Handmaid's Tale 2

As the novel shifts from the first half to the second, there is also a shift in the attitude of Offred toward her "controlled" status as handmaid in Gilead. During this switch we see the same thing happen in the new society of Gilead as what has happened throughout our own history of the US. Offred and the organization referred to as Mayday, begin to attack the society from the inside by using their naturalized stereotypes to gain power instead of relinquishing it. In essence, Offred begins to revert back to her past experiences with her husband (whom she had an affair with) and her then lesbian friend. There was a since of control then that women had thanks to rebellions against such status quos that were now controlling them in Gilead. Reverting back to memories of Moira and Offred's mother as an activist during the transitions into Gilead, Offred is able to empower herself during her nighttime encounters with her Commander. Offred begins to notice a shift within herself as she longs to use her power as a woman over the now desperate men of Gilead. This transition begins to take place especially as Offred is allowed to read more books and magazines and engage in deeper conversations with her Commander. Offred, through the technologies that have been kept from her all this time, is now discovering an increased power to control situations instead of merely being controlled. It is in the end where we see Offred finally escape from this prison of anti-science/big brother ideology by the hands of those working outside of the Eyes reach. By using the leaders of Gilead's own surveillance technology against them, Offred is able to take control and release herself from the controlled Utopian prison of Gilead. Offred is able to accomplish this in a less drastic way than the other women who eventually had to commit suicide to escape. Either way, the novel presents two very different means of people finding ways of taking control in an oppressive environment. As the epilogue explains to us in the end, Gilead was formed in an attempt to counter the evils that a rapidly progressive science induced culture had created. Instead of the positive outcome that had been hoped for by the Commanders, the exact opposite was produced. Still, Atwood presents to the reader two different forms of society, yet also shows us how allowing ourselves to fall completely prey to one specific train of thought can be deadly to our society. It is important for society to embrace some type of middle ground in order for humanity to survive.