Secret Relationships

College English Ms. Pahomov Beau Riviere October 13th, 2025

Reading Chapter 23 of the Handmaid’s Tale I found the scene in the Commander’s Study gave me a whole new view on how the people in power are actually affected by the system they created. When I read the moment where Offred is summoned to the Commander’s forbidden room and plays Scrabble with him and later finds out he wants a kiss from her, I was surprised by this moment. But what really intrigued me was trying to understand why he wanted this type of relationship with Offred at all.

Offred describes her approach to this moment with the Commander with fear and thinking about the ways she could be punished for it. She says “My presence here is illegal. It’s forbidden for us to be alone with the Commander”(136). This detail goes into how women are supposed to be just the things in the society that are able to give birth which makes it clear how restricted her existence is. Although as I continued to read this section I realized that the Commander was also restricted just in a completely different way.

When the Commander reveals he wants to play scrabble with her, I was taken back at first. But then I started thinking about what this really means. Offred describes his nervousness and how “sheepish” he looks, like “the way men used to look once”(138). He’s embarrassed to ask for something so simple. This made me realize that the Commander is starving for something his own regime has taken away from him. He can’t play scrabble with his wife , or have a normal conversation with her, or be a regular person anymore because Gilead has turned him into something else.

I think what surprised me the most was realizing that even those who are in power are trapped by the system they created. The Commander has all the control he could and authority that he could possibly want, but he’s so isolated and lonely that he has to sneak a Handmaid into his study room just to have a conversation with someone who can think for themselves. He is willing to break the rules that he enforces because he needs to feel like a normal human. He has this want and need to be seen as a regular person and not just a Commander.

The way Offred describes the Scrabble game shows how much it means to him to be doing such a simple activity. She says “The feeling is voluptuous. This is freedom, an eyeblink of it”(139). But I realized that Offred isn’t the only one experiencing freedom from this moment. The Commander is too. For him having someone to talk to and play a game with is like finding a crack in the wall that he built around himself. He is so desperate for human connection that he’s willing to risk everything to have it.

What really made me interested in why the Commander wanted this was understanding that his need for Offred isn’t just about romance or attraction in a normal sense. It’s about his need to connect with someone who can understand him and who he can be somewhat of himself around. In Gilead the Commander is surrounded by people who fear him and the power he has, but no one actually knows him on a personal level. He has created a world where he has total control but no real connection and that’s making him miserable.

Another thing that showed me how desperate the Commander is was the way he asked Offred to kiss him like she meant it. He says “Not like that”(140). This moment revealed that what he actually wants isn’t just physical affection. He wants to be wanted by someone else. He wants someone to choose him, not because they have to, but because they actually care and want to. This is something Gilead has made impossible for him with his Wife or anyone else in his position. The rules that kept Offred as just a womb also keep him from ever having a genuine relationship.

By having Offred come to his study in secret the Commander is essentially admitting that the system he represents is broken. He has the power and the control, but he’s completely alone. He needs her to need him back even if that need is complicated and dangerous. He’s looking for someone who understands what freedom and normalcy used to feel like. Someone who remembers that life could be different.

Overall the scene in Chapter 23 where the COmmander and Offred are together alone provided me with a new view on how the system built in Gilead affects and hurts everyone involved. What surprised me the most was understanding that the Commander’s need for Offred isn’t a sign of weakness in him, rather it’s a sign of how suffocating Gilead’s system is. Even those in power are starving for something their regime does not allow, which is genuine human connection and to be truly seen by another human.

Confronting The Wall

College English Ms. Pahomov Beau Riviere September 29, 2025

Six chapters into the Handmaids Tale I encountered one scene that made me take a new look and perspective on how humans are intrigued by different sightings. When I read the scene where Offred first describes The Wall and what she was seeing I was in disbelief. 

    She described such a horrific and gruesome image that they were looking at. When she describes it as “there are six more bodies hanging, by the necks, their hands tied in front of them, their heads in white bags tipped sideways onto their shoulders”(32). The detail Offred goes into on how their bodies are positioned after execution is very graphic and gruesome for one to imagine by just reading a book let alone actually seeing this happen right in front of you.

    Then she says “We stop, together as if on signal, and stand and look at the bodies. It doesn’t matter if we look. We’re supposed to look: this is what they are there for”(32). Offred describing how dragged in they got by this scene and how they starred and looked at it made it seem as if it were something impressive to look at, but there was nothing impressive or good about this scene displayed before them to look at. This scene before them was horrendous and I think that's exactly why they were so dragged in to look. 

    As humans when we see something in life that we may think is difficult to view or watch we tend to look at it more and become more intrigued by it. I think this scene is a perfect example of that because just reading this book I got intrigued by a scene that was so graphic and I know I wouldn't want to see it in real life but here I am writing about it because while it is horrifying it is also gravitating and I think Gilead uses this to their advantage.  

    Gilead wants to use these executions and bodies in public as a way to scare the people of Gilead into behaving well and complying with their rules. They want everyone to know that if they get rid of babies or the chance to have a baby that they will be killed and killed in public for everyone to see. 

    Now another way Gilead could go about enforcing the rules about abortion is by giving jail time to people to break them but they know that wouldn't have the impact that execution has. When people go to jail and serve time it's not difficult for people on the outside to see that and accept that and it wouldn't scare them into behaving well and complying with them.  On the other hand, execution leaves a mark that makes it so people can't get it out of their heads and they can't quite get enough of it to stop looking. So by having a punishment that people can't stop looking at and consuming it leaves a print of fear and understanding of consequence in their heads. 

    Offred says “They have committed atrocities and must be made into examples, for the rest”(33).  This quote shows that executions make these men good examples for the rest of what  not to do. When the people of Gilead stare at them, and they will, they get this idea that becomes imprinted in their brains that if they ever try to break the rules and orders of the society that they will pay the ultimate price with their lives.  

    Another thing that execution does in favor of Gilead waiting control is it almost brainwashes the people in society into thinking the way that the government thinks. By showing such gruesome consequences for actions done by these doctors it creates a connection between abortion and terrible consequences for the onlooker to have to the point where the person who keeps looking at The Wall will eventually get the idea that if you are in favor of or have the idea of having an abortion you are thinking the wrong way and committing a terrible act.  This helps Gilead get the people under their control to start to think the way they do which will allow them to not have as much resistance from the citizens. 

    Overall the scene in Chapter 6 where Offred talks about her observing the wall provided me with a new and intriguing view on how big groups of power use violence to persuade and convey the people they are looking to control.

Confronting The Wall

College English Ms. Pahomov Beau Riviere September 29, 2025

Six chapters into the Handmaids Tale I encountered one scene that made me take a new look and perspective on how humans are intrigued by different sightings. When I read the scene where Offred first describes The Wall and what she was seeing I was in disbelief. 

    She described such a horrific and gruesome image that they were looking at. When she describes it as “there are six more bodies hanging, by the necks, their hands tied in front of them, their heads in white bags tipped sideways onto their shoulders”(32). The detail Offred goes into on how their bodies are positioned after execution is very graphic and gruesome for one to imagine by just reading a book let alone actually seeing this happen right in front of you.

    Then she says “We stop, together as if on signal, and stand and look at the bodies. It doesn’t matter if we look. We’re supposed to look: this is what they are there for”(32). Offred describing how dragged in they got by this scene and how they starred and looked at it made it seem as if it were something impressive to look at, but there was nothing impressive or good about this scene displayed before them to look at. This scene before them was horrendous and I think that's exactly why they were so dragged in to look. 

    As humans when we see something in life that we may think is difficult to view or watch we tend to look at it more and become more intrigued by it. I think this scene is a perfect example of that because just reading this book I got intrigued by a scene that was so graphic and I know I wouldn't want to see it in real life but here I am writing about it because while it is horrifying it is also gravitating and I think Gilead uses this to their advantage.  

    Gilead wants to use these executions and bodies in public as a way to scare the people of Gilead into behaving well and complying with their rules. They want everyone to know that if they get rid of babies or the chance to have a baby that they will be killed and killed in public for everyone to see. 

    Now another way Gilead could go about enforcing the rules about abortion is by giving jail time to people to break them but they know that wouldn't have the impact that execution has. When people go to jail and serve time it's not difficult for people on the outside to see that and accept that and it wouldn't scare them into behaving well and complying with them.  On the other hand, execution leaves a mark that makes it so people can't get it out of their heads and they can't quite get enough of it to stop looking. So by having a punishment that people can't stop looking at and consuming it leaves a print of fear and understanding of consequence in their heads. 

    Offred says “They have committed atrocities and must be made into examples, for the rest”(33).  This quote shows that executions make these men good examples for the rest of what  not to do. When the people of Gilead stare at them, and they will, they get this idea that becomes imprinted in their brains that if they ever try to break the rules and orders of the society that they will pay the ultimate price with their lives.  

    Another thing that execution does in favor of Gilead waiting control is it almost brainwashes the people in society into thinking the way that the government thinks. By showing such gruesome consequences for actions done by these doctors it creates a connection between abortion and terrible consequences for the onlooker to have to the point where the person who keeps looking at The Wall will eventually get the idea that if you are in favor of or have the idea of having an abortion you are thinking the wrong way and committing a terrible act.  This helps Gilead get the people under their control to start to think the way they do which will allow them to not have as much resistance from the citizens. 

    Overall the scene in Chapter 6 where Offred talks about her observing the wall provided me with a new and intriguing view on how big groups of power use violence to persuade and convey the people they are looking to control.