Moira the "Ideal"

From the beginning, it was apparent that Offred admired her college-friend-turned-fellow-Handmaid, Moira. Moira was not only technologically able, she was capable of harnessing these abilities in order to successfully escape the Center, where all Handmaids received their indoctrination- something which involved fervent admissions that rape was invariably the woman's fault. Offred looks upon herself and can only survive with a passive hope. While Moira was able to overcome, Offred fails at times to survive. Also important to note are their differences in decisions. According to Offed, Moira "chose" to be homosexual. Offred herself is heterosexual and furthermore cannot seem to keep from craving physical experiences with  men (both Nick and Luke). While Moira seems to be able to choose, Offred cannot. It is for these reasons that Offred glorifies Moira, recounting how Moira referred to herself often as "larger than life and twice as ugly." At the end, however, Offred becomes disillusioned with this glorified standard which is in contrast to the "honey" that is a Handmaid.. Moira is revealed to not be totally free, as some Handmaids had thought. She is working as a disheveled prostitute, in a club that on record did not exist, and reveling in what she called "Jezabel's." Finding in Moira complacency, Offred realizes that Moira's days are numbered. Offred, on the other hand, plans to survive. It is in this way that Offred grows as a person, no longer the "overgrown schoolgirl."

Background and Analysis on the Latin phrase, "Nolite te bastardes carborundorum."

Note: The phrase's translation is both necessary (to the fundamental literary analysis in the above pages and in the paragraph below) and improper ( as it contains one ounce of profanity). I apologize in advance for any discomfort the reader may experience as a result.
According to Notre Dame School's esteemed Latin teacher, the above phrase is grafitti Latin, a twist on an archaic and dead language, as well as a practice reserved for those who know Latin well. Strictly translating, it means "Don't let the bastards grind you down."  In reality, it is meant as a joke and not grammatically correct, much like slang in English. For the sake of elucidation, the Latin teacher compared it to another schoolboy Latin phrase "ubi sub ubi" which if directly translated means "where under where" but from a phonetic standpoint, intimates something else entirely. This phrase is notable in its transformative power, especially in its first carved appearance to Offred, who unaware of its meaning starts to recite it fervently as a prayer. Right before she shows it to the Commander, who had yet to divulge its meaning, it became something pitiful, almost sullied. After the Commander reveals its true, silly meaning, she realizes the sanctity that had connected her to the previous woman-occupant was a sham. The Commander tells Offred that the woman, who had heard it from the Commander himself, had not heeded her own advice, committing suicide as soon as Serena Lovejoy, the Commander's wife, found out about her husband's illegally extraneous associations with the soon-to-be-deceased. The secret phrase between women, that which Offred held dear, became sullied at the hand of man, but in Offred's case it was also redemptory; it became a message, a literal battlecry.

Government in The Handmaid's Tale

As some of the world's  countries are developing exponentially in population, the book's supposed premise for radical transformations, which is a state's decline in human beings, and indeed in the general animal population, might seem improbable, but it is incredibly realistic (although somewhat vague) as to how the deterioration of democracy occurred. In non-chronological order, Offred recounts the tell-tale signs of political revolutions, with vivid images of women burning offensive "men's" magazines, the creeping infiltration of a new army, and her eventual legal dismissal as a library worker because she was a woman. That day she relates as the day she lost access to her bank account as it had been deferred to the male figure. Without money she was without prospects. After time passes, and she becomes the biological puppet of the Commander, who is presumably named Fred and the confirmed ringleader of the male upheaval against the United States of America. With censorship in the media, forced marginalization of a gender, and a forced religion, the Republic of Gilead is a totalitarian state.

A Youtube Link To (Someone Else's) Video on A Handmaid's Tale

 This video is the reason why I chose to pick up The Handmaid's Tale. It conveys the despair and contemplation that Offred, the main character endured during her trials as a biological manufacturer, in other words, as a Handmaid. It also alludes to various key settings, which include the Wall (a public demonstration of the consequences of dissenting), the Border (revealed when Offred recounts her memories of a failed escape with her husband, Luke, and her daughter, the Center (where cattle-prod-wearing "Aunts" instituted in the Handmaids the values of viability, the evil of men, and trained them in the obligation of copulation), Women's Prayvaganza (the supposed showing of female solidarity against the evil acts against the state's values hanging and beating), and the hushed chats with Moira, her friend, in the bathroom. Most of these settings are mentioned in the pages listed horizontally above.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-c80TeoonM