Analysis Paper Draft 1

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, the things happened there and how Gilead treat 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 understanding of the offred can meanly represent how 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 the end of red. It may means the narrator escaped successfully. Red means a lot but in the handmaids’ tale, Gilead take away every handmaid’s identity just use red to represent them which is disrespect for women. Handmaids cannot read in Gilead either. The no information getting helps Gilead 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.” We can know the Offred is not the real name of the narrator, it was just a designation of the handmaid who worked in the Fred’s home. The sentence which is “‘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 prove that idea. Also, narrator herself admit this idea. When the new Ofglen was come while the old Ofglen is 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.

Hence, we know how Gilead treats the handmaids. 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 show the belonging to everyone that 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.

Secondly, Offred can be divided into “Off” and “red”. Red is the color of blood. Sometimes it also means sexuality and desire. 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 thing been occurred in the handmaid’s tale. Every handmaid wear red. So there is another implied meaning: “Red is so visible.” Gilead use 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. It may tell us that the ending. The narrator can be the off of the red which 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 the Gilead regime doomed then there will never have red later. That just a deduction. The red really represses handmaids. The handmaid was amazing controlled by Gilead. Wearing red is used of preventing handmaids’ running away. Wearing red is also used protecting handmaids not been violated by other man. It vindicates commanders’ profits.

Thirdly, Offred can also be divided into “Off” and “red (read)”. This book is neaten writing version 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 also 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 handmaids are 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 that in Gilead, 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. So in other word, the no reading idea makes handmaid like a bee but no head. They may think about tens of escaping schemes with the limitation of the information. They cannot do it. So that some handmaids may compromise and begin to give a birth to baby. 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. The education makes people smarter. But Gilead does not need their handmaids 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” some body 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 the tools which is used to give birth to the baby. 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.