THT - Hope A01+A02

Thesis of hope

Can be examined in the context of her memories, specifically regarding Luke and her daughter, whose potential existence encourage her to survive, female friendships/solidarity and her rebellious interactions with the Commander and Serena (cheeky nod to Nick; Serena's rebellion ignites this).

Irony of hope within Gilead

One theme that is present throughout the story is hope. This ideal is a key virtue within Christian theology, and provides a way to salvation. Offred personifies this ideal throughout the story, through her memories, her female friendships, and her interactions with the Commander and Serena. When she embraces this ideal, she does so in a way that goes against Gilead. This is ironic because, in order to find salvation through hope, Offred has to resist the very values and religious ideals that Gilead tries to force upon her. Ultimately, Offred is able to find salvation through rebellion.

‘I would like to believe this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it’

• chapter 7

• repetition of ‘believe’ - hope

• deontic modality ‘I need to believe it. I must believe it’

• Offred notes how her indulgence in former memories, and her belief that the current life she inhabits is merely a 'story', instils her with hope.

• If she can frame what's happening to her as a story that will eventually end, she can find the strength to live through it.

"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"

• chapter 18

• about Luke and her daughter

• epistemic modality ‘he will' she has to have faith

• Through memories of her daughter and Luke, Offred is able to connect with her past life, her humanity, and her identity which is an act of self-preservation.

• The idea that Luke will come to save her and the three of them, Luke, Offred and her daughter, will be reunited instils Offred with hope, inculcating her with the emotional capacity to survive.

• "We walk, heads bent as usual. I'm so excited I can hardly breathe, but I keep a steady pace. Now more than ever I must avoid drawing attention to myself" (C27).

• "We have crossed the invisible line together" (C27).

• "Ofglen is giving up on me. She whispers less, talks more about the weather. I do not feel regret about this. I feel relief" (C41).

• "Now that Ofglen is gone I am alert again, my sluggishness has fallen away, my body is no longer for pleasure only but senses its jeopardy"

• metaphor ‘crossed the invisible line’

• adverb ‘together’ united

• Offred is notably filled with joy at the prospect of a friend and a confidant having an ally is essential and it greatly lifts Offred's spirits instilling her with hope and the emotional capacity to continue.

• Through Ofglen, Offred learns about the existence of Mayday, the formal resistance movement to Gilead.

• Ofglen can provide not only in-the-moment support for Offred but also big-picture information and solutions for escaping Gilead.

• Despite the importance of their relationship, Offred relegates it in favour of her relationship with Nick; she is distracted by this heterosexual romantic connection.

• When Ofglen commits suicide to avoid being captured and tortured, Offred is profoundly affected.

• Offred took Ofglen's friendship and partnership for granted; Atwood clearly emphasizes that as a mistake.

• Not only was Ofglen necessary for Offred's possible physical resistance to Gilead, she provided a mental haven of resistance that was essential and now is painfully gone; Offred is no longer as hopeful: her body is "alert" again.

• "Somewhere good. Moira." (C7)

• "It makes me feel safer, that Moira is here" (C12)

• "Don't think that way, Moira would say" (C14)

• "she'd set herself loose" (C22)

• "Moira was like an elevator with open sides. She made us dizzy" (C22)

• "Already were we losing the taste of freedom, already were we finding these walls secure" (C22)

• "Moira was our fantasy" (C22)

• "In the light of Moira, the Aunts were less fearsome and more absurd. Their power had a flaw to it" (C22)

• Though note how, later in the novel, this idealisation of Moira as a source of hope proves detrimental and self-destructive: "She is frightening me now, because what I hear in her voice is indifference, a lack of volition" (C38)

• metaphor ‘Moira was our fantasy’, abstract noun ‘fantasy’

• Moira becomes a figurehead of hope and strength; she inspires Offred and the other Handmaids, instilling in them the emotional capacity to survive; Moira becomes the ultimate feminist heroine ideal: key to Offred's survival.

• Moira rejuvenates Offred's consciousnes: memories of Moira keep Offred sharp and motivated, propelling her forward; even in Moira's absence, her friendship sustains Offred, because Offred internalises their friendship, idealises Moira into the ultimate feminist heroine;

• This is key to her survival throughout, yet proves detrimental in C38; in needing Moira to survive, Offred becomes extremely dependent and incapable of reconciling with her own anxieties and weaknesses.

• The revelation that Moira is not what Offred has been imagining her as is a wake-up call to Offred to stop dreaming about heroics and return to focusing explicitly on her own day-to-day survival.

• The idealization of Moira is detrimental to Offred's navigation within the reality of Gilead.

• Here, Atwood emphasises the problems inherent in demanding heroism from feminist characters.

• "We learned to whisper without sound...We learned to lip-read, our heads flat on the beds, turned sideways, watching each other's mouths. In this way we exchanged names, from bed to bed: Alma. Janine. Dolores. Moira. June" (C1).

• "I want to tell her there was an Alma with me at the Centre. I want to tell her my name." (C21)

• "Impulsively she grabs my hand, squeezes it, as we lurch around the corner; she turns to me and I see her face, there are tears running down her cheeks, but tears of what? Envy, disappointment? But no, she's laughing, she throws her arms around me, I've never seen her before, she hugs me, she has large breasts, under the red habit, she wipes her sleeve across her face." (C19)

• "I see several women I recognize, exchange with them the infinitesimal nods with which we show each other we are known, at least to someone, we still exist" (C44).

• From the outset, Atwood sets the reader up to recognise that friendship and female solidarity is key to survival, specifically solidarity amongst the Handmaids, as it provides hope and instils in them the emotional capacity to continue. The Handmaids are alone and heavily ruled over, but they risk punishment to talk to each other anyway, because what life would they have if they remained completely alone

• Although fleeting, connection with each other gives the Handmaids hope and strength to survive, instilling in them the emotional capacity to continue.

• It could be argued that Gilead allows the Handmaids these moments, of seemingly genuine solidarity, for release of their pent-up emotions; they could be a built-in way to maintain control over the women.

• However, most of these fleeting moments witnessed throughout the novel lead to full-blown subversive and genuine solidarity, which is decidedly not what the regime wants.

• "The cigarettes must have come from the black market, I thought, and this gave me hope"

• "She then was a woman who might bend the rules”

ch 3

The significance of Offreds relationship with the commander and Serena Joy is that powerful figures of authority, such as Serena and the Commander, are willing to resist instils Offred with hope, because it vindicates to her the flaws within Gilead's control.

• "Women do it frequently"

• "I can't let go of this hope. I can't speak"

ch 31

• Not only does Serena 'bend the rules', but there is an insinuation that most wives do; this can be vindicated in that Ofwarren did not conceive with the Commander. That most wives 'bend the rules', then, is highly significant in instilling Offred with hope; it highlights to her how Gilead's control over society is in fact completely and utterly flawed.

• Serena exploits the loss of Offred's daughter to achieve her desires; the prospect of seeing a picture of her daughter, the value of such is proven through her daughter's extensive appearance in Offred's mind, instils Offred with hope.

• "They would taste also of lime. The letter C. Crisp, slightly acidic on the tongue, delicious"

• "I read quickly, voraciously...before the next long starvation"

• The Commander takes Offred into a club, thus liberating her from the everyday monotony of Gilead.

ch 23/29/37

• Although self-serving, the Commander partially liberates Offred; his empowering of her shows that Gilead's power is in fact flawed.

• The Commander empowers Offred through their covert interactions, elevating her from an object of reproduction into 'no longer a merely usable body'; by encouraging Offred to do things which are forbidden for Gileadean women - to read and write, to converse casually with him, to wear a revealing outfit, and finally to have sex with him outside the confines of the Ceremony - the Commander demonstrates his fearlessness of breaking rules, which provides great hope for Offred.

• "For him, I must remember, I am only a whim" (C25)

• "My name is Offred and here is where I live" (C24)

It appears as though the Commander serves more in dehumanising Offred, and thus stripping her of any hope.