*I think I have a different addition, so my page numbers are probably very wrong. Sorry about that*
I was unbelievably excited about the existence of Handmaid's Tale on this syllabus. For one, it's one of my favorite books (apologies to the people who hate Atwood's constant metaphors). Also, I didn't even think about it as being Science Fiction. After reading Suvin's article, however, I had to redefine my definition of Science Fiction (at least a little). Handmaid's Tale does seem to fit into his definition rather nicely, plopping its readers into the middle of a society that both could have come from ours and is shockingly different. I was pleasantly surprised to find that Offred doesn't really seem to fit into either of the two stereotypes we discussed in class: she's certainly not an ass-kicker, and she doesn't scream "damsel in distress," either. I wonder if this is at least partly due to Margaret Atwood's own gender. However, I was interested to notice the character of Moira, who does seem to, at first, fall into that first category. Offred even says, "Moira was our fantasy" (133). The idealized female moves from a masculine fantasy to a feminine one, representing escape and freedom. However, we later discover that she really is a fantasy for both genders, acting as a prostitute in the club the Commander haunts. Offred's dream of "gallantry from [Moira], swashbuckling, heroism, single-handed combat" is lost in the prostitute that she's become (249). Offred and Moira take two separate paths, but they both wind up serving men, and Moira's track is, societally, much more degrading. Handmaid's Tale takes the one female character who seems to have a dollop of a chance at freedom and puts her in the most degrading possible job.
However, her prostitution reminds me a lot of Molly's selling her body to get her implants: Moira sells her own body to get the few scraps of freedom that she can, admitting that she's "not a martyr" (249). In some ways, Moira's character shows the perversion that her society has put into the minds of its women: the only escape is through sex, and that really is no escape at all.