What contribution to the novel does the character of the commander make?
To understand the contribution the commander makes to the novel, as a whole one must first understand his purpose. ... Commanders are richer men, Commander’s wives do not have to cook or clean, they have Mathas for such jobs. Handmaids are women who must bare children for wives. Their job is to have ceremonious sex with their assigned Commander and bare a child for him and his wife to raise. Offred is a Handmaid, the commander referred to in the novel is the man she is assigned to. We know that this Commander is of certain importance because his household contains Mathas. ...
Up until chapter fifteen Offred does not mention the Commander except in passing. ... The Commander isn’t really of any importance to Offred as a character until chapter fifteen when he is finally mentioned in more detail. Chapter fifteen is about a household gathering where the Commander reads from the bible. Although this chapter is the biggest mention of the Commander so far in the novel, we learn little about his relationship with Offred.
It is in chapter sixteen that the reader is finally enlightened about the true manner of the relationship between Offred and the Commander. ... This is the turning point in the novel and the Commander and his presence in the story that begins to make sence in this chapter pivot it. Immediately after chapter sixteen The Commander sends for Offred to visit him alone. ... Even more shocking is that Offred complies with the Commander and goes illegally to visit him at night. ... It is clear from the outset that Offred isn’t the Commander’s lover, not does she consider herself to love him. ... The Commander is a passing of Offred’s time, they do not have sex until he takes her to Jezabells towards the end of the novel, not do they exchange lustful of romantic words.
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