1. If one had to imagine a utopian, as opposed to dystopian, society, are there any aspects of Gilead that one would want?
2. Is Offred a trustable narrator? How do we know if things were actually as bad as she makes them seem? I suppose we could never know. But does that even matter? Isn’t any situation gauged by perception?
“As long as we do this, butter our skin to keep it soft, we can believe that we will some day get out, that we will be touched again, in love or desire. We have ceremonies of our own, private ones” (Atwood, 97) This admission for Offred is inconsistent as the book goes on. She does these rituals to preserve her beauty-utterly useless in this world-and holds out for the hope of escape. However later in the book she refers to Luke 'was' the love of her life, catches herself, and repeats 'is, is, is'. Does her failing faith in escape happen in tandem with her intensifying love for Nick? Or is the situation so oppressive her hopes are dampened and her perspective disciplined to think functionally?
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