Assignment 2- TEAR

Margaret Atwood's hopeless fictional novel, The Handmaid's Tale, successfully portraits the demise of Offred's independent life when she's forced to live in totalitarian Republic of Gilead. Her demise helps to illuminate the meaning of the work as a whole by portraying the lost of individuality throughout Offred's life.

Through a series of flashbacks, the protagonist often describes how her life was before Gilead, portraying  it as independent and carefree. However, in this new society healthy and young women like Offred have only one purpose which is to reproduce children. Offred often finds herself daydreaming, "I would like to believe this is a story I'm telling, I need to believe it"(Atwood 39) she is hopeless towards the idea of a change in her life. Every aspect of her life is controlled, and the chances of surviving without following the rules of Gilead are very slight because she can get punished with death.As time passes, Offred finally realizes and accepts her reality when she says "I am too important, too scarce for that , I'm a national resource"( Atwood 65) Offred understands that she has no longer control over her life and body. She's terrified by the idea of not owning herself but she knows that's the way it's supposed to be. The demise of her independent character contributes to the meaning of lost of individuality on the story because it portraits her life and the millions of other lives of women in the story. Even though Offred's ending is uncertain, the reader is able to comprehend the meaning of the novel through Offred's lost of individuality and own self control.