Scrabble and Hidden Intentions

In Chapter 23, Offred sees the Commander outside the ceremony and in his public duty. Offred is instructed by Serena Joy to visit the commander’s office. She is nervous because secret meetings between handmaids and commanders are forbidden, and it could potentially be dangerous. But to her surprise, she isn’t called to be interrogated or punished; the commander asks her to play a game of Scrabble with him.

Offred is confused and a little suspicious because reading is forbidden for women in Gilead. She feels guilty about this meeting. But as she and the commander continue through the game, she feels a mix of excitement and power. “We play two games. Larynx, I spell. Valance. Quince. Zygote”, she feels memories of her old life coming back to her, when playing a simple game of Scrabble was not frowned upon. The commander has one more thing for Offred, an old-fashion magazine. This magazine is from pre-Gilead, but it is also now banned. “This is freedom, an eyeblink of it”, she feels as if this moment is intimate, showing the reality of how starved she has been for a real human connection.

Offred does not let this feeling blind her; she knows this “relationship” is dangerous for her, and she cannot tell anyone. If she and the commander are caught, they would be severely punished. But why does the commander consider Offred? Why does he offer her a game of Scrabble even when he knows reading is forbidden for Handmaids? This meeting isn’t random; it’s connected to what happened to Fred and Serena’s previous handmaid before Offred arrived.

Though we don’t know her name, we know her story. She was the one who wrote words that Offred found; she was the one who took her own life, and she was the one who left both emotional and physical stains on the household. The commander has this meeting with Offred because he wants to prevent the same thing from happening to her. Even though he wants to make her life easier as a handmaid, he still hopes for a genuine human connection. The commander is lonely and bored in the power-obsessed world that they are forced to live in. He wants normalcy and a companion. But this is not fully pure, the commander is still centering his needs. Scrabble becomes his form of rebellion. By inviting Offred to play, he thinks he is being kind, but it’s also a power move. Offering Offred something “illegal” can make her feel indebted to him and give him more control.

For my art piece, I made Scrabble tiles that spell out themes that appear so far in our readings. I chose seven words: autonomy, handmaids, self, men, power, less, and fertility. I feel like all of these words relate to THT completely because we know the struggle of autonomy, fertility, and a sense of self for the handmaids in a world that just discards them. I added the word men because they are at the hierarchy in Gilead. Even though the words power and less are separate, when you look at my art piece, they are connected at the “E” in power and less. This adds an artistic touch and puts a play on words.