Story Telling

In chapter 7, of the Handmaid’s Tale our Handmaid is describing a dream to the readers. About different moments within her past the chapter then ends off with her talking about a story. This chapter was probably the most interesting and confusing to me with the very ambiguous way the latter half of it was written. With the use of meta narrative and 4th wall breaks I took a considerable amount of time trying to break it all down for me to understand.
One line that I thought had a big significance within this chapter and even in the story is when Offred is talking about her story. “I would like to believe that this is a story I’m telling. I need to believe it. I must believe it.” (39) It feels like Offred knows that she’s in a story and in my head I saw it as her talking to the readers that she doesn’t even feel like she’s a part of her story more that she has to make herself believe she’s not a cog in a grand machine. I even related this to how Offred constantly dehumanizes herself and reduces herself to something less than like an inanimate object. Offred is almost like a side character within the story. I feel as though she thinks that the world she’s in isn’t right and she shouldn’t conform to the way things work in gilead. Hence the “I need to believe it. I Must believe it.” I also saw it as her somewhat understanding her role within the story. As the one who will eventually make it out of gilead and tell her story.

I thought that the use of the meta narrative style was interesting but also confusing all at the same time, because it really felt like Offred was going back and forth on whether it’s a story she’s telling or one she isn’t. “If it’s a story I’m telling, then I have control over the ending…If it isn’t a story I’m telling. It’s also a story I’m telling, in my head as I go along.” (39) When I first read this I was so confused because all I would read was story this, and story that. Then I started looking into this part more and I thought it made a bit more sense. Offred believes that if she really is the one making the choices for herself and telling her story then she’d be able to have her own ending. If it’s a story she isn’t creating and her choices are not of her own volition then she still has a story in which she can create in her own mind as it’s happening. I had written down that it seems like Offred is conflicted on if the choices that she makes are even her own or how this new society is conditioning her to think. I see it as a bit of both. She has her own actions and thoughts which would be the story she is telling, then it’s the actions and thoughts she has which were conditioned into her, the story she isn’t telling.
At the end of the chapter is probably the most important little section where Offred connects a story to a letter. “A story is like a letter. Dear You, I’ll say. Just you without a name. Attaching a name attaches you to the world of fact… I will say you you, like an old love song. You can mean more than one. You can mean thousands.” (40) Reading this part immediately made me think about the italicized “You” I read as Offred referring to the reader breaking through that fourth wall. Almost trying to find a connection with someone who doesn’t have to live in the world she does. That use of you makes the reader almost feel like they are within the story having to witness the struggle and suffering the handmaids of Gilead have to go through. With this use of the word you, you also have this giant ambiguity to who Offred is even referring to. Could it actually be the reader? Or even the handmaids? As she talks about a story as a letter and the word you is almost calling out to someone to read her letter, listen to her story.
The end of chapter 7 to me is one of the more interesting parts throughout The Handmaid’s Tale. Simply because of how ambiguous it is, there isn’t anything that is said flat out or explained in more detail. It’s just very open ended and up to how the reader wants to interpret it. Which I even think relates to how Offred feels within this story and most likely has to battle with throughout the rest. Which is what she makes of her story whether it be the choices she makes or the ones she is conditioned to follow. The story she’s telling versus the story she isn’t. Neither being set in stone just like the “you” that she’s referring to having the reader decide it’s fate is the same decision Offred must make when telling her story.