is the commander’s wife, Offred recognized her from a children’s gospel that was aired before the revolution. Offred realizes that Serena Joy hates her, a fact that had become clear to her on the first day of her posting. Serena had received Offred on the first day of her posting and made it clear that she and her husband were joined in the holy union until the day of their death. Offred felt like Serena was holding herself back from slapping her, and understood that she had scriptural precedent for doing so. Offred had observed Serena working on her garden with diligence despite her evident infirmity and old age. Serena does not acknowledge Offred’s presence as she leaves, but the Handmaid receives a wink from the Commander’s driver, Nick. Offred hides herself from his gaze behind her winged bonnet, and continues on her way. She knows that Nick could be punished for fraternizing with her, and suspects that he is a member of the secret organization of spies in Gilead, the Eyes.

She meets Ofglen, another handmaid for a Commander, along her route and exchanges a religious greeting with her. They are both dressed identically in long Red dresses that cover all of their skin, while their faces are hidden behind large white winged bonnets. They have traveled to the market together for the past two weeks, but barely ever exchanged more than a few words. They are both worried about each other’s loyalty to the regime, and afraid of what could be reported about their interactions. They pass through multiple checkpoints manned by young Guardians, who are not important enough to be assigned a woman yet. Offred flaunts her hips under the dress for the Guardian’s benefit, likening it to tantalizing a dog with a bone. They collect their ration and pass by the Wall on their return journey. Bodies in white lab coats hang from the wall, and Offred understands that these doctors are being punished for performing abortions before the revolution. She experiences relief as she becomes certain that Luke isn’t among the men hanging from the Wall.

In the night, Offred lies in her sparse room and travels through her memories. She goes back to an evening in College, when her rebellious friend, Moira, visits her room to get some cigarettes from her. She then remembers going to a feminist protest with her mother as a young girl. The women in the protest were burning pornographic magazines, and one of them allowed her to toss a magazine into the roaring bonfire. She remembers being told that her daughter had been given to someone more appropriate for raising her. This was after she had failed to escape from Gilead with Luke and her daughter. She was shown a picture of her daughter holding a stranger’s hand. Offred talks to the reader, and hopes that there will be a reader for her journal, although she isn’t certain that this document will ever reach anyone.

Offred and Ofglen walk by the wall again on their next market trip and note the change in the hanging bodies. The body of a priest from a different faith hangs along with the bodies of citizens charged with “gender treachery,” and homosexual behavior. They cross a funeral processing of Econowives, women of lower status shared among the blue-collar workers of society. The leading woman carries a small urn with the remains of a baby, probably marked with a defect that in earlier times could have been diagnosed with technology, but such examinations are now outlawed. She returns to the house and receives a greeting from Nick, but she chooses to ignore his illegal behavior. Aunt Lydia, the teacher at the Red Centre, had taught them that men are biologically programmed to desire women, but they had the responsibility to guard themselves against such advances. The Handmaids were taught that the rapes against women before the revolution were caused by women who flaunted their sexuality. This is what necessitated the Gileadean laws, which ultimately sought to protect women.

Offred passes Serena Joy and recalls how the gospel-singing woman had so quickly turned into a vocal speaker who advocated for conservative laws targeted at women. Serena had passionately led the narrative that women’s place was at home, and Offred remembered feeling fearful of her fanaticism. Inside the house, Offred finds the Commander inspecting her room. She does not understand why he would break this rule, he leaves after offering her a polite greeting. Offred thinks about the room because she had momentarily thought of it as hers. Offred had examined the room with great detail and found that the old occupant had left behind a tiny message scribbled in the corner of the cupboard. “Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.” She had learned that there had been a Handmaid before her, but she had been replaced when things did not work out. Offred watched the Commander leave in a valuable car and tried to understand her own emotions for him.

She visits the doctor for her legally required monthly checkup, but during the examination, the doctor offers to impregnate her. He claims that he wants to help her because he is certain that most Commanders are sterile. Offred is shocked that he would say the forbidden word. Giledean law states that men cannot be sterile. She refuses his offer with care because she does not wish for him to report any untrue anomalies in her tests, which leads her to be declared “Unwoman,” and thus sentenced to die in the colonies. At home, she takes a bath, and regards her body with a feeling akin to fear, as she realizes how completely her life is defined by her body. She hides the piece of butter from her assigned dinner and eats the rest. 

Analysis

The Handmaid’s Tale is a title that was inspired by Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, which contains a short story that has the same title. Chaucer’s short story is narrated by an aged woman who has had several marriages and contains an Arthurian tale with a lesson that what women want above all is to have sovereignty over their lovers. Interestingly, the Handmaids in the novel have absolutely no sovereignty, not even their bodies. Margaret Atwood writes about a dystopian world in which the United States of America has been overthrown by a religious theocracy that is largely Puritan in its faith. Women have been stripped of all rights, and are regarded as little more than “wombs with two legs.” The novel was written in the 1980s as a response to vocal political speakers who were calling for reduced freedom for women under the guise of protecting them. The Handmaid’s Tale serves as an example of what society could potentially become if all such regulations were implemented. Offred is a complicated narrator, who does not display any natural inclination to oppose the abuse that she is suffering at the hands of the Gileadean State.