The Handmaids Tale Blog #2

Geena Motto                                                                                                                                 Blog #2

   This blog will cover chapters 14-28 in The Handmaid´s Tale by Margaret Atwood. In these chapters, readers discover more about how Gilead became Gilead. Offred recalls a time when the president along with Congress were all shot, causing the U.S. army to go into a state of emergency. Quickly after that, Offred along with her husband Luke and her daughter attempted to flee the country which as readers know was not successful. In this part of the book, the audience was also introduced to Moira, one of Offred´s close friends. Moira is important because she appears in many of Offred´s flashbacks from before Gilead, but she also attempted to escape Gilead. Moria stabbed one of the Aunts and tried to escape but was not successful and has not been seen since. This shows readers that there is a world and people outside of Gilead as people try to escape. Although Offred is without Luke, she develops a secret relationship with Nick, one of the guards. This is a very dangerous thing because any relationship with a Handmaid other than what happens between her and a commander is strictly prohibited, and if they were to be caught they´d both be executed. Commander Waterford on the other hand also breaks these rules and sneaks Offred into his room late at night to talk and play Scrabble. Although this may seem silly, this is a very serious thing because not only is reading and most language in general prohibited, the Handmaids and Commanders relationship is strictly just to try to conceive when Serena is present. The end of chapter 28 ends with Offred having a flashback to life before Gildead with Luke and Moria which seems to consume most of her thoughts.

 Overall I believe the plot of the novel began to pick up and become more interesting in these chapters. I think making Nick a love interest in the book added another element because Offred often times thinks of Luke when with Nick which not only shows readers that she´s still in pain over her husband not being there anymore but also that she´s rebelling against Gilead by breaking the rule of creating a relationship. I also think introducing Moria made the plot more interesting because her character shows the readers that there is a place to (try) to escape to outside of Gilead; other free lives and places do exist. Moria´s character also helped with the character development of Offred because the flashbacks of their friendship gave insight into Offred´s life before Gilead and the type of person she was. Finally, Commander Waterford sneaking Offred into his room at night to play games was an interesting plot twist because playing games seems innocent, it makes readers feel almost unsettled. Overall I enjoyed these chapters of the book .