Offred's Shrinking World

The narrator, Offred — literally "Of Fred," named as property of her Commander — remembers her previous life as a university-educated woman with a husband, daughter, and career. Gilead was built gradually: bank accounts frozen, women fired, identification cards required.

By the time people realized what was happening, organized resistance was too dangerous. Offred's fragmented, circling narration reflects a mind under extreme psychological pressure — a woman trying to hold on to her sense of self while a regime works to erase it.