Offred’s Rebellious Thoughts in the Handmaid's Tale (Book Analysis Essay)

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” A french author, Albert Camus knew how important the act of rebellion was. His philosophy was very similar to the way Offred thought about and navigated her life inside Gilead. In the Handmaids Tale, Atwood utilizes Offred’s rebellious thoughts contrasted with her outward conformity to examine rebellious thoughts as an expression of sanity and freedom in an insane and unfree society. 

Because Offred’s rebellion happens inwardly with her thoughts, she maintains her ability to analyze the world around her. Answering the interpreter's question from tourists about whether they are happy or not she says, “Yes, we're very happy.” In stark contrast of what she said, she thinks to herself, “I have to say something. What else can I say?” (29). Offred reminds herself of her reality by asking the question, “What else can I say?” She doesn‘t want to be punished for speaking her mind, but at the same time cannot slip into the mindset of just passively accepting what is going on around her. Analyzing the situation and her possible options is one way that Offred maintains a sense of the little autonomy she has. Another time that Offred maintains her freedom through critical thinking is when Janine was confessing her ‘sin’ of being gang raped. After Janine testifies and the Handmaids are told to call Janine a crybaby, Offred thinks to herself,  “We meant it, which is the bad part.” (Some page in chapter 13). Because Offred says that she meant it, the indoctrination of Gilead is still creeping in on Offred. However, she recognizes the fact that calling Janine a crybaby for relieving her trauma was terrible. Being able to see that it was bad is a way that Offred tries to combat the indoctrination. Even if she did mean it, the ability think critically and make a jugement on it is Liberating, and again allows her another channel of freedom. Throughout the book, Offred analyzes everything as a means to be free in the only way Gilead cannot regulate. Gilead will not allow her to express her thoughts freely, yet she still disobeys through critically examination and questioning.  

Athough Offred maintains freedom through her thoughts, she still enjoys the power that comes with rebelling outwardly (in ways she can). Walking away from the tourists, Offred reflects on the reason for her lying to the interperter. She remembers when Aunt Lydia said, “Modesty is invisibility... Never forget it. To be seen – to be seen – is to be... penetrated” (28). Despite these instructions from Aunt Lydia, Offred still goes out of her way to be seen by men.  After walking in a flirtatious manner past the guards, she says, "Then I find I’m not ashamed after all. I enjoy the power; power of a dog bone, passive but there. I hope they get hard at the sight of us and have to rub themselves against the painted barriers surreptitiously” (31). Offred inwardly is able to feel the satisfaction that she has power over men in such a society. She doesn’t care about the men. Her thoughts serve as the main act of rebellion itself, rather than her deciding to sway her hips and make the men jealous. Her thoughts play a role of power that Offred can exert in a society where she is repeatedly disempowered. 

While Offred’s visits with the Commander are breaking many rules, it still serves as an important piece of Offred’s inward disobedience. During those visits, Offred complies with his every request, however strange they may be. However, she is always analyzing and she even has thoughts about killing him with a toilet handle. When the Commander asks Offred to kiss him, she thinks to herself, “I think about how I could take the back of the toilet apart...  I think about the blood coming out of him, hot as soup, sexual, over my hands” (139-140).  Her violent thoughts are not in line with what she presents, and what she is supposed to be. Offred is able to tell herself that she has more power than she thinks she does. In such a situation where she is visitng the Commander, her immediate captor, she is still able to think about a very outwardly violent way of rebelling without actually doing it. Even though, she has these incredibly rebellious thoughts, she still obliges the Commander and kisses him, conforming outwardly to what he wants. Gilead cannot control what ultimately is her thoughts and she utilizes it as her most powerful tool of rebellion.  

The laws of Gilead, while able to suppress explicit rebellion, struggles in being able to punish the ‘wrong’ thoughts of its inhabitants. Sometimes the only time you can rebel is through your thoughts. Offred realizes this and does so constantly throughout the book, her critical examining and thinking skills being her most powerful weapon. Her thoughts and constant questioning, at the end, are the weakness of Gilead.