The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Hope is a major concept throughout this story. Atwood writes this story very well creating an attachment between Offred and the reader. Offred as a character can offer a person hope and inspiration as Offred lived through the society. Offred starts to lose hope but somehow still manages to hold onto a sliver of this human emotion. Offred loses her sense of hope and will to survive through this dystopian society. Nick, however, changes Offred's mind about the society as a whole and she starts to believe that Gilead is not as bad as she had originally thought. Nick does not do this on purpose but is a result of Offred's hope.

"A chair, a table, a lamp. Above, on the white ceiling, a relief ornament in the shape of a wreath, in the center of it a blank space, plastered over, like the place in a face where the eye has been taken out. There must have been a chandelier, once. They've removed everything you could tie a rope to," (Atwood 7). This quote explains the condition of the society. The aunt's have removed anything that the women can use to commit suicide and escape from this society. Suicide is the only means of escape for the women and they are oppressed to the extent of not even containing the ability to use this as their escape. The quote also shows the flaws of the society. Many women would rather commit suicide than live in this dystopian society.