Offred is immediately attracted to Nick.
Offred thinks of him as a suspicious character in the beginning of the novel.
This suggests she is attracted to Nick for many reasons. We witness him stepping on her foot at the ceremony in Chapter 14 of the book. He keeps flirting with her and making her feel paranoid.
"He's too casual, he's not servile enough. It may be stupidity, but I don't think so. Smells fishy, they used to say; or, I smell a rat" she says.
In this quote, Offred describes how Nick keeps putting his foot next to hers. She describes this with great detail. Nick is always trying to interact with Offred, one way or another. Offred describes it as a warm and soft feeling in her foot. By the end of Chapter 17 Nick sneaks into her room and they kiss violently. They both know how dangerous this can be for both of them so they don't go too far. I think Offred has a little something towards Nick that by the end she will completely loose herself and completely ignore the laws. That is my thinking. But I also know she suggest that she can be rebel as well. Offred's awkward affair with Nick is an odd development.
Being with Nick is entirely different than playing Scrabble with the Commander. I can see they gain power within themselves.
"Sterile. There is no such thing as a sterile man anymore, not officially. There are only women who are fruitful and women who are barren, that's the law."
The problem is that they put steribility on woman and that it is there fault all of the time, never the man. Aside from that, there are even worse circumstances to this. Death is literal if you don't have at least one kid in the Republic. But it is hard for the girls though! Some men are sterile and it is not there fault. The childless woman won't just suffer, they can die.
Another quote,
"The stains on the mattress. Like dried flower petals. Not recent. Old love; there's no other kind of love in this room now."
This quote is very relevant to Chapter 10 because there are signs of depression Offred shows. The sign og love depresses her because she will never love again. Very sexually maybe?
This suggests she is very careful she might see something that can give her hope things will change. Imagery is important in this quote as well. This quote offered a metaphor that compares how there were stains from long ago sex which took place nowadays not evern a bond between two individuals.
The Handmaid's outfit is all red which I think symbolizes energy, desire, and love. People generally are attracted to red clothing. For example we see this with Offred when Luke stares and winks at her. It might symbolize attraction and want. Their outfit is very significant to this story because it suggest uniform and a dystopian society. It also suggests the blood of the menstrual cycle and childbirth. Within Chapter 5-8 we are introduced to the Wall a very symbolic object where dissidents are executed and hung up on outer walls of the university as a warning to people in Gilead what their actions can cause. There daily duties are the same every day. They serve their commander and follow rules. The Handmaids are very similar to the flowers Offred describes several times in the book. She emphasizes how a Handmaid is like a flower where they have been cut of from the sexual influences of the world. Like when Offred cuts of the sexual organs of the flower. In Chapter 5 we have a lady who is pregnant that makes all the girls very jealous. Offred cannot help but stare at this heavily pregnant lady.
I find interesting that people in this society have everything hidden and don't show there real selves. Woman get jealous like every human does. Woman here also find it very hard to control themselves and their feelings. Many just want to turn against woman. Handmaid's social function is to bear children for Wives.
Through out the Chapters 1-4 the lives of woman are strictly ruled and we find out later in the chapter that the narrators name is Offred. Woman are not allowed to talk to each other but they communicate through whispering and body languages. Two woman in authority of them are Aunt Elizabeth and Sara. Marthas wear green uniforms and Wives wear blue uniforms and the woman in red are handmaids. Strange huh? This all goes back to the term we discussed in class called dystopia. A dystopia is a community that is frightnening and undesirable like this society for example.
The story starts out with unfamiliar names such as Angels, Commanders, and Handmaid. Woman hear there names and are reminded that they are no more than a company. Offred no longer has a family nor kids. She has flashbacks to and from the past. Offren works as a handmaid at the household of the Commander and Serena Joy where in chapter 3 where Offren looks around for the Commander's Wife and does not see her but she notices the garden. She uses tons of imagery to emphasize her feelings towards it. She wonders if scarves ever get used. Why do Wives do so much knitting?
I found interesting that men in this society like Luke for example don't go by the rules. He winks at Offred therefore disobeying the rules to not talking to woman. Offred also does what she is not supposed to and flirts with some young Guardians by making eye contact and cherishing his body language. Also we see the word "Handmaid" used in Chapter 4 for the first time.
