The Handmaid's Tale Chapters 5 - 8
Offred spends long hours of the day with nothing to do, she is forced to remain inside her room and to keep to herself. She recalls the day Moira had been brought to the Red Training Centre, three weeks after Offred had been there. She remembered feeling impossible joy, but she had to guard her feelings and prevent anyone from discovering their history. They managed to exchange a small message about when they spoke in secret and the opportunity during a session to testify with the aunts. The Handmaids would form a circle and take turns talking about their sins from before the revolution. One of the Handmaids, Janine, told them all about how she had been gang-raped at the age of fourteen and had an abortion. Aunt Lydia led them in chanting as they all yelled that the rape had been Janine’s fault, and when she began to cry, they chanted Crybaby. Offred regretfully admits to herself that the Handmaids had meant the things they said. She meets Moira in the washroom while the rest of the trainees are in the circle. She feels jubilant at her friend’s presence, while Moira fosters a silent intent of rebellion against her oppressors. Offred falls into a dream about the day her daughter was taken from her. She had been running in the woods with her little girl when she heard gunshots and fell over. Her daughter is taken away as Offred’s vision dims, and she wakes up in her room at the Commander’s house with tears in her eyes as a bell rings through the house.
She makes her way into the sitting room and kneels by a chair that will soon hold Serena Joy. The rest of the house assembles, just a few moments before Serena Joy, but the Commander makes them wait. Serena switches on the News, and Offred treasures the opportunity for some information. The news talks about Gilead’s war frontiers with opposing forces within the landmass of the nation that had once been America. She is transported back to her memories of Moira, whose first attempt to escape by feigning sickness had been discovered by the aunts. They had beaten her limbs with frayed cables, and Offred recalls Aunt Lydia’s assertion that they could damage their limbs however they liked since they were not necessary for their function. The commander comes into the sitting room after a brief knock and seats himself in his plush leather chair. He unlocks a box with the bible and begins to read to them. This is the ceremony, the beginning of the ritual that involves the impregnation of the Handmaid by the commander. Women are no longer allowed to read, and so the Commander reads for them. Offred has heard the passage several times, the section of the bible with Rachel and Leah in which the barren wife asks her husband to give her a child by being with her handmaid, Billah. Offred hears Serena crying, although the wife always tries to keep her grief to herself. The commander leaves.
Offred lies between Serena’s legs on her large poster bed, while the Commander has sex with the lower part of her body, the only part of her that is exposed. Serena holds Offred’s hands which signifies that they are one being. There is no room for romance in this process, which is treated like serious business, even by the grey-haired and innocuous-looking Commander. They are not allowed to kiss, which makes the process easier. He ejaculates inside her, lifts himself, corrects his uniform, and exits the room. Serena is supposed to let her rest but she orders Offred to leave with contempt in her voice. She returns to her room, finds the butter that she had hidden away earlier, and uses it to moisturize her skin. All the handmaids do this because the Wives had lotions banned, they do not wish for the handmaids to appear attractive. The butter makes them smell bad, but the handmaids believe that things will get better one day, and so they try to hold onto themselves. She is overcome by a desire to steal something from the sitting room, something she can leave behind for the next Handmaid whenever that would be. She sneaks to the sitting room, but she is suddenly accosted by Nick, who pulls her to his mouth. They kiss one another with passion, and Offred revels in being touched so greedily. Nick tells her that the commander wants to see her in his study the following day, an illegal request. They let each other go slowly, and Offred returned to her room.
In bed, she aches with the desire to have someone hold her, the same way that Luke had held her when she had his baby in her womb. She doesn’t quite know what happened to him, but she is quite certain that he is dead. She hopes that he was killed quickly and that he did not suffer, but she also believes that he might be a captive even now. Another part of her believes that he may have escaped and joined a resistance movement, which surely must exist. She expected him to send her a message any day, and the possibility of the message kept her alive. She knows that not all three scenarios can be true, but she believes in them all.
Offred receives her usual breakfast with eggs, and remarks at the illusion of her prison which makes her believe that she is fortunate for her role because she is supplied so well. Breakfast is interrupted by the arrival of a red Birth Mobile, and Offred hurries to the vehicle with other Handmaid’s waiting inside it. They are driven to the house where Offwaren is stationed, where she is giving birth. Offred had seen Janine just a few days ago at the ration shop. They go to the birthing room, adjoining a large hall where a buffet has been set up for the Wives. They are supplied with alcohol, and coffee, both of which are forbidden to the Handmaids. The handmaids collect in a circle around the woman in labor and chant with her to deal with the trauma. No doctors and drugs are allowed to interfere with the birth process, and Offred remembers Aunt Lydia’s condemnation of the women who had led the protests for women’s right to abort and blamed them for the decline in birth rate. The toxins in the atmosphere had aided infertility and led to a disastrous likelihood of miscarriage among pregnant women. Janine delivers the baby, and it is immediately given to the wife, who enters the birthing room with a drunk procession of wives. The handmaids shield Janine from seeing how the Wives claim her baby while she cries in a burnt-out state.
Offred thinks of a happier time and recalls how Moira had escaped the Red Centre by overcoming an Aunt and stealing her uniform, which she used simply to walk away. She returns to her room and goes to the Commander’s room in the evening. She worries about what he will want with her, but she is mesmerized by the sight of so many books. The commander behaves kindly with her and asks her to play Scrabble with him, an illegal request. She complies, and after a few games, he asks her to return to her room. As she is leaving, he asks her to kiss him. She performs a perfunctory kiss, but he sadly asks her to kiss him like she means it.
Analysis
The theme of the oppression of women continues to be developed in this second section of the novel as the conditions in Gilead become clearer. The government uses religious text to justify its oppression, and although women like Serena Joy had advocated for such measures, she cannot help but feel the pain that is inflicted on her by the regime. Gilead’s laws prevent her from feeling betrayed by her husband for his infidelity with a Handmaid, yet we learn that Serena cries every night of the ceremony. Another major theme of the novel is the complicity of women in the suppression of other women, explored primarily through the characters of the Wives and the Aunts. The indoctrination practices of the Red Centre demonstrate the negative feelings in women that are used by the authorities to make them oppress other women. This fact leads to the confusion that Offred experiences, she is unable to fully commit to the idea of rebellion because she is being oppressed by women who should experience empathy for her. Offred is undoubtedly shown to be complacent in her oppression, although her desire for rebellion can be glimpsed from some of her actions. She amends the passage about her encounter with the commander to include thoughts of murdering him, even though she did not experience them at the time. Offred and the other Handmaids rebel against the decree against lotion by using butter for their skins, even at the cost of smelling like old cheese and the risk of being discovered.
