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The Handmaid's Tale Analysis

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In the beginning of any new society, it is difficult to let go of the past. When the colonists started the Revolution, many citizens were not willing to be a part of this change. Why? It was due to their inability to separate their past life from their present one. The inability to separate a past lifestyle from a present or future lifestyle makes it extremely difficult to survive in a society. Conforming to a society’s social and religious values is much easier when citizens do not remember or acknowledge how they lived in the previous society they were a part of. In the Handmaid’s Tale, a novel by Margaret Atwood, the narrator and protagonist, Offred, was unable to separate her previous American lifestyle and her memories of this life …show more content…
Multiple times throughout the novel, Offred has flashbacks to her old life, and what it was like to be with Luke. At the beginning of the novel, most of what Offred actions and thoughts come back to memories of Luke. The thought of being able to live a life where she was comfortable with her surroundings and the people around her is what she desires. When she alludes to Luke, she does not want to re-experience the good memories, but instead experience emotion, even if its anger towards Luke for failing to do an easy task. “I’d like to have Luke here, in this bedroom while I’m getting dressed, so I could have a fight with him… An argument, about who should put the dishes in the dishwasher, whose turn it is to sort the laundry, clean the toilet; something daily…” (Atwood 200). This need for expression of emotion is because in her relationship with Luke, she could express freely her emotion without fearing a consequence. Although she complies with most of the rules in public, her internal questioning doesn’t go away, because she feels that even though Luke is no where to be known of, she refuses to believe any of her outcomes fully, giving her a glimmer of hope about the future. This defense mechanism is preparing her for the future if he really is dead. Her failure to separate herself from Luke and the memories of her past life drives her to find someone to have a relationship with, have emotional security and have the ability to express herself more freely than she was previously allowed in the

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