11/3 A Handmaid's Tale

In class today, we talked about the different characters of the book. My opinion of some them goes as follows:

Aunt Lydia: She strikes me as a very monotone, mother figure who does look out for the women who don't have it too good in the house. I don't know what her intentions are by looking out for them, whether it be that she actually cares about them, whether it be if they do something wrong, she will get in trouble too, or whether it is that she knows what happened to the women who misbehaved before her, she does in fact look out for them.

Commander: He is an enigma to me. Does he feel bad for Offred? Does he like Offred? Did he like the previous handmaid or was he doing it for his own convenience and personal content? Why is he breaking the "rules" so that he can hang out with Offred again, if he knows what happened to the last handmaid? Even so, apparently the Republic of Gilead is a patriarchal society. So, if he wanted to hang out with a handmaid, why couldn't he do it without penalty, considering he is the head of the house? He could easily just order Selena to not do anything because he initiated it.

Offred: Offred seems kind of curious. She often reflects on her life before this one, wishing she could have it back, and reminiscing about the family that she used to have. But, as we said in class, she does seem to be "comfortable" (for lack of better words) in the situation that she's in. For example, she COULD have used the doctor as a means to maybe escape, or feel a little more human, and doesn't. She is simply hanging out with the Commander more because he wants to, not because she is making a plan to escape (at first at least).

Selena: She's rude, jealous, and mean. If you can't tell, I don't really like her.

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