Throughout The Handmaid’s Tale, much emphasis is placed upon the idea that truth is only a matter of the teller’s perspective, of which Offred often reminds us. Her narrative is discontinuous, containing frequent time shifts, short scenes, and an unfinished ending. The Handmaids Tale is a narrative that challenges the absolute authority of Gilead, highlighting the significance of storytelling as an act of resistance.
One of the first things readers notice is the way in which the story abruptly shifts from one scene to another- from the past tense to the present. Because of this, reading becomes an exercise of as we piece together present details with past experience. At the beginning there are few flashbacks, for we, alongside the narrator, are trapped in present time. The first flashback occurs in Chapter 3 through brief references to Luke in Chapters 2 and 5. However, it is in the night sections that flashback technique becomes most evident; this is when Offred finds herself free to recollect and wander back into past memories. It is at this point of the book Offred assumes a powerful, personal presence- readers begin to know her and follow along in her daily life, thus, feeling a sense of involvement in the novel. Gradually, readers come to understand that Offred continually sees and judges the present through past memories. As she says in Chapter 35, “You’ll have to forgive me. I’m a refugee from the past, and like other refugees I go over the customs and habits of being I’ve left or been forced to leave behind me.” This non-linear narrative represents the complexity, and irregularity, of memory in that the present moment is never self-contained, rather, tinted by the past.
Offred is continually drawing our attention to her storytelling and giving reasons why she needs to tell her story at all. For Offred, storytelling is the only message she can hope to send the outside world from her imprisonment- trusting that one day her message will be delivered. As she stated in Chapter 7, “A story is like a letter. Dear You, I’ll say. Just you, without a name … You can mean thousands”.
