Quote:
Originally Posted by CharredScribe
On Nyssa and issybird's points on Offred, heroism and survival: I don't know that we can evaluate their choices fairly. It is also my own instinct to think that the women could have done more. I mean, they could remember freedom. This was not generations after a significant change. The women could remember a different life. How could they not do more to reclaim their freedom? But I also think that that is Atwood's point. We have many examples in history of a social group "submitting" to a worsening of their own oppression. I think the reality is that fear and the desire to survive conspire to make resistance seem hopeless or too frightening, combined with the very real threats of violence. The handmaidens saw what was done to those who resisted.
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I understand why the story centered on Offred; she was everywoman. Most of us are not the stuff of heroes, much less martyrs. Just the same, she irritated me. She was self-absorbed and made stupid choices and I rather resented that the mechanics of the resistance were put into play to save her, of all people. But that was a visceral response and attests to the effectiveness of Atwood's choice. Overall, there are too many hero stories, especially in dystopias, where it seems as if it takes only one person to being down an entire system. But there are many more Offreds than Katnisses and perhaps that's why I disliked Offred; it's the acknowledgment that I'm an Offred.