Handmaids tale loss of identit
Handmaids tale loss of identitOffred’s Lost of Identity
The main character of this book is Offred, one of the faceless many of the new Republic of Gilead. Each day she is removed farther and farther from her true self, to a complete no one. Expected to feel nothing, think nothing, and want nothing, she is used only as an instrument to bear children.
Throughout the book, the narrator often speaks with a numbed tone despite all the horrifying ordeals she has seen and experienced. Although her offhand comment to herself are presented in a slight bitter and humorous manner, she must learn to hide this from others in order to survive. It seems that the more she tries to cover up her true self, the more she forgets about how life used to be for her. She finds it odd that she used to dress as the Japanese tourist used to dress; yet it was only three years prior that she had the freedom to do so. She even admits to herself that she has been erased from the memory of her daughter, and that to her little girl she doesn’t even exist anymore. To protect herself in her new world, she is forced to hide beneath a submissive, obedient, and mindless mask, yet more and more each day, the mask becomes her real face.
When revolution occurred in the United States, the narrator was not yet known as Offred. Only after they relinquished her job, family, and past, and she no longer had much of an identity left,...
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