Offred is a Cry-Baby with Repetitive Tendencies

“Was I right? Because we never talked about it. By the time I could have done that, I was afraid to. I couldn’t afford to lose you.”

In  Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale protagonist Offred reflects upon her past and the transition from an earlier civilization to the workings of a birthing dystopia that is oppressive to women. This reflection serves a multitude of purposes with respect to unveiling the mechanics of dystopia and the tendencies of the people engulfed by them and by exploiting a new perspective on the relationship the Offred and her, now obsolete, husband Luke. Even during the transition period in society she feels that she is his property, exacerbated by the denial of money to women in Gilead’s early period. This not only establishes and foreshadows her role as society’s literal property, but also questions whether her loyalty to Luke is that based on love or on fear. There is generally a semblance of love inherent to the sentiment “I couldn’t afford to lose you,” but in this new dystopia one must recognize that Offred literally cannot afford to lose Luke, socially she cannot be independent. This creates a master and subject type relationship. Like the underlying bond that endears a child to its mother, Offred is incapable and being so is completely dependent on Luke; this power balance with Offred is surfaced later in the narrative by her relationship with the Commander; it is a loyalty of fear and consequence.

                Offred’s sentiments also explain the psychological conventions of a dystopian society; binding people to each other and, as a biological consequence of dependence, can then manipulate the coherence of homogenous ideas. It is sensible that with the mandated removal of a person, or more appropriately a woman, from their freedoms to purchase goods, to access goods outside of necessity, a dependency is inflicted. So people are unified obviously through fear, not a fear of being ostracized but rather a fear of a loss of comradery. It is the manner with which Gilead manipulates fear in order to usher women gradually into oppression that is unsettling. If the society had simply rescinded independence immediately, uprising  would have been commonplace. However, a gradual change is easier to miss; though even the denial of Offred’s credit card arouses emotional response. Regardless of whether Offred was afraid of Luke leaving her, to wilt in a society that neither respected her nor let her alone, or simply just afraid of the law, she was afraid of an unidentifiable and formless something. The gender gap that was taken advantage of during the birth of Gilead created a shifted alliance between husband and wife, and though Luke had no part in implementing such laws, one can’t help but think that there was a slight “at least it isn’t me, it’s not men,” sentiment that drove him to be less aggressive about the changes in the first place. Offred is the one who is manipulated, always, and in her fear she clung to the object of her oppression, as she continues to do now with the Commander.