Freedom p.173-258

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 In the third quarter, Offred is getting more and more stuck in her past, and she begins to do illegal acts, but she is still careful. We learn a lot about her background and the surrounding life including the revolution. 

In fact, we learn that her walk partner, Ofglen, is part of the opposition: Mayday. Both of them were careful with each other until they found out
they do not really believe in all the religion established. 

Since that moment, Offred has started to see some hope for herself to get out of her status as Handmaid. In addition to having a secret relationship with the Commander, Offred learns more about the revolution while reliving moments of her past with her daughter, Hannah, her husband, Luke and her best friend who escaped, Moira.

Offred has a lot of pressure from the Wife and Marthas since she is their only hope to have a baby. Even if women do not really agree with their new fates, children are so rare. They can not help but hope that the handmaid will give their family a child. As a result, Offred has a lot of external pressure, in addition to having to satisfy the Commander’s weird needs in search of human contact. She comforts herself by telling herself that she gets gifts and certain rights during a night.

However, their night meeting made her relive her past where she loved and was loved for real. She had a family and rights. She had a job and her life on her own. She could choose her own destiny but everything changed since then. She wonders about her relatives such as her daughter. She imagines happy futures possible for them to try to live her horrible situation better.

Serena, the Wife, takes advantage of her situation to force her to procreate with another person (Nick), because maybe the problem comes from her husband. She will give Offred information about her daughter in exchange for this illegal action. We can clearly see her attachment to her child who was taken away from her. Being already fragile, Serena takes advantage of it, and Offred has little hesitation. Anything to get her life back the way she always imagined it as her way to cope.

It is a really particular quarter where we l
earn more about Offred’s past and her current situation where she is beginning to take more freedom. 



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Final thoughts

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  What lessons did your draw from the novel? Freedom and life as we know it isn’t a garantee Offred lived in the world we know today, or something similar to it in the beginnings of the book, she lived like us until the problems started and then everything was different. It shows us how quickly life can change, how it can turn completely around very fast. If you stay quiet you lose your voice Many handmaids aren’t like Offred, they stay in line, they listen closely to the rules, these are the women who lose their ability to defy, they can’t fight anymore because they have given up on themselves. What element(s) was most significant for you personally?  In Gilead, everyone looses Offred is a victim, this much is clear, but the wives suffer too, they have to stand by and watch their husbands have intercourse with the handmaids, and they can’t say anything about it. The commanders are also victims of the system, moderately forced to rape women on a regular basis to insure procrea...
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Glossary

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Since it is a dystopia, Margaret Atwood made up a lot of words that are important in her story. These words make sense in the Handmaid’s tale.  Handmaids ( Servantes ) are fertile women who bear children for Wives and their Commanders. They wear red. Wives ( Épouses ) are married to Commanders. It’s unclear whether they are fertile since they use handmaids to procreate. They were blue. Commanders ( Commandants ) are powerful men who use handmaids to procreate with their Wives. They conceived and devised Gilead. It is an entire class of men. The Aunts ( Tantes ) is a class of infertile women who are in positions of power. They teach handmaids. They are true believers who were involved with the cause way before the official Gilead transition. They wear brown. Jezebels ( Jezabels ) are illegal prostitutes who work in a secret club for Commanders. Marthas are another kind of servants. They are infertile women who work as caretakers and cook for the family. It is the same...
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