What Does Offred Mean in The Handmaids’ Tale?
The handmaid’s tale is a narration of a handmaid named Offred in Gilead
which is a religious country. It is meanly tells how Offred lives in Gilead and
how Gilead treated it citizens. I will discussed the name: “Offred” in this
paper. I have three speculates of the name: of Fred, off red and of red (read).
Those three different understandings of the offred can meanly represent what
Gilead did to the handmaid. Offred means the handmaid is belonging to the
commander while Fred is the name of the commander. Offred can also express terminate
red. It means the narrator may escaped successfully. Red means a lot but in the
handmaids’ tale, Gilead took away every handmaid’s identity just used red to
represent them which is disrespect for women. Handmaids cannot read in Gilead
either. The no information getting helps Gilead regime to control them
well.
Firstly, Offred can be divided into “Of” and “Fred”. Fred is the name of
Offred’s commander. So I infer that it means the handmaid Offred is belong to
Fred. According to The Handmaid’s Tale: “My name isn’t Offred, I have another
name, which nobody uses now because it’s forbidden.”[1] We can know Offred is
not the real name of the narrator, it was just a designation of the handmaid
who worked in Fred’s home. The sentence which is from the historical researcher
in the handmaids’ tale: “‘Offred’ gives no clue, since, like ‘Ofglen’ and
‘Ofwarron,’ it was a patronymic, composed of the possessive preposition and the
first name of the gentleman in question.” also proves this idea. Also, narrator
herself admitted belongings idea. When the new Ofglen came while the old Ofglen
was died, she told the new Ofglen, she was not familiar with “the former one”.
From this, we can infer that she knows the naming rule. However, she cannot
change it. She can just receive.
Hence, we know how Gilead treats the handmaid. They do not even have a
name for themselves. Every handmaid in one family can only have one name which
is Of the owner’s name. It is showed that the belonging of the handmaid is only
for the commander not others. Name means identity. Gilead making a name for the
handmaid and not using their old name means that Gilead do not want the handmaid
has their own identities. The vanishing of name is really a disrespect of
woman.
Secondly, Offred can be divided into “Off” and “red”. Red is the color
of blood. Sometimes it also means sexuality and desire. Gilead requires the
handmaid to be a tool of fertility. “Two leg womb” is what the critic describe
to the handmaid. Commanders have no love sex with handmaids. It is a great satire
to the color. The handmaid use red color everywhere: “my red robe”,
“red-patterned tie”, “red-gloved hands”, “red cloth”, “red woolen cape”, “red
arm bands” and “red shoes” are all the red things been occurred in the handmaid’s
tale. Every handmaid wears red.
There is another implied meaning: “Red is so visible.” Gilead uses this
color to inform people the handmaid is coming, please do not do anything to
them or you will be get into the prison. When the solider or normal man see
handmaids, they will behave themselves. The red is so visible the escaping of
handmaids is very difficult. The police can easily know where they are going
and what they are going to do just because of the color they wear. That’s also
why Moira can escape from the Red Center by wearing the aunt’s cloth.
However, the divided of Offred is “Off” and “red” this time. “Of” tell
us that the ending. The narrator can be the off of the red which may means she
will escape can will not wearing red again. May be thousands of handmaids do
the same thing as her, and that’s why Gilead regime doomed then there will
never have red later. That just a deduction. The red really represses the
handmaid. The handmaid was controlled by Gilead strictly. Wearing red is used
of preventing handmaids’ running away. Wearing red is also used protecting
handmaids not been violated by other man. Though it is benefit for women but it
vindicates commanders’ profits more. [2]
Thirdly, Offred can also be divided into “Off” and “red (read)”. This
book is neaten writing of the narrator talking version. Because of the same
pronounces of “red” and “read”, we cannot know what the exactly spelling of
pronounce is. If “Offred” is “Offread”, there is a lot of evidence to support
it. “This hasn’t been blacked out, even though we aren’t supposed to be
reading.” In this case, the handmaid is not supposed to be reading while the
wife of the house said “I’ve read your file.” The narrator also mentioned that “The aunts are
allowed to read and write.” As the information we can gain, the handmaid cannot
read while the wife and aunt can read. Moreover, the aunts are even said that “Our
big mistake was teaching them to read.” So how would the problem happen? Why
does Gilead think up the idea: not reading to control the handmaid? Handmaid
cannot read so that they cannot gain the information directly.
Only get enough information, people can have a
chance to escape. In other word, the no reading idea makes handmaid no idea to
escape. They can think about tens of escaping schemes without limitation of the
information. However, they cannot do it. So that some handmaids may compromise
and begin to be a truly handmaid. What if a handmaid can read? She may think a
lot and revolt a lot. As we all know we can get different knowledge and
thinking from reading. [3] The education makes people smarter. But Gilead does
not need their handmaids to be smart. It only need them to be like a tool of fertility. Wives and aunts can read books because they are dominators. Gilead wants
aunt educating the handmaid. The wives need to control all the handmaid in her
house. The narrator mentioned a detail that the commander invite her to play
Scrabble. Narrator was not been attracted by the Scrabble but the information
she can get. When narrator was been invited to the study room second time, the
commander asked her “What would you like to read tonight?” She also narrated
that “I’ve read a Raymond Chandler, and right now I’m halfway through Hard
Times, by Charles Dickens.” The desire of reading for her is such strong that
the commander use a little temptation, she was been attracted already.
In order to Gilead regime stable enough so that
Gilead does not want lower case man reading and also no reading for handmaids.
However, it may become the biggest problem of the society. In the narrator’s
description: “We used to read them in bed.” It means many handmaids have been
educated enough to read. If people can read before and they cannot read later.
Those handmaids already has their own thinking of fertility. They will not be willing to have a sex with someone they
don’t like even someone they heated. At first, they may pretend agreeing on
those ceremony. But what will happen later? The revolt will happen everywhere. The “Off”
may means those handmaids in order to get their own profits for reading so they
decided to off the Gilead.
In a word, Gilead treated badly to the handmaids.
From the different divisions of “Offset”, we can infer different hurting the
handmaid gains. Gilead never admit that a handmaid are a single woman does not
belong to anyone. The name “Of” somebody means they are dependency of the
commander. There are not equality in Gilead’s mind. The handmaid loses their
certain identity. Also, Gilead requests all handmaids to wear red to help them
lose their identity completely. While every handmaid is wearing red, people
cannot distinguish each person. As the red is a color that visible enough,
people will not go to be close with them which may cause death. The red has
another benefits for Gilead which is that the handmaid cannot easily escape
from people’s sight. Another divided of “Offred” contains a problem that the
handmaid cannot read in Gilead. Since the handmaid are always educated. They
are not willing to only be “two leg wombs”. They have their own understanding
of a life and may want revolt the regime. So that Gilead will be no longer. May
be that’s why Gilead was been destruction. That’s only the configuration from
the name for the handmaid’s tale.
