The Handmaid's Tale

5 Pages 1262 Words

Offred and Sir Gawain

A hero is a person honored for his/her achievement of courage and nobility, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life. Offred from the The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood and Gawain from Sir Gawain and The Green Knight, by Anonymous are the protagonists in these works of literature who are admired for their good qualities. Offred and Sir Gawain show some traits of bravery. However neither Offred nor Sir Gawain did anything extremely brave, nor do they achieve anything great. These characters reveal qualities of fear, pride, selfishness, and when faced with the situation of death, act like any other ordinary human being, which means they cannot be honored as heroes.
When the president was killed, the government suspended the constitution. “There wasn’t even rioting in the streets” (Atwood 172). Offred did nothing to even try to stop these events from occurring. Society began falling apart. Offred had her accounts suspended and lost her job. Offred did nothing to stop or even prevent this because she feared society. “Nobody wanted to be reported for disloyalty” (Atwood 180). There is no doubt that it would have been hard or even impossible to prevent these acts of oppression and persecution. A real hero would have at least tried and would have laid everything on the line even their life to accomplish their goal or cause. Offred instead of fighting tries to escape from Gilead, which means she tried to run away from her problems and her life. That is why Offred is not considered a hero but just another victim of persecution.
Offred did try to rebel against the society and its rules in her own subtle ways, but nothing that actually made a difference. She sneaks out at night to walk around the hallways, which is against the rules and she also takes a withered daffodil. “What should I take? Something that will not be missed” (Atwood 98). Offred is scared and ...