One evening, she finds he has brought her sexually revealing clothing with makeup and he takes her to a speakeasy, staffed by prostitutes. It is there she meets Moira again, who
is working there. Moira tells Offred that she saw Offred's mother in a
movie where she had been sent to one of the radioactive colonies. Offred's
mother would have been considered an "Unwoman" for two reasons - she had
been a radical feminist before the revolution and she was beyond
childbearing age.

The Commander's wife - a former gospel singer known as Serena Joy -
suspects that Offred is not conceiving because of the Commander not being
able to impregnate her, but this cannot be mentioned. Serena then
arranges that Offred go to meet with Nick, the chauffeur, to attempt
conception. Serena Joy does not care how she gets her baby.

Eventually, Serena Joy finds out about the late night meetings Offred has
been having with the Commander and accuses her of trying to steal her
husband. The options for Offred are suicide, an attempt to run away or
staying and possibly being executed. She is rescued by Nick, who says he
is a member of the secret underground society, Mayday, and Offred's part of
the book ends with her being hustled into a van by two agents. We hope
they are actually double agents for Mayday as Nick has hinted.

The last chapter of the...

The last chapter is meant to be the speech of a professor who has found Offred's
memoir and believes she did escape to either Canada or England. We do not
know if she returned to her family.

The theocratic symbolism in "The Handmaid's Tale" is strong. Women's
identities are taken away from them in that they no longer have their own
names, and definitely not their own lives. Offred chooses not to share her
name with almost anyone, since she reserves this part of herself as a
remnant of who she used to be,

Color is of particular import in "The Handmaid's Tale". Offred wears red,
a color which suggests menstruation. Each class of woman -the wives, the
Martha's, the Aunts - all wear a certain color associated with their
station as if they can be classified solely due to the position assigned to
them in life rather than as separate people.

It is probably noteworthy to state that the government does not appear to
be successful in Gilead. The entire set-up is based on fallacy, as
evidenced by the Commander's nighttime meetings with Offred or by Serena
Joy sending Offred to sleep with Nick.

The Handmaid's Tale is ambiguous, since we are never sure if Offred
actually gets away, is reunited with her husband or her child. It is,
however, a well written and very interesting book.