Rebellion Worn Like a Garment

In chapters 35-39 of The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood, I felt the weight of rebellion both as an outward and inward expression that was a dangerous gamble on the characters' lives. Offred's inner thoughts are where most of her resistance takes shape: in memories she refuses to surrender,  and in a way she measures time and names people in her head. These chapters push me to see rebellion not only as a dramatic refusal but as the slow accumulation of choices that refuse total submission. Especially when Offred recalls the past-shopping with Moira, sharing jokes with the other handmaids, or thinking about Nick, she is slowly reassembling a self that Gilead tries to erase; those recollections are a quiet rebellion. At the same time, outward acts, like the illicit conversations, furtive touches, and the risky physical contact Offred has had with the Commander, remind me that Gilead has degrees of rebellion. These physical connections can be seen as overt defiance because they insist on human needs that the regime pretends do not exist.

Reading these Chapters makes me compare rebellion in the book to how we treat dissent in the real world. In a lot of public discourse, rebellion is often portrayed as criminal or noble, depending on the perception you have. Rebellion can be a survival tactic, an emotional refuge, or a way to claim or reclaim dignity. Gilead's laws reduce every human impulse to political calculation; so when Offerd allows herself memory and curiosity, she enacts a politics of personhood. That resonates with modern realities where marginalized groups and individuals push back through language, and everyday refusal-subtle cultural shifts that don't always make the headlines but accumulate into larger change. In both the book and the world, rebellion meaning depends on perspective: rulers call it a threat; the oppressed call it necessary survival.


Now, as a young person, I recognize how easily our attempts to define ourselves and figure out who we are/want to be are labeled as rebellious. Chapters 35-39 of the novel map that misinterpretation in relief. Teenagers and young adults test boundaries to understand values and to practice autonomy; this process is frequently read as defiance rather than just exploration—Offred's small rebellions, reading, remembering, and making taboo connections. Adults often dismiss my questions or choices, seeing them as my teenage stubbornness, instead of seeing them as attempts to learn and understand. Similarly, Gilead's authority misreads human curiosity and intimacy as moral failures. I see how the novel urges the reader to recognize the developmental work of young people as rebellion.

Chapters 35-39 taught me that rebellion is as much about keeping your thoughts intact as it is about external actions.