I thought the ending was really disappointing. I was expecting that either a resistance group overthrows the authoritarian government, or that the Eyes capture Offred and tortures or kills her. But instead of these happy or sad endings, Margaret Atwood leaves us hanging. The people in the truck could be either part of the overpowering government, or members of a resistance group. I really wanted something decisive to happen at the end. It was really frustrating when I finished reading the book.
It seems like Serena Joy finds out about the Commander and Offred's trip to the club. Why is only Offred punished, but the Commander is not accused? I think the Commander should take the blame instead of Offred, because he is the one that makes her go to the club with him. Also, the Commander rapes Offred at the hotel, which is definitely illegal. This part was really confusing for me.
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When I was on the last chapter, I kind of already knew that the story would end abruptly, since there were so little pages left. However, I think that the story does end well. It reminds me of those movies where after they beat the bad guys or something, the main characters set out on another journey and the movie ends like that. Except in this book, they don't beat the bad guys and it ends. This makes it more open to reader interpretation and imagination though I can understand why it is frustrating to not know what "really" happens next. I probably didn't find the end that frustrating since the book was fiction and I knew it wasn't real anyway, but still, it probably would be more satisfying if we knew what happened next. It would definitely make a great sequel.
ReplyDeleteI think Atwood purposely made the ending vague and mysterious. I personally thought that in the end, the people in the black van coming for Offred were actually good guys (since Nick told her to trust him) so maybe she wasn't getting in trouble. Plus I don't think the Commander can get in trouble for going to the club with Offred. He basically owns her, like an object, so I think he can do anything he wants with her. The only reason he was making it seem illegal was probably because he didn't want his wife to find out about it.
But thinking it over again, it might have been illegal since the Commander had to dress Offred up and basically snuck her in through the checkpoints.
But in the end, it seemed like the Commander and Serena were both upset that the people in the black van were taking her away so I wasn't mad at them since they both seemed to care about Offred.