Sunday 14 November 2010

Offred's monologue

Today was the most strangest day of my life! Well, Nick came up to me and said the Commander wanted to see me. I was really scared at first because of the Wall and the Aunts, but I had to go, because he is the Commander.
Well, after the lights were out and the Aunts were not around, I sneakly went into the hallway, towards the Commander's office. I have never been to his office before, ever. I felt scared, my heart was beating very fast. At last I came to a door which said in capital letters "THE COMMANDER'S OFFICE". My hand was shaking and I couldn't knock on the door, after I had calmed down, I lightly knocked on the door and heard his voice saying "come in". I wanted to go back, wanted to escape into thin air because of the fear I have of The Wall, but then I felt very excited to be the only one the Commander wants.
After closing the door, I looked at the room. The room looked very old and dirty, but there was books everywhere, I thought they had burn them all. The Commander asked my to come forward and sit on the chair. He was sitting on a big chair behind his desk. He began talking to me, by asking how I am and other things, I didn't dare look at his face because it is forbidden at all times.
The reason he wanted to see me was to play SCRABBLE, I couldn't believe it at first, but after a while I got used to it, eventhough I hadn't ever played it before and could hardly remember any spellings.
At the end he came upto the door of his office with me to say good night, and he asked my to kiss him. "Kiss me like you mean it". This is what the Commander commanded me to do and I think he really meant what he said, so I did as he aksed, eventhough I was scared of the Eye watching eveything we do.

Commentary:

I chose Offred's character to do a monolgue, to show the risks she takes which leads to the ending of the book itself. I also got the Commander to show the two different status of the characters, the Commander's high status and the handmaid's lower status. The situation Offred is at is when she is meeting the Commander for the first time in his office and the way she feels about meeting him on her own, unlike before, when she had the ceremony with Serena Joy holding her hands.
The setting of the monologue is set in the Commander's office with Offred seeing herslef in the office for the first time and her reactions to the place. The Commander is sitting at his desk when Offred goes into the office, then they start playing scrabble, as the Commander had decided to do when she comes.
The message this monologue of Offred is to show the Commander's status and the duty of Offred as a handmaid, being commanded at by higher status. I have also included Offred's fear of The Wall, which is echoing in her mind at every step of the way to his Office and meeting him. I used a language technique called capital, I used this to show the important titles as Offred reads the sign on the door. I also used a wide variety of punctuation to show the pauses and feeling of Offred in her situation.

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