The End

Kyle Petras

5/15/16

Blog #5

Gubanich

The End

      Reading the final chapters of Margret Atwood’s novel, The Handmaid’s Tale, was an interesting end. I expected it a bit, but who cares, it was an interesting book. For this week’s blog, I have been tasked to unpack a quote. In this setting, Offred and all the other handmaids have been summoned to a meeting beyond the wall. When they get there, everything is set up as if a graduation was taking place. Aunt Lydia is set to speak and talks about three women who have been committed of crimes. In the past, they have told them what crimes they have done, but this time, they have chosen not to.

      After hearing what Aunt Lydia says, Offred says in the text, "The crimes of others are a secret language among us. Through them we show ourselves what we might be capable of, after all"(275 Atwood). Offred is saying that the crimes other people commit are a complete mystery to us, but the government knows everything. Knowing this makes us want to commit a crime.

      This quote also foreshadows the fate of Offred. In the end, the Eyes catch Offred. When going for a walk with “Ofglen”, Offred realizes that it is not she. Everything is the same, but it is a different woman. Offred attempts to use “Mayday” to see if it is actually Ofglen, but the only response that she get is “You ought to make an effort…to clear your mind of such…echoes”(284 Atwood). This is a definite sign that it is not Ofglen. If it was, she would have never of said that. This frightens Offred that she might have just been caught. In the end, she is captured and taken away. This also foreshadows the death of the real Ofglen. “After the salvaging” she said, “She saw the vans coming for her”, so, “She hung herself”(285 Atwood).

      To end this blog, I realized that this quote really had a lot to it. I really didn’t think it had that much meat to it. When a crime is committed in Gilead, no one is informed about it. It is a secret to the rest of society. This can easily be seen when Ofglen was replaced. The thing to take from this quote is that people always end up getting caught. It’s a trigger for us to follow after them out of human nature.